John Malalas

John Malalas, sometimes spelled Malelas (Greek: Ἰωάννης Μαλάλας, Iōánnēs Malálas; c. 491 – 578), was a Greek chronicler from Antioch.

Life

The name Malalas probably derived from the ܱAramaic word (ܡܰܠܳܠܰܐ malolo) for "rhetor", "orator"; it is first applied to him by John of Damascus. The form Malelas is later, first appearing in Constantine VII.^[1]

Malalas was educated in Antioch, and probably was a jurist there, but moved to Constantinople at some point in Justinian I's reign (perhaps after the Persian sack of Antioch in 540^[2]); all we know of his travels from his own hand are visits to Thessalonica and Paneas.^[3]

Writing

He wrote a Chronographia (Χρονογραφία) in 18 books, the beginning and the end of which are lost. In its present state it begins with the mythical history of Egypt and ends with the expedition to Roman Africa under the tribune Marcianus, Justinian's nephew, in 563 (his editor Thurn believes it originally ended with Justinian's death^[4]); it is focused largely on Antioch and (in the later books) Constantinople. Except for the history of Justinian and his immediate predecessors, it possesses little historical value; the author, "relying on Eusebius of Caesarea and other compilers, confidently strung together myths, biblical stories, and real history."^[5] The eighteenth book, dealing with Justinian's reign, is well acquainted with, and colored by, official propaganda. The writer is a supporter of Church and State, an upholder of monarchical principles. (However, the theory identifying him with the patriarch John Scholasticus is almost certainly incorrect.^[6])

He used several sources (for example Eustathius of Epiphania and other unknown authors).

The work is important as the first surviving example of a chronicle written not for the learned but for the instruction of the monks and the common people, and its language shows a compromise with the spoken language of the day, although "it is still very much a written style. In particular, he employs technical terminology and bureaucratic clichés incessantly, and, in a period of transition from Latin to Greek governmental terminology, still uses the Latin loanwords alongside their Greek replacements.... The overall impression created by Malálas's style is one of simplicity, reflecting a desire for the straightforward communication of information in the written language of everyday business as it had evolved under the influence of spoken Greek."^[7]

It obtained great popularity, and was used by various writers until the ninth century; it was translated into Slavic probably in the tenth century, and parts of it were used for the Old Russian Primary Chronicle.^[8] It is preserved in an abridged form in a single manuscript now at Oxford, as well as in various fragments.

Notes

↑ Thurn, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, p. 1.
↑ Geoffrey Horrocks, Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers (Longman Linguistics Library, 1997: ISBN 0-582-30709-0), p. 180.
↑ Thurn, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, p. 1.
↑ Thurn, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, p. 2.
↑ Warren Treadgold, A History of Byzantine State and Society (Stanford University Press, 1997: ISBN 0-8047-2421-0), p. 267.
↑ Thurn, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, p. 2.
↑ Horrocks, Greek, pp. 179-81, q.v. for details of lexical and syntactic usage; see also pp. 181-82 for a passage of Malalas with interlinear translation and transcription showing how Horrocks believes it would have sounded in the spoken Greek of the day.
↑ Oleg Tvorogov, Хроника Иоанна Малалы.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Malalas, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 461.

Modern editions

Text:
- Johannes Thurn (ed.) 2000, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae (CFHB) 35 (Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter) ISBN 3-11-008800-2
Translation:
- Elizabeth Jeffreys, Michael Jeffreys, Roger Scott et al. 1986, The Chronicle of John Malalas: A Translation, Byzantina Australiensia 4 (Melbourne: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies) ISBN 0-9593626-2-2

External links

Translation of the 8th book of Malalas' Chronographia
Greek Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Graeca with analytical indexes
Catholic Encyclopedia (1910 ed.), John Malalas"

Byzantine historians

5th century	Malchus Panodorus of Alexandria Priscus

6th century	Agathias Evagrius Scholasticus Hesychius of Miletus John of Ephesus John of Epiphania Jordanes John Malalas Liberatus of Carthage Marcellinus Comes Menander Protector Peter the Patrician Procopius Theodorus Lector Theophanes of Byzantium Zacharias Rhetor Zosimus

7th century	Trajan the Patrician Theophylact Simocatta John of Antioch

8th century	Hippolytus of Thebes

9th century	Theophanes the Confessor George Syncellus Nikephoros I of Constantinople George Hamartolos

10th century	Constantine VII Joseph Genesius John Kaminiates Leo the Deacon Symeon the Metaphrast Theophanes Continuatus

11th century	Michael Attaleiates George Kedrenos Michael Psellos John Skylitzes John Xiphilinus Yahya of Antioch

12th century	Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger Niketas Choniates Eustathius of Thessalonica Michael Glycas Anna Komnene John Kinnamos Constantine Manasses Joannes Zonaras

13th century	George Akropolites

14th century	Nicephorus Gregoras Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos George Pachymeres Michael Panaretos

15th century	John Anagnostes John Cananus Laonikos Chalkokondyles Michael Critobulus Doukas George Sphrantzes

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 88969561 LCCN: n82225765 ISNI: 0000 0001 1683 2790 GND: 118940295 SELIBR: 211834 SUDOC: 027469875 BNF: cb135178774 (data) NLA: 35591828 NKC: skuk0003887

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