John Malalas ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Malálas''; – 578) was a
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
chronicler from
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...
(now
Antakya
Antakya (), historically known as Antioch ( el, Ἀντιόχεια; hy, Անտիոք, Andiok), is the capital of Hatay Province, the southernmost province of Turkey. The city is located in a well-watered and fertile valley on the Orontes River, ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
).
Life
Malalas was of
Syrian descent,
and he was a native speaker of
Syriac who learned how to write in
Greek later in his life. The name ''Malalas'' probably derived from the
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...
word (ܡܰܠܳܠܰܐ ''malolo'') for "rhetor", "orator"; it is first applied to him by
John of Damascus. The alternative form ''Malelas'' is later, first appearing in
Constantine VII.
Malalas was educated in Antioch, and probably was a
jurist there, but moved to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
at some point in
Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...
's reign (perhaps after the Persian sack of Antioch in 540); all we know of his travels from his own hand are visits to
Thessalonica and
Paneas.
Writing
He wrote a ''Chronographia'' () in 18 books, the beginning and the end of which are lost. In its present state it begins with the mythical history of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
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); it is focused largely on Antioch and (in the later books)
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
. 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." 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.)
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' 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."
It obtained great popularity, and was used by various writers until the ninth century; it was translated into
Old Bulgarian probably in the tenth century, and parts of it were used for the
Old Russian Primary Chronicle. It is preserved in an abridged form in a single manuscript now at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, as well as in various fragments. A medieval translation in
Georgian also exists.
See also
*
Philokalia
*
Hesychasm
References
Citations
Sources
*
Modern editions
; Text
* Johannes Thurn (ed.) 2000, ''Ioannis Malalae Chronographia'',
Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae (CFHB) 35 (Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter)
; 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)
*
Further reading
* E. Jeffreys, B. Croke, and R. Scott (eds.), ''Studies in John Malalas'' (Sydney: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1990) (Byzantina Australiensia, 6), pp. 1–25.
* David Woods, "Malalas, Constantius, and a Church-inscription from Antioch," ''Vigiliae Christianae'', 59,1 (2005), pp. 54–62.
* J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz, "Malalas on Antioch," in Idem, ''Decline and Change in Late Antiquity: Religion, Barbarians and their Historiography'' (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006) (Variorum Collected Studies).
External links
Chronicle of John Malalas(full, translated)
*''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1910 ed.)
Malalas, Chronography(online English translation, open access)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malalas, John
491 births
578 deaths
People from Antioch
6th-century Byzantine historians
Medieval Thessalonica
Historians of Justinian I