6o

Catherine Saliou

It was originally located on the left bank of the Orontes, between the river and a
mountain. In Antiquity, part of the city, labelled as “the New city”, was on an island.
On this island stood the imperial palace.5 Suburbs extended towards the south and the
north, and on the right bank of the river. Archaeological campaigns were conducted
on the site between 1932 and 1939. The principal results were the establishment of an
archaeological map, a survey of the walls of city, some soundings along the main street,
and the discovery of churches, baths, and mosaics now disseminated among several
museums across the world.6 At the beginning of our century, a German mission, led
by Pr. Gunnar Brands, was active on the site, but the results of its work have not yet
been fully published.7 Very recently, Dr Hatice Pamir has led a large rescue excavation
on the left bank of the Orontes, along the bed of the Parmenios River. She is currently
digging in the sector of the “New City”. The archaeological face of ancient Antioch
is going to change in years to come. This encourages us to collect, analyse and better
understand the numerous written sources that refer to its urban space.8 The final aim
of the present research is to understand how Malalas speaks of Antioch and to draw
his mental map (or maps) of his city, or the mental maps of his own sources. The results
of such research, as we shall see, may be of some consequence, not only for the use of
Malalas’ text as a source about the urban space of Antioch, but also for the study of the
organisation and composition of his History, and for the identification of some of his
sources. However, this research is just beginning, and in this paper I intend to pres-
ent some preliminary remarks. After some general comments regarding the modes of
reference to Antiochean urban space in the Chronography, I will focus first on Books
XV-XVIII and thereafter on Books II-XIV.
I. Antioch in Malalas’ Universal History
There are two kinds of references to Antiochean urban space in Malalas. In some
passages, places in Antioch are mentioned incidentally or in order to locate the events.
This is the case, for instance, with the “Street of the (neighbourhoods) of Singon”. It
appears because Malalas feels it necessary to locate precisely the first proclamation of
the Word:

the bibliography referred to in the subsequent footnotes. To get a global view of the city, see the well-
illustrated book by Demir, Antakya through the Ages.
5 Cf. Saliou, “Le palais imperial d’Antioche et son contexte ä lepoque de Julien”, pp. 235-250, with pri-
mary sources and secondary literature.
6 Cf. Committee, Antioch on-the-Orontesr, Kondoleon, Antioch, the lost ancient city.
7 Cf. Brands, “Prokop und das eiserne Tor.”, pp. 9-20; id., “Hellenistic Antioch on the Orontes. A status
quo”, pp. 1-18 ; Brasse, “Von der Stadtmauer zur Stadtgeschichte.”, pp. 261-282.
8 Regarding this project, see Les sources de Lhistoire du paysage urbain dAntioche sur lOronte, pp. 7-24.