02

Catherine Saliou

very brief mentions regarding an earthquake (§ 79), the capture of the city by the Per-
sians in 540 (§ 87), and a series of earthquakes in the Near East (§ 112). For our study,
this fourth part is in fact of no interest and it is not taken into account in what follows.
This means that the present study regards the “first edition” or one of the first editions
of Malalas’ Chronography, dated ca 532.12
The first part (Books I to IX) goes from Adam to Christ. In this part Antioch - or
the future Antioch - appears sporadically, but very early on in History. During the
heroic times, before the war of Troy, a village called lopolis is founded on the site of
the future Antioch by the Argives sent by Inachos in the quest of Ιο (II 6), and some
generations after the hero Perseus stays in lopolis (II 12). These stories are related to
the foundation of temples. In Book V, devoted to the war of Troy and to its sequels,
Malalas tells a very long story about Orestes, whose healing occurs near lopolis (V 37).
This story is related to a statue, about which Malalas says that it stands “until now” (ed.
Thurn, p. in, 1. 82: έως τής νύν ϊστατας cf. 1. 97: εως τού παρόντος). In Book VIII,
devoted to the Hellenistic kingdoms, Malalas relates at length the foundation of An-
tioch by Seleucus (VIII 11-16). In the next chapters, Antioch is mentioned in the
narrative of the reigns of Antiochus IV and some of his successors (VIII 21-24), and in
relation to the activities of Pompey and after him Bibulus in Syria (VIII 29-30). Each
of these passages contains references to statues, buildings or monuments. Book nine
is a transitional book, devoted to Julius Caesar, Augustus and the Annunciation of the
Lord. In this book Malalas relates the building activities of Julius Caesar (IX 5), but
also Herod (IX17) and Agrippa (IX 14; IX 21) in Antioch.
The second part (X-XIV) takes the form of a series of histories of the reigns of the
successive emperors, from Tiberius to the child emperor Leo II. These histories vary
in length, but a striking fact is the importance of Antioch - and more specifically the
importance of the Antiochean building activities of the emperors - in a number of
these histories. Constructions in Antioch are mentioned, briefly or at length, and most
frequently attributed to the emperors, in the cases of Tiberius, Caligula, Vespasian,
Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Didius Julianus,
Severus, Aurelianus, Probus, Diocletian, Constantine, Constantius, Valentinian, Theo-
dosius I, Theodosius II, and Leo I. It looks like Malalas is filling out, for each emperor,
a template that includes the box: “activities in Antioch”.13 However, the occurrence of
Antioch in the text is not always motivated by an imperial construction: the occasion
may be, for instance, an episode of apostolic or Christian martyrial history (X 15), a
riot (X 20, during Caligula’s reign; XII 49, at the very beginning of Licinianus’ reign),
or the Olympic games (XII 3-10).
The third part is distinguished from the previous by Malalas himself in his preface,

12 Regarding the various «editions» of Malalas’ Chronography, cf. Croke, “Malalas, the man and his work”,
pp. 17-25.
13 Cf. Agusta-Boularot, “Les livres I ä XII de la Chronique de Jean Malalas et leur apport ä la connais-
sance du paysage urbain d’Antioche”.