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of Orestes, explains that “it is called the ‘The Rune away’” (V 37).20 In Book VIII he
mentions “the gate known as Romanesian” (VIII16),21 the mask carved in the moun-
tain which “the Antiocheans call Charonion” (VIII 21),22 and the building “known as
the Bouleuterion” (VIII 22). Such references to place names occur continuously in
the Chronography23 until Books XVII and XVIII, where Malalas mentions “the gate
known as St Julian’s” (XVII16), “the building known as the Basilica of Rufinus”, “what
is known as the Basilica of Anatolius” (XVIII 19),24 and lastly “the church known as
that of Kassianos” (XVIII 45).25
Thirdly, and less frequently, the use of “flash-backs”, i.e. allusions to past events,
apparently not mentioned before in the text. The fact that events mentioned in the
flash-backs are not mentioned earlier could be due to the process of abridgement of
the Chronography, but as flash-backs are systematically used to insert the narrative
of these previously unmentioned events, it is more probably a stylistic feature of the
original text:
VIII14. “[Seleucus] brought down from the Acropolis the Cretans whom Kasos,
the son of Inachos, had left to live up there. They had migrated to Antioch with the
Cypriots, since the emperor Kasos married Amyke, also known as Kitia, daughter
of Salaminos, emperor of Cyprus. Cypriots came with her and made their homes
on the Acropolis (.. .).”26
The use of a topological reference may introduce a flash-back:
X 10. “[Tiberius Caesar] built a public bath near the Olympias spring that had
been built by Alexander the Macedonian and named after the mother. For when
Alexander came there and drank the water he said: Ί have drunk my mother’s
milk.’”2?
The last occurrence of such flash-backs appears in Book XVII, where, according to
a Slavonic version,28 Malalas mentions in the account of the earthquake of 526 “the
20 (...) ήτις στήλη τού Όρέστου ό δραπέτης καλείται.
2ΐ (...) τής λεγάμενης 'Ρωμανησίας πόρτας.
22 (...) καλοΰσιν έως τού νύν οί Αντιοχεις Χαρώνιον.
23 See for instance VIII 23; IX 5; IX 14; X 8; XIII 39; XIV13.
24 (...) τής λεγάμενης 'Ρουφίνου βασιλικής (...) τήν λεγομένην Άνατολίου βασιλικήν.
25 (...) τή εκκλησία τή λεγάμενη Κασσιανού.
26 (...) κατήγαγε δε καί τούς Κρήτας από τής άκροπόλεως, ούς έασεν ό Κάσος ό υιός Ινάχου
άνω οίκειν οϊτινες μετοικήσαντες εις τήν αύτήν Αντιόχειαν μετά καί των Κυπρίων,
επειδή ό Κάσος βασιλεύς ήγάγετο Αμυκήν τήν καί Κιτίαν, θυγατέρα Σαλαμίνου τού
Κυπρίων βασιλέως (...). Transl. Jeffreys/Jeffreys/Scott (slightly modified in accordance with Thurn’s
text), Chronicle, p. 106.
27 Ό δε Τιβέριος Καίσαρ έκτισεν (...) καίδημόσιον λουτρόν πλησίον τής ’Ολυμπιάδας πηγής
τής κτισθείσης ύπό Αλεξάνδρου τού Μακεδόνος εις όνομα τής αύτού μητρός· έπιεν γάρ
έκ τού αύτού ύδατος Αλέξανδρος έλθών έκεΐ καί είπεν ότι· ‘έπια γάλα τής έμής μητρός’.
Transl. Jeffreys/Jeffreys/Scott, Chronicle, pp. 124-125.
28 Regarding the “Slavonic Malalas”, see Franklin, “Malalas in Slavonic”, pp. 276-287, and Sorlin, “Les
fragments slaves de Malalas et le probleme de leur retroversion en grec”, pp. 137-145.