Malalas and the Representationof Justinian’s Reign: a Few Remarks

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leave it aside as did Anastasius in 512,35 Justin in 52h,36 and Justinian, for 30 days as a
sign of penitence after a hard Constantinopolitan earthquake in December 55/.37 So
during the Nika riot, on 18 January 532, the emperor came into the hippodrome with
the Gospels in his hands early in the morning and said:
By this power, I forgive you this error and I order that none of you be arrested but
be peaceful. For there is nothing on your head but rather on mine. For my sins
made me deny to you what you asked of me in the hippodrome.38
And the text follows saying that some were convinced, others shouted against Justi-
nian and for Hypatios, and the riot went on. We have here a typical Justinian con-
fession, even if it was at least inspired by what emperor Anastasius did some 20 years
previously. The sole problem is that this passage is not preserved in the Bodleianus
Baroccianus 182, but in the Chronicon Paschale. But it remains very probable, as it also
appears in Thurns edition that this speech originally came from Malalas. Another
aspect of this tale has to be noticed: the cause of the strong discontent shown by the
crowd was the emperor’s initial lack of mercy when two people, one green and one
blue, escaped the death penalty and were first brought in the asylum of the martyr
Laurentius’church. This very combination leads us to two more texts: they might play
a special role in the Malalas’ code, also perceptible in the above quoted section. They
all imply that Justinian was the greatest Christian emperor when he agreed to repent.
Both of these texts present the case of violated asylum in martyr shrines. They both
reveal the violation of a very special kind of protection: not only is the church profaned
but the brutal action takes place at the very altar, which the martyr’s relics are espe-
cially supposed to sanctify39
The first occurrence appears in the De Insidiis extract n°44. It tells us about the
Samaritan revolt in 529. The exact passage is the following:
35 Malalas, Chronographia XVI19 See Meier, “Aufstand gegen Anastasios”, pp. 171-172 and also Dijkstra/
Greatrex, “Patriarchs and Politics”, p. 257.
36 Malalas, Chronographia XVII16 after the huge earthquake in Antioch.
37 Malalas, Chronographia XVIII124: here, the word is slightly different (στέμμα instead of διάδημα)
but the meaning is the same: “ό δέ αυτός βασιλεύς Ιουστινιανός ούκ έφόρεσε στέμμα έπί
ή μέρας τριάκοντα” ed. Thurn, p. 419,65-66.
38 “Μά την δύναμιν ταύτην, συγχωρώ ύμΐν τό πταίσμα τούτο καί ού κελεύω τινά έξ ύμών
συσχεθήναι, άλλ’ήσυχάσατε· ούδέν γάρ παρ’ύμάς, άλ ύμών συσχεθήναι, άλλ’ήσυχάσα
τε· ούδέν γάρ παρ’ύμάς, άλλά παρ’ έμέ.”, Chroniconpaschale, ed. Dindorf, p. 623,17-19, transl. Μ.
and Μ. Whitby, p. 121; see also Malalas, Chronographia XVIII 71.
39 Here are left aside four other tales which tell us about asylum without any reference to the altar. In the
case of the usurper Basiliscus, the place for the refugee and his family is the Baptistery (φωτιστήριον;
Malalas, Chronographia XV 5). Three other cases can also be mentioned (without precise indication
about the place joined in the church: XIV 45: fearing Ricimer, the western emperor Anthimius takes
refuge in Saint-Peter, pretending to be ill; XV 16: while being informed that Zeno has decided to put
him to death, the praefectus praetorio Arcadius, pretended to pray at Saint-Sophia on the way to the
palace, takes refuge and escapes death, his property confiscated, but Zeno died shortly after. XVIII141
Sergios, nephew of the curator divinae domns Antiochi Aitherios, sought asylum in the church of the
Theotokos in Blachernae but was pulled under the charge of high treason and subjected to harsh inter-
rogation: see Brandes, “Ammerkungen zur Rolle der argentarii/άργυροπράται”, p. 224.