John Malalas:
from computation to narration
Anne-Marie Bernardi et Emmanuele Caire'

Abstract The choice of a linear narrative structure is one of the most remarkable features of
John Malalas’Chronicle. It embraces neither the pattern of successive lists of rulers, upon which
synchronisms and computations are usually based, nor that of a yearly account of events, nor
even a combination of the two. This raises two questions already addressed: how the chronicle is
composed and how Malalas was able to combine materials from different origins. The purpose
of this paper is to argue that by addressing the two questions together, we can formulate some
hypotheses about the method used by Malalas to construct his narrative: the chronicler follows
a specific chronographic structure to which he adds, according to his own interests, narrative
episodes from other sources.
Two remarkable characteristics are usually associated with the Chronicle of John Ma-
lalas: first, it is the first fully preserved universal chronicle written in Greek language,
and second, it makes the innovative, or even original, choice of a linear narrative struc-
ture. It embraces neither the pattern of successive rulers lists upon which synchro-
nisms and computations are usually based, nor that of a yearly account of events, nor
even a mixed one such as that adopted by George Syncellus.This raises the question of
the way the chronicle is composed and of how Malalas was able to combine materials
from different origins, which are all the more difficult to identify as the chronicler sel-
dom uses at first-hand the sources he quotes, and as his primary sources are lost to us.
The object of this paper is to demonstrate that we can nevertheless put forward
some hypotheses about the method used by Malalas to construct the narration and
particularly that the chronicler follows a specific chronographic structure to which he
adds, according to his own interests, narrative episodes from other sources. At first, we
will argue that the chronographic structure, as regards the Greco-Roman period, is the
result of a certain reading of Eusebius’ Chronicle. Secondly, we will see how Malalas
adds narrative developments onto this canvas, by combining sources of various origins.

Aix-Marseille Universite, CNRS, UMR 7297 TDMAM, 13094 Aix-en-Provence, France.