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Anne-Marie Bernardi, Emmanuele Caire

the world is without design”.26 Because of his “effeminate mind” (γυναικώδεις έχων
φρένας), he took an interest in the reproductive process. That’s the reason why he was
banished by the priests to the temple of Apollo Daphnaios. But Cadmus, right from
the beginning of his reign, calls him back from exile. Later (ch. 15), Cadmus retires
with him on Mount Kithairon.
Where does this hitherto unseen version of the myth come from? Hard to tell, but
several elements lead us to surmise the existence of a specifically Antiochian tradition,
which Malalas and his source (Kephalaion, who is mentioned, or, perharps, Dom-
ninus) would echo. Tiresias’ place of exile, Daphne, allows for the assumption of the
existence of this tradition. This hypothesis is supported by the iconography. Indeed,
the famous Yakto mosaic, the Megalopsychia, dating back to mid-5th century, stages
scenes of venationes·. one of the six hunters depicted is young Tiresias,27 bearing a spear,
and facing a leopard. The “hunter” thus probably stems from this representation and
the local legends which probably came with it.28 As already noted by E. Jeffreys, the
importance given to Amphions and Zethos’gests in Chapter 16 may also be explained
by a local tradition, as the presence of a statue of the Dioskouri is mentioned by the
chronicler in Book X, Chapter 10, p. 158.29
The end of the chapter devoted to Tiresias suggests the resort to another kind of
literature. At the end of his account, Malalas opposes the useless research of the au-
tomatist philosopher30 to the truth Sophocles had foreseen: the existence of a unique
and creating God. For once, the chronicler does not reject the “poetic” version of the
myth, but introduces an apocryphal quotation, frequently used by Christian Apolo-
gists.31 Like with the teachings attributed to Hermes (II 4), Malalas seems to use one
of the widespread collections of Hermetic quotations, such as the one known as the
Tübingen Theosophy.
Malalas’ pronounced taste for wonder-workers, μυστικοί, is particularly patent
in the chapters devoted to Dionysus and Antiope. Both characters are associated
26 Malalas, II14, p. 29,I.39-40: οστις παρεισηγαγε δόγμα τοΐς ΈΛΛησι τό αυτομάτως φέρεσθαι
τα πάντα καί άπρονόητον είναι τό κόσμον. Malalas uses similar terms, later, to define Nero’s
belief: “The emperor Nero followed the belief of those called Epicureans that is, of those who believe
that everything happens by accident and that nothing is affected by providence” (των αύτο ματ ιστών
των Λεγόντων άπρονόητα είναι τά πάντα , X 30, ρ. 189,Ι.78-80).
27 Besides Hippolytus, Narcissus, Acteon, Meleager, Adonis.
28 Remarkably this singular version of the myth has no posterity. It is not mentioned by the chroniclers
who depended on Malalas, with the exception of George Kedrenos, (ed. Bekker, vol. 1, p. 42,11-22), who
retained most elements but presented them in a different order.
29 See Jeffreys, “Malalas’world view”, p. 58. See also Saliou, Recherches sur la Chronique de Jean Malalas II,
p. 70, 83-84.
30 Cf. Malalas, II 14 p. 29,1. 47-49: ό Τειρεσίας, φησίν, τήν σοφίαν τού δημιουργού έζήτησεν
γνώναι καί ούκ ήδυνήθη: (“Teiresias, he said, sought to know the wisdom of the creator and was
not able to do so”).
31 “There is one God who created heaven and the broad earth, the swell of the gleaning blue sea and the
force of the winds (...)”. This quotation (TGFI 2, frg. 618,3-9; frg. 1025, Nauck) is used by Clement,
Eusebius, Cyril and Theodoret (see Erbse, TGF, pp. XLIV-XLV and 107-108).