John Malalas as a source for John of Antioch’s Historia Chronike

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whereas the second section (Books X-XVIII) proceeds from Jesus’ incarnation and
extends the narrative to Justinian. It is evident that Malalas considered Jesus’ birth
to be the central event in human history. As Julius Africanus and Eusebius had done
previously, the link between this event and the beginning of Roman hegemony in
the ancient Mediterranean is stressed as a synchronism that is governed by divine
Providence.19 Consequently, Malalas inserts information on the origin of Christianity,
which attracts John of Antioch’s interest. We already mentioned the fragment on Ti-
berianus, governor of Palaestina Prima, and his correspondence with Trajan - an An-
tiochene version of Trajan’s injunction to Pliny the Younger conquirendi non sunt (epist.
X 96-97). The Excerpta Constantiniana also preserve an important text on Herodes
and a significant one on the confrontation between Simon Magus and the Apostle
Peter in the presence of Nero.
Nero, Petrus and Simon Magus
(loannes Antiochenus, fr. 172 = Excerptum de virtutibus 26)
The excerpt dealing with Nero is of fundamental importance to understanding the
working method of John of Antioch and confirms the significance of John Malalas as
a source that he used for the imperial period as well. In this part of his work, John of
Antioch makes use of Cassius Dio as the basic source for his narrative. That is clear
from the fact that fr. 172,1-2 begins with a clear reference to the quinquennium felix and
the collaboration of Burrus and Seneca. There is not a trace of this in John Malalas,
whereas he is the source for what follows (fr. 172, 2-26).
It is worth noting that John of Antioch’s depiction of the first years of Nero’s reign
{quinquennium felix) is quite different from the image to be found in Cassius Dio, who
instead writes of Nero’s gradual descent into vice and despotism as he grew older. In
the Historia Chronike, the adolescent Nero is a figure who divides his time between
studies and the practice of philosophy. This passage on Nero as philosopher comes
from John Malalas and it is combined with a passage on the quinquennium felix which
derives from Cassius Dio. Of course, John of Antioch is the original author of this
historiographical combination.
The narrative of the Excerptum de virtutibus 26 can be united with the lemma of
Suda N 254, Νερών (p. 455, 20-456, 15 Adler). As is often the case, the person who
composed the Suda found the same excerpt from John of Antioch in another volume
of the Excerpta Constantiniana and provides a version that is longer than that trans-
mitted in the volume de virtutibus et vitiis. From the union of the two excerpts, Ex-
cerptum de virtutibus 26 and Suda N 254, Νερών (p. 455,20-456,15 Adler), it is possible
19 For the synchronism “Incarnation of Christ I Reign of Augustus and Roman hegemony over the world”
see Johannes Malalas, Weltchronik, pp. ίο-n; in general, see Roberto, Le Chronographiae, pp. 107-35. A
significant text is also Malalas, Chronographia X 5 on the tradition related to the oracle about the birth
of Christ given to Augustus. The theosophic experience of the emperor Augustus confirmed his role as
an instrument of the divine providence: see Mecella, “ήν γαρ μυστικός”.