From Adam to Abraham

37

contrast, Malalas blames Serug alone for formulating the foundational beliefs of Hel-
lenism. “He was the first”, Malalas writes, “to introduce the Hellenistic doctrine by
means of idolatry” (οστίς ενήρξατο πρώτος τού δόγματος τού ελληνισμού διά
τής ειδωλολατρίας).52 Since for Malalas individuals, not “ages” or “nations”, drive
cultural change, it could not have been otherwise. The single task remaining was to
explain the means by which Serug’s erroneous teachings spread throughout the world.
After the Egyptians, Babylonians and Phrygians embraced the system of thought, a
man named “Hellen” communicated it to the Greeks. From him, the doctrine derived
its name.53
Among Second Temple Jewish sources known to Christian universal chronicles,
the Book of Jubilees ranked second only to Josephus in influence and standing.54 The
“Details of Genesis” (τα λεπτά Γενέσεως), one of the titles by which Jubilees was
known in Greek, aptly captures its perceived value in filling in lacunae in the Genesis
narrative.55 How content from Jubilees found its way to Malalas and the many other
Byzantine chroniclers who cite from it is a subject still in need of sorting out. What
can be said in any case is that citations and paraphrases of material from it have suf-
fered extensive editing and correction, mainly meant to shore up the work’s authority
and enhance its use as a supplement to Genesis.56 Over time, material from Jubilees,
Josephus and Genesis became so entangled with one another that Byzantine chron-
iclers were often unable to tell them apart. Many chroniclers simply quote traditions
from Jubilees without attribution.57
This is also true of Malalas. While Malalas’ familiarity with content from Jubilees
was hardly negligible, he never refers to Jubilees by name.58 The authorities he cites for
traditions first attested in that work are Josephus and a chronicle circulating pseudon-
ymously under the name of Eusebius.59 Jubilees narrative of events from the flood to
Abraham may have provided him in broad outline a template for his own treatment
52 Malalas, Chronographia II 18 (p. 38, 7-9 Thurn). Unlike Jubilees, Malalas traces Serug’s lineage to the
tribe of Japhet, not Shem. Since the Greeks were said to be descendants of Japhet, this may have been
a way to tighten Serug’s connection with “Hellenism”.
53 Malalas, Chronographia II18 (p. 39,35-41 Thurn).
54 For collections and studies of material from Jubilees preserved in Byzantine universal chronicles, see
Rönsch (1874), pp. 278-322; Gelzer (1885), pp. 249-297; Milik (1971), pp. 545-557; Berthelot (2004),
pp. 41-44; Whitby (2007), p. 287.
55 For this title, see Georgius Syncellus, Edoga chronographica 13 (p. 7,28 Mosshammer): Εκ των Λεπτών
Γενέσεως.
56 Among other revisions, the chronology of Jubilees was brought into conformity with the Septuagint,
and its idiosyncratic 364-year calendar replaced with years of the Julian calendar. The archaic mappa
mundi underlying its account of the division of nations {Liber Jubilaeorum 8,10-30) was replaced with
one more in line with contemporary geographic knowledge; see further Adler (1990), pp. 494-498.
57 For discussion of material from Jubilees attributed to Josephus, see Gelzer (1885), pp. 278-280.
58 For another tradition originating in Jubilees, see Malalas, Chronographia 11 (p. 4,7-9 Thurn), on Asouam
and Azoura, the two daughters of Adam and Eve and wives of Cain and Seth; see Liber Jubilaeorum 4,
i and 4,11.
59 For Jubilees material attributed to Eusebius, see Malalas, Chronographia II 18 (p. 38, 7-10 Thurn), on
Serug and “Hellenism”; Malalas, Chronographia III 1 (p. 41, 3-10 Thurn), on Abraham’s confrontation
with Terah.