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buted to Africanus by other authors. The most interesting include the passage about
the pagan gods, providing information which is attributed to Africanus by Symeon
Logothetes and by Ps. Simeon. Here we have a euhemeristic description of the lives
of the principal pagan deities. Africanus maintains that the pagan deities were actually
men and women, who were so capable and generous that they were loved and later
even worshipped by their contemporaries and descendants. Such an interpretation
typifies Africanus’ choice of reconciling Greek “myths” with Christian universal his-
tory, the most ancient periods of which were recounted by the Hebrews. In this way,
the legendary tales (τό μυθώδες) are introduced into the historical level and, by
means of euhemerism, transformed into historical truth. Malalas, like other authors
of universal chronicles after him, accepts Africanus’view in his own reconstruction of
universal history.22
Africanus’reworking of Biblical tradition in Jewish apocryphal literature is another
context evidencing Africanus’ influence on Malalas. Through Africanus, Malalas gets
to know texts such as The Book of Jubilees. The borrowing is all the more evident because
Malalas even preserves Africanus’ additions to and interpretations of these apocryphal
traditions. A case in point is the role of Seth in spreading knowledge amongst man-
kind. From the very first books of the Chronographia, Malalas attributes the origins of
astrology and writing to the sons of Adam. In Chronographia I i Malalas deems that
Seth invented the names of the stars and the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Ό δε υιός αυτού Σήθ είχεν σοφίαν ύπό θεοΰ καί κατά κέλευσεν θεοΰ
έθηκεν ονόματα τοΐς άστροις πάσιν καί τοΐς ε' πλανήταις είς τό
γνωρίζεσθαί ύπό των ανθρώπων. (...) καί γράμματα εβραϊκά έφεύρεν
πρώτος καί αυτός άνεγράψατο.
His son Seth had wisdom from God and at God’s command gave names to all the
stars and the five planets, so that they could be recognized by men. (...) He was the
first to invent Hebrew script and to write with it.23
In this case, Malalas’reconstruction differs from the Book ofJubilees^\hCrp on the con-
trary, attributes the origin of such knowledge to Enoch. This is not, however, a matter
of a “confused recollection of Jubilees 4, 17”.24 Indeed, this original view of Malalas
depends on Africanus. Fragment 18 Wallraff/Roberto of the Chronographiae, in the
version preserved by Agapius of Mabbug, recounts:
Africanus the sage claims that Seth, the son of Adam, was the first to bring to light
letters and taught writing and the Hebrew language (translation by Karl Pinggera).
In attributing the origin of knowledge to Seth rather than Enoch, Malalas preserves
the tradition of Africanus, which diverges from the one in Book of Jubilees {Liber Ju-
22 See lulius Africanus, Chronographiae F24 Wallraff/Roberto. For an introduction to Africanus’ interest
in paganism see Wallraff (2009). On Malalas’ treatment of myth see Hörling (1980); Scott (1990),
pp. 151-156. See also William Adler’s contribution in this volume.
23 Malalas, Chronographia 11 (p. 4,13-19 Thurn); English translation by Jeffreys/Jeffreys/Scott (1986), p. 2.
24 Jeffreys (1996), p. 58.