The Influence of Julius Africanus’ Chronographiae 63
It is interesting to note that the virtue that best characterises Hephaestus and Ce-
crops is chastity/'sophrosyne, precisely understood by Malalas as abstinence from sexual
excesses. This virtue is present in the character of Hephaestus, and, more particu-
larly, guides the action of Cecrops in organising Athens according to political criteria.
Men gifted with sophrosyne/ chastity are capable of spreading wisdom and ordering
the world with balanced laws. As we will see below, Augustus, high priest and Roman
Emperor, also lived chastely.37
There are still two other important points in common between Malalas and Afri-
canus. As seen above, in the Chronographiae political interpretation of universal history
is based on the idea of translatio imperii guided by Providence, which delivers world
hegemony to great empires. According to Africanus {Chronographiae F89, 53-57 and
F15,11-14 Wallraff/Roberto), universal dominion passed to Rome after the end of the
Ptolemies, Alexander’s last heirs; here we see the development of the universal syn-
chronism between the monarchia of the Caesars and the Epiphany of Christ in history.
Africanus’ interest in monarchy and basileia is thus based on religious and political
motives, also inspired by the cultural environment in which he lived and worked. Al-
though he was a Christian, Africanus was also a Roman citizen and so able and willing
to recognise Rome’s historical role, ordained by Providence through the translatio im-
perii, and its mission as the latest heir of the great hegemonies that had dominated the
world. Attention to the history of the kingship/Anz’/cA passed directly from Africanus
to Malalas: like Africanus, Malalas too has no interest in matters of the poleis of the
classical period or in the history of the Roman Republic. In actual fact, his position is
even more drastic. Africanus, indeed, was not totally uninterested in the history of the
Roman Republic. The fragments show that Africanus’ dealing with Republican events
was limited to the Roman conquest of Syria: since the Hebrews are at the centre of
his historical narrative, it is natural that he begins to take more interest in the Romans
in correspondence with the time when Pompey arrives in the East. In Malalas, as we
have already seen, any such view is absent, so that his narrative simply jumps from
Tarquinius Superbus to Julius Caesar.38 According to Malalas, however, Rome did not
achieve world hegemony with Caesar, whom he considers a superb tyrant:
ούτος ούν ό Καίσαρ πρώτος καί μόνος έκράτησε των 'Ρωμαίων μετά
ποΛΛοΰ φόβου καί πάντα έξεδίκησεν (...). Ό δε Καίσαρ Ιούλιος ό
(ρ. ΐ3,36-38 Thurn), the description of Italy before the coming of Zeus-Picus from the East: “At that
time there was no city or administration in the West but all that land was simply inhabited by the
members of the tribe ofjapheth, son of Noah, who had migrated there”; English translation by Jeffreys/
Jeffreys/Scott (1986), p. 8. See also Malalas, Chronographia 114.
37 On chastity/sophrosyne as symbol of civilisation according to Malalas see Scott (1990), pp. 153-157. On
Augustus see below and Mecella (2013), pp. 355-356.
38 On Malalas’ attention to the history of kingship see Jeffreys (1979); Scott (1990), p. 150. On Malalas’
treatment of Roman history before Julius Caesar see Beaucamp (2006b), pp. 84-86. On Africanus’ in-
terest in Roman Republican history see Roberto (2011), p. 172. Anna Maria Totomanova’s forthcoming
publication of an English translation and commentary of a Byzantine Chronicle in Slavonic (already
published by her in Bulgarian: Totomanova [2008]) will shed new light on Africanus’interest in Roman
conquest of Syria and Palestine; see also Totomanova (2011).