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Peter van Nuffelen

dency to think these must be Theophilus of Antioch (2nd century AD) and Clement
of Alexandria (2nd-early 3rd century AD). This is due to the general suspicion towards
Malalas, and, for Clement, to the fact that he is indeed mentioned by Eusebius as a
predecessor.9 As the citations from Malalas show no overlap with the works of these
two figures, it has been suggested that they are fictions.10 In fact, as we shall see, we
are dealing with chronicles that circulated in their own right and had a distinct profile.
Let us look at a famous passage, in which both are named.
Γίνεται ούν ό πας χρόνος από τής αρχής Αύγουστου <τού> καί
Όκταβιανού ίμπεράτορος έως τής συμπληρώσεως τής δευτέρας
ύπατείας τού βασιΛέως ’Ιουστινιανού ίνδικτιώνος ζ' έτη φνθ', ώς είναι
τα πάντα έτη άπό τού πρωτοπλάστου Αδάμ έως τής αύτής ίνδικτιώνος
έτη ,ςυ^ζ', κατά δέ τους Άντωχείς τούς καί Θεοπολίτας επί τώ Όρέντη,
Συρους όντας, έτη φοζ', άρχόμενα άπό Καίσαρος Ιουλίου, κατά δέ
τους Άλεξανδρείς Αιγυπτίους, τους οίκοϋντας επί τώ Νείλω, έτη σμε’
άπό Δινκλητιανοΰ, κατά δέ τους λεγομένους Σύρους Μακεδόνας τής
Άπαμείας έτη /μ’ άπό Σελεύκου του Νι,κάτωρος, καθώς ηύρον τον
αριθμόν τών ένιαυτών έν τοΐς συντάγμασι Κλήμεντος καί Θεοφίλου
καί Τιμοθέου τών σοφωτάτων χρονογράφων όμοφωνησάντων. έν δέ
τοΐς χρόνοις Εύσεβίου τού Παμφίλου ηύρον τον άριθμόν τών έτών άπό
Αδάμ έως τής ύπατείας Ιουστινιανού βασιΛέως τής έβδομης ίνδικτιώνος
έτη ,ςυλβ'. άκριβέστερον δέ μάλλον οί περί Θεόφιλον καί Τιμόθεον καί
Κλήμεντα ψηφίσαντες τούς χρόνους έξέθεντο.11
The whole period from the accession of Augustus Octavian Imperator to the com-
pletion of the second consulship of the emperor Justinian in the 7th indiction is
559 years, so that the total of years from first-created Adam to this indiction is
6497, according to the Antiochenes who are also the Theopolites who live by the
Orontes, being Syrians, this was the 577th year starting from Julius Caesar, accord-
ing to the Alexandrians, who are Egyptians and live by the Nile, this was the 245th
from Diocletian, according to the so-called Syrian Macedonians of Apamea, this
was the f4Oth year from Seleukos Nikator, which is the number of years I found
in the works of Clement, Theophilus and Timotheos, the chroniclers who agree
among themselves. In the chronology of Eusebius, son of Pamphilus, I found the
number of years from Adam to the consulship of the emperor Justinian in the 7th
indiction to be 6432, but Theophilus and Timotheos and Clement have calculated
and recorded the years with greater accuracy.12
The text as I print it is the one presented byThurn, who includes in Italic retroversions
from the Slavonic translation. Once integrated in the text, they allow a different read-
ing of the text from the one suggested by the briefer version in the Baroccianus. With
9 Eusebius, Hieronymi Chronkon praefatio 7, 15 Helm (ex nostris Clemens et Africanus et Tatianus). Cf.
Eusebius, Chronkon 48, 9 Karst.
10 Meier (2003), p. 456.
11 Malalas, Chronographia XVIII 8.
12 Jeffreys/Jeffreys/Scott (1986), p. 247, adapted.