John Malala

The "Chronography" of John Malala is the first worldwide chronicle to come to us (breaks off at 563 , some manuscripts bring the account to 565 - the death of Justinian and the accession of Justin II), created in Byzantium . The full Greek text (with the exception of the initial fragment) is preserved in the only list of the XII century , stored in Oxford ^[3] . Chronography was translated into Old Slavonic (presumably in the 10th century ) from an earlier list than Oxford, and is known for its extracts from various Russian medieval chronographic compilations. The main textual problem is the lack of a stable text and a single authoritative publication. Since the publication of I. Thurn in 2000 did not quite fulfill such a task, work on a new edition was begun in France.

The structure of "Chronography" is chronologically divided into 18 books:

• Books 1, 2, 4: retelling of ancient Greek myths or ancient history;
• Book 3: biblical history;
• Book 5: the history of the Trojan War according to the artistic version of Dictis of Crete (author of the 1st – 2nd centuries, “Description of the Trojan War”);
• Book 6: Persian kings, Lydian king Croesus , Macedonian kings and the beginning of Rome ;
• Book 7: Romulus and Remus, the first Roman kings before Tarquinius ;
• Book 8: Alexander , Ptolemaic and Seleucid Dynasties;
• Books 9-12: Julius Caesar and the Roman Emperors before Constantius Chlorus ;
• Books 13-18: Roman and Byzantine emperors from Constantine the Great to Justinian I.

John did not write in the classical ancient Greek language, but uses an early medieval common Greek dialect with colloquial elements of speech. The style of the chronicle allows us to attribute it not so much to a historical composition as to an entertaining presentation of history in a way that is understandable to ordinary people, which allowed John to convey ancient historiography and pagan mythology from the perspective of a Christian worldview. Sometimes the content of the original sources is distorted, mythical characters are mixed with historical figures , entertaining facts are set out to the detriment of the description of historical events. The chronicle is based on many different sources, including works by ancient authors, but the chronicler uses them on later compilations of Roman and Byzantine times. An uncritical approach to the sources and their free retelling combined with the insufficient education of the author (compared to his contemporaries Procopius and Agathius ) led to the fact that the Christian-Byzantine composition of John Malala (especially in the first 15 books) contains absurd errors and anachronisms.

Starting from the events under the emperor Zeno (reigned 474–491), John expounds them from the words of contemporaries and eyewitnesses, and from that time the chronicle is considered a valuable historical source.

The chronicle gained popularity primarily due to the moralizing style within the framework of the biblical tradition, which became especially appreciated during the period of the establishment of feudal ideology in Byzantium, when the so-called monastic historiography began to develop. The "chronography" of John Malala was widely used by later authors ( John of Ephesus , John of Antioch , John of Nikiu ), with whom Malala was often confused. After the 11th century, references to it by Byzantine authors disappear.

For the first time, extracts from the Slavonic translation of The Chronography of John Malala are noted in the 3rd edition of The Tale of Bygone Years under 1114 (summer 6622). In the description of miracles there is narrated about cases from the past taken from Malala. ^[4] In the same chronicle, the old Russian scribe, using a free retelling by the translator of several chapters from the 1st, 2nd, 4th books of the Chronography, identifies the ancient Greek gods with the pagan deities of the Slavic pantheon:

“The reigning thing is Theostos [ Hephaestus ] in Egupt, during the time of his reign recession klashchѣ from heaven”, began to lay down arms, moreover, with clubs and stone. Feosta, too, was under the law that you set your wife and sisters to one husband and walk in a reverential manner, and others who love them, execute them. For this sake, the nickname ̀ and God Svarog ... And according to the seven king’s sons, his name is the Sun [ Helios ], it’s also called Dazhdbog ... The sun is king, son of Svarogov, even though there is Dazhbog, God’s man is strong. ” ^[5]

Russian, then Soviet academician V.M. Istrin collected from various manuscripts and studied the Slavic translation of John Malala. He did not give an unambiguous answer about the place and time of the translation of "Chronography" into the Slavic language, although he admitted the possibility of the Malala translator belonging to the philological school of the Bulgarian enlightener of the 10th century, John Exarch .

Editions:

• John Malala. "Chronography." Edition Venice. 1733 year. Greek text with Latin translation.
• Dindorf Edition (1831) (unavailable link from 05/01/2018 [539 days]) Greek text with Latin translation.
• PG , 97 vol., 1865 Greek text with Latin translation.
• Johannes Thurn (ed.). Ioannis Malalae Chronographia / Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae (CFHB) 35. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2000. ISBN 3-11-008800-2

Translations:

• Istrin V. M. Chronicle of John Malala in the Slavic translation. SPb. , 1897 - 1914 .
• The Chronicle of John Malalas : A Translation by Elizabeth Jeffreys, Michael Jeffreys, Roger Scott et al. / Byzantina Australiensia 4. Melbourne: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1986 . 371 p. ISBN 0-9593626-2-2
• John Malala. Words II, V [passages] // From the shores of the Bosphorus to the shores of the Euphrates / Per. and comm. S. S. Averintseva. M .: Science (GRVL). 1987.360 s. S. 241-251.
• John Malala. Book V. About the times of the Trojan [passages] // Monuments of Byzantine literature of the 4th — 9th centuries / Otv. ed. L.A. Freiberg. M .: Science. 1968.S. 182-195.
• John Malala. Chronography Book VIII. 11, 13, 15 [passages] // Talakh V.N. Everything that King Demetrius Desires / Ed. V.N. Talah, S.A. Kuprienko. - K .: Vidavets Kuprіnko S.A., 2013 .-- 229 p. - ISBN 978-617-7085-01-9 .
• John Malala. Chronography Book IX / Per. K.O. Popkova, ed. N. N. Bolgova // Classical and Byzantine tradition. 2014. Belgorod, 2014.S. 334-340. ISBN 978-5-9905516-8-8
• John Malala. Chronography Book XI / Per. N. N. Bolgova // Classical and Byzantine tradition. 2014. Belgorod, 2014.S. 340—346. ISBN 978-5-9905516-8-8
• John Malala. Chronography Book XIII / Per. N. N. Bolgova // Scientific Result. Social and humanitarian research. No. 1. 2014.S. 85-92.
• John Malala. Chronography Books XIV — XVI [passages] / Per. L.A. Samutkina // Evagrius Scholastic. Church history. T. III. St. Petersburg: Aletheia, 2003.
• John Malala. Chronography Book XVII / Per. L.A. Samutkina // Forms of historical consciousness from late antiquity to the Renaissance (studies and texts). Collection of scientific works in memory of K. D. Avdeeva. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 2000.
• John Malala. Chronography Book XVIII / Per. A.A. Chekalova // Procopius of Caesarea. The war with the Persians. War with the Vandals. Secret History / Transl. with Greek., vst. Art., comment. A.A. Chekalova. St. Petersburg: Aletheia, 2001.S. 467-496.
• John Malala. Chronography Prince I — VI / Resp. ed. N. N. Bolgov // World of Late Antiquity. Documents and materials. - Vol. 6. - Belgorod: NRU "BelSU", 2016. - 156 p.
• John Malala. Chronography Prince VII — XII / Resp. ed. N. N. Bolgov // World of Late Antiquity. Documents and materials. - Vol. 7. - Belgorod: NRU "BelSU", 2016. - 100 p.
• John Malala. Chronography Prince XIII — XVIII / Res. ed. N. N. Bolgov // World of Late Antiquity. Documents and materials. - Vol. 2 / Ans. ed. N. N. Bolgov. - Belgorod: NRU "BelSU", 2014. - 200 p.

Research:

• Samutkina L. A. The concept of history in the "Chronography" of John Malala. Ivanovo: IvSU, 2001.143 s.
• Chernysheva M. I. Byzantinism in the language of the Chronicles of John Malala. Abstract. diss. ... K. Filol. n M., 1987.
• Recherches sur la Chronique de Jean Malalas. I / Ed. par Joelle Beaucamp avec la collaboration de S. Agusta-Boularot, A.-M. Bernardi, B. Cabouret, Emmanuele Caire (College de France - CNRS, Center de Recherche d'Histoire et Civilization de Byzance. Monographies. 15). P., 2004.205 p.
• Recherches sur la chronique de Jean Malalas. II / Ed. par S. Agusta-Boularot, J. Beaucamp, A.-M. Bernardi, E. Caire (College de France - CNRS, Center de Recherche d'Histoire et Civilization de Byzance. Monographies. 24). Association des Amis du Center d'Histoire et Civilization de Byzance. P., 2006.288 p.
• Studies in John Malalas / Ed. E. Jeffreys, B. Croke and R. Scott. Sidney, 1990.
• Jeffreys E. The beginning of Byzantine chronography: John Malalas // Greek & Roman Historiography in Late Antiquity (fourth to sixth century AD) / Ed. G. Marasco. Leiden, 2003. P. 497-527.
• Treadgold W. John Malalas // The early Byzantine historians. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. P. 235-246.
• Udaltsova, Z. V. Worldview of the Byzantine chronicler John Malala // VV. 1971.Vol. 37.S. 3-23.
• Lyubarsky Y. N. "Chronography" of John Malala (compositional problems) // him. Byzantine historians and writers. St. Petersburg, 1999.S. 7-20.
• Lyubarsky Y. N. Heroes of the "Chronography" of John Malala // his own. Byzantine historians and writers. St. Petersburg, 1999.S. 21-30.
• Shustorovich E.M. Ancient Slavonic translation of the Chronicle of John Malala (history of study) // VV. 1969.V. 30.S. 136-152.
• Tvorogov O. V. Chronicle of John Malala // Dictionary of scribes and books of Ancient Russia . L.: Science, 1987. Issue. I (XI - the first half of the XIV century.).
• Samutkina L. A. The concept of the legendary history of John Malala // Forms of historical consciousness from late antiquity to the Renaissance (Studies and texts). Ivanovo, 2000.S. 41-58.
• Samutkina L.A. Antique sculpture in the Early Byzantine "Chronography" of John Malala // Aristey. No. 1. 2010.P. 154-163.
• Samutkina L. A. Oracle in the Early Byzantine Chronography of John Malala // Bulletin of Ivanovo State University. 2007. No. 1. S. 39-45.
• Samutkina L. A. Documentary "Chronographies" of John Malala // Kupriyanov Readings - 2009. Collection of scientific articles and materials: On the 90th anniversary of honors. scientist, d. n., prof. P.V. Kupriyanovsky. Ivanovo, 2011.
• Samutkina L. A. Model of civilization in the "Chronography" of John Malala // Personality. The culture. Society. T. 5. Special. issue 1-2 (19-20). Ivanovo, 2003.
• Samutkina L. A. City in the "Chronography" of John Malala // Personality - Idea - Text: Toward a Culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: Sat. scientific tr in honor of the 65th anniversary of N.V. Revyakina. Ivanovo 2001.S. 33-47.
• Samutkina L. A. Description of natural disasters in the "Chronography" of John Malala // Historical thought and historiography at the turn of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 2000.
• Kobzeva A. V. “The Byzantine Logos” of John Malala // Karazinsky reading (historical science). Kharkiv, 2014.S. 64-65.
• Kobzeva A.V., Tit M. M. City of Antioch in the "Chronography" of John Malala // Scientific statements of BelSU. Series History. Political science. No. 1 (250), issue 41. 2017.S. 44-59.
• Kobzeva A. V. “Chronography” of John Malala: Antique Tradition and Medialization of Historical Knowledge in Early Byzantium. Cand. diss. 07.00.03. Belgorod, National Research University "BelSU", 2017.

• Malala, John (Neopr.) . Eastern literature . Date of treatment March 29, 2011.
• O. V. Tvorogov . Chronicle of John Malala : publication of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) RAS.
• Byzantine Chronists : A History of Byzantium. Volume 1 / S. D. Skazkin (editor-in-chief) - M .: Nauka, 1967
• John Malala, “Chronography”, Prince XVIII
• Johannes Malalas, book VIII — IX
• HA Meshchersky. Sources and composition of the ancient Slavic-Russian translation of the IX-XV centuries. Chronicle of John Malala. , 1978, Leningrad.
• I.N. Popov / John Malala // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2010. - T. XXIV. - S. 437-443. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-89572-044-8 .