Byzantine Authors Research Articles

The chronicle of John Malalas (review)

Reviews 141 internal economic and socid influences in laying the foundation for a harmonious blend of self-interest and some sort of inherent commund regard for the public good, dl of which, in the author's view, came to an end with the tighterregulationand control experienced in the foUowing century. John Wdmsley Department of History Macquarie Umversity Malalas, J. The chronicle of John Malalas, trans. E. Jeffreys, M . Jeffreys, R. Scott, et d. (Byzantina Australiensia 4), Melbourne, Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1986; pp.xU, 371; R.RP. A U S $27.00. The chronicle of the sixth century Byzantine author John Malalas covers the history of the world from the creation of Adam to the reign of Justinian. It has not been preserved well. A n eleventh century manuscript contdns most of the text but a number of foUos are missing and, beyond this, it is clear that it abbreviates a good ded of the origind. To an extent its deficiencies can be repaired by consulting earlier materid that M d d a s may be presumed to have used and later Greek authors, not dl of them published, who excerpted or paraphrased Mdalas. More distantly, Armenian and Syriac materid which stands in some relation to the origind text can determine what M d d a s may have written, as can the Ethiopian translation of an Arabic translation of a Greek (and Coptic?) chronicle by John of Nikiu, generally cited in a translation into EngUsh. If this were not enough, there is dso a fairly full medievd translation of the text into Slavomc. The task confronting thoseresponsiblefor this new translation of Maldas into EngUsh was therefore immense. They decided to provide a translation of the eleventh century manuscript which Dindorf took as the base for his edition in the Bonn corpus (1831) and to provide a subtext introducing materid from other sources. They promise a forthcoming volume which wUl provide a rationde for some of the decisions they have taken. For the time being it can be sdd that they have performed their labours on the text with amazing thoroughness and that, quite apart from its value as a translation, this book is by far the best cunently available guide to what Malalas may have written. But most readers of the volume will simply use it as a translation of a difficult text As it happens there is dready a translation of the Slavonic original of books VIII-XVIII (the last book incomplete), that by Matthew Spinka in collaboration with Glanville Downey (Chicago 1940), and the comparison of two passages will enable theirrespectivemerits to be assessed. 142 Reviews Firstly, from p.372 of Dindorfs text: 'During his reign, Czar Leo fought a terrible naval battle with Zinzirich the Vandal, the Czar of Africa' (Spinka/Downey); 'Leo in the time of his reign began a campdgn agdnst Geiseric the Vandd, king of the Africans, fighting a tremendous sea-battle' (Jeffreys/Jeffreys/Scott). Not only is the latter version closer to the origind in its verbd precision, but intitulatureas well. To take another example, from p.383 of Dindorfs text: 'During [Zeno's] reign, Theuderich (Pheodorit), the son of Vdemar, the Stratelates in praesenti, who had been deposed from the consdship, seeing what befell Armanis, feared the Czar' (Spinka/Downey). This is a woefd guide to the meaning of the passage. It is translated more conectly as 'During his reign the ex-consul Theoderic, the son of Vdamer, who had been brought up and educated in Constantinople, was magister mihtum praesentalis. But dter seeing what had happened to Armatus he became draid of the emperor Zeno' (Jeffreys/Jeffreys/Scott). Students approaching Theoderic via the index will be misled by a mistaken conflation of him with Theoderic the Visigoth. They may have found it usefd beingtoldthat Theoderic was certdnly not Vdamer's son, dthough a footnote reference to PLRE 2 which is suppUed would dlow them to clear this up, and could have been interested in the fact that M d d a s spelt Theoderic's name SeuSepixoc,. Here, as elsewhere, the translators amend his spelling of proper names to bring it into conformity with received usage. But there can...

Latin Nenia and the Armenian Galen Dictionary

The Latin word nenia 'lament' appears with small frequency but clear meaning in various authors from Plautus to Sextus Festus. In a number of its appearances it is said to be of Greek provenance, though no supporting example of vrlvia appears in a Classical Greek text. A single example of Gk. vrlvia is found in the sixth century Byzantine author John of Lydia, though, as we shall see, under suspicious circumstances. However, in a recently edited Greek-Armenian dictionary of pharmaceutical terms, known as the Galen Dictionary, the word vrlvia mysteriously appears, appropriately glossed as 'lament, grief. These are the points I wish to discuss in this brief paper. In Latin, the use of nenia by Cicero and Horace is particularly clear. In the de legibus (2.24.62) it appears as follows:

The Sinful Woman as an Example of Metanoia in the Byzantian Poetry

Sinful Woman as an Example of Metanoia in the Byzantian Poetry
 A story about the sinful woman is told in the Gospel, where she is an example of deep repentance. The Byzantine authors often used this example in their poetic and homiletic works. In this article I juxtapose three genres of Byzantine poetry and I compare the literary motif of the sinful woman which appears in each of them. I choose the most representative genres of Byzantine poetry, as kontakion, kanon and troparion (or sticheron). In the first part I examine Romanos’ kontakion On the sinful woman, in the second one – Andrew of Crete’s the Megas Kanon and in the last part – Kassia’s troparion, commonly called On Mary Magdalene. The works are connected by the common theme, but they are different in respect of the form and the literary genre. In my paper I try to show how the same example of the Gospel parable is used in different ways in literary works.

On the Problem of Sea Voyages of Ancient Africans in the Indian Ocean

Ancient and early Byzantine authors: Diodorus (II, 55), ‘Pseudo-Callisthenes’, Cosmas Indicopleustes and Procopius Caesarensis—mention the navigation of the Indian Ocean by ‘Ethiopians’ of the African Horn and the Axumite Kingdom in their own ships. The hoard of Kushana gold moneys found at Dabra-Dammo confirms this. The legend in the Kebra Nagast of Ethiopian military expeditions to India incorporates reminiscences about sea voyages to India by ancient Axumites.

The Contribution of French Jurists to the Humanism of the Renaissance1

How to define humanism as a description of the intellectual activities of the Renaissance is a much vexed question. Whereas Italian humanism was dominated by the professional rhetoricians who imitated classical models and founded classical philology, French humanism, stimulated by the discovery of Greek learning, preoccupied by moral problems, attempted to achieve a fusion of Christian and classical erudition. The interests of the humanists, which included Greek fathers of the church and Byzantine authors as well as the traditional classic writers, were encyclopedic, as in Budé and Jacques Peletier, and philosophic, as in Montaigne and Charron.Although humanists were to be found in all classes of society, from nobles, ecclesiastics, courtiers, professors, and doctors to printers and merchants, the legal profession appears to have had among its members more distinguished humanists than are to be found in any other one group.

On the Origins of the Antae

THE ANTAR are considered the forefathers of the Eastern, or Russian, Slavs.' They are mentioned by the historian of the Goths Jordanis,2 as well as by the following Byzantine authors of the 6th and the 7th century A. D.: Procopius,3 Agathias,4 Menander,5 Mauricius,6 Theophilactus Simocattes; 7 and Theophanes of the 8th century.8 There is also a reference to The land of the (Anthaib) in the Origo gentis Langobardorum of the second half of the 7th century as well as in the History of the Langobards, by Paul Diaconus, of the 8th century.9 The Antae were likewise known to Syriac historiography. They probably were mentioned by John of Ephesus in Book VI, Chapter 48, of his Church history, but we know only the title of this

Blackwell's Byzantine Hand List. A catalogue of Byzantine authors and books on Byzantine literature, history, religion, art, archaeology, etc. Pp. viii + 68. Oxford: Blackwell, 1938. Cloth, 2s. 6d.; interleaved, 3s. 6d.

Blackwell's Byzantine Hand List. A catalogue of Byzantine authors and books on Byzantine literature, history, religion, art, archaeology, etc. Pp. viii + 68. Oxford: Blackwell, 1938. Cloth, 2s. 6d.; interleaved, 3s. 6d. - Volume 52 Issue 5