Malchus (historian)

Malchus (Ancient Greek: Μάλχος, Málkhos) was a Byzantine historian. According to the Suda, Malchus or Mekselina (among to the seven sleepers on cave) was a Byzantine (i.e. from Constantinople); but Photius states that he was a native of Philadelphia; and his Syriac name makes it probable that Philadelphia was the ancient Rabbah in the country of Ammonitis, east of the River Jordan.

Malchus probably followed his profession of rhetorician or sophist at Constantinople. According to Suda, he wrote a history extending from the reign of Constantine I to that of Anastasius I; but the work in seven books, of which Photius has given an account (Bibl. cod. 78), and to which he gives the title Βυζαντιακά, comprehended only the period from the final sickness of the Eastern emperor Leo I (473 or 474), to the death of Julius Nepos, emperor of the West (480). It has been supposed that this was an extract from the work mentioned by Suidas, or a mutilated copy: that it was incomplete is said by Photius himself, who says that the start of the first of the seven books showed that the author had already written some previous parts, and that the close of the seventh book showed his intention of carrying it further, if his life was spared.

Some scholars, among them Valesius,^[1] have thought that the history of Malchus began with Leo's sickness, and that he was the continuator of Priscus, whose history is supposed to have left off at that point. Barthold Georg Niebuhr^[2] supposed that this coincidence arose from Photius having met with a portion only of the work of Malchus, which had been inserted in some historical Catena after the work of Priscus; or that the history of the previous period had been given by Malchus in another work. Suidas speaks of the history in its whole extent; it may have been published in successive parts, as the author was able to finish it; and Photius possibly had met with only one part.

Photius praises the style of Malchus as a model of historical composition; pure, free from redundancy and consisting of well-selected words and phrases. He notices also his eminence as a rhetorician, and says that he was favourable to Christianity; a statement which has been thought inconsistent with the praises for Pamprepius. The works of Malchus are lost, except the portions contained in the Excerpta of Constantine VII, and some extracts in Suda.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Malchus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Notes

↑ Not. in Excerpt, de Legat.
↑ De Historicis

External links

The surviving portions of his works, in Greek and with Latin translations, can be found in the Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum of Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller, vol. 4.

Byzantine historians

5th century	Malchus Panodorus of Alexandria Priscus

6th century	Agathias Evagrius Scholasticus Hesychius of Miletus John of Ephesus John of Epiphania Jordanes John Malalas Liberatus of Carthage Marcellinus Comes Menander Protector Peter the Patrician Procopius Theodorus Lector Theophanes of Byzantium Zacharias Rhetor Zosimus

7th century	Trajan the Patrician Theophylact Simocatta John of Antioch

8th century	Hippolytus of Thebes

9th century	Theophanes the Confessor George Syncellus Nikephoros I of Constantinople George Hamartolos

10th century	Constantine VII Joseph Genesius John Kaminiates Leo the Deacon Symeon the Metaphrast Theophanes Continuatus

11th century	Michael Attaleiates George Kedrenos Michael Psellos John Skylitzes John Xiphilinus Yahya of Antioch

12th century	Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger Niketas Choniates Eustathius of Thessalonica Michael Glycas Anna Komnene John Kinnamos Constantine Manasses John Zonaras

13th century	George Akropolites

14th century	Nicephorus Gregoras Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos George Pachymeres Michael Panaretos

15th century	John Anagnostes John Cananus Laonikos Chalkokondyles Michael Critobulus Doukas George Sphrantzes

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 4938832 LCCN: n84019671 ISNI: 0000 0000 9034 2602 GND: 100952755 SUDOC: 02790153X BNF: cb11984371t (data)

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