John Malalas, in his Chronographia (14.20), mentions the rebuilding of the shrine of *Anthimos (bishop and martyr of Nicomedia, S00124) in Nicomedia (north-west Asia Minor, near Constantinople) after an earthquake under Theodosius II (r. 408-450). Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria) or Constantinople, in the mid-6th c.
Evidence ID
E05719
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Major author/Major anonymous work
John Malalas
John Malalas, Chronographia, 14.20
Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς αὐτοῦ βασιλείας ἔπαθεν ὑπὸ θεομηνίας Νικομήδεια, μητρόπολις τῆς Βιθυνίας, τὸ πέμπτον αὐτῆς πάθος ἑσπέρας βαθείας καὶ ἀπώλετο εἰς γῆν καὶ εἰς θάλασσαν καταποντισθεῖσα. καὶ πολλὰ ἔκτισεν ἐκεῖ καὶ τὰ δημόσια καὶ τοὺς ἐμβόλους καὶ τὸν λιμένα καὶ τὰ θεώρια καὶ τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀνθίμου καὶ πάσας τὰς ἐκκλησίας αὐτῆς.
‘During his reign Nikomedeia, the metropolis of Bithynia, suffered its fifth calamity from the wrath of God. It happened late in the evening, and the city was razed to the ground and flooded by the sea. Theodosius built many buildings there including the public baths, the colonnades, the harbour, the public arenas, the martyrium of St Anthimos, and all the city's churches.’
Text: Thurn 2000. Translation Jeffreys, Jeffreys, and Scott 1986.
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical Activity
Cult building - independent (church)
Martyr shrine (martyrion, bet sāhedwātā, etc.)
Non Liturgical ActivityRenovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMonarchs and their family
Source
The Chronographia of John Malalas (c. 490–c. 570) is a Christian chronicle of universal history, from Adam to the death of Justinian I (565). It appears to have been composed in two parts, the earlier of which focuses on the history of Antioch and the East, ending in c. 528 or 532. The second part focuses on the urban history of Constantinople up to the death of Justinian. Malalas is likely to have pursued a career in the imperial administration at both Antioch and Constantinople, writing the two parts of his chronicle while living in these two cities.Malalas was widely used as a source by Byzantine chroniclers and historians, including John of Ephesus, John of Antioch, Evagrius Scholasticus, the Paschal Chronicle, John of Nikiu, John of Damascus, Theophanes, George the Monk, pseudo-Symeon, Kedrenos, Zonaras, Theodore Skoutariotes, and Nikephoros Kallistou Xanthopoulos.
The text of the chronicle is preserved in a very fragmentary form, based on quotations in other sources (notably the Paschal Chronicle and Theophanes), and on a Slavonic translation which follows a more extensive version of the original text. It is believed that we now have about 90% of the text.
On the composition and manuscript tradition of the text, see Thurn 2000, and:
http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/1298/
Discussion
According to the Life of Theodoros of Sykeon, this shrine of Anthimos was located in the suburb of Optatianae, outside the east walls of Nicomedia (E05283).Bibliography
Text:Dindorf, L., Ioannis Malalae Chronographia (Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae; Bonn, 1831).
Thurn, J., Ioannis Malalae Chronographia (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 35; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2000).
Translation:
Jeffreys, E., Jeffreys, M., and Scott, R., The Chronicle of John Malalas: A Translation (Sydney, 1986).
On Malalas:
Carrara, L., Meier, M., and Radtki-Jansen, C. (eds.), Die Weltchronik des Johannes Malalas. Quellenfragen (Malalas-Studien 2; Göttingen: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2017).
Jeffreys, E., Croke, B., and Scott, R. (eds.), Studies in John Malalas (Sydney, 1990).
Meier, M., Radtki-Jansen, C., and Schulz, F. (eds.), Die Weltchronik des Johannes Malalas: Autor, Werk, Überlieferung (Malalas-Studien 1; Göttingen: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2016).
Treadgold, W.T. The Early Byzantine Historians (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 235-256.
Further reading:
Janin, R., Les eglises et les monastères des grands centres Byzantins (Bithynie, Hellespont, Latros, Galèsios, Trébizonde, Athènes, Thessalonique) (Paris, 1975), 83.
Record Created By
Efthymios Rizos
Date of Entry
21/06/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00124 | Anthimos, bishop and martyr of Nicomedia | Ἄνθιμος | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Efthymios Rizos, Cult of Saints, E05719 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05719