Evidence ID
E07178
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Barbarus Scaligeri 240-41
Nepotiano et Facundo clarissimorum
Hisdem cosulibus translati sunt in Constantinopolim sanctus Andreas apostolus et Lucas evangelista X kl. Iulias.
'[Consulship of] Nepotianus and Facundus clarissimi [= 336]
Under the same consuls Saint Andrew the Apostle and Luke the Evangelist were translated to Constantinople on the 10th day before the Kalends of July [22 June].'
Text: Mommsen 1892, 293.
Translation: David Lambert.
FestivalsBodily relic - unspecified
Anniversary of relic invention/translation
RelicsBodily relic - unspecified
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Transfer/presence of relics from distant countries
Source
The Barbarus Scaligeri, also known as the Excerpta latina barbari (literally, 'Scaliger's barbarian' and 'Latin excerpts of a barbarian'), is a Latin translation of a late-antique Greek chronographical compilation. Its modern titles originate from the opinions of its first modern editor, Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1609), who was contemptuous of what he regarded as the author's very bad Latin and incompetent translation from Greek. Some contemporary scholars have suggested using a less prejudicial title: thus R.W. Burgess refers to it as the Chronographia Scaligeriana (Burgess 2013, 2-3 and passim). The text survives in a single manuscript: Paris, BnF, Lat. 4884 (digitised: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84790083). This was dated by 19th c. editors such as Mommsen to the 7th or early 8th century, but the most recent assessment is that it was copied in the 770s or 780s at the monastery of Corbie in northern Francia (Burgess 2013, 20-21). The manuscript is probably contemporaneous with the translation (Burgess 2013, 6, and for discussion of the translator's possible background, ibid. 21-27).The Barbarus Scaligeri as a whole is a compilation of texts, including biblical genealogies, lists of monarchs, and geographical information. Among its contents is a list of consuls, which occasionally includes notes of historical events, including several relating to saints. Burgess identifies the Greek original of this as dating from about the 530s (Burgess 2013, 18-19, 42). A number of entries are based on a now lost local chronicle from Alexandria in Egypt (Burgess 2013, 3, 14-15); this was either the same text as the Alexandrian chronicle used by Theophanes (see e.g. E08006), or a closely related one. The Greek original used by the translator was illustrated, and the manuscript leaves spaces for illustrations to be added; however, this never happened.
Discussion
The translation of the bodies of Andrew and Luke to Constantinople is here dated to 336, towards the end of the reign of Constantine, rather than the more commonly given date of 357, under his son Constantius II (see e.g. the Paschal Chronicle, E07986). Burgess 2003, 24-34, argues that this is not an error, but records a translation of relics by Constantine, separate from the one in 357.Bibliography
Edition:Mommsen, T., in Chronice Minora I (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores antiquissimi 9; Berlin, 1892), 290-298.
Further reading:
Burgess, R.W., "The Passio S. Artemii, Philostorgius, and the dates of the invention and translations of the relics of Sts Andrew and Luke," Analecta Bollandiana 121 (2003), 5-36.
Burgess, R.W., "The Date, Purpose, and Historical Context of the Original Greek and the Latin Translation of the So-Called Excerpta latina barbari," Traditio 68 (2013), 1-56.
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
23/12/2020
ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00288 | Andrew, the Apostle | Andreas | Certain | S00442 | Luke, the Evangelist | Lucas | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E07178 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07178