The so-called Barbarus Scaligeri, a Latin translation of a lost Greek chronography dating from the 6th c., refers to the martyrdom of *Timotheus (bishop supposedly martyred at Carthage, S02875), in the year 304. This is probably an error for *Timotheus (martyr of Rome, buried on the via Ostiensis, S00330).
Evidence ID
E07180
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Barbarus Scaligeri 201-2
Diocletiano et Maximo octavo
Hisdem consulibus persecutio Christianorum facta est in occiduum et multi martyrizaverunt, in quibus et Timotheus episcopus in Chartagine gloriosae martyrizavit.
'[Consulship of] Diocletian and Maximus [sic = Maximianus] for the eighth time [= 304].
Under the same consuls persecution of Christians occurred in the West, and many were martyred, among whom also Timotheus the bishop was gloriously martyred in Carthage.'
Text: Mommsen 1892, 291.
Translation: David Lambert.
Festivals
Saint’s feast
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
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
This entry in the Barbarus Scaligeri is almost certainly erroneous, since there is no record of a bishop of Carthage named Timotheus, nor of any other bishop of that name being martyred there. However, the Fasti Vindobonienses priores, another consular list, has under the year equivalent to 306 the following entry: His cons. passus est Thimotheus Romae X kl. Iul. – 'Under these consuls Timotheus was martyred at Rome on 22 June' (Fasti Vind. priores 417; ed. Mommsen 1892, 291). While not a particularly prominent martyr, Timotheus of Rome is recorded in a number of sources together with his martyrdom date (22 August, but sometimes, as here, erroneously given as 22 June). It seems likely, therefore, that this entry in the Barbarus Scaligeri is a simple error (it is unclear why it made Timotheus into a martyr of Carthage rather than Rome, and why it made him a bishop).Bibliography
Edition:Mommsen, T., in Chronica Minora I (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores antiquissimi 9; Berlin, 1892), 290-298.
Further reading:
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 | S00330 | Timotheus, martyr of Rome, buried on the via Ostiensis | Timotheus | Uncertain | S02875 | Timotheus, bishop supposedly martyred at Carthage | Timotheus | Uncertain |
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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, E07180 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07180