The so-called Barbarus Scaligeri, a Latin translation of a lost Greek chronography dating from the 6th c., refers to the martyrdom of *Dorotheos (martyr of Alexandria under Valens, S02784) at Alexandria in 371.
Evidence ID
E07182
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Barbarus Scaligeri 284-6
Gratiano Augustalio secundo clarissimo
Sub eodem Tatiano
Eo anno martyrizavit beatus Dorotheus in Alexandria VII idos Octobris, quod est Faofi duodecimo: ferarum esca traditus est sub Tatiano praeside, pro quo tunc erant heretici.
'[Consulship of] Gratian Augustalius [sic], clarissimus, for the second time [= 371]
Under the same Tatianus [governor of Egypt]
In this year the blessed Dorotheus was martyred in Alexandria on the 7th day before the Ides of October [9 October], which is the twelfth day of Faof: he was handed over as the food of beasts under the governor Tatianus, whom the heretics then supported.'
Text: Mommsen 1892, 295.
Translation: David Lambert.
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesHeretics
Heretics
Officials
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 reference to the martyrdom of a certain Dorotheus in Alexandria in 371 at the hands of 'heretics' (i.e. the Homoian regime of the emperor Valens) is undoubtedly based on the lost Alexandrian city chronicle. The only other text to mention Dorotheus is the chronicle of Theophanes, based on the same source (E08006). Neither of these texts reveals any further information about the identity of Dorotheus or the specific actions that led to his killing, but it is evident from the reference here to Tatianus as governor of Egypt (Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus = PLRE I, 'Tatianus 5') that the general context was a campaign launched by Tatianus against supporters of Athanasius of Alexandria after his death in 373. This is described in general terms by Rufinus in his continuation of Eusebius' church history (11.2). Tatianus' persecution can be dated from other sources to 373/4, rather than 371 as given here.Bibliography
Edition:Mommsen, T., in Chronice 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 | S02874 | Dorotheos, martyr of Alexandria under Valens | Dorotheus | Certain |
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