The Paschal Chronicle records that in 453 the head of *John the Baptist (S00020) was discovered at Emesa in Syria. Written in Greek at Constantinople, c. 630.
E07961
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Paschal Chronicle, s.a. 453
Ἐπὶ τῶν προκειμένων ὑπάτων Βινκομάλου καὶ Ὀπιλίωνος, βασιλευόντων Οὐαλεντινιανοῦ καὶ Μαρκιανοῦ Αὐγούστων μηνὶ περιτίῳ πρὸ ιβ' καλανδῶν μαρτίων τῇ μέσῃ ἑβδομάδι τῶν νηστειῶν ἔτους Συρομακεδόνων ψξγ', Ἀντιοχέων φα', καὶ υκε' ἔτους ἀφ᾿ οὗ ἀπετμήθη ὁ ἃγιος πρόδρομος προφήτης καὶ βαπτιστὴς Ἰωάννης, ηὑρέθη ἡ τιμία αὐτοῦ κεφαλὴ ἐν τῇ Ἐμεσηνῶν πόλει.
'In the time of the aforementioned consuls Vincomalus and Opilio, while Valentinian and Marcian Augusti were emperors, in the month Peritius, on day 12 before Kalends of March [18 Feb.], in the middle week of Lent, in Syromacedonian year 763, Antiochene year 501, and year 425 after the holy Precursor, Prophet, and Baptist John was beheaded, his precious head was found in the Emesene city.'
Text: Dindorf 1832, 591.
Translation: Whtiby and Whitby 1989, 82.
Bodily relic - head
Discovering, finding, invention and gathering of relics
Source
The Chronicon Paschale (paschal or Easter chronicle) is a chronicle compiled at Constantinople in the first half of the 7th century. It covers events from the creation of the world up to the anonymous author's own time. The Chronicle probably concluded with the year 630 (see Whitby and Whitby 1989, xi), though the surviving text breaks off slightly earlier, in the entry for 628. The traditional name for the Chronicle originates from its introductory section, which discusses methods for calculating the date of Easter. The Chronicle survives thanks to a single manuscript, Vatican, Gr. 1941 (10th c.), on which all other surviving manuscripts depend. The only critical edition remains that of Ludwig Dindorf (1832).The chronicler uses multiple chronological systems to date events: Olympiads, consular years, indictions, and years from the Ascension, as well as using Roman, Greek, and sometimes Egyptian dates (see Whitby and Whitby 1989, x). Numerous literary sources are utilised for the period before the author's own time, including well-known historical sources such as Eusebius and John Malalas. We have not included entries for material in the Paschal Chronicle which simply reproduces material in earlier sources already entered in our database.
Discussion
Here the Chronicle includes the story of the discovery of the head of John the Baptist at Emesa (Homs) in Syria in 453: a version that became widespread (for fuller accounts see E03602, E07072). This is notwithstanding its previous inclusion of an account of the discovery of the head in the reign of Theodosius I (E07956).Bibliography
Edition:Dindorf, L., Chronicon Paschale (Bonn, 1832).
Translation:
Whitby, M., and Whitby, M., Chronicon Paschale 284-628 AD (Translated Texts for Historians 7; Liverpool, 1989).
David Lambert
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Ἰωάννης | 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, E07961 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07961