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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


The Paschal Chronicle records that in 465 a major fire in Constantinople took place on the feast day of *Mamas (martyr of Kaisareia/Caesarea, Cappadocia, S00436). Written in Greek at Constantinople, c. 630.

Evidence ID

E07984

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Paschal Chronicle, s.a. 465

Μεθ᾿ ἡμέρας δὲ τρίακοντα ἐκάησαν τἦς πόλεως ἀπὸ θεομηνίας ῥεγεῶνες η' μηνὶ γορπιαίῳ σεπτεμβρίου β', ἡμέρᾳ δ', ἰνδικτιῶνος γ', ἐν τῇ συvάξει τοῦ ἁγίου Μαμᾶ.

'After thirty days, 8 regions of the city were burnt as a result of God’s wrath in the month Gorpiaeus, on 2nd
September, a Wednesday in indiction 3, on the Feast-day of St. Mamas.'


Text: Dindorf 1832, 595.
Translation: Whitby and Whitby 1989, 87.

Festivals

Dating by saint’s festival

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

According to Whitby and Whitby 1989, 87, n. 285, the Chronicle misdates this event, which actually took place in 464.


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).


Record Created By

David Lambert

Date of Entry

03/09/2020

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00436Mamas, martyr of Kaisareia/Caesarea of CappadociaΜαμᾶςCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E07984 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07984