Evidence ID
E08115
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Barbarus Scaligeri 148-9
XCIIII Nerone Augusto tertio et Posone.
Hisdem consulibus passus est beatus Petrus apostolus crucifixus in Roma capite deorsum sub Nerone. Similiter et sanctus Paulus apostolus capite truncatus. Martyrizaverunt III kal. Iulias quod est Epifi V.
'94 [Consulship of] Nero Augustus for the third time and Poso [sic: Piso]. [= AD 57]
Under the same consuls the blessed Peter the Apostle was martyred in Rome, crucified with his head downwards, under Nero. Similarly also the holy Paul the Apostle was beheaded. They were martyred on the 3rd day before the Kalends of July [= 29 June], which is the 5th of Epiphi.'
Text: Mommsen 1892, 283.
Translation: David Lambert.
Festivals
Saint’s feast
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 presence of an Egyptian date (correctly matching its Roman equivalent) in this otherwise conventional entry for the martyrdom of Peter and Paul is a sign of the Alexandrian provenance of the Greek original of the Barbarus Scaligeri (The '94' at the beginning of the dating rubric is the number of years since the beginning of the reign of Augustus.)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
24/12/2020
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E08115 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08115