John Malalas, Chronicle 10.46
created: This entry is taken from Chronicle 10.46 written by John Malalas in 530-532 C.E.
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
availability: Except for materials quoted from other sources, this entry is copyright 2023 by the contributors (Joseph L. Rife, et al.) and the Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project. It is licensed under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Some texts quoted in this entry may be in the public domain in the United States. No copyright is asserted for these quotations. Some texts quoted in this entry may have copyright restrictions and are reused under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/241

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at John Malalas, Chronicle 10.46. This passage was written ca. 530-532 C.E. possibly in Antioch on the Orontes. John Malalas, a moniker probably derived from Aramaic malolo meaning “orator”, was an educated Syrian who moved from Antioch to Constantinople early in the reign of Justinian I. His only known work is a historical chronicle in 18 books, apparently composed in two editions, spanning from early times probably to the death of Justinian, with a distinct focus on events in the eastern Mediterranean. In his passage on the reign of Vespasian, John records the emperor’s construction of an odeum in 78 C.E. at Caesarea on the site of a synagogue. This is the only known testimony for the building.

Ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ ἐν Καισαρείᾳ τῆς Παλαιστίνης ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς πραίδας ὁ αὐτὸς Οὐεσπασιανὸς ᾠδεῖον μέγα πάνυ, θεάτρου ἔχον διάστημα μέγα, ὄντος καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ τόπου πρῴην συναγωγῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων.

[Ed. Thurn 2000]

Out of the spoils from Judaea Vespasian also built a very large odeum in Caesarea of Palestine, the size of a large theater. Its site too had previously been that of a Jewish synagogue.

[Adapted from Jeffreys et al. 2017]

Works Cited

[...] 10.46 197
[...] 10.46 221

[Judaea

Palestine]

[Vespasian, emperor]

[Entertainment

Government and Law

Judaism

Roman History

Urban Topography]