George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 584.8-584.16
https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/350
Context
George Syncellus (“cellmate”), whose career spanned the late 8th to
very early 9th centuries, was a Palestinian monk before his appointment as the assistant
to Tarasius, Patriarch of Contantinople. Apparently facing hostility from the emperor
Nicephorus I, he retired to monastic solitude in ca. 808, where he devoted himself to
writing his Chronographic Selection (Ἐκλογὴ Χρονογραφίας). This work was
a universal history in the form of a synchronic tabulation by year, following the
chronographic models of the Late Antique Near East and Egypt that were rooted in the
works of Sextus Julius Africanus and Eusebius of Caesarea. In his entry under the 188th
Olympiad (28 B.C.E.), George listed the foundation of cities by Herod the Great,
including Caesarea.
Text
Μετὰ Ἀλεξανδρείας ἅλωσιν ὀλυμπιὰς ἤχθη ρπηʹἩρώδης ἐπικτίσας τῶν
Γαβινίων πόλιν τήν ποτε Σαμάρειαν, Σεβαστὴν αὐτὴν προσηγόρευσε· τὸ δὲ ἐπίνειον αὐτῆς τὸν
Στράτωνος πύργον πολίσας ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ
Καισάρειαν ἐκάλεσεν, ἐφ’ ἑκάτερα ναὸν ἐγείρας Ὀκταουίῳ.
ὕστερον δὲ καὶ Ἀντιπατρίδα κτίζει ἐν τῷ Λυδῷ πεδίῳ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ πατρός, καὶ τοὺς περὶ
τὴν Σεβαστὴν οἰκοῦντας, ὧν ἀφείλατο τὴν γῆν, ἐγκατῴκισεν ἐν αὐτῇ. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ ἑτέρας
πόλεις, καὶ τοῖς μὲν Ἰουδαίοις βαρὺς ἦν, τοῖς δὲ ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι δεξιώτατος.1
Textual Note
Ed. Dindorf 1829Textual Note
Minor corr. J. L. Rife with ref. to Mosshammer 1984Translation
After the conquest of Alexandria, the 188th Olympiad began.Herod
re-established the city of the Gabinioi, formerly Samaria, giving it the name Sebaste.
After building its port, Straton’s Tower, into a city, he called
it Caesarea after the same person, and erected in each city a
temple to Octavius. Later he built Antipatris in the Lyddian plain, named after his
father; those dwelling around Sebaste, whose land he had taken, he resettled in this
city. He also founded other cities, and, while oppressive to the Jews, he was most
benevolent to the other peoples.2
Translation Note
Adapted from Adler and Tuffin 2002 with ref. to Dindorf 1829Works Cited
- 1 George Syncellus, Georgius Syncellus et Nicephorus Cp. I, ed. Wilhelm Dindorfius, vol. 1, 2 vols., Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae (Bonn: Weber, 1829), p: 584.8-584.16.
- 2 George Syncellus, The Chronography of George Synkellos: A Byzantine Chronicle of Universal History from the Creation, trans. William Adler and Paul Tuffin (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), p: 444-445.
Additional Bibliography
- Origen, Der Brief des Origenes an Gregorios Thaumaturgos [Letter to Gregory the Miracle-Worker], in Des Gregorios Thaumaturgos Dankrede an Origenes, ed. Paul Koetschau, Sammlung ausgewählter kirchen- und dogmengeschichtlicher Quellenschriften 9 (Freiburg & Leipzig: Mohr, 1894), 40–44, p: 373.1-373.8.
How to Cite This Entry
Joseph L. Rife, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 584.8-584.16,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published June 30, 2023, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/350.
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Bibliography:
Joseph L. Rife, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 584.8-584.16.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2023. Entry published June 30, 2023. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/350.About this Entry
Entry Title: George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 584.8-584.16
Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:
- Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
- Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
- David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editor, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 584.8-584.16”
- Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 584.8-584.16”
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