George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 632.10-632.20
https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/354
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 for the Year of
the World 5550 (50 C.E.), George summarized various events during the reign of Claudius,
including his appointment of Felix as procurator of Judaea and the Jewish unrest at
Caesarea.
Text
Ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ Φίλιξ Ἰουδαίας ἡγεμονεύειν σταλεὶς πολλῶν καὶ ἄλλων Ἰουδαίων
ἀπατώντων, ἐν οἷς καὶ ὁ Αἰγύπτιος ψευδοπροφήτης, ἅμα τρισμυρίοις μείζοσιν ἐπιχειρῶν
πράγμασι, τῇ Φίλικος κατελύθη στρατηγίᾳ. συμφωνεῖ Ἰώσηππος ἐν τούτῳ ταῖς πράξεσι τῶν
ἀποστόλων, ἔνθα τῷ θείῳ Παύλῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ χιλιάρχου λέλεκται· οὐκ ἄρα σὺ εἶ ὁ Αἰγύπτιος ὁ
πρὸ τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ἀναστατώσας καὶ ἐξαγαγὼν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον τοὺς τετρακισχιλίους
ἄνδρας; ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ Παῦλος ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων κατηγορηθεὶς τὴν ἀπολογίαν πεποίηται.Ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ
Ἰουδαίων στάσις γέγονεν ἐν Καισαρείᾳ Στράτωνος καὶ πολλοὶ
διεφθάρησαν.1
Textual Note
Ed. Dindorf 1829 [cited by page-line]Textual Note
Minor corr. J. L. Rife with ref. to Mosshammer 1984Translation
During (Claudius’) reign Felix was sent as governor of Judaea. At
that time many Jews were practicing deception. Among them in particular was an Egyptian
false prophet, who together with 30,000 men set to work on greater things. He was
destroyed by the army of Felix. Josephus concurs in this with the Acts of the
Apostles, where the tribune said to the divine Paul, “Are you not the
Egyptian who before these days stirred up sedition and led out into the desert the 4,000
men?” It was before Felix that Paul, under accusation by the Jews, made his defense.During (Claudius’) his reign, the Jews were in revolt in Straton’s
Caesarea and many perished.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: 632.10-632.20.
- 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: 484-485.
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: 407.7-407.16.
How to Cite This Entry
Joseph L. Rife, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 632.10-632.20,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published June 30, 2023, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/354.
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Bibliography:
Joseph L. Rife, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 632.10-632.20.” 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/354.About this Entry
Entry Title: George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 632.10-632.20
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 632.10-632.20”
- Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “George Syncellus, Chronographic Selection 632.10-632.20”
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- TEI encoding by Joseph L. Rife
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- Electronic text added by Joseph L. Rife
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