Unknown, Easter Chronicle 619.14-620.2
created: This entry is taken from Easter Chronicle 619.14-620.2 written by Unknown in ca.
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/500

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Unknown, Easter Chronicle 619.14-620.2. This passage was written ca. ca. 630 C.E. possibly in Constantinople. The so-called Easter Chronicle (Chronicon paschale) is a universal history from the Creation down to the later reign of Heraclius, when it was composed, based an amalgam of biblical, Christian, and secular sources. While the work shows a particular interest in the dating of religious festivals, it contains a wealth of historical and geographic information. Like other chronographic works in the Byzantine tradition—John Malalas before and Theophanes the Confessor and George Syncellus after—the Easter Chronicle is organized annalistically with successive entries by year. In this passage, the unknown author recounts the Samaritan uprising under Julianus ben Sabar in 529-531 C.E.

Ἰνδ. η´. γ´. ὑπ. Λαμπαδίου καὶ Ὀρέστου. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει Σαμαρειτῶν στασιασάντων, καὶ ποιησάντων ἑαυτοῖς βασιλέα καὶ Καίσαρα, ἐπέμφθη Εἰρηναῖος ὁ Πενταδίας στρατηλάτης, καὶ ἐθανάτωσε πολλοῖς. καί τινες ἐξ αὐτῶν φοβηθέντες προσῆλθον ἐξ ἀνάγκης τῷ χριστιανισμῷ καὶ δεχθέντες ἐβαπτίσθησαν, καὶ ἕως τῆς σήμερον ἐπαμφοτερίζουσιν, καὶ ἐπ’ αὐστηρίᾳ μὲν ἀρχόντων σχήματι διεψευσμένοι ὑπούλως καὶ κακούργως ὡς χριστιανοὺς ἑαυτοὺς ἐμφανίζουσιν, ἐπὶ χαυνότητι δὲ ἀρχόντων φιλοχρημάτων Σαμαρεῖται καὶ μισοχριστιανοὶ καὶ ὡς μὴ γνόντες χριστιανισμόν, οὕτω διαπράττονται, τοὺς ἄρχοντας πείθοντες σαμαρειτίζειν διὰ τῶν χρημάτων.

[Ed. Dindorf and du Cange 1832]

Indiction 8. Year 25. Consuls Lampadius and Orestes. [530 C.E.] In this year, when the Samaritans revolted and created for themselves an emperor and a Caesar [Julianus ben Sabar], Eirenaios son of Pentadia was sent as magister militum and put many to death. And certain ones of them in fear came to Christianity under compulsion, and were received and captized, and up until the present day they waver between the two: under stringent officials they deceive by appearance and they falsely and wickedly manifest themselves as Christians, but under lax and greedy officials, they conduct themselves as Samaritans and haters of Christians and, as if ignorant of Christianity, persuading the officials with money to favor Samaritans.

[Revised from Whitby and Whitby 1989]

Works Cited

[...] 619.14-620.2
[...] 111

[* Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, Plots 171.6-34

* Cyril of Scythopolis, Life of Sabas 70.172.1-70.173.11

* George Cedrenus 646.22-647.3

* John of Nikiu 93.4-9

* Justinian, Novels 103.2-epil.

* Michael the Syrian 9.21.191 (ed. Chabot)

* Procopius, Secret History 11.24-11.30

* Theophanes the Confessor, Chronography 178.22-27]

[Eirenaios son of Pentadia, magister militum

Julianus ben Sabar

Samaritans]

[Byzantine History

Christianity

Economy and Commerce

Government and Law

Military]