MALALAS, JOHN

born c. 491, , Antioch?, Syria, Byzantine Empire [now in Turkey] died c. 578 Byzantine chronicler of Syrian origin. Malalas' Chronographia in 18 books is a compilation of history from the Creation certainly to 565, perhaps to 574, but the single extant manuscript ends with events of 563. The greater part of it stresses the importance of Antioch and has a Monophysite flavour. The last part of Book 18 appears to have been produced later by an Orthodox author, perhaps in Constantinople. It was written in the popular Greek of unlearned Christian circles, and, although often inaccurate and uncritical, it is of some value as a source for the first half of the 6th century. Some scholars identify John Malalas with John III Scholasticus, patriarch of Constantinople from 565 to 577, who had earlier been a lawyer in Antioch.