The Reception of Herodotus in Byzantine Christian Chronicles

This paper explores the presence and reuse of Herodotus’ Histories in Byzantine chronicles, with special focus on Book 1 and its account of the Persian rise. This narrative served as a significant point of reference, beginning with Sextus Julius Africanus, continuing with Malalas, and culminating in Zonaras (Epit. Hist. 3.26). Indeed, Africanus’ Chronographiae -the foundation of the Christian universal chronicle- adopted Herodotus’ interpretation of Persian ascendancy within the scheme of the translatio imperii, the succession of empires from Assyria to Media, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Within this framework, the Persian era is pivotal, as the reign of Cyrus marks the end of the Babylonian captivity. Malalas likewise draws on Herodotus in his account of Cyrus, reinterpreting the narrative in a Christian key by merging it with biblical and Jewish traditions, so that the Persian king becomes an instrument of divine will. A specific passage (Mal. Chron. 6.9) of his work, taken up also by numerous later chroniclers, finds a parallel in a scholion preserved in the manuscript tradition, where the oracle given to Croesus is juxtaposed with a prophecy attributed to Daniel foretelling Cyrus’ victory. Both Malalas and the scholion thus attest to a theological reworking of Herodotus and illustrate the Christian reception of his Histories. This reception also shaped the textual tradition itself, as evidenced by deliberate omissions in Book 1 of the so-called Roman family of Herodotean manuscripts. A re-examination of the presence of Herodotus in all Byzantine chroniclers may therefore help to shed further light on the origins of the Roman family.