Иоанн Никиуский

Saveleva D. I.
Issues in the study of Egyptian toponyms in the Chronicle of John of Nikiu, in: Proslogion: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Social History and Culture, 2023. Vol. 7(1). P. 189–198.

Daria Igorevna Saveleva, Research Engineer, Institute of History, Saint Petersburg State University (199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Mendeleevskaya liniya, 5)

d-saveleva@mail.ru

Language: Russian

The Chronicle, compiled by John of Nikiu, the Coptic bishop of the Egyptian city of Nikiu in the late 7th century, is a unique source within the Late Byzantine historiography that contains singular information related to the Egypt toponymics. The research on toponyms in the source studied makes a localization a number of historical events possible, considering both those events that were described in other historical works without a sufficient description of the area, as well as the unique ones that could not be found in other sources. The study of the toponymy of Egypt within the Chronicle of John of Nikiu involves a set of particular features, including several significant difficulties that complicate the work with the source studied. Thus, the Chronicle apparently was first written in Greek, then to be translated into Arabic in the period of the 12–13th centuries and then into Ge’ez in 1601 CE, which led to a distortion of the topographical designations, affecting their spelling twice. Furthermore, the Chronicle contains unique toponyms not mentioned in any of the sources currently known to us. The Coptic bishop could probably have relied on them while compiling his work. The unique naming of several locations may be reasoned by the fact that John of Nikiu used appellations relevant to him and his contemporaries, of which there is little evidence. At the same time, a number of toponyms can be localized based on the text of the Chronicle itself, while the others can be acknowledged from earlier sources, such as the Chronographia of John Malalas (6th century), which served as a work to rely on for John of Nikiu when he was creating his Chronicle. For these reasons, it is not always possible to identify the nature of the misinterpretation of toponyms cited in the Chronicle with precision.

Keywords: foreign literature in Ethiopic translation, John of Nikiu, the Geʽez language, Egypt, Egyptian toponyms, Byzantine historiography, the geography of Egypt

URL: http://proslogion.ru/7s-saveleva/

10.24412/2500-0926-2023-71-189-198

Kholod, M. M.
Cyrus the Great in the Chronicle of John of Nikiu, in: Proslo gion: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Social History and Culture. 2024. Vol. 8 (1). P. 78–97.

Maxim Mikhailovich Kholod, PhD in History, Associate Professor, St. Peters burg State University (Mendeleevskaya liniya 5, St. Petersburg, Russia, 199034)

m.holod@spbu.ru

Language: Russian

The article analyzes one of the stories given in the Chronicle of John of Nikiu (late 7th century AD), namely that of the Persian king Cyrus the Great (558–530 BC). The author of the article shows that when composing this story, the chronicler relied almost entirely on the corresponding passage from the work of John Malalas (6th century AD). Only in connection with one place in John of Nikiu’s text, it can be reasonably argued that he, in order to clarify the information given by Malalas, drew evidence from some other work. The main thing that differentiated the text of John of Nikiu from Malalas’ account of Cyrus is the result of the latter’s reduction. It is obvious that John of Nikiu kept only what he considered particularly important — the storyline around Cyrus’ decision to return the Jews to their homeland from the Babylonian captivity.

Keywords: John of Nikiu, Cyrus the Great, Achaemenids, Croesus, Daniel the Prophet, Persian Empire

URL: http://proslogion.ru/72-kholod/

10.24412/2500-0926-2024-72-78-97

Kalchenko, E. S.
The Council of Chalcedon and the Events of Church His tory in the Second Half of the 5th Century in Chapters 87–88 of the Chronicle of John of Nikiu, in: Proslogion: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Social History and Culture, 2024. Vol. 7 (2). P. 63–77.

Evgenia Sergeevna Kalchenko, Research Assistant, Institute of History, Saint Petersburg State University (199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Mendeleevskaya liniya, 5); Junior Researcher, the State Hermitage Museum (190000, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Dvortsovaya emb., 34)

evg.kalchenko@mail.ru

Language: Russian

The Chronicle of John, bishop of Nikiu, is one of the few extensive sources of the early medieval period devoted largely to the history and culture of Egypt and com posed by an Egyptian author. A significant part of the narrative includes the themes related to the problems of theology and the history of the Christian Church. In par ticular, an important milestone in the history of Christianity in Egypt was connected with the Fourth Ecumenical Council convened in autumn, 451 in Chalcedon. This event and its results aggravated the ecclesiastical schism on the question of Christol ogy and eventually put the Сhurch of Egypt, at least the major part of it, in opposition to Constantinople. Subsequently, there appeared Coptic texts with anti-Chalcedonian polemics reflected in the Chronicle of John of Nikiu as well.
In this article the author analyses how John, a supporter of the Miaphysite doc trine, narrates about the Council of Chalcedon and the following events of Church history in the second half of the 5th century described in chapters 87–88. A number of episodes are compared with the evidence from the works of other historians, mainly Evagrius Scholasticus and (Pseudo-)Zachariah Rhetor, on the basis of which one can deduce how the Egyptian author presented his narrative. A significant part deals with Timothy II Aelurus, the patriarch of Alexandria, well-known for his anti-Chalcedo nian position. Some facts and details connected with his personality and not only appear in a similar way in the Chronicle of John and in the text by (Pseudo-)Zacha riah Rhetor. Thus, it is not improbable that the Egyptian bishop could have relied on the work of the latter who was close to him in spirit and theological convictions.

Keywords: John of Nikiu, the Council of Chalcedon, Miaphysitism, anti-Chalce donian polemics, Timothy Aelurus, Coptic Church, Christianity in Egypt

URL: http://proslogion.ru/72-kalchenko/

10.24412/2500-0926-2024-72-63-77