Ἦν γὰρ μυστικὸς ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ βασιλεύς : Giovanni Malala e il ruolo del principato augusteo nella storia universale

Analysis of Malalas’ text, chron.10,5, and the tradition related to the oracle about the birth of Christ given to the emperor, up to its revisions in the Middle Ages. The origin of the story traces back to the circulation of the theosophic literature in the Roman East between 4th and 6th c. AD; the relevance of ancient prophecies as a foretelling of christian thruts spots the difference between Malala and his precursor Julius Africanus, who instead tried the difficult unification of pagan knowledge and christian revelation by using the chronological science.