Antiochia und die historische Erinnerung an die Römisch-Parthischen Kriege

This paper focuses on Malalas’ account of Trajan’s Parthian campaign, in which a fictitious occupation of Antioch is described. According to Malalas, the Parthians captured the city with the consent of the local nobility, and only after an explicit order from Trajan did the Antiochenes kill the invaders by treachery: after the slaughter, the emperor ordained rituals to purify the city. This episode is not attested elsewhere and looks like a local legend, reworked by Malalas himself or his source. Three distinct elements may have converged to give rise to the invention: i) the memory of a Parthian stay at Antioch supported by the citizens (an episode which could be identified with Pacorus’ taking of the city in the first century B. C.); ii) the intention of praising the courage of the Antiochenes and their close relationship with Trajan through the celebration of a glorious feat; iii) a recollection of the purification rites actually made in Antioch after the earthquake of A.D. 115.