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Austrian Journal of Byzantine Studies (JOEB) / Jahrbuch der Oesterreichischen Byzantinistik
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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Jahrbuch der Oesterreichischen Byzantinistik 73, pp. 125-150, 2024/03/06
This paper concerns the content, character and transmission of Menander Protector’s History, a fragmentary work of classicizing historiography written in the later sixth century. Investigation of a previously unexamined scholion to Strabo’s Geography, which recommends Menander’s History as an especially accurate source on “Persian customs”, establishes the provenance, context and significance of this rare testimonium and questions why the ninth-century scholiast directed readers of Strabo to this late antique text in preference to well-established classical authorities on ancient Persia. As the scholion responds to Strabo’s uniquely detailed treatment of Persian religion, particularly magi and Zoroastrian sacrificial rituals, it becomes necessary to reconsider evidence for this subject in Menander’s extant writings, notably those fragments of his History, together with a separately transmitted epigram (Palatine Anthology I 101), that concern the martyrdom of Isbozetes (Yazdbōzēd), a Persian magus who converted to Christianity (AD 553). Widening the inquiry to include largely overlooked martyrial acta, particularly an Armenian Passio S. Isbozetae, reveals an early textual tradition characterized by accurate and precise information about magian practices and paraphernalia, which closely and exclusively corresponds to Strabo’s account of Zoroastrian fire-cult. Menander’s interest in this story of an apostate magus both explains the scholiast’s recommendation and casts new light on Menander’s aims and sources, including East Syriac hagiographical tradition. In line with recent scholarship, a more variegated picture of Menander’s historical writing emerges beyond the focus on diplomacy imposed by the thematically determined transmission of surviving fragments in the Constantinian Excerpta.
Keywords: Greek Classicizing Historiography; Textual Transmission; Byzantine Scholia and Excerpta; Hagiography; Armenian Literature