E05744: John Malalas in his Chronographia mentions the shrines of *Stratonikos (martyr venerated near Constantinople, S02163; perhaps the martyr of Ptolemais, S01657) and *Alexandros (martyr of Dryzipera, S00070) in the Thracian suburbs of Constantinople, in the context of a barbarian attack against Constantinople in 559. Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria) or Constantinople, in the 560s.

John Malalas, Chronographia, 18.129

Μηνὶ μαρτίῳ ἰνδικτιῶνος ζʹ ἐπανέστησαν οἱ Οὗννοι καὶ οἱ Σκλᾶβοι τῇ Θρᾴκῃ <πλήθη πολλά>· καὶ πολεμήσαντες πολλοὺς ἀπέκτειναν καί τινας ἐπραίδευσαν· τὸν δὲ υἱὸν Βάκχου <τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου> Σέργιον τὸν στρατηλάτην καὶ Ἐδέρμαν μειζότερον Καλοποδίου ἐπραίδευσαν, λαβόντες αὐτοὺς αἰχμαλώτους. ηὗρον δὲ τοῦ τείχους Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τόπους καταπεπτωκότας, κἀκεῖθεν εἰσελθόντες κατέδραμον ἕως τοῦ τόπους καταπεπτωκότας, κἀκεῖθεν εἰσελθόντες κατέδραμον ἕως τοῦ ἁγίου Στρατονί[κου] ***

‘In the month of March of the 7th indiction the Huns and the Slavs made an attack on Thrace. They killed many in battle, and abducted some. They abducted the magister militum Sergius, the son of Bacchus the Elder, and Edermas, major domo of Kalopodios, taking them hostages. They found collapsed parts of the wall of Constantinople and, entering through there, they raided as far as Saint Stratonikos’.’


The rest of the chapter is reconstructed from a quotation in Theophanes (p. 233-34)

The emperor Justinian sends a force to repel the invaders without success. He orders that all precious items from the shrines outside the Theodosian Walls be brought inside the city, and appoints Belisarius to the command of the army present in the Constantinople, who manages to repel the barbarians.

Theophanes, Chronographia, p. 233-234

[……] οἱ δὲ νομίσαντες, ὅτι πλῆθος πολύ εἰσιν, ἔφυγον καὶ ἦλθον εἰς τὰ μέρη τοῦ ἁγίου Στρατονίκου εἰς τὸ Δέκατον. μαθόντες δὲ ἐκ τῶν κατασκόπων, ὅτι παραφυλακὴ πολλή ἐστιν εἰς τὰ τείχη Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, ἦλθον εἰς τὰ μέρη Τζουρουλοῦ καὶ Ἀρκαδιουπόλεως καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀλεξάνδρου Ζουπαρῶν καὶ ἔμειναν ἐκεῖ παρακαθήμενοι ἕως τὸ ἅγιον πάσχα.

‘They [the invaders], thinking that an enormous force was there, fled and went to the district of Saint Stratonikos at the Dekaton. When they learned from scouts that a great garrison force was at the walls of Constantinople, they went to the region of Tzouroulon, Arkadioupolis and Saint Alexandros of Zoupara, and remained encamped there until holy Easter.’

Text: Thurn 2000. Translation: Jeffreys, Jeffreys, and Scott 1986, modified.