3 IV: Paweł Filipczak (Uniwersytet Łódzki) Commentary on John Malalas (XI, 3-4) on Emperor Trajan’s Expedition to the East

The purpose of the paper is to analyse a short passage from the Chronicle of John Malalas (1st half of the 6th century AD), describing the initial phase of Emperor Trajan’s expedition against the Parthians. The text mentions a port called Bytyllion, located near Seleucia Pieria on the coast of north-western Syria. Here the imperial entourage, including Hadrian, the future emperor, arrived from Rome. Since the Chronicle is a source of questionable quality, containing many errors, also in geographical names, and at the same time other ancient and Byzantine sources are completely silent about Bytyllion, Malalas’ account raises doubts. Above all, we do not know the exact location or the proper role that this port played on the Syrian coast during Trajan’s expedition to the East. My paper is a philological-historical commentary on passages XI, 3 and 4 of the Chronicle and is an attempt to indicate the various possibilities of interpretation.