AM 6023

Chronographia

upward its flashing rays. People called it the Torch and it continued
to shine for twenty days. All over the world riots and murders
occurred. 3
At the end of November 4 the patrician Rufinus returned to the
emperor Justinian from his embassy to Persia, having fixed the terms
of peace. The emperor received him and was very pleased with the
peace and rejoiced at the appointed terms. So there was peace in the
affairs of both [states], I l aS
" Mai. 454. 5-14. Cf. John of Ephesos, a.854 (van Douwen and Land, 227), Mich.
Syr. ii. 205.
1

Boniface was pope from 22 Sept. 530 to 17 Oct. 532.

Mai. has no close indication of date but places the event between 530
and indiction 10 (531/2], so Theophanes' date is probably sound.
3
Earlier sources draw attention to the comet as a presager of doom. Mai.
includes drought; John of Ephesos, stressing Syriac hostility to the reign, has
'who were waiting for what would happen after that portent saw many wars,
the spread of fear, hunger, drought'. Theophanes' rather softer approach may
reflect his misunderstanding of the peace treaty in the following paragraph.
4
Mai. has Sept.
5
Theophanes has here either conflated the 'eternal' peace of 532 (Mai.
477. 13-478. 7) and the treaty of this year, which Kavad refused to ratify, or
his acceptance of this treaty as a real peace has led him to omit the eternal
peace of 532. Cf. AM 6021 (i), where he refers to Khusro's rejecting what was
actually the treaty mentioned here. For this treaty, see Prok. BP i. 16. 10 (end
of Justinian's 4th year); for the 'eternal' peace, Prok. BP i. 22. 17-18
(Justinian's 6th year). In general for Justinian's reign, Theophanes plays
down war with Persia, especially Persian successes (see AM 6031), while
mentioning Belisarius' success at Dara (AM 6022) leading to peace, and later
stressing Belisarius' minor success (AM 6033). This is in contrast to the disproportionate space given to the Vandal War (AM 6026).
2

[am] 6024 [ad 5 3 1 / 2 ]

[Year of the divine Incarnation] 5 24
Justinian, 5 th year
Chosroes, 7th year
Boniface, 2nd year
Epiphanios, 12 th year
Helias, 2 1 s t year
Timothy, 12 th year
Ephraim, 5 th year
I lln this year, the 5 th of Justinian's reign, in January of the 10th indiction, 1 occurred the so-called Nika 2 revolt. II"2 The members of the cir276

Chionogiaphia

AM

6024

cus factions crowned as emperor Hypatios, the relative3 of the

emperor Anastasios. A large part of the city was burned, including
the Great Church, St Eirene, the hospice of Sampson, the Augustaion,
the portico of the Basilica, and the Bronze House of the palace.4 There
was great panic and many of those found in the Hippodrome with
Hypatios perishedthe number reported is 3 5,000.11bs
I iThe Nika riot occurred in the following way. The factions went
up into the Hippodrome and the Greens began to shout acclamations6 about Kalopodios7 the cubicularius and spathaiios.
Greens:8 Long may you live, Justinian Augustus! Tu vincasl9 I am
wronged, O paragon of virtue, and cannot endure it, as God knows.
I am afraid to give his name in case he prospers the more, and I put
myself in danger.
Herald:10 Who is he? I do not know.
(Greens): My oppressor, thrice-august, can be found in the shoemakers' quarter.11
Herald: No one does you wrong.
Greens: One man and one man only does me wrong. Mother of God,
may he not hold his head up high.
Herald: We do not know who he is.
Greens: You and you alone know, thrice-august, who oppresses me
today.
Herald: Come now, if there is someone, we do not know him.
Greens: Kalopodios, the spathaiios, does me wrong, O lord of all.
Herald: Kalopodios is not at fault.
Greens: Whoever he is, he will share the fate of Judas. God will
speedily exact a penalty from my oppressor.
Herald: You have not come here to watch, but only to insult your
rulers.
Greens: Surely anyone who wrongs me will share the fate of Judas.
Herald: Silence, you Jews, Manichaeans, and Samaritans!
Greens: Do you call us Jews and Samaritans? May the Mother of God
be with everyone.
Herald: How long are you going to curse yourselves?
Greens: If anyone denies that our lord is orthodox, let him be anathema, like Judas. 12
Herald: l a m telling you: Get baptized in one [God].13
The Greens shouted above each other and chanted, as Antlas
demanded,14 'I am baptized in one [God].'
Herald: Surely, if you do not keep quiet, I shall behead you.
Greens: Everyone tries to get office for security. So whatever we say
in our distress, Your Majesty should not get angry, for deity
endures everything.

2-77

182

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Chronographia

{Herald:}*15
Greens: We have a case, emperor, and we shall now name everything. We do not know even where the palace is, thrice-august, nor
where is the state ceremonial.16 I come only once to the City,
when I am seated on a mule. 17 And I would rather not then, thriceaugust.
Herald: Every free man can go where he likes in public without danger.
Greens: To be sure, I am a free man,18 but I am not allowed to show
it. For if a free man is suspected of being a Green, he is sure to be
punished in public.
Herald: Are you ready to die then, and will you not spare your own
lives?
Greens: Let this colour be removed19 and justice disappears. Stop the
murdering and let us face punishment. See here a gushing fountain,- punish as many as you like. Truly, man's nature cannot bear
these two things. Would that Sabbatios20 had not been born, so he
would not have had a murderer for a son. It is the twenty-sixth21
murder that has taken place in the Zeugma.22 A spectator in the
morning and murdered in the afternoon, lord of all.
Blues: The only murderers in the whole stadium are yours.
Greens: You kill and run away.
Blues: You kill and walk about [freely]. The only murderers in the
stadium are yours.
Greens: Lord Justinian, they are asking for it and yet no one is killing
them. Whoever wants to will understand.23 The woodseller, the
one in the Zeugmawho killed him, emperor?
Herald: You yourselves killed him.
Greens: Who killed the son of Epagathos, emperor?
Herald: You yourselves killed him, and now you are involving the
Blues.
Greens: Now, now, have pity O Lord. Truth is being suppressed. I
want to quarrel with those who say events are controlled by God.
For what is the source of this misery?
Herald: God cannot be tempted with evil. 24
Greens: God cannot be tempted with evil? But who does me wrong?
If there is a philosopher25 or hermit here, let him explain the difference.
Herald: You God-hated blasphemers, will you never be silent?
Greens: If it pleases Your Majesty, I shall keep quiet, but against my
will, thrice-august. I know it all, every bit of it and I say nothing.
Farewell, Justice, you exist no more. I shall turn and become a Jew.
Better to be a pagan than a Blue, God knows.
278

Chronogra phia

AM 6024

Blues: I hate it. I do not want to see it. 26 Your malice is galling.
Greens: Let the bones of the spectators be dug up!ll c27
I iThe Greens departed and left the emperor and the Blues as spectators. I ld And immediately a pretext for a faction riot was offered by
some officials 28 in the following way. The prefect arrested three partisans among the trouble-makers and had them hanged.29 One died
immediately, but the other two fell from the gibbet. They were
hanged again, and again fell. 30 The crowd of bystanders saw them
and chanted, 'Get them to the church!' The monks of St Konon31
heard, carried them to a small boat and took them across to St
Laurence,32 as that church had the privilege that no one was to be
ejected from it until such time as he had suffered sufficiently. 33 On
hearing of this, the prefect sent soldiers to guard them.ll When the
partisans learned of this, they went off 34 to the Praetorium and asked
the prefect to remove the soldiers on guard at St Laurence. They got
no reply from him, so, enraged, they set fire to the Praetorium. 11f The
porticoes from the arch of the Forum to the Chalke were burned, and
also the shops of the silversmiths and the whole palace of Lausos35
were destroyed by fire. They killed unsparingly the soldiers who
attacked them. Then they broke into houses and began to loot their
contents. 1 T h e y set fire to the entrance of the palace (the one with
the bronze roof),36 the portico of the Protectores, and the senatehouse37 by the Augustaion. The partisans went down to the Julian
harbour (I mean that of Sophia), to the palace of Probus38 in search
of weapons, crying 'Another emperor for the city!' They set fire to
the palace of Probus which was gutted. I lh39 Next 40 they went and
burned the baths of Alexander, the great hospice of Sampson (where
the patients perished),I lJ and the Great Church along with all its
columns. It collapsed entirely on all four sides.11, 42
The emperor, in terror, wanted to load his moneys on to a dromon
and get away as far as Herakleia in Thrace,43 leaving the magister
militum Moundos44 to guard the palace, along with Moundos' son,
3,000 men, Konstantiolos and the cubicularii. I IThe partisans
dragged away the corpses and tossed them into the sea, also killing a
large number of women. 1 W h e n a rumour had got around that the
emperor had taken the Augusta and left for Thrace, they proclaimed
the patrician Hypatios emperor, and as he sat in the Hippodrome, he
was acclaimed by the partisans and listened to the insulting jeers
directed against the emperor Justinian.45 Two hundred young
Greens in armour came from Flacillianai46 intending to open the
palace and bring Hypatios in. IK
I IThe emperor, when he heard of these bold moves by the partisans
and by Hypatios, went into the palace and up to the Pulpita (as they
279

184

185

AM 6 0 2 4

186

Chronographia

are called), behind the Kathisma of the Hippodrome, to the diningroom with the bronze doors. He had with him Moundos,
Konstantiolos, Belisarius,47 and other senators plus a detachment of
armed soldiers, cubicularii, and spatharioi. The cubicularius
Narses48 went out and won over some of the Blue faction by a distribution of money. They began chanting, 'Justinian Augustus, tu
vincasl Lord, preserve Justinian the emperor and Theodora the
Augusta!' The crowd was split and people began attacking one
another. Those in the palace went out with their forces, detached
some people from the partisans, and rushed into the Hippodrome,
Narses by the gates, Moundos' son by the Sphendone, others by the
narrow passage from the imperial box into the arena. They started
slaying the partisans, some with their bows, others with their
swords: in the end not one of the citizens, either of the Greens or of
the Blues, who were in the Hippodrome, survived. Belisarius ran into
the Kathisma with a number of spatharioi, arrested Hypatios, led
him to the emperor, and had him put in prison.
The day's casualties amounted to 35,000.49 No partisan was to be
seen any longer; indeed on that day peace was restored. On the next
day50 Hypatios and his brother Pompeius were executed. Their bodies were thrown into the sea and their estates were confiscated. A
further eighteen patricians, illustrcs, and consulars had their property confiscated as associates of Hypatios.51 This produced considerable fear and the city calmed down. The chariot races were not
held for a long time. I lm
I lln the same year there occurred a great movement of stars from
evening till dawn. Everyone was terrified and said, 'The stars are
falling, 52 and we have never seen53 such a thing as that before.'Iln
b
c
" Chron. Pasch. 620.3-4.
Cramer, Eccl. Hist. 112.19-27.
Cf. Chron.
d
e
Pasch 620. 4-12.
Chron. Pasch. 620. 12-13.
Mai. 473. 5-474. 1.
h
f Mai. 474.14-17.
* Cf. Chron. Pasch. 623. 6-9, Mai. 474.17-20.
Chron.
Pasch. 621. 17-21; 622. 2-6.
' Chron. Pasch. 622. 11-15.
' Chron. Pasch.
k
621.21-622.2.
Cf. Chron. Pasch. 622. 18-21.
' Chron. Pasch 625. 5-15;
m
cf. 624. 1-19.
Chron. Pasch. 625. 15-628. 16.
" Mai. 477. 10-12.
1

The date is taken from Mai. Theophanes' account of the riot falls into
three discrete sections: first, a general summary; second, the odd circus dialogue; third, a more detailed account based on the original Mai. for which
the best witness is the still defective account preserved in Chron. Pasch.
Theophanes' first paragraph is in effect a summary taken verbatim from

Eccl. Hist.
2

'Conquer'.
In fact nephew, son of Anastasios' sister and Secundinus. On Hypatios,
cf. AM 5997, 6005, 6006, 6016, 6021.
3

280

Chronographia

AM 6024

Given in almost reverse order to that in the following narrative, where

St Eirene is omitted.
5
The figure is repeated at the end of the narrative.
6
De Boor, followed by most commentators, punctuates after 'the Greens
began to chant' so that what follows appears as the title of the dialogue. Our
punctuation follows Tabachovitz, Studien, 45.
7
His identity is disputed. The name was common enough among
eunuchs. P. Karlin-Hayter suggests it is a nickname for Narses, noting that
both Kalopodios (or perhaps Kalapodion) and Narses were cubicularii in 5 3 2,
held the post of praepositus sacri cubiculi and were military men in the
550s. (Cf. AM 6051.) She points out too that a Kalopodios was praepositus

sacri cubiculi under Leo (V. Dan. Styl. 49 and 89). See P. Karlin-Hayter, Byz
43 (1973L 87-8, and Studies in Byzantine Political History (London, 1981),
iii. 9, PLRE iii. 267-8, Calopodius 1.

8
The following dialogue also survives in Chron. Pasch. in an abbreviated
form, but, as P. Maas, BZ 21 (1912), 28-51 and Cameron, Circus Factions,
322-9, have shown, the dialogue was not an original part of the text of
Chron. Pasch. but was a later interpolation to fill a lacuna and was almost
certainly taken from Theophanes. Cf. Whitby and Whitby, Chronicon
Paschale, 1 1 3 , who suggest the original Malalas as the ultimate source.
Nevertheless Theophanes is the earliest surviving source for the dialogue.
Maas, followed by Cameron, argued that the dialogue is not connected with
the Nika revolt. Cameron has demonstrated that Theophanes has substituted the dialogue for the first section of Mal.'s account, believing it covered
the same incident. Thus it cannot be taken for granted that the dialogue had
anything to do with the Nika riot. Cameron argues that Theophanes, whatever his source (Maas and Cameron both suggest Joh. Ant.), was the first person to associate it with the Nika riot. Against this cf. Whitby and Whitby

Chronicon

Paschale,

113-14.

Theophanes' main source for the riot is the original Mai. preserved in this
case mainly in Chron. Pasch. (There is no need to assume, with Bury, that
Theophanes and Chron. Pasch. used a second common source: see n. 39
below.) Given that Theophanes rarely appears to have combined more than
two sources for any one incident and that there are some difficulties in
believing the source for the dialogue was Joh. Ant., as Cameron recognizes
(op. cit. 328), a more likely contender is the Ecclesiastical History, which
provided Theophanes with his introductory summary. In that case it may
well have followed immediately or soon after the summary of the riot, so
persuading Theophanes to incorporate it in his account. We would not wish
to press this suggestion.
The other main interest in the dialogue is its metrical character, first formulated by Maas, art. cit., and modified by P. Karlin-Hayter, Studies in
Byzantine Political History (1981), i. 1 - 1 3 . Against this Cameron argues
that the acclamations are more rhythmical than metrical. Much of the argument here is on the latitude allowed to an editor to produce a metrical version and how much the metrical character was produced impromptu or
prepared in advance, but there is at least general agreement that many of the
2,81

AM

Chronographia

6024

Greens' lines have a syllabic and accentual regularity, be that metrical or

rhythmical.
9
i.e. 'May you conquer'. Cf. A. D. E. Cameron, Pozphyrius the
Charioteer (Oxford, 1973), 77-9, 248.
10
In the late Empire it seems to have been normal for an emperor to
address the crowd through a herald rather than by gesture or in writing,
methods considered more courteous during the Principate. See Cameron,

Circus

Factions,

11

r66-8.

Shoemakers' quarter is r^ayyapela, which may be a play on KaXovoSiov

'cobbler's last'; so J. Goar in 1655 followed by Maas, Bury, Diehl, KarlinHayter, and Cameron.
12
i.e. the Greens are claiming to be as orthodox as the thoroughly orthodox emperor.
13
Cameron, Circus Factions, 320 believes this is a question rather than
a command.
14
Antlas is presumably the cheer-leader of the Greens rather than the
'demarch', a title first attested at the 'end of the 6th-cent. See AM 6094 (de
Boor 287, 289), 6095, 6096 and Cameron, Circus Factions, 259. P. KarlinHayter, Studies, 7-8, however, punctuates after 'chanted', so that the
Greens reply 'As Antlas demanded, I am baptized in one' and suggests that
Antlas is derived from a v r A a o i , meaning here 'the one who sucks dry' and
refers to the emperor. The reply is thus placed in the context of discontent
over taxation at the time of the riots (cf. Joh. Lyd. De Mag. iii. 26) and
Justinian's Monophysite colloquium for which S. P. Brock, Apostolos
Barnabas, 41 (1980), 219, suggests a date of spring 532. Given the allusive
use of T^ayyapeta to refer to Kalopodios, the possibility of further hidden
allusions must be admitted.
15
De Boor assumes a lacuna here with the Herald's words, but is not followed by Maas, Bury, or Cameron. Tabachovitz, Studien, 5 r, attributes
'deity endures everything' to the Herald.
16
See Cameron, Circus Factions, 252 and 320 for this meaning. Others
take it to mean 'government'.
17
i.e. on the way to execution.
18
Cameron, Circus Factions, 320-1, draws attention to two references to
the 'free Blues' on the last monument of Porphyrios ( A n t h . Gr. xvi. 359. 5,
360. 3) in contrast to the Greens' complaint of freedom denied.
19

So

C. Diehl, fustinien et la civilisation byzantine (Paris,

1901), 460.

Others, more literally, translate 'be lifted up', but that does not yield a clear
sense.
20
Justinian's father.
21
We follow MS 'h'. De Boor, following MS'd' has 'reasonably the sixth'.
MSS 'c' and 'y' have 'the murder is beyond what is reasonable'.
22
The area along the Golden Horn by the modern Atatiirk bridge, from
which there was a ferry to Sykai (Galata).
23
De Boor does not punctuate here but has a comma after 'woodseller'.
24
James 1: 13.
25
'Philosopher' could mean 'monk' from the 4th cent, onwards. See H.

282

Chronogra phia
Hunger in M.

Tradition,
26

40-1.

Mullett and R.

Scott,

eds.,

AM 6024
Byzantium and the

Classical

Others translate as 'I hate you. I do not want to see you'. That is perhaps the right meaning but the Greek has TO /niuaj 01! deXw fiXeireiv. Perhaps
TO JLUCTOJ should be read 'I do not wish to see hatred (or the hated thing)', or
possibly TO fiioo, as in Modern Greek, 'I do not wish to see the half of it.'
27
The curse surprisingly means 'let them be killed'. Cf. AM 6187; A. D. E.

Cameron, Circus Factions, 322 n. 2.

28
So the MSS and de Boor. J. B. Bury, BZ 6 (1897), 508 followed by
Cameron, Circus Factions, 326, believed this to be a misreading of Mal.'s
dXaaropes 'avenging spirits' and so emended. While there can be no doubt
that they are correct about the reading in Theophanes' source, the change is
probably deliberate. Matarixip, derived from Latin magister, usually has the
meaning of 'teacher' in Byzantine Greek but here probably retains the meaning of 'officer' or 'official'. 'Officials' provides a better link between the circus dialogue and thefollowingnarrative than does 'avenging spirits' (though
aXaoTope; perhaps means no more than 'wretches'), and is typical of
Theophanes' method of compensation, in this case for his complete omission of the sacking of Eudaimon (the City prefect), John of Cappadocia (the
praetorian prefect), and Tribonian (the quaestor), which is recorded in all the
main versions of the riot (Mai., Chron. Pasch., Prok., Joh. Lyd.|. For a similar change, compare Theophanes' substitution of 'soldiers' for 'sycophants'
in Justin II's abdication speech at AM 6070.
29
On Saturday 10 Jan. See G. Greatrex, ]HS 1 1 7 (1997), n. 41. Theophanes
has simplified Mal.'s version, omitting four rioters (all seven had been found
gudty of murder) who were beheaded.
30
This second attempt is not in Mai.
31
Across the Golden Horn where the executions took place. The church
at Sykai is mentioned in 490 (Mai. 389), but the monastery is surprisingly
not in the lists of 518 or 5 36.
32
Founded by Pulcheria (AM 5945), and the scene four years later for the
synod of 5 3 6.
33
The Greek here is obscure. Possibly it should be translated 'until bail
was granted'.
34
On 13 Jan., after the 22nd race at the Hippodrome. It is at this stage
that the Blues and Greens united with their watchword 'Nika'. See Mai. 474.
This uniting of the factions is essential for following the narrative.
Theophanes' omission of it is best explained, as Bury pointed out ( J H S 17
(1897), 102) by assuming that Theophanes believed the circus dialogue covered the same material. This strengthens the argument that the dialogue
was taken from another source.
35
Theophanes' list seems to be based on the account of three separate
conflagrations in Chron. Pasch. but with the order of the conflagrations
changed. Theophanes' first group (porticoes . . . palace of Lausos) is Chron.
Pasch.'s last group, which occurred on Saturday 17 Jan., although Chron.
Pasch. omits the palace of Lausos but includes the Octagon, St Theodore of
Sphorakios, and other buildings. In general it seems that Theophanes has

283

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6024

Chronographia

misguidedly attempted to organize the lists of burned buildings into a more

logical order based on his knowledge of the topography. See Bury, JHS 17
(1897), " 7 36
i.e. the Chalke. The places listed in 'h' make up Chion. Pasch.'s first
group (621. 17-622. 6), which is not given a precise date except that it took
place before Friday 16 Jan. Bury, JHS (1897), rr9, suggests Wednesday 14 Jan.
37
The MSS and de Boor read ivarov, 'ninth'. We accept Bury's emendation aevarov, based on Chion. Pasch.
38
Probus, a nephew of Anastasios, had already been pardoned by
Justinian once for conspiracy in 528/9 (Mai. 438). The crowd may have
approached him since Anastasios' other nephews (Hypatios and Pompeius)
were with lustinian in the palace.
39
Chron. Pasch. says the fire at Probus' house was put out after slight
damage. Theophanes has probably made one of his typical alterations here
rather than used a different source as Bury, JHS 17 (1897), 103 believed.
40
i.e. on Friday r 6th according to Chron. Pasch., which puts together the
burning of the baths of Alexander, the hospice of Sampson, and two buildings omitted by Theophanes, namely the hospice of Euboulos and the
church of Holy Peace (St Eirene), perhaps omitted accidentally through
homoioteleuton of 'hospice' (so Bury, JHS 17 [1897], 103). Theophanes has
already mentioned St Eirene in his introductory paragraph. Theophanes,
however, includes here the Great Church (Hagia Sophia), which Chron.
Pasch., in identical words, placed in his first list. That list, however, appears
to be lacunose (cf. C. E. Gleye, BZ 6 (1897), 444, Cameron, Circus Factions,
324-5) and Hagia Sophia probably survived a little longer. Cf. AM 6030,
which is consistent with a date of Saturday 17 Jan. for the burning of Hagia
Sophia, which would support Theophanes' placing of Hagia Sophia at the
end of the list.
41
Assuming afxtfyorepoi, here has its Byzantine Greek meaning of 'all'
rather than 'both', cf. AM 5951. Chron. Pasch. has 'the tremendous and wonderful columns at the four corners'.
42
For the uncommon expression eV rtrpaivTov cf. H. Gregoire, Receuil
des inscriptionsgrecques-chretiennes d'AsieMineure, i (Paris, 1922), no. 93:
iKevTrjoev iv Terpaevraj = made a mosaic all round or on all four sides.
43
Theophanes is the only source to provide these details, though Prok.
BP i. 24. 32, mentions the deliberations over whether to flee.
44
On Moundos, cf. AM 6032, where Theophanes 'introduces' him, having
redated Mai. but forgetting this earlier reference. Moundos' son was
Maurice. On Konstantiolos, cf. AM 603 r, n. 4.
45
Prok. BP i. 24. r9~3r places the proclamation of Hypatios before
Justinian's intention to flee. According to Prok., Justinian sent Hypatios and
his brother Pompeius home from the palace because he suspected them of
plotting against him.
46
MSS (and de Boor) read 'Flakiana' or 'Flaviana', both seemingly corrupt.
Chron. Pasch. 624. 9-1 r states 'then the crowd fetched from the palace of
Placillianai imperial insignia which are kept there'. This palace, to which
also Prok. makes the senator Origenes refer as an alternative base from
284

Chionographia

AM 6025

which to conduct the rebellion (BP i. 24. 30), was named after Theodosios'
first wife, Aelia Flacilla, which supports a reading of Flacillianai here.
Alternatively, at 625. 12-15 Chron. Pasch. refers to the arrival 'from
Constantinianai of 250 young Greens in uniform, thinking they would be
able to break into the palace and take Hypatios in with them'. This obviously reflects Theophanes' source (with Theophanes' substitution of 'in
armour', XuipiKaroi for 'in uniform', and 'armed' (fiopovvres, ^afias
a)7rAiCT|ueVoi and supports strongly a reading of 'Constantinianai' here. We
support 'Flacillianai' since it is closer to the MSS, with Theophanes muddling his abridgement of his source. Both were in the same general area,
being in the tenth and eleventh regions respectively.
The elevation of Hypatios and the suppression of the riot probably took
place on Sunday 18 Jan.
Chron. Pasch. adds Basileides.
48
On Narses' distinguished career see PLRE iii. 912-28.
49
Cf. Theophanes' introduction to the riot. So also Mai., Chron. Pasch.,
and Cramer's Eccl. Hist. Prok. has 'more than 30,000' (cf. Mai. at De insid.
30,000); Joh. Lyd. DeMag. iii. 70 has 50,000; Zon., 40,000, Zach. HE, 80,000.
50
i.e. Monday 19 Jan. This is Theophanes' only indication of date in his
account of the riots, which he and Mai. alone preserve.
51
Prok. BP i. 24. 58 reports that Justinian later restored to the children of
Hypatios and Pompeius and to the others their titles and whatever was left
of their property. Anth. Gr. vii. 5 92, cf. 5 91, a funerary epigram for Hypatios,
shows that Justinian pardoned Hypatios posthumously.
52
'The stars are falling' is not in the surviving text of Mai., who included
various events between the Nika riots and this notice.
53
Accepting Tabachovitz's emendation, Studien, 52, of 'have known',
oi'Sa/.iev to 'have seen', eiSafiev, as perhaps Goar intended by his translation
'conspeximus'.
47

[am] 6025 [ad 532-/3]

[Year of the divine Incarnation] 525
Justinian, 6 th year
John, bishop of Rome (3 years), 1st year 1
Epiphanios, 13 th year
Helias, 22nd year
Timothy, 13 th year
Ephraim, 6 th year
I lln this year, 2 Theodora, the most pious Augusta, journeyed to the
hot springs of Pythia 3 to take the waters. She was accompanied by
the patrician Menas (the prefect), 4 the patrician Helias, who was
comes largitionum, and other patricians, cubiculaiii, and satraps, a
total of 4,000. She showed much liberality to the churches,I\ a poorhouses, and monasteries.
285