Text
Malalas, Chronicle 1.11-12:
After Ninus had become master of Assyria, he built Nineveh, the city of the Assyrians, and was the first to rule in it, having Semiramis Rhea, his wife and mother, with him. From his family was born Zoroaster, the famous Persian astronomer, who when on the point of death prayed that he should be consumed by fire from heaven. He said to the Persians: “If the fire burns me up, take some of my charred bones and preserve them; empire will not depart from your land as long as you preserve my bones.” The Persians did as he told and they have preserved his incinerated remains until now. After Ninus a man named Tharras reigned over the Assyrians. His father Zames, the brother of Rhea, renamed him Ares after the planet. He became a savage fighting man, who campaigned against the northern regions. He attacked a certain Kaukasos, who was also a strong man of the race of the giants and very warlike; he was descended from the tribe of Japheth, son of Noah. Tharras fought Kaukasos, defeated him and took possession of his land. He came to Thrace where he died and is buried. It was to Ares that the Assyrians erected the first statue and they worshipped him as a god; to this day they call him the god Belus in Persian, which means when translated “Ares, the warrior god”. … After the death of Ares, Lames reigned and after Lames the Assyrians were ruled by Sardanapalus the Great, whom Perseus, the son of Danae, slew and took the empire from the Assyrians. When he had become their ruler, he named them Persians after himself, as Membronios of Babylon has written for the Persians.
Source (list of abbreviations)
Malalas, Chronicle 1.11-12
Bibliography
| Jeffreys, Jeffreys and Scott 1986, 7-8 | Jeffreys, E., M. Jeffreys and R. Scott. The Chronicle of John Malalas. A Translation. Byzantina Australiensia 4. Melbourne: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies 1986. |
Amar Annus
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