The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY: BOOK I 45
ships were seen on dry land when the waters retreated back. Much of
Bithynia and Hellespont and both Phrygias su¡ered. The disaster
gripped the earth for a time, not continuing so violently as at the beginning
but gradually weakening until it had completely ceased.
18 At this period Memnon and Zoilus and Callistus, men who distinguished
our religion, were sent out by Theodosius as governors to the
city of the Antiochenes. 161 And while Memnon beautifully and elaborately
reconstructed from the foundations the building called even to
our day the Psephium, leaving an open-air court in the centre, 162 Zoilus
built the basilica on the south side of that of Ru¢nus, which has inherited
his name to our own day, even though there are changes in the buildings
due to diverse disasters. 163 But Callistus erected a magni¢cent and
prominent structure, which both men of former times and we now call
the Stoa of Callistus, in front of the seats established for Justice, opposite
the forum where stands the most attractive house which is the residence
of the generals. 164 After these Anatolius was in turn sent as general of
the eastern regiments [28] and he built the stoa named that of Anatolius,
decorating it with every kind of material. These details, even if peripheral,
are not without their attraction to those who love knowledge. 165
161 For discussion of this chapter, with its infuriatingly imprecise allusions to Antiochene
buildings, see Downey, Antioch 453^4, 625^7. Memnon and Callistus are not otherwise
known; for Zoilus, see PLRE II. 1204, s.v. Zoilus 2. It is impossible to tell whether their
o⁄cial position was comes Orientis or consularis Syriae, but their tenure of o⁄ce should be
earlier than 433, when Anatolius (see n. 164 below) went to the East.
162 Festugie' re, 227 n. 73, following LSJ, suggested that the Psephium was a building
covered in mosaic, cZfi¤ B. Downey, Antioch 453^4, 627, had already dismissed this etymology
and instead connected the name with cZ“ foB, ‘vote’; he tentatively suggested that the
passage referred to the Hellenistic agora and its surrounds, and speculated that the Psephium
might be identical with the bouleuterion (council chamber) which is known to have
had an open-air court.
163 It is not absolutely clear whose name the basilica inherited since tou¤ tou in the Greek
(literally ‘of this man’) should refer to the nearest name, Ru¢nus, whereas the rest of the
sentence deals with Zoilus’ construction (the interpretation of BEL 281 and Festugie' re 227).
164 Seats for Justice: Festugie' re, 227, 475, translated as ‘statues to Justice’, but Downey,
Antioch 626, had rightly seen this as a reference to one of the lawcourts; these could designate
the praetorium of thecomes Orientis near the Hellenistic agora, or that of theconsularis
Syriae at the forum of Valens; the location of the residence (or the praetorium, if that is
intended) of the magister militum per Orientem (the most prominent military commander
in the city) is not known.
165 Anatolius (PLRE II. 84^6, s.v. Anatolius 10), magister militum per Orientem c. 433^
46. Malalas 360:7^15 describes this ‘large, well-lit and very beautiful’ basilica, which was