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the most divine Justin fell ill from the wound which he had in his foot; for he had received an arrow in that place in a war, and from it a danger to his life arose; on the 1st of the month of August, in the fifth indiction; and he died at the age of 75 years. so that the entire time of his reign was 9 years and twenty-two days, including the four months of his nephew. BOOK 18. THE TIMES OF THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN. And after the reign of Justin, the most divine Justinian reigned for 38 years and 7 months and 13 days, on the first of the month of April, in the fifth indiction, the year being, according to the Antiochene era, the five hundred and seventy-fifth, in the consulship of Mavortius. And he was of short stature, well-chested, with a good nose, fair-skinned, with curly hair, a round face, handsome, bald in front, with a florid complexion, with grizzled hair on his head and beard, magnanimous, a Christian. And he favored the Blue faction, and he himself was a Thracian from Bederiana. And the same emperor in the sixth indiction, in the month of October, appointed as count of the East in Antioch a man named Patricius, an Armenian; to whom he gave much money, commanding 426 him to go and restore a city of Phoenicia in the limes, called Palmyra, and the churches and public buildings, commanding also a number of soldiers with the limitanei to be stationed there and the dux of Emesa, in order to guard the Roman territories and Jerusalem. And Palmyra was formerly great, since David in that very place, before the city was founded, fought in single combat with Goliath, who was armed. Which Goliath, being struck by a stone, fell, and David, running up, beheaded him with the sword which Goliath was carrying, and taking his head he kept it for some days, and then thus brought it into Jerusalem in victory before him, carried on a pole. For this reason, Solomon the king, on account of the victory of his father David, made it a great city, giving it the name Palmyra, as having become the fate of Goliath. And formerly the same city guarded Jerusalem as well, whence also Nebuchadnezzar the king of the Persians, having passed through it, took it first with great effort; for he was afraid to leave it behind; for a multitude of Jewish soldiers was stationed there; which, having taken it, he burned and razed, and thus he took Jerusalem. And the same Justinian gave the consulship in the sixth indiction in the month of January. 427 And in the same time the Persian made war on the king of the Lazi, Ztathius, as having gone over to the Romans. And the king of the Lazi sent and besought the emperor of the Romans, asking to receive help from him; and the emperor Justinian, having sent him three magistri militum, Gilderich and Cerycus and Irenaeus, with much Roman aid, and having joined battle, many fell on both sides. And having heard this, the emperor of the Romans was angry with the magistri militum, because the Roman magistri militum, being moved by envy against each other, had betrayed one another. And the emperor, being angry with them, replaced them; and when Peter the magister militum came down and removed them from their command and took the equipment from them, he departed from there. And the same emperor restored a city of Armenia named Martyropolis, renaming it Justinianopolis, building its walls and porticoes, for they were ruined by time, and transferring an eastern numerus there. and in the same time the king of the Heruli, named Grepes, went over to the Romans; and he came in

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ἀσθενῆσαι τὸν θειότατον Ἰουστῖνον ἐκ τοῦ ἕλκους οὗ εἶχεν ἐν τῷ ποδί· ἦν γὰρ λαβὼν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ σαγίτταν ἐν πολέμῳ, καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὁ κίνδυνος τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο· μηνὶ αὐγούστῳ αʹ, ἰνδικτιῶνος πέμπτης· τελευτᾷ δὲ ἐνιαυτῶν οεʹ. ὡς εἶναι τὸν πάντα χρόνον τῆς αὐτοῦ βασιλείας ἔτη θʹ καὶ ἡμέρας εἰκοσιδύο μετὰ καὶ τῶν τεσσάρων μηνῶν τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀνεψιοῦ. ΛΟΓΟΣ ΙΗʹ ΧΡΟΝΩΝ ΙΟΥΣΤΙΝΙΑΝΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν Ἰουστίνου ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ θειότατος Ἰουστινιανὸς ἔτη ληʹ καὶ μῆνας ζʹ καὶ ἡμέρας ιγʹ ἐν μηνὶ ἀπριλλίῳ πρώτῃ, ἰνδικτιῶνι πέμπτῃ, ἔτους χρηματίζοντος κατὰ Ἀντιόχειαν πεντακοσιοστοῦ ἑβδομηκοστοῦ πέμπτου, ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπατείας Μαβορτίου. ἦν δὲ τῇ ἰδέᾳ κονδοειδής, εὔστηθος, εὔρινος, λευκός, οὐλόθριξ, στρογγύλοψις, εὔμορφος, ἀναφάλας, ἀνθηροπρόσωπος, μιξοπόλιος τὴν κάραν καὶ τὸ γένειον, μεγαλόψυχος, χριστιανός. ἔχαιρε δὲ τῷ Βενέτῳ μέρει, καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὢν Θρᾲξ ἀπὸ Βεδεριάνας. Ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ἕκτης ἐπινεμήσεως τῷ ὀκτωβρίῳ μηνὶ προηγάγετο κόμητα ἀνατολῆς ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ ὀνόματι Πατρίκιον, Ἀρμένιον· ᾧτινι δέδωκε χρήματα πολλά, κελεύσας 426 αὐτῷ ἀπελθεῖν καὶ ἀνανεῶσαι πόλιν τῆς Φοινίκης εἰς τὸ λίμιτον τὴν λεγομένην Πάλμυραν καὶ τὰς ἐκκλησίας καὶ τὰ δημόσια, κελεύσας καὶ ἀριθμὸν στρατιωτῶν μετὰ τῶν λιμιτανέων καθέζεσθαι ἐκεῖ καὶ τὸν δοῦκα Ἐμίσσης πρὸς τὸ φυλάττεσθαι τὰ Ῥωμαϊκὰ καὶ Ἱεροσόλυμα. ἡ δὲ Πάλμυρα πρῴην μὲν μεγάλη ὑπῆρχεν, ἐπειδὴ ὁ ∆αβὶδ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τόπῳ πρὸ τοῦ κτισθῆναι πόλιν ἐμονομάχησε μετὰ τοῦ Γολιὰθ ὡπλισμένου ὄντος. ὅστις Γολιὰθ λίθῳ λαβὼν ἔπεσε, καὶ δραμὼν ὁ ∆αβὶδ ἀπεκεφάλισεν αὐτὸν εἰς ὃ ἐπεφέρετο ὁ Γολιὰθ ξίφος, καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ λαβὼν κατέσχεν ἐπὶ ἡμέρας, καὶ εἶθ' οὕτως ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις εἰσήγαγεν αὐτὴν μετὰ νίκης ἔμπροσθεν αὑτοῦ εἰς κοντὸν βασταζομένην. διὰ τοῦτο Σολομὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης τοῦ αὑτοῖ πατρὸς ∆αβὶδ ἐποίησεν αὐτὴν πόλιν μεγάλην, ἐπιθεὶς αὐτῇ τὸ ὄνομα Πάλμυραν, ὡς γενομένην μοῖραν τῷ Γολιάθ. τὸ δὲ πρῴην ἐφύλαττεν ἡ αὐτὴ πόλις καὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα, ὅθεν καὶ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ὁ βασιλεὺς Περσῶν δι' αὐτῆς παρελθὼν πρώτην αὐτὴν παρέλαβε πολλῷ κόπῳ· ἐφοβεῖτο γὰρ ὄπισθεν αὐτὴν ἐᾶσαι· πλῆθος γὰρ στρατιωτῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐκάθητο ἐκεῖ· ἥντινα παραλαβὼν καύσας ἔστρεψε, καὶ οὕτως τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ παρέλαβεν. Ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς Ἰουστινιανὸς δέδωκεν ὑπατείαν τῇ ἕκτῃ ἐπινεμήσει τῷ ἰανουαρίῳ μηνί. 427 Ἐν δὲ τῷ αὐτῷ χρόνῳ ὁ Πέρσης ἐπολέμησε τῷ Λαζῶν βασιλεῖ Ζταθίῳ, ὡς προσρυέντι Ῥωμαίοις. ὁ δὲ Λαζῶν βασιλεὺς πέμψας ἐδεήθη τοῦ βασιλέως Ῥωμαίων, αἰτῶν βοήθειαν παρ' αὐτοῦ λαβεῖν· καὶ πέμψας αὐτῷ ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰουστινιανὸς στρατηλάτας τρεῖς, Γιλδέριχ καὶ Κήρυκον καὶ Εἰρηναῖον, μετὰ πολλῆς βοηθείας Ῥωμαϊκῆς, καὶ συγκρούσαντες πόλεμον, ἔπεσον ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων πολλοί. καὶ ἀκούσας ὁ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμαίων ἠγανάκτησε κατὰ τῶν στρατηλατῶν, ὅτι φθόνῳ φερόμενοι πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς οἱ στρατηλάται Ῥωμαίων προδεδώκασιν ἀλλήλους. καὶ ἀγανακτήσας ὁ βασιλεὺς κατ' αὐτῶν διεδέξατο αὐτούς· καὶ κατελθόντος Πέτρου στρατηλάτου καὶ ἀποκινήσαντος αὐτοὺς τῆς ἐξαρχίας καὶ λαβόντος τὰ ἐξπέδιτα παρ' αὐτῶν, ἀνεχώρησεν ἐκεῖθεν. Ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς ἀνενέωσε πόλιν τῆς Ἀρμενίας ὀνόματι Μαρτυρόπολιν, μετονομάσας αὐτὴν Ἰουστινιανόπολιν, ποιήσας τὰ τείχη αὐτῆς καὶ τοὺς ἐμβόλους, ἦσαν γὰρ τῷ χρόνῳ φθαρέντες, μετενέγκας ἐκεῖ καὶ ἀνατολικὸν ἀριθμόν. ἐν δὲ τῷ αὐτῷ χρόνῳ προσεῤῥύη Ῥωμαίοις ὁ ῥὴξ τῶν Ἑρούλων ὀνόματι Γρέπης· καὶ ἦλθεν ἐν