ABSTRACT
The hostile description of the Emperor Justinian I in Procopius' Secret History is well known. The bland but generally favorable account of the same Emperor in the eighteenth and final book of Malalas' Chronographia has received rather less attention. This chapter suggests first that much of Malalas' information about Justinian is derived from the Emperor's own propaganda (though the chronicle itself is not propaganda) and that Procopius' abuse represents the opposing version, though we cannot tell which side initiated the propaganda and which responded to it. First there are the instances where Malalas and the Secret History agree on the facts, while offering opposing interpretations of them. Malalas stresses Justinian's aid to cities affected by earthquake, including 'an act of divine generosity to the people of Antioch, Laodicea, and Seleucia, providing that their liability to taxes be remitted for three years'.
