ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the manuscript transmission of the entire Excerpta Salmasiana and surveys the relationship between the Excerpta Salmasiana and John of Antioch’s chronicle. It undertakes a close analysis of the source texts each of the three syllogae depended on and considers the selective use of historical material on the part of the compiler of the Excerpta Salmasiana. The chapter examines the methodological principles underlying the compilation process of the Excerpta Salmasiana. These last two points is undertaken on the basis of the third part, the excerpts from Agathias, which has hitherto received no scholarly attention at all. It is argued that the excerptor of the Agathias part must have made a heedful selection of passages from Agathias and imbued them with a new meaning. As noted, Agathias’ ethnographic accounts of Western peoples as well as of the Sassanians serve certain literary purposes, namely, that of providing the Romans with moral paradigms and criticising current imperial policies.
