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How did ancient Christian authors rewrite the history of the remote past? This article is a case study of an overlooked, if very creative, instance. In it, I expose how a major figure of history has his role changed for Christian purpose, particularly the demonstration of God's hand in history. To make the story more engaging, the Christian historian of the sixth century AD has in fact calqued the king's death on another, based on yet another historian of the fourth century BC. This change is done to give a more exciting finish to fit the general account of the king's deeds. I then turn to the sources that the sixth-century historian mentions, suggesting that he mentions other sources (than the actual one) to authenticate his new and exciting narrative of the distant past. I am not arguing that he is doing so maliciously, but rather that the writing of history in the early Christian world allowed for more creativity than usually expected by modern minds.

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This page is a summary of: Creative Chronography in Early Christianity: John Malalas on the Deaths of King Cyrus of Persia, Vigiliae Christianae, October 2024, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15700720-bja10099.
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