Fragmenta Historica Tusculana

• from Chat GPT 5, 27 September 2025
• sources: Migne, Patrologia Graeca 85 (HathiTrust); PG 85 (Internet Archive); rill, Transmission of Malalas’ Chronicle; The 4th Tusculan fragment (Academia); DSEQC 551 Beirut Quake

Fragmenta Historica Tusculana (“Tusculan Fragments”) is a set of anonymous historical excerpts printed in Migne’s Patrologia Graeca 85 under the heading Fragmenta res gestae (cols. ~1806–1824). Earlier pieces were edited by Angelo Mai (1808–1826).

The compiler and date are unknown. The material survives only as fragments; scope and structure of the original work cannot be securely reconstructed.

Several scholars read portions of the Tusculan fragments as parallel to, or derived from, the Chronographia of John Malalas. For the 551 CE Beirut earthquake, Ambraseys suggested the Tusculan notice may preserve an earlier Malalas variant; DSEQC also notes Tusculana’s distinct dating within the Greek tradition for 551.

At least one piece (the “4th Tusculan fragment”) has been discussed in the context of anti-Nestorian polemic, indicating an ecclesiastical milieu for parts of the collection.

The fragments occasionally preserve variants or details otherwise lost in standard witnesses (e.g., in the Malalas tradition). Because transmission is uncertain and the text is excerpted, they must be used cautiously, with attention to possible later redaction, interpolation, or error.