Translated Texts for Historians This series is designed to meet the needs of students of ancient and medieval history and others who wish to broaden their study by reading source material, but whose knowledge of Latin or Greek is not sufficient to allow them to do so in the original language. Many important Late Imperial and Dark Age texts are currently unavailable in translation and it is hoped that TTH will help to fill this gap and to complement the secondary literature in English which already exists. The series relates principally to the period 300-800 AD and includes Late Imperial, Greek, Byzantine and Syriac texts as well as source books illustrating a particular period or theme. Each volume is a self- contained scholarly translation with an introductory essay on the text and its author and notes on the text indicating major problems of interpretation, including textual difficulties. Editorial Committee Sebastian Brock, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford Henry Chadwick, Oxford John Davies, University of Liverpool Carlotta Dionisotti, King’s College, London Peter Heather, University College London Michael Lapidge, Clare College, Cambridge Robert Markus, University of Nottingham John Matthews, Yale University Raymond Van Dam, University of Michigan Michael Whitby, University of Warwick Ian Wood, University of Leeds General Editors Gillian Clark, University of Liverpool Mary Whitby, Royal Holloway, London Front cover drawing: A miniature from the Gospels of Beth Zabdai (12th c.) A full list of published titles in the Translated Texts for Historians series is printed at the end of this book. The Plate of Perm (6th c.), now in The Hermitage, St Petersburg Translated Texts for Historians Volume 22 Pseudo-Dionysius of Tel-Mahre Chronicle (known also as the Chronicle of Zuqnin) Part I11 Translated with notes and introduction by WITOLD WITAKOWSKI Liverpool University Press First published 1996 by Liverpool University Press Senate House, Abercromby Square, Liverpool, L69 3BX Copyright I996 Witold Witakowski @ All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publishers, except by a reviewer in connection with a review for inclusion in a magazine or newspaper. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Dsta A British Library CIP Record is available ISBN 0-85323-760-3 Printed in the European Union by Redwood Books, Trowbridge, England CONTENTS Contents V Acknowledgements v.i.i. Bibliography and Abbreviations Vlll Introduction xv The Chronicle as a whole xvii The Third Part xxv The present translation xxx TRANSLATION 1-129 [The accession of Anastasius]' 3 [Riot caused by the addition to the Trishagion] 7 [Severus elected patriarch of Antioch] 12 [The accession of Justin] 17 The persecution launched by Paul the Jew 22 The story of Paul of Edessa 25 The persecution of the Great Monastery of the Orientals in Edessa 27 The Story of Mara, bishop of Amid 30 [The atrocities of Abraham Bar Kaili] 32 The persecutions of Ephrem the Amidene 37 [The flood at Edessa] 41 [The fifth earthquake in Antioch] 44 [The accession of Justinian] 50 [The christianization of the "Indians"] 50 The Letter of Simeon of Beth Arsham on the martyrdom of the Himyarites 53 [The expedition of the Ethiopian king to Himyar] 63 [Various disasters] 64 [The sixth earthquake in Antioch] 67 [Manichaeans and pagans in Constantinople] 70 [The Book of the Plague] 74 Chapter 2 80 Chapter 3 84 Chapter 4 86 Chapter 5 93 [The afflictions of Amid and Mesopotamia] 102 [The Julianists] 108 [Flood, Montanists, Earthquakes] 112 '[Headings ill brackets do not appear in the text] vi [The revolt of Jews and Samiaritans] 1 I4 [The fire a: the temple in Balbek] 1 I6 [The collapse of the Great Church in Constantinople] 117 [The Fifth Ecumenical Council] 123 [Attempts at Church unification] 124 [Death of Justinian] 129 Index 131 Maps 1 The Near East 151 2 Syria and Mesopotamia 152 3 Constantinople and its Surroundings 153