Chronicle of Arbela

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The Chronicle of Arbela is a Syrian historical work that deals with the history of the Christians in the Adiabene (about today's Iraqi Erbil governorate ).

Mesiha-Zeha is given as the author , but this is controversial. The drafting time is also uncertain. The period from the 6th to the 11th century is discussed in research. The chronicle is not completely preserved, but once covered a period from approx. 100 to approx. 550 AD.

The chronicle is a valuable source on the history of this region, not only on Christianity, but also on the Sassanid Empire . However, the truthfulness of many of the information is often difficult to verify. In the chronicle, the Bishop of Rome's claim to supremacy over the whole of Christianity is (at least indirectly) disputed, which in part led to violent hostility from some Catholic theologians.

The text of the Chronicle of Arbela was only discovered in 1907 by Alphonse Mingana , who also published the work with a French translation, although he did not proceed very conscientiously. Parts of the edition text do not match the text of the (allegedly only) manuscript sold to Berlin. Mingana was even accused of having falsified or falsified the chronicle. The discussion about the authenticity of the chronicle continues to this day, an agreement has not yet been reached.

However, one of the best experts on Syrian literature, Sebastian Brock , is of the opinion that it does not necessarily have to be a forgery, on the other hand he also pointed out the problems of the chronicle itself, since in his opinion much of the information it contains is not are historical. Peter Kawerau defended the authenticity of the chronicle, citing that it contained information that is otherwise only known from a Sassanid inscription near Bischapur , but which was only discovered in 1935/36, long after Mingana published it. Kawerau also believes that the chronicle contains more reliable information than previously thought.

literature

  • Alphonse Mingana: Sources Syriaques . Vol. 1 (Mossul - Leipzig 1908).
  • Eduard Sachau : The Chronicle of Arbela . Berlin 1915 (with German translation; digitized version from the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt, Halle ).
  • Julius Assfalg: On the text transmission of the Chronicle of Arbela. Observations on Ms. or. fol. 3126 . In: Oriens Christianus 50 (1966), pp. 19-36.
  • J.-M. Fiey, Auteur et date de la Chronique d'Arbeles . In: L'Orient Syrien 12 (1967): 265-302.
  • Sebastian P. Brock: Syriac Historical Writing: A Survey of the Main Sources . In: Journal of the Iraqi Academy Syriac Corporation 5 (1979/80), pp. 1-30.
  • Omert J. Schrier, Syriac Evidence for the Roman-Persian War of 421-422 . In: GRBS 33 (1992): 75-86.
  • Peter Kawerau: The Chronicle of Arbela (= Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium . Scriptores Syri 199-200) . Louvain 1985. (German translation)
  • Erich Kettenhofen, The Chronicle of Arbela in the view of ancient history . In: Simblos 1 (1995), 287-319.
  • Josef Wiesehöfer (Ed.): The Parthian Empire and its testimonies . Stuttgart 1998, p. 428f. ISBN 3-515-07331-0 . (Discussion on research history and authenticity)
  • Christelle Jullien - Florence Jullien: La Chronique d'Arbèles. Propositions pour la fin d'une controversy . In: Oriens Christianus 85 (2001) 41-83.
  • Ilaria Ramelli: Il Chronicon di Arbela: Presentazione, traduzione e note essenziali . Madrid 2002. Review (with further literature)
  • Ilaria Ramelli: Il Chronicon di Arbela: una messa a punto storiografica . In: Aevum 80 (2006) 145-164.

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