Sebeos

Sebeos was an Armenian bishop and historian living in the second half of the 7th century . For a long time he was considered to be the author of a story of Herakleios ( Armenian Patmowt'iwn i Herakln ). In modern research, however, the relevant text is assigned to an anonymous author and the historical work is therefore referred to as pseudo-Sebeos . The work contains important information about the events in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 7th century, the relevant passages are based on good sources.

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The title of the historical work is too narrow and misleading because the information about the Byzantine emperor Herakleios (r. 610–641) makes up the smallest part of the Armenian history presented in the main part from the end of the 6th century to 661 . The work deals with the rulers of Armenia, contains information about events in the neighboring society of the Eastern Roman Empire under Emperor Herakleios and especially in the Persian Sassanid Empire in the late late antiquity . The text reports on the wars of the Sassanid Chosrau II and describes the beginning of the Arab expansion up to the fall of the Sassanid Empire. Since, apart from a few inscriptions and vitae of saints, there are hardly any contemporary sources on Armenian and Persian history from the 6th and 7th centuries, great importance is attached to the "history of Herakleios" . This also applies to the first years of the Islamic expansion, especially since the Arabic tradition about this time was written down much later.

The text is regarded in modern scholarship as a valuable source for the events of the late 6th and 7th centuries. Among other things, meticulous dating of events is carried out. For example, chapter 45 begins (in Thomson / Howard-Johnston, p. 111): "In the second year of the reign of Constantine , in the month of Hori on the 23rd day of the month, on a Sunday at dusk ..." The date corresponds to August 10th 643. The victory of the Armenian prince Theodoros Rštuni over the Arab invaders is depicted. The work also provides information on the dating of early Christian Armenian church buildings, which were built in large numbers in the first half of the 7th century. In other places, descriptions also reflect information in other preserved sources. The author apparently had access to several sources, including official documents.

The main part of the text is preceded by an introduction, presumably by a different author, which is not directly related to the period shown below. The introduction again consists of three parts: First, the myths of the Armenian ancestor Hayk and his descendants are described. The second part lists the Parthian and Arsacid kings. These two parts are referred to in the text as "the ancestral history" ( naxneac'n patmowt'iwn , thus "prehistory", in English known as the "Primary History of Armenia"). The events are about the rule of about Nor Shirakan (r. 401-417) ruling king Vramshapur shown until the end of the 6th century. There is also a chronology of the Byzantine and Sassanid rulers. Almost 200 years are summarized in the introduction on 18 pages.

In contrast, in the main part of the story from the year 590, when the great king Chosrau II ascended the throne, to 661, when Muʿāwiya I became the first caliph of the Umayyads , expanded in detail. The first editor of the Armenian text, T'adeos Mihrdatean, had divided the text of the manuscript into three parts, considering only the third part as the history of Sebeos. Only this third part is treated accordingly in research as a relevant source text and is now referred to as pseudo-Sebeos . Mihrdatean divided this text into 38 chapters, which in 1939 were again divided into 45 chapters by the editor Malkhasean (with 52 chapters for the entire manuscript text).

Because the title "History of Herakleios" is incorrect, Robert W. Thomson and James Howard-Johnston doubt the authorship of an Armenian author named Sebeos and would rather have the work called "History of Chosrau" and the consequently anonymous author as a pseudo-Sebeos describe. The identity of a Bishop Sebeos should be questioned in a similar way to that of the other early Armenian historians, namely Moses of Choren, Faustus of Byzantium , Agathangelos , Yeghishe Vardapet , Ghewond (8th century) and Towma Arzruni (9th / 10th century). Thomson and Howard-Johnston, who studied the text and its problems in detail, believe that the first two parts of the work were written much later. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that an anonymous text gradually received the title “History of Herakleios” and was associated with an author named Sebeos. However, this does not change the fact that the authentic third part, which is referred to as Pseudo-Sebeos , is based on apparently good sources - this is proven by the comparison with parallel sources that prove the quality of the information in Pseudo-Sebeos - and an overall reliable description of the Offers events from the end of the 6th to the middle of the 7th century.

T'adeos Mihrdatean was the first to publish the text in Istanbul in 1851 under the title “History of Bishop Sebeos about Heraclios” . It was based on two anonymous manuscripts from the 16th and 17th centuries that had no titles. One manuscript was written in 1672 in the Anabaptist monastery in Bitlis and is located under number 2639 in Matenadaran in Yerevan ; the older manuscript was still used for the edition in 1851, but is no longer preserved today. In 1833 the monk Jean Chakhatounof identified it as the work of Sebeos. In a letter from 1831 he spoke in connection with the Church of Zvartnots about the "story of Sebeos". In addition, Mihrdatean used a second manuscript from 1568, which is now lost. As mentioned above, this identification is no longer considered correct today. All editions and translations of the third part ( pseudo-Sebeos ) go back to the only surviving manuscript, 2639.

In the research, the English translation by Robert W. Thomson and James Howard-Johnston is recognized as a significant contribution, the translation replaces all older ones and the information there is fundamental for any further study of the text content.

Editions and translations

• F. Macler: Histoire d'Héraclius par l'évêque Sebéos. Imprimerie Nationale. Paris 1904 ( Internet Archive ).
• GV Abgarian: Parmut'iwn Sebeosi . Yerevan 1979 (critical Armenian edition).
• Robert Bedrosian: Sebeos' History. 1985 (chapter counting according to F. Macler 1904).
• Robert W. Thomson (translation), James Howard-Johnston (commentary): The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos . 2 volumes ( Translated Texts for Historians ). Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 1999, ISBN 0-85323-564-3 (important English translation with extensive introduction, detailed historical commentary and new chapter numbering).

literature

• M. Kristin Arat: Bishop Sebeos and the first statements of the Armenians about Islam. In: Al-Masaq 6 (1993), pp. 107-129.
• Joseph David C. Frendo: Sebeos and the Armenian historiographical tradition in the context of Byzantine-Iranian relations. In: Peritia 4 (1985), pp. 1-20.
• Tim Greenwood: The History of Sebeos. In: David Thomas, Barbara Roggema (eds.): Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 1. Leiden / Boston 2009, pp. 139-144.
• Tim Greenwood: Sasanian Echoes and Apocalyptic Expectations. A Re-Evaluation of the Armenian History attributed to Sebeos. In: Le Muséon 115, 2002, pp. 323-397.
• Claudio Gugerotti (Ed.): Storia. Sebeos. (= Eurasiatica. Quaderni del Dipartimento di studi eurasiatici, Università degli studi di Venezia. Vol. 4), Verona 1990.
• James Howard-Johnston: Witnesses to a World Crisis. Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century . Oxford 2010, p. 71ff.
• James D. Howard-Johnston: Armenian historians of Heraclius. An examination of the aims, sources and working methods of Sebeos and Movses Daskhurantsi. In: Gerrit J. Reinink, Bernard H. Stolte (eds.): The Reign of Heraclius (610-641). Crisis and Confrontation (= Groningen studies in cultural change. Vol. 2). Peeters, Leuven 2002, ISBN 90-429-1228-6 , pp. 41-62.
• Jean-Pierre Mahé: Critical Remarks on the Newly Edited Excerpts from Sebeos. In: Thomas J. Samuelian, Michael E. Stone (eds.): Medieval Armenian Culture (= Armenian texts and studies. Vol. 6). Scholars Pr., Chico 1984, ISBN 0-89130-642-0 , pp. 218-239.

Remarks

1. ↑ In summary, see Tim Greenwood: The History of Sebeos. In: David Thomas, Barbara Roggema (eds.): Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 1. Leiden / Boston 2009, pp. 139-144.
2. ↑ James Howard-Johnston: Witnesses to a World Crisis. Oxford 2010, p. 71ff .; Emilio Bonfiglio: Sebeos , in: Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle (online article).
3. ↑ Christina Maranci: Building Churches in Armenia: Art at the Borders of Empire and the Edge of the Canon. In: The Art Bulletin , Vol. 88, No. 4, December 2006, pp. 656-675, here p. 669.
4. ^ Robert W. Thomson, James Howard-Johnston: The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos. Volume 1, Liverpool 1999, pp. XXXII f.
5. ↑ See Robert W. Thomson, James Howard-Johnston: The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos. Volume 1, Liverpool 1999, p. LXI ff. And the historical commentary in the second volume there.
6. ↑ See James Howard-Johnston: Witnesses to a World Crisis. Oxford 2010, p. 94ff .; Emilio Bonfiglio: Sebeos , in: Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle (online article); Tim Greenwood: The History of Sebeos. In: David Thomas, Barbara Roggema (eds.): Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 1. Leiden / Boston 2009, p. 143.
7. ^ Robert W. Thomson, James Howard-Johnston: The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos. Volume 1, Liverpool 1999, pp. XXXI.
8. ↑ See, for example, the reviews in: Speculum 79 (2004), pp. 566–568; Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 36 (2003), pp. 218f .; The Medieval Review April 1, 2005 ( online ); Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 32 (2001).