The ''Chronicle of 819'', also called the ''Chronicle of Qarṭmin'', is a chronological table of important events and people from the
birth of Jesus down to the year AD 819 written in
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
by an anonymous
Miaphysite monk from the
monastery of Qarṭmin. It contains lists of the
Abbasid caliphs for 785–813 and the
Syriac Orthodox patriarchs for 788–819.
Authorship and transmission
The ''Chronicle'' was discovered in a large 9th-century codex unearthed by
Aphrem Barsaum in the village of
Basabrina in 1911. A search for the codex could not locate it in 1984, and it seems likely that it was destroyed during the
Assyrian genocide
The Sayfo or the Seyfo (; see below), also known as the Assyrian genocide, was the mass slaughter and deportation of Assyrian / Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish ...
in 1915. A transcription of the chronicle made by Barsaum may still be kept somewhere in France. According to a marginal notice, the codex was copied by one Severus for his uncle David, bishop of
Ḥarrān
Harran (), historically known as Carrhae ( el, Kάρραι, Kárrhai), is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border cr ...
. This David was a former monk of Qarṭmin who is known to have been consecrated as a bishop by Patriarch
John IV of Antioch
John IV (Syriac: ''Mor Yuhanon'') was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 846 until his death in 873.Barsoum (2003)
Biography
John became a monk, and later priest, at the Monastery of St Zacchaeus, near the cit ...
between 846 and 873. The codex also contains church canons and patriarchal letters. The ''Chronicle'' appears as a "self-contained collection of historical notices". A later hand added a historical notice of the drought of 1094–95, which places the manuscript in Basabrina by that date. The ''Chronicle of 819'' was incorporated almost in its entirety into the ''
Chronicle of 846
The ''Chronicle of 846'' is a fragmentary universal chronicle written in Syriac by an anonymous author sometime between 846 and 873. Its focus for the later centuries, where it is most valuable, is ecclesiastical history. It is written from a Syr ...
''. It is the later chronicle's main source for the
Islamic period.
The ''Chronicle of 819'' may be the work of up to three authors, with changes in authorship coinciding with the periods 728–733 and 775–785. The signs of Qarṭminite authorship in the work are extensive and conclusive. Out of 125 entries, 15 mention the monastery. In 1959, the Syriac Orthodox patriarch
Philoxenus Dolabani claimed without citing his source that the chronicle was the work of the "renowned scribe" Manṣur, abbot of Qarṭmin and son of Marzuq, a priest of Basabrina. This appears to have been a mere conjecture.
Sources and content
The ''Chronicle'' gives roughly even coverage of ecclesiastical and secular events. For the early period, its main source is the ''
Chronicle of Edessa
The ''Chronicle of Edessa'' ( la, Chronicon Edessenum) is an anonymous history of the city of Edessa written in the mid-6th century in the Syriac language. "''Chronicle of Edessa''" is a conventional title; in the manuscript it is titled ''Histor ...
'', which ends in 540. It also includes material from
Eusebius of Caesarea. Of the 74 entries before this year, the ''Chronicle of Edessa'' is the source for 62. Its information is not passed on verbatim, but is often abbreviated and in some cases modified, as when the ''Chronicle of 819'' labels
Ibas of Edessa
Ibas ( syc, ܗܝܒܐ ܐܘܪܗܝܐ, ''Ihiba'' or ''Hiba''; October 28, 457) was bishop of Edessa (–457) and was born in Syria. His name is the Syriac equivalent of "Donatus". He is frequently associated with the growth of Nestorianism, althou ...
a heretic. For the 7th and 8th centuries, it relies heavily on the archives of the monastery of Qarṭmin. These centuries take up about half the length of the chronicle. The other sources for the later centuries are less clear, but may include the lost chronicle of
Jacob of Edessa
Jacob of Edessa (or James of Edessa) ( syr, ܝܥܩܘܒ ܐܘܪܗܝܐ, Yaʿqub Urhoyo) (c. 640 – 5 June 708) was Bishop of Edessa and prominent Syriac Christian writer in Classical Syriac language, also known as one of earliest Syriac grammaria ...
(died 708), which was known at Qarṭmin.
John of Ephesus
John of Ephesus (or of Asia) ( Greek: Ίωάννης ό Έφέσιος, c. 507 – c. 588) was a leader of the early Syriac Orthodox Church in the sixth century and one of the earliest and the most important historians to write in Syriac. John of ...
' biography of
Jacob Baradaeus
Jacob Baradaeus (; grc, Ἰάκωβος Βαραδαῖος, label=Greek; ar, مار يعقوب البرادعي; syc, ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܘܪܕܥܝܐ, label=Syriac), also known as Jacob bar Addai or Jacob bar Theophilus, was the Bishop of Edessa fr ...
was also used as a source. The ''Chronicle of 819'' shares a lost Miaphysite source with the anti-Miaphysite ''
Chronicle of 641
The ''Melkite Chronicle'' or ''Chronicle of 641'' is an anonymous world chronicle written in Syriac shortly after the death of the Emperor Heraclius in 641. has it "composed after 638".
The chronicle is preserved in a single copy in the 8th- or ...
''.
The ''Chronicle''
's coverage of political affairs, including military encounters between the Abbasids and the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
(Byzantines), between 762 and 819 is especially valuable. The chronicle is unique among Syriac histories in completely ignoring the reign of the Roman emperor
Heraclius. From the 7th century on it does not document the succession of Roman emperors and focuses exclusively on the caliphs. It does not mention the caliphs
Yazīd III and
Ibrāhīm ibn al-Walīd, who ruled briefly in 744, because they were not recognized in
Upper Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...
. The last event recorded is the consecration as patriarch of
Dionysius of Tel Maḥre, which is dated to 819 although it actually took place in August 818. The chronicle was probably completed shortly after this at Qarṭmin, as it contains more information about that monastery than any other chronicle.
Notes
Bibliography
Editions
*Edited by
Aphrem Barsaum as "Chronicon anonymum ad annum Domini 819 pertinens" in
Jean-Baptiste Chabot
Jean-Baptiste Chabot (16 February 1860 – 7 January 1948) was a Roman Catholic secular priest and the leading French Syriac scholar in the first half of the twentieth century.
Life
Born into a viticultural family at Vouvray-sur-Loire, Chabot ...
(ed.), ''Anonymi auctoris chronicon ad annum Christi 1234 pertinens'',
CSCO 81 (Paris, 1920), pp. 3–22.
*Translated into
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
by Jean-Baptiste Chabot in ''Anonymi auctoris chronicon ad annum Christi 1234 pertinens'', CSCO 109 (Louvain, 1937), pp. 1–16.
*Extracts translated into English are found in .
Secondary literature
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{{refend
819
9th-century Christian texts
819
Christianity in the Abbasid Caliphate
Christian texts of the medieval Islamic world