Late Antique Historiography

History

Title(s):
  • History
Author:
Period covered:
Creation-author's time or ca. 630-750?
Language:
Syriac
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
  • Chronicle (general)
  • Secular history (general)
Remarks:
There is debate among scholars about both the chronological scope and the structure of the work (chronicle vs. narrative history). The identification with the author of the Chronicon Maroniticum proposed by Breydy (1990) has not been followed. The identification of Theophilus' work with the source shared by Theophanes Confessor, Michael the Great, the Chronicle of 1234 and Agapius of Mabboug has been suggested by Conrad (1990; 1992) and Hoyland (1997; 2011). Hoyland (2011) provides an English translation of the matching passages in the authors he terms 'Theophilus' dependants'. This reconstruction is fraught with difficulties and should be used with caution (Conterno 2014).
Edition - Translation:
Fragments:
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • P. Bedjan (1890) Gregorii Barhebraei Chronicon Syriacum. Paris.
  • P. Bedjan (1910) (ed.) Chronique de Michel le Syrien, patriarche jacobite d'Antioche (1166-1199). Volume Four. Paris.
  • M. Breydy (1990) 'Das Chronikon des Maroniten Theophilus ibn Tuma'. Journal of Oriental and African Studies 2: 34-46.
  • J.-B. Chabot (1901) (tr.) Chronique de Michel le Syrien, patriarche jacobite d'Antioche (1166-1199). Volume Two. Paris.
  • L.I. Conrad (1990) 'Theophanes and the Arabic historical tradition: Some indications of intercultural transmission'. Byzantinische Forschungen 15: 1-44.
  • L.I. Conrad (1992) 'The conquest of Arwād: A source-critical study in the historiography of early medieval Near East'. In: The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East. Volume One: Problems in the literary source material, ed. A. C. Cameron - L. I. Conrad (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, 1). Princeton: 317-401.
  • M. Conterno (2014) 'Theophilos, "the more likely candidate"? Towards a reappraisal of the question of Theophanes' Oriental source(s)'. In: Studies in Theophanes, ed. F. Montinaro - M. Jankowiak. Paris: 383-400.
  • M. Conterno (2014) La 'descrizione dei tempi' all'alba dell'espansione islamica: Un'indagine sulla storiografia greca, siriaca e araba fra VII e VIII secolo (Millennium studies, 47). Berlin - New York.
  • M. Debié (2015) L'écriture de l'histoire en syriaque: Transmissions interculturelles et constructions identitaires entre hellénisme et Islam (Late antique history and religion, 12). Leuven - Paris - Bristol: 388-391.
  • M. Debié (2014) 'Writing history during Byzantium's dark centuries: Theophanes' famous Oriental source reassessed from an Eastern point of view'. In: Studies in Theophanes, ed. F. Montinaro - M. Jankowiak. Paris: 365-382.
  • R. Hoyland (1997) Seeing Islam as others saw it: A survey and evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian writings on early Islam (Studies in Late Antiquity and early Islam, 13). Princeton.
  • R. Hoyland (2011) Theophilus of Edessa's Chronicle and the circulation of historical knowledge in Late Antiquity and early Islam (Translated texts for historians, 57). Liverpool.
  • R. Hoyland (2014) 'Theophanes, Agapius and Theophilus'. In: The Chronicle of Theophanes: Sources, composition and transmission, ed. F. Montinaro - M. Jankowiak. Paris.
  • A. Müller, J. Lippert (1903) 'Alī ibn Yūsuf al-Qifṭī: Ta’rīkh al-ḥukamā'. Leipzig.
  • A. Müller, J. Lippert (1903) 'Alī ibn Yūsuf al-Qifṭī: Ta’rīkh al-ḥukamā'. Leipzig.
  • A. Sālḥanī (1890) Ta'rīkh mukhtaṣar al-duwal lil-'allāmah Ġrīġūriyūs Abī al-Faraj ibn Hārūn al-Ṭabīb al-Malaṭī al-ma'rūf bi-Ibn al-'Ibrī. Beirut.
  • H. Teule (2009) 'Theophilus of Edessa'. In: Christian-Muslim relations: A bibliographical history. Volume One: 600-900, ed. D. Thomas - B. Roggema (The history of Christian-Muslim relations, 11). Leiden - Boston: 305-308.
  • A.A. Vasiliev (1912) Kitab al-'unvan: Histoire universelle écrite par Agapius (Mahboub) de Menbidj. Seconde partie, Fasc. 2 (Patrologia Orientalis 8.3). Paris.