Ecclesiastical history

Assemani (1725: 195) identified Ishodnah of Basra and the East-Syrian author Denah Isho, whose Ecclesiastical history is quoted by Michael the Great and Bar Ebroyo. Because of the different form of the names, Fiey is not convinced by the identification (Fiey 1966: 435). It must be remarked that Abdisho bar Brika ascribes to Ishodnah's Ecclesiastical history three volumes, whereas according to Michael the Great, Denah Isho's work consisted of at least ten books. Noticing that the quotes from Ishodnah in Elias of Nisibis match some passages of the Chronicle of Seert, Nautin (1974) suggested that the Chronicle of Seert is an Arabic translation of Isho'dnah's Ecclesiastical history, but Fiey (1975-1976) remarked that the textual comparison only shows that Elias of Nisibis (or Isho'denah) and the author of the Chronicle of Seert had a common source. According to Howard-Johnston (2011: 326), the Chronicle of Seert might be a revised and combined edition of Ishodnah's Ecclesiastical history and Book of chastity, integrated with material taken from later sources.