Late Antique Historiography

History of Karka d-Bet Slokh and its martyrs

Title(s):
  • History of Karka d-Bet Slokh and its martyrs
  • ܬܫܥܝܬܐ ܕܟܪܟܐ ܕܒܝܬ ܣܠܘܟ ܘܕܣܗܕܐ ܕܒܗ
    (taš‘ītā d-karkā d-bēt slōk wa-d-sāhdē d-beh, History of Karka d-Bet Slokh and its martyrs)
Author:
Period covered:
Ca. 681 B.C.-445
Language:
Syriac
State of Preservation:
Full
Genre:
  • Biography (collective)
  • Secular history (local history)
Remarks:
The history, running from the origin of the city under the reign of Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C.) until the persecution against the Christians under Yazdegerd II in 445, focuses on the persecutions of the martyrs of the region of Bet Garmai, so it could be understood simply as a martyrologium, rather than a chronicle. But, as pointed out by Debié (2010: 61), the narration is chronologically arranged by the successions of the local bishops.
The signature ms. Diyarbarkir, Caldean Archbishop's Palace, 96 refers to the catalogue of Scher (Scher 1907). Bedjan used this manuscript for his edition and dated it to the seventh or eighth century.
Edition - Translation:
Fragments:
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • A. Baumstark (1922) Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, mit Ausschluss der christlich-palästinensischen Texte. Bonn: 135.
  • M. Debié (2010) 'Writing history as 'histoires': The biographical dimension of East Syriac historiography'. In: Writing 'true stories': Historians and hagiographers in the late antique and medieval Near East, ed. A. Papaconstantinou - M. Debié - H.N. Kennedy (Cultural encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 9). Turnhout: 43-75.
  • 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: 605-607.
  • J.-M. Fiey (1964) 'Vers la réhabilitation de l'histoire de Karka d'Bet Sloh'. Analecta Bollandiana 82: 189-222.
  • A. Papaconstantinou, M. Debié, H. Kennedy (2010) (ed.) Writing 'true stories': Historians and hagiographers in the late antique and medieval Near East. Turnhout: 60-61.
  • I.V. Pigylevskaya (1954) ‘История основания города Карка де бет Селох’. Ученые записки ЛГУ, серия востоковедческих наук 179: 215-229.
  • J. Rist (2016) ‘“Die Geschichte von Karkā d-Bēt Slok und der Märtyrer darin” (BHO 705): Ein spätantiker hagiographischer Text und sein Sitz im Leben'. In: Syrische Studien: Beiträge zum 8. Deutschen Syrologie-Symposium in Salzburg 2014, ed. D.W. Winkler (Orientalia, Patristica, Oecumenica, 10). Vienna: 181-198.