Ecclesiastical history

Title(s):
  • Ecclesiastical history
  • ܐܩܠܝܤܝܐܤܛܝܩܝ
    (’eqlēsyāsṭīqī, Ecclesiastical history)
  • ܬܫܥܝܬܐ ܥܕܬܢܝܬܐ
    (taš‘ītā ‘idtānītā, Ecclesiastical history)
Period covered:
Justin I (518-527)-death of Tiberius II (582)
Language:
Syriac
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
  • Ecclesiastical history
Remarks:
Cyrus of Batna is mentioned by Michael the Great as one of his sources in an editorial note inserted between chapters 20 and 21 of book 10. From this passage we know that Cyrus wrote a work in 14 books, on the period from Justin I to Tiberius II (possibly Justin II until Tiberius II). He is also mentioned among other historians by Dionysius of Tell Mahre in the preface of his lost history, which is quoted in full by Michael.
In his preface, Michael (Chabot 1899: 2) mentions, among his sources, a certain Gourya, who wrote on the period from Justinian to Heraclius, and Debié (2015: 380-381) identifies him with Cyrus, discussing the problem of the inconsistency between Michael's two testimonia.
Dionysius of Tell Mahre states that he is taking up the narration from the point were Cyrus stopped, and we know that his History started with the beginning of the reign of Maurice (Chabot 1905: 111). Therefore either Michael is mistaken in his preface, or the Gourya he mentions there is not to be identified with Cyrus of Batna.
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