Database: Clavis Historicorum Antiquitatis Posterioris (CHAP)

Title(s):

History
ܡܟܬܒܢܘܬܐ
(mktabānūtā, Account)
ܡܟܬܒܢܘܬܐ ܕܥܠ ܙܒܢܐ
(mktabānūtā d-‘al zabnā, Account of times (chronicle))

Author:

Dionysius of Tell Mahre

Period covered:

582-842

Language:

Syriac

State of Preservation:

Fragmentary

Genre:

Remarks:

From Michael the Great we know that Dionysius' work was divided in two parts, an ecclesiastical and a civil one, consisting of 8 chapters each. The only excerpt of the work that has survived in direct tradition is a passage on the apostasy of Probus and John Barbur, preserved in the manuscript Vaticanus Syriacus 144. Palmer (1993: 85-110) has proposed a tentative reconstruction of the text based on the overlap between its two main dependants, Michael the Great and the Chronicle of the year 1234. According to Conrad (1992) and Hoyland (2011), Dionysius' main source for the seventh and eighth centuries was the lost work of Theophilus of Edessa. Debié (2015: 27-30) and Conterno (2014) hold a more cautious view on the possibility of reconstructing Theophilus' work via Dionysius' dependants.

Edition - Translation:

P. Van Nuffelen, M. Mazzola, M. Conterno, A. Hilkens (Forthcoming) Dionysius of Tell Mahre: Fragments, translation and commentary.

Fragments:

Users:

Sources:

Bibliography:

R. Abramowski (1940) Dionysius von Tellmahre, jakobitischer Patriarch von 818-845: Zur Geschichte der Kirche unter dem Islam (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 25.2). Leipzig.
F. Altheim (1973) 'Ein unbeachtetes Bruchstuck Dionysios von Tellmahre'. In: Christentum am Roten Meer. Volume Two, ed. F. Altheim. Berlin: 335-46.
S.W. Anthony (2010) 'The Syriac account of Dionysius of Tell Maḥre concerning the assassination of 'Umar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb'. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 62.2: 209-224.
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) 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: 568-569.
A. Harrak (2015) ‘Dionysius of Tell-Maḥrē: Patriarch, diplomat, and inquisitive chronicler’. In: Syriac encounters: Papers from the sixth North American Syriac Symposium, Duke University, 26-29 June 2011, ed. M.E Doerfler - E. Fiano - K.R. Smith (Eastern Christian studies, 20). Leuven.
A. Hilkens (2018) The anonymous Syriac Chronicle of 1234 and its sources (Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta, 272). Leuven: 267-280.
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: 409-410, 416-419.
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.
A. Palmer (1993) The seventh century in the West-Syrian chronicles, including two seventh-century Syriac apocalyptic texts (Translated texts for historians, 15). Liverpool.
E. Riad (1988) Studies in the Syriac preface (Studia Semitica Upsaliensia, 11). Uppsala.
H. Teule (2009) 'Dionysius of Tell-Maḥrē'. 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: 622-626.
W. Witakowski (2011). 'Dionysios of Tel Maḥre'. In: Gorgias encyclopedic dictionary of the Syriac heritage, ed. S.P. Brock - A.M. Butts - G.A. Kiraz - L. Van Rompay. Piscataway (NJ): 127-128.