Late Antique Historiography

History of Persia

Title(s):
  • History of Persia
Author:
Period covered:
Ca. 287-628
Language:
Middle Persian
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
  • Secular history (epic history)
  • Chronicle (general)
Remarks:
According to Pseudo-John Mamikonean, this work was given to a cleric called Marmara (Մարմառա) in the region of Edessa, by an Iranian soldier. Pseudo-John then got hold of it and translated parts of it. The material he gathered from it focused on the history of Taron that covered at least the time from Trdat (presumably Tiridates III (287-330), who was converted to Christianity by Gregory the Illuminator), until the time of the Persian shah Khosrow II (590-628). It seems likely that the work was a history of Persia, either epic in nature or a chronicle.
Edition - Translation:
Fragments:
  • Pseudo-John Mamikonean, History (colophon)
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • A.G. Abrahamayan (1941) Patmut‘iwn Taronoy. Yerevan.
  • L. Avdoyan (1993) Pseudo-Yovhannēs Mamikonean, the History of Tarōn (Patmut‘iwn Tarōnoy): Historical investigation, critical translation, and historical and textual commentaries (Suren D. Fesjian academic publications, 6). Atlanta.