Ebook: Chronicle (Known Also as the Chronicle of Zuqnin). Part III

Translated with notes and introduction by Witold Witakowski.

The Syriac historiographical work, of which the third part is presented here in translation, is a universal chronicle which came into being in Northern Mesopotamia at the end of the eighth century A.D. Its author is unknown, perhaps simply because of the poor state of preservation of the unique manuscript of the work. Due to an early attribution, later proved false, he is usually referred to as Pseudo-Dionysius. This conventional name has been perpetuated by the title of the standard edition of the Syriac text (not likely to be replaced in the near future), and will consequently be retained here. As the place where the chronicler lived has proved to be the monastery of Zuqnin, the other conventional title by which the work is sometimes referred to as the "Chronicle of Zuqnin".

Presenting to the public an English translation of only the third part of Pseudo-Dionysius' "Chronicle" may seem somewhat arbitrary, but the decision to do so was made when this part was still the only one for which no full translation into any European language existed.

The third part, moreover, has a value of its own, quite independently of the rest of the chronicle, due to its being based on an original, historiographical work contemporary with the events recounted, as well as to its distinctive point of view-that of the representative of a dissident religious community at a crucial period of its development. It thus constitutes an important source for the history of Byzantium in the sixth century, covering roughly the reigns of Anastasius, Justin I, and Justinian.