The Seventh Century in the West Syrian Chronicles (Translated Texts for Historians, 15)

by Andrew Palmer (Translator), Duncan F. Kennedy (Introduction)

The Seventh Century in the West-Syrian Chronicles makes accessible to a wide public sources vital for the reconstruction of events in the first Islamic century, covering the period which ends with the unsuccessful Arab siege of Constantinople, an event which both modern historians and Syriac chronographers see as making a decisive caesura in history. The general introduction enables a newcomer to the field to establish his bearings before tackling the texts.

Genres: Islam, History

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

Reviews

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I could have written my undergraduate senior history thesis without this book.

[Lucas Sipe · Rating 3 out of 5]

As works of history, the different texts collected here are fascinating. As the name of the collection says, the texts almost exclusively focus on the history of the 7th century from a perspective very different from the Roman/ Islamic narrative commonly studied. As a general rule, these texts concern themselves with secular history, rather than Church/ Ecclesiastical (though there is some overlap), and thus there is a lot of time spent on the Roman/ Persian war and the invasion of the Arabs (the Rise of Islam.) The translator/ editor spends a lot of time discussing the sources, construction of texts, who borrowed from whom, and other minute of historical work. Not always the most engaging, it's still vital to fully reconstruct the Syriac narrative presented here. For myself, the most fascinating part of the texts was the slow, but obvious, trend away from Roman secular history to recording the events of Islamic history. As the dominance of the Caliphate became more permanent, we can see the emphasis on Rome fade away and become an accessory to the main narrative. Andrew Palmer does an overall excellent job drawing out this information in the introduction to each text.

Still, however, there are many flaws with this collection. First, it is not the highest quality book. The text is printed very heavily and can bleed over onto the page behind it, making it a little difficult to read. This isn't a problem with other Liverpool University Press texts, so it might have just been a one off issue. The second issue, however, deals with the editing. While there is only so much text that can be fit into one collection, I thought that the editors were way too willing to cut off certain sections that might be tedious or not fit in. Towards the end of the work, for example, a digression starts that would involve some church history that is removed. There is also a list of calamites that is removed by the editors. Neither of those sections might be crucial but the removal of them seems rather pointless to me. I want as much Syriac history as possible, the few pages you cut off don't seem worth it in the long run.

Overall, a great introduction to another view of the crucial 7th century. The apocalyptic texts at the end highlight the upheaval and unease felt in the century. Only marred by construction and editorial issues, this is still an essential collection. I could see myself not coming back to some of the earlier sections but the reconstruction of Dionysius is an essential text for anyone wrestling with historians/ history of the period.

[John Cairns · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fascinating that Dionysius' chronicle should be reconstituted from other histories. He's pro-Arab and anti-Roman because of the latter's state religion which is the three in one one of Xianity whereas Dionysius is monophysite ie a sort of fusion. I understand both fairly well in my own person which is both corporeal and spiritual but not I'd've thought one substance since the unconscious will isn't substance at all and, extrapolating from that, neither would god be, transcendent or not. His prejudices have to be discounted. According to him every village that had surrendered to the Arabs shouted threats at the Roman army whose crimes were unspeakable and their unseemliness ought not even to be brought to mind, so he doesn't. Heraclius, on Roman defeat, becomes defeatist: god, he concludes, is against them. There's an interesting account of how Egypt is lost to the empire, and Jerusalem. Then Africa. Cyprus - one damn thing after another. Dionysius doesn't lack objectivity when it comes to Arabs, delineating the unscrupulousness of their rulers and the comeback of assassination. The Romans are no better. A king kills his brother and moves out of the way, to Rome! so one has a glimpse of the continued reach of the empire even as it is diminished. Generals are revolting and sue the Arabs for support. An envoy promises subjection if the Arab army helps assassinate the Roman kind who also send as envoy on whose entry into the Arab's presence, the traitorous envoy kowtows out of habit. He makes up for this by insulting the king's envoy who's a eunuch, so outraged he says he'll have the traitorous envoy's balls, and does. There are very good stories, indicating it's not all going the Arabs' way, guerrilla warfare incited by the Romans behind the lines for example that makes the Arabs sue for peace. Greek is being used for a long time by the civil service, indicative of the use of Xians in high places. Then there's the terrific account of how the Arabs are led on by a Roman general to make him king who subsequently thwarts their attempt to take Constantinople. I can thoroughly recommend this book of recondite chronicles especially that of Dionysius and admire the reconstituting scholarship that underlies its existence.