OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES General Editors Gillian Clark Andrew Louth THE OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES series includes scholarly volumes on the thought and history of the early Christian centuries. Covering a wide range of Greek, Latin, and Oriental sources, the books are of interest to theologians, ancient historians, and specialists in the classical and Jewish worlds. Titles in the series include: Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and the Transformation of Divine Simplicity Andrew Radde-Gallwitz (2009) The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh Patrik Hagman (2010) Palladius of Helenopolis The Origenist Advocate Demetrios S. Katos (2011) Origen and Scripture The Contours of the Exegetical Life Peter Martens (2012) Activity and Participation in Late Antique and Early Christian Thought Torstein Theodor Tollefsen (2012) Irenaeus of Lyons and the Theology of the Holy Spirit Anthony Briggman (2012) Apophasis and Pseudonymity in Dionysius the Areopagite “No Longer I” Charles M. Stang (2012) Memory in Augustine’s Theological Anthropology Paige E. Hochschild (2012) Orosius and the Rhetoric of History Peter Van Nuffelen (2012) Drama of the Divine Economy Creator and Creation in Early Christian Theology and Piety Paul M. Blowers (2012) Embodiment and Virtue in Gregory of Nyssa Hans Boersma (2013) The Chronicle of Seert Christian Historical Imagination in Late Antique Iraq PHILIP WOOD 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries # Philip Wood 2013 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2013 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available ISBN 978–0–19–967067–3 Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Contents Preface ix Notes on Transliteration and Terminology xi Map xii Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 The Chronicle of Seert 2 Approaching the Chronicle 4 Trusting the Chronicle 6 The Texture of the Chronicle 9 Structures of the Sasanian State 13 Religion and the Sasanian State 19 Geography of a Christian Minority 22 Babylonia 23 Khuzistan 25 Assyria 26 1. Collaborators and Dissidents: Writing the Hagiographies of the Fifth-century Persecutions 31 The 410 Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon 32 The War of 421 and the New Persecutions 37 The Martyrs of Yazdegard and Vahram 39 Abgar’s Cycle: Loyalty and Persecution 44 The Vandals Remembered 48 Conclusions 50 2. The Martyrs and the Catholicos: The Acts of the Symeon and Their Reinvention 52 The Relic Cult and the Invention of History 52 Symeon bar Sebbaʿe: Martyr for a Christian People 55 Developing the Acts of Symeon: Authority and the Catholicos 57 The Acts of Symeon and the Control of History 60 Conclusions 64 3. The Patriarchal Histories: Genesis of a Centralizing Narrative 66 The Medieval Compilations: Bar Hebraeus, Mari, and ʿAmr 67 The Medieval Compilations: The Chronicle of Seert and the Haddad Chronicle 70 Acacius’ History 71 vi Contents The Fifth Century in the Acacian History 74 The School of ʿAbda 75 Miles and Papas: The Council of Dadishoʿ 78 Miles and Papas: The Reconstructions of the Histories 84 Papas and Demetrianus: Histories of Exile and the Rights of Gundishapur 87 Conclusions 91 4. The Church and the World 93 Clerical Reform: Acacius and Barsauma 95 Clerical Reform: Narsai, Elishe, and the History of a Crisis 100 The School of Nisibis: Barsauma, Acacius, and Christology 106 The School of Nisibis: Nisibene Theology in Ctesiphon 108 The Church and the Shahs: Seeking Favour 112 Conclusions 118 5. Roman Ecclesiastical History in the Sasanian World: Reception, Adaptation, and Reaction 120 The Expansion in History-writing 121 The Identity of the Ecclesiastical Historians 122 A New Roman Past 124 The Dyophysite Fathers and the Reception of the Fifth-century Histories 125 Ishoʿyahb I and the Incorporation of Roman Ecclesiastical History 128 Nisibis and the Dyophysite History of Barhadbeshaba 131 Chalcedon in the Church of the East 134 The Anti-Chalcedon Tradition 135 A Nestorian Church 140 Conclusions 142 6. Beyond Ctesiphon: Monasteries and Aristocrats in the Christian Histories 143 Abrahamic Monasticism at Izla 146 Monasticism after the Henanian Crisis 149 The Hagiographic Collections: The Book of Chastity 150 The Book of the Governors 153 Authority and Conflict in the Accounts of Babai the Great 156 Monastic Hagiography in the Chronicle of Seert: The Catholicoi and the Jacobites 160 Monastic Foundations and Iranian Aristocracy 163 Local Hagiographies and Iranian Patrons 166 Iranian Histories and Christian Authors: The Acts of Mar Qardagh 169 Iranian Histories in the Chronicle of Seert 171 Conclusions 174 Contents vii 7. The Last Great War of Antiquity: The Reaction of Christian Iraq 176 The Great War between Rome and Persia 177 Historiography of the Great War 181 Narrative Families in the History of the Great War 184 Khusrau and the Christians 188 The Life of Sabrishoʿ 189 Nuʿman and Sabrishoʿ 192 The Election of Sabrishoʿ 194 Christians in a Time of War: The Invasion of Dara 196 Christians in a Time of War: Khusrau and the Miaphysites 199 Gregory of Nisibis 202 Gregory and the Sack of Nisibis 204 The Election of Gregory of Pherat (605–9) 206 Rivals and Successors: Christian Political Ideas after 612 210 The Fall of Jerusalem in the Khuzistan Chronicle 211 The Fall of Jerusalem in Antiochos Strategos 213 The Murder of Khusrau 215 The Reign of Shahrbaraz 218 Conclusions 219 8. The Church of Baghdad: A New Past for Christian Iraq 221 An Indian Summer 222 The Catholicoi and the Arabs 224 Writing Christian History under Arab Rule 229 Tales of Constantine 232 An Expanding Church 236 A New History of Monasticism: The Nestorians in the West 241 Remembering Muhammad: Taxation and Narratives of Surrender 243 Remembering Muhammad: The Histories of Najran 249 Remembering Muhammad: Christians, Jews, and Muslims 253 Conclusions 255 Conclusions 257 Episcopal and Regnal Lists 262 Synods of the Church of the East 265 History-writing in the Church of the East 266 Contents of the Chronicle of Seert 268 Bibliography 274 Index 299 This page intentionally left blank Preface This study of the Chronicle of Seert grew out a series of interests that developed while researching my doctorate. While my DPhil was concerned with the eastern Roman Empire, my eyes were increasingly drawn across the frontier, to the reception of the ideas, narratives, and institutional structures of the eastern Roman world in the Sasanian Empire. The Chronicle of Seert stood out in particular as a text that scholars sometimes mentioned in passing, but never treated as a whole, let alone situating it into its Sasanian and Abbasid contexts. My study of the Chronicle was aided by the opportunity to use a closely s ’ ā ʿī related text, the Mukhta˙ar al- akhb r al-bi ya. This was discovered by Father Butrus Haddad in Baghdad immediately before the second Iraq war, and students of Iraqi history should be most indebted to him for bringing this text to the light of day. Following the custom of calling the Khuzistan Chronicle after its discoverer, Ignazio Guidi, I have used the term Haddad Chronicle,as a shorthand reference. In addition, I am personally very grateful to Robert Hoyland for allowing me to photocopy his copy of the chronicle. I was very fortunate to be funded by a British Academy postdoctoral fellowship, which allowed me time to work on this project. I am also very grateful to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, for providing such a wonderful base for my Junior Research Fellowship and for the membership of the Corpus Classics centre. They were very happy years. My fellowship also allowed me to start work on Arabic, which I pursued in Damascus, and to spend time in the Syrian orthodox patriarchal monastery at Maʿarat Seidnaya. The book was completed at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, to whom I also owe a debt of gratitude. I have accumulated a great many debts in the course of this project. My very great thanks go to Averil Cameron, my doctoral supervisor, who read the whole text in draft and made many highly pertinent observations. James Howard-Johnston was my British Academy mentor for the fellowship and was assiduous in offering advice on the text and urging me to remember the geography of my subject. David Taylor has been helpful and humorous in equal measure, and guided me out of several pitfalls, and Mazan Rabiʿa taught me Arabic for several summers, sitting under the fig tree in his garden in Damascus: both have the patience of saints. My thanks also goes to Richard Payne and Elizabeth Campbell, who were travelling companions for trips to Iran, Iraq, and Turkey and offered much valuable advice. I must also thank the various poor souls who I persuaded to read sections of the text in various stages of preparation, especially Rosamond McKitterick, Daniel Hadas, Harry Munt, Phil Booth, Adam Becker, Khodadad x Preface Rezakhani, Greg Fisher, and Sarah Savant.