Theophanes the Confessor, Chronicle 336.4-24
created: This entry is taken from Chronicle 336.4-24 written by Theophanes the Confessor
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/80

Καισαρείας Παλαιστίνης

, and

Caesarea Palestinae

are directly attested at Theophanes the Confessor, Chronicle 336.4-24. This passage was written ca. ca. 810-814 C.E. possibly in Cyzicus. Theophanes, born to noble parents in Constantinople, was raised in the Palace under Constantine V (740-775 C.E.) He spent much of his career as a member and leader of monastic communities around the Sea of Marmara, before his condemnation and exile to Samothrace in 817 C.E. by Leo V the Armenian during the controversies over Iconoclasm. At the request of George Syncellus, Theophanes wrote a continuation of his chronicle from Diocletian down to Michael I Rhangabes (284-813 C.E.), in the usual dry style and format of Byzantine chronography. In his entry for the year 631/2, he narrates the victory of the Arabs over the Byzantines at Caesarea and the famous celestial harbinger of the Arab conquest, an episode that several Syriac sources also recount.

Κόσμου ἔτη ͵ϛρκδʹ Τῆς θείας σαρκώσεως ἔτη χκδʹ Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς Ἡράκλειος ἔτη λαʹ κγʹ. Ἀράβων ἀρχηγὸς Ἀβουβάχαρος ἔτη γʹ βʹ. Κωνσταντ(ινουπόλεως) ἐπίσκοπος Σέργιος ἔτη κθʹ κδʹ. Ἱεροσολύμων ἐπίσκοπος Μόδεστος ἔτη βʹ. βʹ Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐπίσκοπος Γεώργιος ἔτη ιδʹ. ιδʹ Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ἔπεμψεν Ἀβουβάχαρος στρατηγοὺς τέσσαρας, οἳ καὶ ὁγδηγηθέντες, ὡς προέφην, ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀράβων ἦλθον καὶ ἔλαβον τὴν Ἥραν καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν χώραν Γάζης. μόγις δὲ ἐλθών ποτε ἀπὸ Καισαρείας Παλαιστίνης Σέργιος σὺν στρατιώταις ὀλίγοις καὶ συμβαλὼν πόλεμον κτείνεται πρῶτος σὺν τοῖς στρατιώταις τριακοσίοις οὖσιν. καὶ πολλοὺς αἰχμαλώτους λαβόντες καὶ λάφυρα πολλὰ ὑπέστρεψαν μετὰ λαμπρᾶς νίκης. Αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ σεισμὸς ἐγένετο κατὰ τὴν Παλαιστίνην· καὶ ἐφάνη σημεῖον ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ κατὰ μεσημβρίαν, ὁ λεγόμενος δοκίτης, προμηνύων τὴν τῶν Ἀράβων ἐπικράτησιν· ἔμεινε δὲ ἡμέρας λʹ διατείνων ἀπὸ μεσημβρίας ἕως ἄρκτου. ἦν δὲ ξιφοειδής.

[Ed. de Boor 1883]

Year of the World 6124 [=631/2 C.E.] Year of the Divine Incarnation 624 Heraclius, Emperor of the Romans, 23rd year Aboubacharos, Leader of the Arabs, 2nd year Sergius, Bishop of Constantinople, 24th year Modestus, Bishop of Jerusalem, 2nd year George, Bishop of Alexandria, 14th year In this year Aboubacharos sent four generals who were conducted, as I said earlier, by the Arabs and so came and took Hera and the whole territory of Gaza. At length Sergius arrived with some difficulty with a few soldiers from Caesarea Palestinae. He took up battle and was the first to be killed along with his soldiers, numbering 300. Taking many captives and much booty, the Arabs returned home after their brilliant victory. At the same time an earthquake occurred in Palestine, and there appeared a sign in the heavens to the south, the so-called shooting star, foreboding the Arab conquest. It remained for thirty days, moving from south to north, and was shaped like a sword.

[Adapted from Mango, Scott, and Greatrex 1997] [The unusual word δοκίτης refers to a shooting star or meteor already in Late Antiquity (John Lydus, Signs 10b) and continuing in common usage into Late Byzantine and katharevousa.]

Works Cited

[...] 335.4-24
[...] 467-468

[Agapius of Hierapolis, Universal History 193-194

Agapius of Hierapolis, Universal History 208-209

Chronicle of Seert 260

Chronicon anonymum ad AD 1234 pertinens trans Abouna 1973: 189-190

Michael the Syrian II.413

Michael the Syrian II.414

Pseudo-Dionysius of Tel-Maḥre, The Chronicle of Zuqnīn 4.150-151

The Teaching of the Recently Baptized Jacob 5.16]

[Gaza

Hera (?)

Palestine]

[Aboubacharos (Abulathar, Abu al-A'war Amr ibn Sufyan ibn Abd Shams al-Sulami, أبو الأعور عمرو بن سُفيان بن عبد شمس السلمي

Arabs

Sergius]

[Byzantine History

Geography

Government and Law

Islamic History

Military

Natural Environment]