Agapius the historian
Encyclopedia
Agapius son of Constantine (arabised as Mahbūb ibn-Qūṣṭānṭīn) (d.941-2 AD) was a 10th century Arabic Christian writer, best known for his lengthy Kitab al-'Unwan (Book of headings or History). He was the Melkite
bishop of Manbij (Mabbug, Hierapolis).
He was contemporary with the annalist Eutychius
(=Said al-Bitriq), also a Melchite. His history commences with the foundation of the world and runs up to his own times. The portion dealing with the Arabic period is extant only in a single manuscript and breaks off in the second year of the Caliphate of Mahdi (160AH = 776-7 AD).
For the early history of Christianity, Agapius made use uncritically of apocryphal and legendary materials. For the following secular and ecclesiastical history, he relied on Syriac sources, in particular the World Chronicle of the Maronite Theophilus of Edessa (d. 785) for the end of the Ummayad period and the beginning of the Abbasids. He made use of Eusebius's Church History
only through an intermediary compilation of short extracts. This he supplements from other sources. He gives an otherwise unknown fragment of Papias; and a list of Eastern Metropolitans. He uses the lost History of Bardaisan. But many of his sources must remain unknown.
The History has been published with a French translation in the Patrologia Orientalis
series and with a Latin translation in the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
series.
.
Melkite
The term Melkite, also written Melchite, refers to various Byzantine Rite Christian churches and their members originating in the Middle East. The word comes from the Syriac word malkāyā , and the Arabic word Malakī...
bishop of Manbij (Mabbug, Hierapolis).
He was contemporary with the annalist Eutychius
Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria
Eutychius or Sa'id ibn Batriq or Bitriq was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria. He is known for being one of the first Christian Egyptian writers to use the Arabic language...
(=Said al-Bitriq), also a Melchite. His history commences with the foundation of the world and runs up to his own times. The portion dealing with the Arabic period is extant only in a single manuscript and breaks off in the second year of the Caliphate of Mahdi (160AH = 776-7 AD).
For the early history of Christianity, Agapius made use uncritically of apocryphal and legendary materials. For the following secular and ecclesiastical history, he relied on Syriac sources, in particular the World Chronicle of the Maronite Theophilus of Edessa (d. 785) for the end of the Ummayad period and the beginning of the Abbasids. He made use of Eusebius's Church History
Church History (Eusebius)
The Church History of Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea was a 4th-century pioneer work giving a chronological account of the development of Early Christianity from the 1st century to the 4th century. It was written in Koine Greek, and survives also in Latin, Syriac and Armenian manuscripts...
only through an intermediary compilation of short extracts. This he supplements from other sources. He gives an otherwise unknown fragment of Papias; and a list of Eastern Metropolitans. He uses the lost History of Bardaisan. But many of his sources must remain unknown.
The History has been published with a French translation in the Patrologia Orientalis
Patrologia Orientalis
The Patrologia Orientalis is an attempt to create a comprehensive collection of the writings by eastern Church Fathers in Syriac, Armenian, Arabic, Coptic, Ge'ez, Georgian, and Slavonic. It is designed to complement the comprehensive, influential, and monumental Latin and Greek patrologies...
series and with a Latin translation in the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
The Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium is an important multilingual collection of Eastern Christian texts with over 600 volumes published since its foundation in 1903 by Louvain Catholic University in Belgium and The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C....
series.
Testimonium Flavianum
His history contains an interesting version of the Testimonium FlavianumJosephus on Jesus
This article is part of the Jesus and history series of articles.Josephus was a renowned 1st-century Jewish historian...
.
External links
- English translation of the whole work.