Evidence ID
E00080Saint Name
Thomas, the Apostle : S00199Saint Name in Source
ܬܐܘܡܐType of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)Evidence not before
540Evidence not after
600Activity not before
441Activity not after
442Place of Evidence - Region
MesopotamiaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
EdessaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Edessa
Edessa
Edessa
Ἔδεσσα
EdessaCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offeringsCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
SoldiersCult Activities - Relics
Bodily relic - bones and teeth
Reliquary – institutionally ownedSource
The Chronicle of Edessa is a collection of mainly short entries, most of which are related to the history of the city of Edessa. It is an original Syriac composition, produced in the second half of the 6th century by a pro-Chalcedonian Syriac-speaking author.
Syriac text: Guidi 1903, vol. 1, 1-13; English translation: Cowper 1864, 30-39; German translation: Hallier 1892, 84-138; Russian translation: Пигулевская 1959. For general information, see van Rompay 2011; Witakowski 1986.Discussion
The Chronicle reports that Anatolius, the Roman military commander (Syr. stratilatis, from Gr. στρατηλάτης), offered a silver 'chest' (Syr. nawsa, from Gr. ναός) for the bones of the Apostle Thomas in Edessa, in the year 441/2. This imperial official can be identified as Flavius Anatolius, who served as magister utriusque militiae per Orientem during the years 433-446 (Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire II, 'Fl. Anatolius 10').Bibliography
Editions and translations:
Guidi, I., Chronica minora, Pars prior. 2 vols (CSCO Syr. III.4; Paris: Typographeo Reipublicae, 1903).
Cowper, B.H., “Selections from the Syriac. No. I: The Chronicle of Edessa,” Journal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record NS V, 9 (1864), 28-45.
Hallier, L., Untersuchungen über die Edessenische Chronik, mit dem Syrischen Text und einer Übersetzung (Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 9.1; Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs, 1892).
Пигулевская, Н.В., “Эдесская хроника,” Палестинский сборник 4 [67] (1959), 79-96; reprinted in: Пигулевская, Н.В., Сирийская средневековая историография. Исследования и переводы (С.-Петербург: Дмитрий Буланин , 2000), 468-476.
Further reading:
Rompay, L. van, “Chronicle of Edessa,” in: S.P. Brock, A.M. Butts, G.A. Kiraz and L. van Rompay (eds.), Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2011), 97-98.
Witakowski, W., “Chronicles of Edessa,” in: T. Kronholm and E. Riad (eds.), On the Dignity of Man: Oriental and Classical Studies on Honour of Frithiof Rundgren (Orientalia Suecana 33-35; Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1986), 487-498.
