PREFACE

The published work encompasses the history of events occurring mainly from the second half of the fifth century AD until the seventh decade of the seventh century. It is an important primary source for the study of the history of Armenia and neighboring countries. Events of world-historical significance are reflected here, such as the capture of Jerusalem by the Persians (614), the Persian-Byzantine wars waged between Khosrow Parviz (590–627) and Emperor Heraclius (610–640), the emergence of the Arabs, their first invasions, and the fall of the Sasanian dynasty.

The author lived in the 7th century and personally met and listened to eyewitnesses and participants of the events he described. Some of the events he described unfolded throughout almost the entire medieval East, reaching the most distant borders, up to "the borders of the Indians," and as far as Africa. Numerous peoples and tribes participated in these events: Caucasian Albanians, Assyrians, Arabs, Egyptians, Thessalians, Armenians, Hephthalites, Indians, Huns, Jews, Greeks, Mazkuts, Medes, Persians, Georgians, Kushans, and others.

Especially regarding the years of the reigns of Khosrow and Heraclius, as well as the Arab invasions, the Armenian primary source occupies a unique place among Greek, Arabic, Persian, Assyrian, Latin, Coptic, and other sources as a history written by a near-contemporary of the events. From this point of view, the work of the Armenian historian has been used and valued by Caucasian scholars, orientalists, and Byzantinists along with Armenologists.

The "History of Sebeos" has entered broad scientific circulation through Russian, French, and German (fragmentary) translations, and today it continues to attract the attention of specialists, primarily as one of the reliable sources concerning Armenian-Persian, Armenian-Byzantine, Armenian-Arab, Iranian-Byzantine, and Arab-Byzantine relations and other issues.

The historian himself presented the brief content of his book in the preface as follows:

"But everything that happened in the time of Peroz..."