The History of Sebeos

... malice, and the rebellion of Vardan against Khosrow, the rebellion of the Persian forces against Hormizd, the death of Hormizd and the accession of Khosrow, the death of Maurice and the accession of Phocas, the capture of Egypt, the massacre in Alexandria, the march of Heraclius to the north toward the king of the Thessalians original: "Թետալաց-ւոց", the dispatch of an infinite multitude of nations, the raids of the Greeks into Atropatene, the battle and the plunder, the return via Paytakaran, the arrival of the Persian forces from the East to strike him, the war that took place in the land of the Albanians, the emperor's return to the city of Nakhchavan and the battle of Arjesh, the emperor's departure to his own borders, another subsequent march against Khosrow, the conduct of the war at Nineveh, the raid on the city of Ctesiphon original: "Տիսբոն", the return to Atropatene, the death of Khosrow, the accession of Kavadh, the peace treaty between the two kings, the abandonment of the Greek borders, and the return of the divine cross to the holy city. After this, an infinite wrath was awakened, as well as the final calamities of the old referring to the Sasanian order in the regions of the south, and how the armies of Ishmael suddenly stirred, and in a moment of time, driving away the power of both kings, they seized everything from Egypt to the hither side of the great river Euphrates and to the borders of Armenia, and from the shore of the great Western Sea to the gates of the kingdom of Persia, including all the cities of the Assyrian Mesopotamia, and Ctesiphon, and Veh-Ardashir, and Marand, and Hamadan, up to the city of Ganzak and the great Herat original: "Հրատն" in the province of Atropatene — I wished to narrate all this briefly in this book."

This short list itself shows how wide a scope the Armenian historian's work possesses.

The nature of this list suggests the idea that the author of the "History of Sebeos" wrote not just a history of the Armenians, but a general history of his near-contemporary times. In the preface, he says nothing about Armenian figures, but lists the boundaries of the Persian, Byzantine, and Arab rulers and their actions. Nevertheless, while composing the book, he paid great attention to events concerning his homeland and to the political, military, and diplomatic relations of Armenian and foreign figures. He composed the history on Armenian soil, as an Armenian historian, to fill the gap he perceived in our historiography.

Following the rich historiography of the fifth century, in the sixth and seventh centuries, until the appearance of this published work, no significant historiographical work was written or has reached us. We owe the registration of almost all the notable events that occurred during a historical period of about two hundred years to the author of this book. Other historians repeat this truthful chronicler and do not add essential novelties to what he wrote 2.

1 The history of the events appearing in the underlined lines is missing from the manuscripts that have reached us, likely due to the loss of pages.

2 Ukhtanes is a notable exception. Based on the "Book of Letters" and other sources, he composed the history of the separation of the Armenian and Georgian churches, which for inexplicable reasons is missing from the "History of Sebeos."