The History of Sebeos

The translator was not yet familiar with the corrections made by Patkanyan. This is evident from the expression "military village" encountered on page 2b of the document. This is a translation of the error "the brave village" found in the manuscript, which K. Patkanyan corrected to the place name "Atropatene" when translating. Patkanyants was not aware of this and translated the error.

There are also a number of other complete or partial translations of the "History of Sebeos," which also did not have the fortune of being published. Among them are three translations into German²⁴ and two into French²⁵.

Byzantinists had planned to publish an English translation of the "History of Sebeos" in a series of important sources of Byzantine history, which was to be carried out by the renowned Armenologist Prof. Conybeare. The "Athenaeum" newspaper reports this in its issue of December 5, 1896²⁶.

N. Marr also had a plan for a Russian translation and separate publication of the Anonymous section attached to the "History of Sebeos"²⁷.

The following translations into Russian, French, and German (partial) have been printed and entered into scientific circulation:

1. History of Emperor Heraclius, a work by Bishop Sebeos, a writer of the 7th century. Translated from Armenian [by K. Patkanyan], St. Petersburg, 1862.

The translation was carried out based on Mihrdatyan’s edition by order of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.

At the beginning of the 9-page preface attached to the publication, K. Patkanyan writes:

"We have considered it our duty to convey the most precise meaning of the original, we have preserved its expressions, and we have strived only for this: to give the reader a translation that would, as much as possible for him, replace the original. As for how we have fulfilled the task, we leave it to the readers to judge, as well as to those Armenologist scientists who do not shy away from making their own published judgments regarding this subject."

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²⁴ An unpublished German translation, carried out by Dr. Wenzel, is mentioned by Th. Nöldeke (Wiener Sitzungsberichte d. K. Akademie d. Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Klasse, Bd. 116 (1888) p. 394). Another translation was found by H. Gelzer and later used by E. Gerland (Gerland E., Die persischen Feldzüge des Kaisers Herakleios, Leipzig, 1894, p. 3). Regarding the German translation, see also "Ardzagank," 1894, No. 13, p. 3. Numerous partial translations remained in the archive of J. Marquart’s unpublished works, which is now kept in Rome (Pontificio Istituto Biblico).

²⁵ The first unpublished French translation is mentioned in the periodical "Journal asiat. de Constantinople" (1852, t. I, No. 1, janvier, p. 75). Information about a second unpublished translation appears in a French letter from the translator (A. Carrière), which is now kept in our Matenadaran (Personal Archives Section, folder 235, doc. 204). See also "Banasir," Paris, Year 4, No. 5, p. 159, and also: "Histoire d' Héracléios, par l'évêque Sébèos", Paris, 1904, preface, p. 11.

²⁶ See "Handes Amsorya," 1897, No. 2, p. 56.

²⁷ Marr N. Ya., Toward a Critique of the History of Movses Khorenatsi; "Byzantine Annals," 1898, No. 1—2, p. 11.