Compendious History of Deeds.

ܬܫܥܝܬܐ ܕܣܘܥܪ̈ܢܐ ܐܝܟ ܕܒܦܣܝ̈ܩܬܐ .

Translation: History of events as in summaries.

In the year one hundred and eighty, kings reigned in Edessa.
And the reign of Edessa.

Instead of

N O T A.

1 Year 180. That is, of the Greeks, the Seleucids, or the Syro-Macedonians: which falls in the one hundred and twenty-ninth year before the common Christian era, according to what was said above in number 2. At that time, Antiochus Sidetes reigned over the Syrians, and Phraates over the Parthians, concerning whom see Justin, book 38, chapter 10, and book 39, chapter 1. Josephus, book 13, chapter 16; Eusebius in the Chronicle, and Orosius, book 5, chapter 10. The Patriarch Dionysius in his Chronicle assigns the beginning of the Edessene kingdom seven years later, namely in the year of Abraham 1880, which, according to his calculation, precedes the Christian era by 136 years, and connects its end with the common year of Christ 217. For thus he writes on folio 15: Year nine hundred and forty-eight by the count of the Greeks, in the fifth year of Antiochus, King of Syria, Ariu the King reigned in Edessa. This is the exitus (origin) of Edessa itself. And after him reigned... Dionysius's text contains an error in the original manuscript's calculation of the era.

In the year of Abraham 1880, the first king, Orrhoes, son of Hevia, began to reign in Edessa. He reigned for five years. From his name, the city was called Orrhoa. The Kingdom of the Edessenes was begun in the 161st Olympiad and ended in the 249th. And below, speaking of events in the year of Abraham 2233, folio 29: The year one thousand eight hundred and eighty by the count of Abraham, Ariu reigned in Edessa.

Here also the Kingdom of the Edessenes ceased, which had lasted for three hundred and fifty-two years. From this time on, they were subject to the Romans: Namely, from the first year of Heliogabalus, which according to Dionysius corresponds to the year of Abraham 2233 and the year of Christ 217, the 249th Olympiad. See Pagi on the year of Christ 218, number 10, where, from the coins of the same Heliogabalus published by Vaillant and from Dio, book 78, page 907, he deduces that this Emperor, beforehand

Edessene Chronicle.

I. In the one hundred and eightieth year, kings began to reign in Edessa.

II. In-

assumed the name of Augustus and Caesar with the proconsular empire and the tribunician power. He wanted his years to be calculated not from the month of March in the year 218, in which he was acclaimed Emperor, but either from the Kalends of January of the aforementioned year, or from the year 217, in which Eutychianus is said to have been warned by the oracle of the God Heliogabalus to name as Emperor the one believed to be the son of Caracalla. Dio confirms the calculation of Dionysius, who in book 77, page 875, writes these things about Antoninus Caracalla, the predecessor of Heliogabalus: When Abgarus, King of the Osrhoenians, had come to him as a friend, he broke faith with him, threw him into chains when he had been captured, and took Osrhoene, now bereft of a king. At which time, says Tillemont, volume 8, page 280, an end was put to the Kingdom of the Edessenes: namely, at the beginning of the year of Christ 217, which was the last year of Caracalla and the first year of Heliogabalus. And to this, Eusebius seems to have referred when he placed the Abgar mentioned in Africanus's Chronicle under Macrinus: because, clearly, the aforementioned year pertained equally to Caracalla and to Macrinus, his successor. I would not deny, however, that there were some Abgars afterward who reigned in Edessa, as is clear from their coins which survive. The distinguished man Sebastian de Blancis recently reminded me that one of these, under Gordian, is brought forward by Scaliger around the year 240, and that it exists in the most famous Museum of the Grand Duke of Etruria. For what is more probable than that Heliogabalus or Alexander Severus, who originated from Syria, or at least Gordian the Younger (who, having successfully concluded the war in Mesopotamia against the Parthians, was killed there by the treachery of Philip, the Praetorian Prefect) restored the kings of Edessa to be tributaries to the Romans? But since Dionysius neglected their series in his Chronicle, I believe it cannot be certainly defined at what time or under what emperor that kingdom fell: especially because from the fourth year of Alexander Severus, in which Artaxerxes, having eliminated Artabanus the King of the Parthians, restored the Persian Kingdom, until the times of Aurelian, either the Persians or the Romans held Mesopotamia. Therefore, in describing the series of the kings of Edessa at the end of this Chronicle, I will impose an end to that kingdom where Dionysius wrote that it ceased, namely in the year of Abraham 2233, of Christ 217.