Chronicle of Edessa

1

XVI. In the year six hundred and thirty-nine, the building of the church of Edessa was augmented.
XVII. In the year six hundred and forty-nine, Saint Jacob 1, Bishop of Nisibis, died.

2

XVIII. In the year six hundred and fifty-seven, Abraham 2 became bishop in Edessa and built the church of the Confessors.

3

XIX. In the year six hundred and sixty, Constantius, son of Constantine, built the city of Amida 3.

4

XX. In the year six hundred and sixty-one, Constantius again built Tela 4, a city which had previously been [called] Antipolis.

XVI. In the year six hundred and thirty-nine, the building of the Edessene Church was augmented.

XVII. In the year six hundred and forty-nine, Saint Jacob 1, Bishop of Nisibis, died.

XVIII. In the year six hundred and fifty-seven, Abraham 2 was made Bishop of Edessa, who built the Temple of the Confessors.

XIX. In the year six hundred and sixty, Constantius, son of Constantine, built the city of Amida 3.

XX. In the year six hundred and sixty-one, Constantius also built the city of Tela 4, which was formerly called Antipolis.

1 Jacob: concerning whom see above, page 18.
2 Abraham. Regarding his ordination and deeds, the Patriarch Dionysius has the same [account], who copied into our Edessene Chronicle, almost word for word, what pertains to that Church.
3 Amidam. Recall what we noted on pages 26 and 196 concerning its founding, or rather, its restoration.
4 Telam. The name Constantina was imposed upon it, as I observed in the Notes to Josue Stylites, page 273. Regarding its restoration, Dionysius differs from our Chronicle, for he reports that this was done not by Constantius, but by Constantine his brother, in these words:

In the year six hundred and forty-two, Constantine made his sons Caesars. And Constantine the elder, of his sons, he placed in command of the regions of the East. And he built Tela of Mauzalat in Mesopotamia, a city, and he called it Constantinople after his name. He also built the city of Amida in Mesopotamia. And for the one named Constantius, he desired that he should be the head in the West. And for that third one, who is called Constans, in Rome.

In the year 642 (Christ 331), Constantine created his sons Caesars: and indeed he placed Constantine, the eldest, in charge of the parts of the East: who founded Tela Mauzalat, a city of Mesopotamia, and called it Constantinople after his own name: But he also built the town of Amida in Mesopotamia. The other, to whom the name Constantius was given, he wished to preside over the West; the third, however, who was called Constans, [he placed] at Rome. Dionysius relates the same thing regarding Tela and Amida being built by Constantine below at the year of the Greeks 660. But Dionysius errs in this narrative in many respects: First, because he asserts that the sons were created Caesars by Constantine the Great in the year of the Greeks 642 (Christ 331): for they did not obtain this dignity from their father at the same time, but in different years; namely, Constantine in the year of Christ 317, Constantius in the year 323, and Constans in the year 333, as Pagi asserts at the aforementioned years: or rather during the Decennalia, Vicennalia, and Tricennalia of Constantine the Great, as Socrates writes in book 1, chapter 38, in these words: Constantine was not a little pleased, both at the outcome of those things, and at his three sons, whom he had named Caesars, promoting them individually at each of the decennial periods of his empire: And the eldest, by surname Constantine, he placed in charge of the Empire of the Western parts in the first decade of his reign. The second, Constantius, called by his grandfather's name, he placed over the parts of the Orient in the twentieth year of his empire. The youngest, Constans, he declared Caesar at his tricennial celebrations. Then, Dionysius is mistaken when he writes that the East was handed over by the father to Constantine, the West to Constantius, and Rome to Constans: for the division of the empire was completely different while Constantine the Great was living, as we just saw from Socrates. Concerning what happened after his death...