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Title
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Chronicle of Zuqnin
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Description
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The Chronicle of Zuqnin is a universal history that begins with the creation of the world and concludes around 775, the time it was written. Known from a single manuscript, it is housed in the Vatican Library (Codex Zuqninensis Vat. Syr. 162) and includes additional folios in the British Library. The author's name is not provided, but it is likely Yeshuʿ the Stylite of Zuqnin, based on a 9th-century colophon.
The chronicle is divided into four parts. Part I covers the creation to Constantine, using the Chronicle of Eusebius. Part II spans from Constantine to Theodosius II, based on sources like Socrates Scholasticus. Part III, using works like Yuḥanon of Ephesus' Ecclesiastical History, covers Zeno to Justinian. Part IV, the chronicler’s own contribution, discusses Justinian's reign up to 775, with detailed accounts of the early Abbasids' economic policies and the Syriac Orthodox Church in the Jazīra.
