The sources of Theophanes for the Heraclian dynasty

Abstract

The object of this Thesis is to determine the sources used by Theophanes in his Chronographia for the history of the Heraclian dynasty, by a detailed study not only of the work of Theophanes, but also of two other Byzantine chroniclers of the 8th and 9th centuries, the patriarch Nicephorus and George the Monk, in addition to the extant Byzantine historical sources of the seventh century, to determine their relationship to the later works, as well as the relevent non-Byzantine chronicle sources, which are chiefly Syriac but include also Armenian and Coptic works. It is necessary also to consider the considerable range of secondary work in the field of Byzantine chronography, although comparatively little of this work has been devoted to the problem now under investigation.The detection of fragments of extant sources in Theophanes is relatively easy; reconstruction of the non-extant sources presents a more difficult problem and allows a lesser degree of certainty. Within the chronological and factual framework of the reign of each emperor of the dynasty, I propose to examine in detail Theophanes' narrative, and when possible to compare it with that of the other primary sources, then to consider any relevant secondary work, in order to establish the source of Theophanes' account.This work therefore involves incidentally a detailed study of the Byzantine Empire in a crucial period of its history.