Suriye’nin
Araplar Tarafından fethedilmesinin bir kaydı (636)
Yazar
Bilinmiyor
Kitap
Arap Fetihleri Fragmanı, 636 yılı
civarında Markos İncili'nin altıncı yüzyıldan kalma Süryanice el yazmasının ön
boş sayfalarına yazılmış parça parça notlardır. Metin Süryani “Chronica
Minora” da bulunuyor, fragman, Bizanslılar ile "Muhammed'in
Arapları" şeklinde sunulan savaştan bahsetmektedir. Yermuk savaşının 20
Ağustos 636'da gerçekleştiğini, Yermuk'un "el-Cêbiyetu” (الجابية) Savaşı" bölümlerinden bahsedilmiştir. Yazarın “gördük”
şeklinde yazması dikkat çekicidir. El yazması British Library’de
Add MS 14461 kayıtlıdır. Yazmaya ilk dikkat çeken Willam Wright’tır.
1875'te Theodor Nöldeke ve 1904'te Ernest Walter Brooks ve 1993’te Andrew
Palmer kısmen çevrilmiş bir versiyonunu yayınlamıştır. Theodor Nöldeke "Zur
Geschichte Der Araber Im 1, Jahrh. d.H. Aus Syrischen Quellen",
Zeitschrift Der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 1876, Volume 29, p. 76.”da,
Andrew Palmer tarafından “The Seventh Century in the West-Syrian Chronicles”de
tanıtıldı, tercüme edildi ve açıklama eklendi. Daha sonra keşfedilen bir Melkit
Kronik ilavesiyle Sebastian Paul Brock tarafından iki yedinci yüzyıl Süryanice
kıyamet metinleri, ek açıklamalarla “Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 2
(1976)”da yayınlandı, André de Halleux “Le Museon 19 (1978) 5-44”te
metinleri tekrar düzenledi. Robert Hoyland tarafından
tarihsel bir girişle “Seeing Islam as Others Saw It”de konu edinildi.
Fred McGraw Donner, “The Early Islamic Conquests, 1981, Princeton University
Press: Princeton (NJ), s. 144”te, “Byzantium and the early Islamic
conquests”te Walter E. Kaegi metne atıf yapmışlardır. “When
Christians First Met Muslims”de Michael Philip Penn fragmanı
konu etmiştir. Patricia Crone ve Michael Cook’un metnin içeriğiyle ilgili
değerlendirmeleri olmuştur.
Kaynakça
Nöldeke, "Zur Geschichte der
Araber im 1.jahr. d. H. aus syrichen Quellen," Zeitschrift der
Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Vol. 29, No. 1 (1876) 76-82.
https://archive.org/details/catalogueofsyria01camb/page/110/mode/2up (07.08.2022).
Willam Wright, Catalogue Of
Syriac Manuscripts In The British Museum Acquired Since The Year 1838, 1870,
Part I, Printed by order of the Trustees: London, No. XCIV, pp. 65-66.
https://archive.org/details/catalogueofsyria01brituoft/page/64/mode/2up (17.08.2022).
A Record Of The Arab Conquest Of Syria
1 {Syr. . . .T’.DL.. .}
2 {Syr. ... T} M[uhammad[1]
3 [...] the p]riest Lord Elijah
[...]
4 {Syr. ... Š.. .S...WT...}
and they came
5 {Syr….W…BLYL}[2] and fr[om] Ba{Syr. …}
6 [...] strong [...] month {Syr. ...N(final)} [...]
7 {Syr.. .} appeared {...Syr. WN(final)...} and the Romans […][3]
8 {Syr. ... ...} and in January they took the word for their lives,[4]
9 (did) [the sons of][5] Emesa, and many villages were
ruined with killing by
10 [the Arabs of][6] Muhammad[7] and a great number of people were
killed and captives
11 [were taken] from Galilee as far as Bêth[8] {Syr. ZK.. W T}[9]
12 [...] and those Arabs pitched camp beside [Damascus?][10]
13 [...] and we saw[11] everywhe[re...] {Syr. …}
14 and[12] o[l]ive oil which they brought and
{Syr. N Š...R} them.
And on the t[wenty-
15 six]th[13] of May[14] went S[as[ella]rius][15] {Syr. …WN(final)}[16] cattle[17] […]
16 […] from the vicinity of Emessa,[18] and the Romans chased them […][19]
17 {Syr. …W. …N(Final) …} and on the
tenth
18 [of August[20]] the Romans fled[21] from the vicinity of Damascus […]
19 many [people], some 10,000. And at the turn
20 [of the ye]ar the Romans[22] came; on the twentieth of August in
the year n[ine hundred
21 and forty]-seven there gathered
in Gabitha [...]
22 [...] the Romans and a great many
people were ki[lled of]
23 [the R]omans, [s]ome fifty
thousand [...]
24 […] in the year nine hundred[23] and for[ty-eight]
25 {Syr. …LH … Q … B …}
[1] Brock, who has
reexamined the manuscript, finds this word ‘very uncertain’; yet Brooks prints
M[W]HMD, without showing that it is a doubtful reading
[2] The last three
letters are tentatively read by Brock
[3] Brooks
restores here the word ‘fled’, but Brock feels that this ‘cannot be right:
{Syr. W..‘QWN(son)} is what I read.’
[4] This phrase is
used several times, with reference to the submission of Christians to the
Arabs, by the author of text No. 13 (Part Two).
[5] {Syr. benay}:
conjectured by Palmer. Brooks conjectured {Syr. ‘ammo}, ‘the
people’.
[6] {Syr. tayyōyē
d-}: conjectured by Hoyland (cf. line 12 and text 2, AG 945).
[7] {Syr. MWHMD}
[8] Marked by
Brooks as uncertain.
[9] The last three
letters are tentatively identified by Brock.
[10] Conjectured by
Nöldeke.
[11] Brock
comments: ‘could be {Syr. hedayn} “we rejoiced”.’
[12] On this line
Brock comments: ‘Most of this (especially the end) is very uncertain. {Syr.
D-TYW} “which they brought” could just be {S . ...R3 YTBW} “... they settled”.’
[13] The only
number which will fit the space.
[14] Brock
comments: ‘Could just be {Syr. B B} “of August”.’
[15] Nöldeke
(supported cautiously by Brock) could read more than Brooks; it is possible that
we should translate: ‘the Sacellarius’.
[16] ‘and raided’,
the conjecture of Nöldeke, requires the ending -BWWN. Brock finds even Brooks’s
ending -BWN unlikely: ‘{Syr. ... Q‘WN(final)} or {Syr. ...NKWN(final)} are
possible.’
[17] Brock
comments: ‘This word might be {Syr. B‘YD} “as usual”.’
[18] Brock
comments: ‘ “Emesa” needs a lot of faith to read: it is just possible, but so
are other restorations (only very faint traces).’
[19] cf.
Theophanes, p. 337: ‘The Emperor...dispatched the sakellarios Theodore with a
large force against the Arabs. Theodore met a host of Saracens near Emesa; he
killed some of them, and chased the rest with their commander as far as
Damascus.’ [R.H.]
[20] Nöldeke’s
conjecture
[21] This reading
is confirmed by Brock.
[22] This word is
written above the line.
[23] Brock: ‘ “Nine
hundred” is very uncertain.’
