Theodore Syncellus, in his homily 'On the Siege', extolls the central role of *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033) in the defence of Constantinople against the combined Avar and Persian threat of 626. The homily is structured around three Old Testament prophecies, and presents Constantinople as a divinely protected New Jerusalem. Written in Greek in Constantinople, 626/627.
E08605
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Concerning the Insane Move of the Godless Avars and Persians Against the God-guarded City and their withdrawal by the Mercy of God through the Theotokos
The homily is structured around three Old Testament prophecies: Isaiah 7, Zechariah 8.19, and Ezekiel 38–39. Isaiah predicted that Jerusalem would escape a twin attack, which provides a suitable introduction to the preliminaries to the 626 siege and the first eight days of the assault. Zechariah’s discussion of numbers introduces the account of days nine and ten, before Ezekiel’s account of the destruction of Gog’s army leads into the report of the decisive destruction of the Slav boats in the Golden Horn. The homily concludes with the arrival of the welcome news at Heraclius’ camp in Anatolia, general rejoicing, and prayers.
1–5. Isaiah’s prophecy to King Ahaz of Jerusalem about how the twin threats would be repulsed from the city.
6. The homily turns from biblical exegesis to its contemporary theme:
εῦτε τοίνυν ἀκούσατε, καὶ διηγήσομαι ὑμῖν .... διὰ τῆς Θεοτόκου μεγαλεῖα ὁ τῶν δυνάμεων
κύριος·
‘Accordingly listen here and I will recount to you all the things the Lord of Hosts did through the Theotokos.’
7–12. An account of the dual threat to Constantinople from the Persian Shahrvaraz, who encamped across the Bosporus at Chalcedon, and the Avar khagan, who had trampled on Heraclius’ attempts to establish agreements, culminates in a prayer to God by Heraclius, now absent on campaign in the East, to protect the city that he had entrusted to God’s might and the Theotokos.
13.
Τὰ βασιλέως δὲ τέκνα ἐν τῷ κατὰ βασίλεια εὐκτηρίῳτῆς Θεομήτορος τὴν παιδικὴν ἀκακίαν
καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἅμα καὶ τῶν σωμάτων παρθενίαν καὶ καθαρότητα ἀνθ’ ἱκετηρίας καὶ
θυμιάματος εἰώδους προὐβάλλοντο, βοῶντα σὺν δάκρυσι· ‘δέσποινα παντοδύναμε, σοὶ καὶ
πόλιν τὴν σὴν καὶ τοὺς σοὺς οἰκέτας ἡμᾶς νηπίους, ὡς ὁρᾷς παναγία, ὑπάρχοντας πατὴρ ὁ
ἡμέτερος ἐπίστευσε καὶ παρέθετο, καὶ τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ ἄρας κατὰ τῶν λύκων ἐξώρμησε
τῶν διασπώντων τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ σου ποίμνης τὰ πρόβατα· ῥῦσαι τοίνυν ἡμᾶς τε καὶ πόλιν
καὶ τοὺς οἰκήτορας. ῥῦσαι ἐκ τοῦ προσερπύζοντος ἡμῖν ὄφεως’. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ πόλις ἐν λιταῖς
καὶ παννύχοις δεήσεσι διδάσκαλον εἶχον οὕτως στρατολογεῖν ἐπιστάμενον καὶ οὕτως
ὁπλίζοντα, τὸν καθ’ ἡμᾶς Ἡσαίαν, τὸν ἱεράρχην τὸν τίμιον. Καὶ τοῦτο ἦν ὅπλον καὶ ῥομφαία
καὶ θυρεὸς τοῖς τῆς πόλεως πάσης οἰκήτορσι τὸ αἴρειν πρὸς Θεὸν τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὴν
παρθένον ἐξαιτεῖν εἰς βοηθὸν καὶ ὑπέρμαχον· ... ἐχθροὶ ἐν ἵπποις καὶ ἅρμασι καὶ ὄχλῳ βαρεῖ
καθ’ἡμῶν ἐπανίστανται, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου Θεοῦ ἡμῶν μεγαλυνθησόμεθα· κύριος
γὰρ αὐτὸς πολεμήσει ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, καὶ ἡ παρθένος ἡ Θεοτόκος ὑπέρμαχος ἔσται τῆσδε
τῆς πόλεως ...
‘The emperor’s children in the oratory of the Mother of God in the palace proffered their childish innocence and heart as well as the virginity and purity of their bodies in place of supplication and sweet-smelling incense, crying out in tears, “All-powerful Lady, to you our father entrusted and committed both your city and us your servants, who are, as you see, infants, all-holy one, and lifting up his cross set forth against the wolves who were rending asunder the sheep of the flock of your Son. Accordingly deliver us and the city and its inhabitants; deliver from the snake that is creeping up on us.” But the city also had a teacher in prayers and all-night entreaties, our Isaiah, the honourable chief priest, who knew how to deploy troops and equip them in this way. For this was a weapon, sword, and shield for the inhabitants of the whole city, namely the lifting of hands to God and petitioning the Virgin for assistance and protection ... The enemies rise up against us on horses and chariots and in a weighty throng, but we will be exalted in the name of the Lord our God: for the Lord himself will fight on our behalf, and the Virgin Theotokos will be champion of this city, if we hasten to them with our whole heart and a willing spirit...’
14. Bonus makes preparations for the city’s defence.
15.
ὁ δὲἱεράρχης ὁ ὅσιος πάσαις ταῖς πρὸς δύσιν πύλαις τῆς πόλεως, ὅθεν καὶ τὸ τοῦ σκότους
ἤρχετο γέννημα, οἷα ἥλιον ἀπλανέστατον ταῖς ἀκτῖσι τὸ σκότος διώκοντα τοὺς τῆς παρθένου
ἱεροὺς τύπους ἐν εἰκόσιν ἐνέγραψεν, φερούσης ἐν ἀγκάλαις ὃν τέτοκε κύριον, μονονουχὶ
βοῶν νοερᾷτῇ φωνῇ τοῖς τῶν βαρβάρων πλήθεσι καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνους ἄγουσι δαίμοσιν· ‘πρὸς
τούτους ὑμῖν, ὦ ἔθνη ἀλλόφυλα καὶ φῦλα δαιμόνια ὁ πᾶς ἐξήρτυται πόλεμος· ἅπαν ὑμῶν τὸ
θράσος καὶ τὰ φρυάγματα γυνὴ Θεοτόκος μόνῳ διώξει κελεύσματι, μήτηρ ὑπάρχουσα κατ’
ἀλήθειαν τοῦ τὸν Φαραὼ πανστρατιᾷ ἐν Ἐρυθρᾷ θαλάσσῃ βυθίσαντος καὶ τὸ πᾶνδαιμόνιον
φῦλον δείξαντος ἀδρανὲς καὶ ἀνίσχυρον’. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὁ ἱεράρχης ἔδρα καὶ ἔλεγεν, καὶ
Θεὸν καὶ τὴν παρθένον ἱκέτευε φυλάξαι πόλιν ἀπόρθητον τῆς Χριστιανῶν ὀφθαλμὸν
ὑπάρχουσαν πίστεως, ...
‘But on all the city gates towards the west, from where too the offspring of the darkness was setting out, the holy chief priest painted on icons the holy images of the Virgin, like a most unwavering sun chasing off the darkness with its rays, carrying in her arms the Lord, whom she had borne; and he all but shouted with a spiritual voice at the barbarian hordes and the demons who were leading them: ‘It is against these, you foreign nations and demonic tribes, that the whole war has been prepared by you. But our Lady Theotokos will chase off all your bravura and boasting with just a command, she who is in truth the Mother of the one who plunged the Pharaoh and his whole army in the Red Sea and showed the whole demonic tribe to be ineffective and feeble.’ The chief priest was doing and saying this, petitioning God and the Virgin to preserve unsacked the city as being the eye of the Christians’ faith...’
16–18. Account of the first nine days of the siege.
19.
Τρίτη δὲ ἦλθεν ἡμέρα, καὶ καθάπερ χάλαζα σὺν κεραυνοῖς ἐπέστη πᾶσι τοῖς τείχεσιν,
αὐτοβοεὶ πάντα καταστρέφειν οἰόμενος· ἀλλ’ ἡ παρθένος ἡ πάντα ἰσχύσασα τῆς ἰδίας
αὐτὸν ἐν πείρᾳ καθιστῶσα δυνάμεως, ἀῤῥαβῶνας αὐτῷ τῆς ὅσον οὔπω μενούσης τὸν
ἀλιτήριον παρέσχετο πτώσεως. Συχνὸν γὰρ ἀριθμὸν τῶν παρ’ ἐκείνῳ μαχίμων λοχήσασα παρ’
ἓν τῶν πρὸ τείχους θείων ναῶν αὐτῆς, ἐν ᾧ πηγὴ ἰαμάτων ὑπάρχουσα οὕτω καλεῖσθαι
τὸν τόπον πεποίηκε· καὶ τούτουςχερσὶ στρατιωτῶν Χριστιανῶν κατασφάξασα εἰς τὴν γῆν
κατήγαγεν τοῦ βαρβάρου τὸ φρύαγμα καὶ ἅπαν αὐτοῦ τὸ στρατιωτικὸν ἐξενεύρισε.
‘The third day came, and he [the Avar barbarian] attacked all the walls like a hailstorm with thunderbolts, thinking that he would overthrow everything at the first shout. But the Virgin who is all-powerful, after giving him experience of her own power, provided the sinner with pledges of the fall that was all but upon him. For she ambushed a considerable number of his fighters at one of her sacred churches outside the walls, at which a spring providing cures had led to the place being called this. Having slaughtered them by the hands of Christian soldiers, she brought to the ground the barbarian’s arrogance and unnerved the whole of his army.’
20–31. Account of the next six days, including an embassy to the khagan in which Theodore himself participated, culminating in exegesis of the numbers 5, 7, and 10 in Zechariah to show that it presaged the ending of the siege on Thursday (fifth day of the week), 7 August (fifth month in a calendar beginning in April), and tenth day of the attack.
32.
Καιρὸς γὰρ λοιπὸν τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τῆς παρθένου, καθ’ ὅσον οἷόν τέ ἐστιν,
θαυμάσια διηγήσασθαι·
'For now it is time to narrate the miracles, as far as it is possible, of God and the Virgin on that day.'
33.
Κατὰ δὲ τὸν ἐν θαλάσσῃ γενόμενον πόλεμον αὔτανδρα τὰ μονόξυλα πρὸ τοῦ ἐν Βλαχέρναις
θείου ναοῦ αὐτῆς ἡ Θεοτόκος ἐβύθισεν, ... δέδεικται δὲ φανερώτατα, ὡς ἡ παρθένος μόνη τὸν ἀγῶνα
τοῦτον ἠγώνισται καὶ τὴν νίκην νενίκηκεν, ἐξ ὧν οἱ κατὰ θάλασσαν ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις
ἀγωνιζόμενοι σκάφεσιν ἐκ μόνης τῆς ὁρμῆς τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ὑπεναντίων ἐτράπησαν καὶ
μικροῦ δεῖν πρύμναν ἐκρούσαντο καὶ δεδώκασι παρ’ ὀλίγον τοῖς ἐχθροῖς εὐχερῆ τὴν ἐπίβασιν, εἰ μὴ προφθάσαν τὸ τῆς παρθένου φιλάνθρωπον οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον ἰδεῖν ἐκαρτέρησεν
... Φασὶ δέ τινες, ὡς οὐ φόβῳ τῶν ἐχθρῶν πρὸς ὑποχώρησιν ἔκλιναν οἱ ἡμέτεροι, ἀλλ’ἡ
παρθένος αὐτὴ τὴν οἰκονομίαν δεῖξαι βουλομένη τοῦ θαύματος, τὴν ὑποχώρησιν τοῖς
ἡμετέροις ἐκέλευσε προσποιήσασθαι, ὥστε τοὺς βαρβάρους κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ναὸν αὐτῆς,
ἤγουν τὸν ὅρμον ἡμῶν τὸν σωτήριον καὶ τὸν λιμένα τὸν εὔδιον –ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα ὁ ἐν
Βλαχέρναις ναὸς ὑπάρχει τῆς Θεομήτορος – τὸ παντελὲς ὑποστῆναι ναυάγιον.
'With regard to the battle which had begun at sea, in front of her sacred church at Blachernae the Theotokos sank the dugouts together with their men; ... It has been shown most clearly that the Virgin alone had fought this contest and won the victory by the fact that those who were fighting at sea on our ships were routed at the mere onset of the multitude of the opponents and virtually backed water and just about gave the enemy an easy landing, if the mercy of the Virgin had not anticipated and not tolerated seeing any such thing ... Some say that our men did not turn to withdraw from fear of the enemy but that the Virgin herself, wishing to show the dispensation of the miracle, ordered our men to feign withdrawal, with the result that just by her holy church or rather our saving anchorage and tranquil harbour – for the church of the Mother of God at Blachernae is all these things – the barbarians were subject to total shipwreck.'
34.
τότε δὴ τότε τῇ θείᾳ δυνάμει θαῤῥήσαντες καὶ τῇ ἰσχύϊ τῆς παρθένου φραξάμενοι τὰς πύλας
τῶν τειχῶν ἀνεπέτασαν καὶ σὺν βοῇ καὶ ἀλαλαγμῷ τὴν παῤῥησίαν καὶ τὴν νίκην μηνύοντι
πλησίον ὁμόσε κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν καὶ τῶν μηχανῶν ἐπεξέδραμον.
'... then indeed, emboldened by divine power and fortified with the Virgin’s strength, they threw open the gates in the walls, and with cries and whooping that signified their confidence and victory they ran out against the enemy and their machines to come to close quarters.'
35.
Τοιαύτην ἡ Θεοτόκος, ἡ παρθένος, ἡ δέσποινα ἰσχὺν τοῖς ἀνισχύροις καὶ δύναμιν τοῖς
ἀδυνάτοις θελήματι μόνῳ δεδώρηται· αὐτὴ δὲ δηλαδὴ τὸ ἐμπρησθῆναι τὰς μηχανὰς τῶν
ἐχθρῶν ὑπὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων τότε ἡ Θεομήτωρ ἐκώλυσε, μεῖζον ἐθέλουσα δεῖξαι τῆς ἰδίας περὶ
ἡμᾶς ἀγαθότητος γνώρισμα· τὸν γὰρ φύλακα τῶν δημοσίων πραγμάτων αὖθις παρόντα καὶ
πάντα τῇ σπουδῇ διερχόμενον ἐμφρόνως ἐξήγειρεν ἀσφαλείας προνοήσασθαι μείζονος καὶ
κωλῦσαι τῶν ἡμετέρων τὴν ἔξοδον, ἀνακαλέσασθαι δὲ καὶ τὸν ἔξω τοῦ τείχους συῤῥεύσαντα
ὅμιλον, οὐκ ἀνακλητικῇ τοῦτο ποιούμενον σάλπιγγι, ἀλλὰ τρέχοντα σὺν βοῇ καὶ χερσὶ καὶ
λόγοις πρὸς ὑποστροφὴν εὔλογον καὶ ἀσφαλῆ προτρεπόμενον. Καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἐδόκει καὶ ἦν
ἀσφαλὲς ἅμα καὶ στρατηγικῆς προμηθείας ἐχόμενον, ἡ δὲ παρθένος ἡ Θεοτόκος ἐνήργει
τοῦτο καὶ ἔπραττεν, αὐτόχειρας τοὺς βαρβάρους γενέσθαι κελεύσασα καὶ αὐτοῖς τῶν ἰδίων
μηχανῶν τὸν διὰ πυρὸς ἀφανισμὸν ἐπιτρέψασα.
'Such was the strength that the Theotokos, the Virgin Lady, has given to the weak and power to the powerless by her will alone. Then the Mother of God herself clearly prevented the burning of the enemies’ machines by our men, wishing to show a greater proof of her own goodness towards us. For she prudently aroused the custodian of public affairs [Bonus], who was again present and walking enthusiastically around the whole area, to provide for greater security and prevent the exodus of our people, but to call back the crowd that had poured together outside the wall, not doing this with a trumpet recall but by running and shouting, waving of hands, and with words urging a sensible and safe return. And this seemed and was both safe and an attribute of provident leadership, but the Virgin Theotokos was effecting and accomplishing this, by ordering the barbarians to become agents and enjoining on them the destruction by fire of their own machines.'
36–39. Conclusion of the repulse of both Avars and Persians, and return to exegesis of Isaiah’s prophecy of the twin attack on Jerusalem.
40–47. The miraculous destruction of the Slav boats is aligned with Ezekiel’s prophecy of the annihilation of the army of Gog and its burial in a mass grave.
48–49. The exaltation of Deborah over the defeat of Sisera in the book of Judges is aligned with contemporary rejoicing.
50.
Τούτων τοίνυν ἁπάντων ὑπὸ κυρίου λελυτρωμένοι, τίνα πρὸς εὐχαριστίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν Θεῷ
καὶ τῇ παρθένῳ τῇ Θεομήτορι, ἀνθ’ ὧν πεπόνθαμεν, προστησώμεθα;
'Accordingly, now that we have been liberated from all this by the Lord, what shall we present on our behalf as thanksgiving to God and the Virgin Mother of God in return for what we have experienced?'
51.
ὅτε δὲ ὅτε, καθά φασιν, οἱ τὰ μεγαλεῖα τοῦ Θεοῦ διακομίσαντες κατ’ἐκείνην τὴν χώραν
γεγόνασιν, οὐ πρότερον τί διακομίζοντες ἥκασι πυθέσθαι δεδύνηται, ἕως ὅταν εἰς τὸν ναὸν
δραμὼν τῆς παρθένου καὶ Θεομήτορος πρηνὴς εἰς ἔδαφος ἔπεσεν, ἀγαθῶν ὑπάρχειν
διακόνους τοὺς παραγενομένους πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐξαιτούμενος· ἡνίκα δὲ τῆς εὐχῆς εὗρε τὴν
ἀγγελίαν ἀκόλουθον, ἐπὶ γῆς αὖθις κλίνας τὰ γόνατα ἐπ’ ὄψεσι στρατοῦ καὶ τοῦ συνόντος
λαοῦ, Θεῷ καὶ τῇ παρθένῳ σὺν δάκρυσι προσεκύνησεν ‘εὐχαριστῶ σοι’ λέγων ‘Θεὲ Λόγε καὶ σῶτερ ἡμέτερε καὶ βασιλεῦ πάσης κτίσεως, ὅση τε ὁρατὴ καὶ ὅση ἀόρατος· καὶ σοὶ παρθένε καὶ Θεοτόκε
καὶ δέσποινα, ὅτι πόλιν, ἥν μοι πιστεῦσαι κατηξιώσατε, καὶ λαούς, ὧν με ποιμένα τετάχατε ...
'But when indeed when, as they say, those conveying ‘God’s wonderful deeds’ had come to that country, he [Emperor Heraclius] had not been able to learn what they had come to convey until he had run to the church of the Virgin Mother of God and fallen prostrate on the ground, beseeching that those who reached him be bearers of good news. When he found that the message agreed with his prayer, again bending his knees to the ground in view of the army and assembled people he tearfully worshipped God and the Virgin, saying, ‘I give thanks to you, God the Word, our saviour and king of all creation, both what is seen and what is unseen. And to you, Virgin, Theotokos, Lady, because you have in no way failed the city that you deigned to entrust to me and the people of whom you appointed me shepherd ...'
Text: Sternbach (1900)
Translation: Michael Whitby (2024)
Summary: Michael Whitby
Sermon/homily
Procession
Chant and religious singing
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Use of ImagesPublic display of an image
Non Liturgical ActivitySaint as patron - of a community
MiraclesMiracle after death
Miraculous interventions in war
Miraculous protection - of communities, towns, armies
Miraculous behaviour of relics/images
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Children
Monarchs and their family
Source
The homily that, for convenience, is known as ‘On the Siege’, is preserved in its entirety in only one Vatican manuscript, though the majority is contained in a further Paris manuscript and limited sections in two other codices in Jerusalem and Mount Athos. The text is presented anonymously, but close examination of linguistic and stylistic similarities between it and the homily ‘On the Robe’ [EO8473] indicate that it can safely be ascribed to Theodore Syncellus (Whitby 2024, 57–61), a close associate of Patriarch Sergius and attested as one of the envoys to the Avar khagan on 2 August 626 (Chronicon Paschale p. 721.4–10, Dindorf). It is securely dated to the months immediately after the siege since it contains no suggestion that the patrician Bonus, a key figure in the defence of the city, was dead, which occurred in May 627 (Chronicon Paschale p. 726.16–17, Dindorf); it may have been presented for the first time at the feast for the Nativity of the Virgin on 8 September, though significantly before the first anniversary of the siege, a celebration at which it was thereafter regularly recited. It preceded the composition of George of Pisidia’s Avar War [EO8591], on whose contents and language it probably had some influence (Whitby 2024, 56–57).Like its counterpart, ‘On the Robe’, the homily celebrates the importance of the Virgin to Constantinople, especially her church at Blachernae that became the focus for the annual commemoration of the city’s deliverance. Its narrative transforms events in order to identify interventions by the Virgin both at the walls and in the Golden Horn which demonstrated her effective protection for the city that worshipped her.
Discussion
Through the prism of Old Testament exegesis, the text sets out to demonstrate that Constantinople is a chosen place, the subject of biblical prophecy that has replaced, and indeed improved on, the historical Jerusalem and land of Israel. It achieves this through exegesis of three passages, first Isaiah’s prophecy that the Jerusalem of King Ahaz would survive the threat from two smoking firebrands; then Zechariah’s identification of the numbers 5, 7, and 10 as significant; and, third, Ezekiel’s prediction of the annihilation of Gog’s army. These prophecies are aligned with the twin threat to Constantinople from the Avar khagan and Shahrvaraz, the fact that the city was freed from danger on Thursday 7 August, and the destruction of the Slav boats in the Golden Horn.Theodore’s exegesis involved some adjustments to the biblical texts. In the Isaiah passage he has to ignore the fact that one of the threats to Jerusalem came from the kingdom of Israel, since later in the speech Israel is to be a precursor to Constantinople. With regard to Zechariah, he has to disregard the number 4 which is in the biblical list, attach the numbers to days rather than months, and finally indulge in a complex argument to prove that the month of August is in fact the fifth month of the year if one began on the Jewish calendar with the month of Nisan. For Ezekiel, Theodore first changes the Septuagint Carthage to Chalcedon to align the text with the site of the Persian camp and then adjusts ‘the mass grave of those who came near the sea’ to ‘the mass grave for those who attacked on the sea’ through the minor change from the preposition πρὸς, ‘towards’, to ἐν, ‘in/on’, which results in a shift in the meaning of the verb ἐπελθόντων from ‘coming towards’ something, to ‘attacking’; as a result the carnage in the Golden Horn can be presented as the outcome of this prophecy, and Constantinople is confirmed as the land of Israel.
Theodore presents Constantinople as a city entrusted to the Virgin as protectress by Emperor Heraclius when he set out on campaign against the Persians; she is the recipient of prayers from the imperial children, and her images are hung on the gates in the main Theodosian wall. She is shown as intervening in the siege on four separate occasions, first in overcoming attackers at her extramural shrine at Pege, on the third day, and at the end of the siege both inspiring the defenders with confidence to venture out to destroy the Avar siege machines and then prompting Bonus to recall this disorganised sally. The most significant intervention is on the final day when she sinks the Slav canoes in the Golden Horn near her shrine at Blachernae. On each occasion the Virgin operates through human beings, the soldiers at Pege, the Roman ships on the Golden Horn, or Bonus, in contrast to her role in George of Pisidia where the Virgin herself overturns the enemy boats and slaughters the men.
The 626 siege and the role played by the Virgin in saving the city are mentioned in numerous texts included in our database. The principal ones are: the Paschal Chronicle (E07973, E07976, E07977); George of Pisidia, Avar War (E08591) and two epigrams by the same author (E00568); Theodore Syncellus, On the Siege (E08605), and, for an earlier Avar attack, Syncellus, On the Robe (E08473); and the Chronicle of Theophanes (E08043).
Bibliography
Editions:Sternbach, L., Analecta Avarica (Cracow, 1900); reprinted with French translation in Ferenc Makk, ‘Traduction et commentaire de l’homélie écrite probablement par Théodore de Syncelle, “Sur le siege de Constantinople en 626”’, Acta Universitatis de Attila Josef Nominatae, Acta Antiqua et Archaeologica, 19 (Szeged, 1995).
Translation:
Whitby, Michael, Theodore Syncellus: The Homilies 'On the Robe' and 'On the Siege' (Translated Texts for Historians 87), (Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2024) 83–132.
Barisić, F., ‘Le siège de Constantinople par les Avares et les Slaves en 626’, Byzantion 24, 1954, 371–95.
Howard-Johnston, James, ‘The Siege of Constantinople in 626’ in Cyril Mango and Gilbert Dagron (eds), Constantinople and its Hinterland (Aldershot, Variorum 1995) 131–42.
Howard-Johnston, James, The Last Great War of Antiquity (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2021), 269–284.
Hurbanić, M., The Avar Siege of Constantinople in 626. History and Legend (New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture), (London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
Pentcheva, Bissera V., ‘The Supernatural Protector of Constantinople: the Virgin and her Icons in the Tradition of the Avar Siege’, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 26, 2002, 2–41.
Whitby, Michael, Theodore Syncellus: The Homilies 'On the Robe' and 'On the Siege' (Translated Texts for Historians 87), (Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2024) 55–82.
Michael Whitby
04/08/2025
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00033 | Mary, Mother of Christ | Θεομήτηρ, Θεοτόκος, ἡ παρθένος | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Michael Whitby , Cult of Saints, E08605 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08605