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Chronicle Matthew of Edessa Date: 1122-37 Original Language: Armenian Description The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa is the first work of Armenian ‘diaspora’ history, in that it was written a lifetime after the fall of the Armenian kingdom in the mid-11th century, by an Armenian living in the Syrian city of Edessa.  It is arranged annalistically, and it uses a form of language that is not strictly classical, features that are reminiscent of Byzantine chronicles.  It covers the years 401-577 of the Armenian era, that is, 952/3-1128/9.  The Chronicle currently exists in two 19th-century e…

Matt‘ēos Uṛhayets‘i Date of Birth: Unknown; before 1100 Place of Birth: Unknown Date of Death: Unknown; possibly by 1138 Place of Death: Unknown; probably Edessa Biography The only information about the life of Matthew of Edessa is contained in his one surviving work, the Chronicle (Zhamanakagrut‘iwn).  He was a priest, and probably a lifelong resident of the city of Edessa (modern Urfa in Turkey).  Writing in the 1130s, he describes himself as an old man and an elder of a monastery.  He was a passionate adherent of the non-Chalcedonian Ar…