Universal History in Syriac (700–1300 ce)

Syriac universal historiography finds its origin in the Christian appropriation of the Hellenistic practice of universal history. It is part of a Christian chronological tradition developed between the second and fourth centuries, aimed at proving the seniority and thus the historical primacy of Christianity vis-à-vis rival religious groups. While responding to the specific standards of Christian universal chronicles, Syriac universal history shapes the spatial and temporal matrices of universality to serve the historians’ concerns for the self-definition of Syriac groups as sectarian components of a wider religious landscape. The continuity in the historical events signifies God’s uninterrupted presence in the world, especially in the transference of power from one kingdom to another, but it is also employed to include or exclude the ‘heterodox’ Chalcedonian leaders from the course of history. The geographical scope of Syriac universal chronicles was also expanded or reduced, displaying a concept of oikoumene more East-oriented