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They made Yezdegerd king in the city of Istakhr. He was descended from royal stock and was the last king of Persia. After setting out from there, he reached the city of Mahoze and made Rustam the commander of his army. Then God caused the inroads of the sons of Ismael against them. The sons of Ishmael were as innumerable as grains of sand on the seashore. Their leader was Muhammad. Neither walls nor gates could stand in their way, nor arms or shields. And so, they seized all of Persia. Yezdegerd sent innumerable forces against them, but the Arabs nevertheless put them to flight and killed Rustam himself. Yezdegerd remained closed up within the walls of Mahoze, but in the end fled to safety. He went to the lands of the Huzites and Marwanians and there ended his life. The Arabs seized Mahoze and all of the lands. From there, they came to the lands of the Romans and pillaged and plundered all the regions of Syria. Heraclius the emperor of the Romans sent against them Roman soldiers, who the Arabs killed more than one hundred thousand of. The katholikos Iso’yabh, when he saw Mahoze devastated by the Arabs, its gates carted off to Aqola, those who remained in the city wasted by famine, he left and set up residence in Beth Garmay in the city of Karkha. Kyriakos of Nisibis died. On account of how much they hated him, the people of Nisibis made accusations against his students to the emir of the city. The emir threw them into prison. Kyriakos’ cell was plundered as well as the treasury of the metropolitanate of Nisibis. Inside Cyriacus’ cell, they found a great deal of clothing, linen and silk tunics, and gold lamps: things which do not befit Christ’s disciples. The katholikos Mar Iso’yabh then summoned Barsauma the interpreter of the city of Hertha and made him metropolitan in the monastery of Saint Sergios outside of the city of Nisibis so that the people of Nisibis would make peace with him and warmly receive him, but they refused to do so. Mar Iso’yabh was patriarch for eighteen years. His body was laid to rest in the martyrium of the church of Karkha in Garamaea. Mar Emmeh was made patriarch in the church.He came from the region of Arzon and the district of Qozimar. Lapat was created metropolitan of Beth Lapat. He had become a monk at the monastery of Mar Abraham of Izala. He was highly praised as metropolitan just as he had been as a monk. From the moment, he was placed on the candelabra of the katholikosate, he was honored by all of the rulers of the Ishmaelites. They say there is a district situated between Mahoze and Hertha called Mathamasya, which the Jews completely controlled. One day, a student was passing through there when one of the sons of the crucifiers grabbed him and stole him away into his house where he held him captive for a long time and had him turn the millstone. At this time, a Christian man was sent on the orders of the king to that region to carry out some business. By God’s providence, he stopped to lodge in that very house. As soon as the student saw him, he wailed. On account of this, the Christian man seized his master, who told him the truth adding that if he forgave him for his wrongdoing, he would reveal the location of a precious treasure to him. He showed him the place in his house where the
bodies of Saint Hanania and his young companions lay. God ensured what happened to the student happened so that the treasure of the bodies of the saints should be found. They say that once Mar Emmeh left Mahoze on his way to Hertha and happened to spend the night in that region. On account of the fear, which he exercised over the Jewish inhabitants, he was received by them with great honor. [The reign of Mar Emmeh follows lasting three years and six months. There follows a description of the gardens of the city of Maru, which were built by Alexander the Great. A description of Alexander’s exploits. Elias metropolitan of the city is praised for his virtues for producing a miracle causing a king to convert to Christianity. A description of the builders of cities in Syria and Mesopotamia such as Seleucus.] After this, an Arab came forth named Khaled, who turned west and occupied the regions and cities as far as Arabh. When the Roman emperor Heraclius found this out, he sent against them a large army, whose commander was named Sacellarius (SK: sacellarius was an imperial official who was general comptroller of the imperial finances and often served a military command.). But they were defeated by the Arabs, who killed more than one hundred thousand Romans and their commander. They also killed Iso’dadh the bishop of the city of Hertha who was staying in the city of Shostre in the house of Abd Masih and was acting as legate between the Arabs and Romans. The Arabs consequently seized all of Syria and Palestine. They also intended to attack Egypt, but they were not strong enough. The borders of Egypt were guarded at that time by an army and powerful force by the Patriach of Alexandria. The places which an enemy force could use to enter or leave the country were blocked off, and walls were built on the bank of the Nile throughout the entire regions on account of whose height the Arabs could hardly enter and occupy Egypt, Thebais, and Africa. The emperor Heraclius was distraught that the Romans were crushed, so returned to the capital where he fell ill and died. He reigned with his son for twenty eight years. Although the victory of the sons of Ishmael, who had defeated and subdued those two powerful kingdoms, was from God, God did not let them go so far as to seize Constantinople. For this reason, their victory should be attributed to God and not to the Arabs. Furthermore, we have only found out the following about what Abraham’s dome really is. Because blessed Abraham was rich in cattle and wanted to get away from the envy of the Canaanites, he preferred to live in far away, wide open desert places, where he lived in a tent, so he built that site to worship God and offer offerings. From this earlier building, the current building derives its name because memory of the place was passed down from generation to generation. The Arabs are not doing anything new when they worship God there, but following a very old custom by paying the progenitor of their race his due honor. The city of Hasor, which the Holy Scripture calls the head of kingdoms belongs to the Arabs and is called Medina after Midyan, the fourth son of Abraham. The city is also called Yathrib. Dumat Gandal and the region of the Hagaraei, which are rich in water,
dates, and solid buildings, also belong to the Arabs. Likewise, the region of Hatta on the coast is rich in these things. It is close to the Quatar islands and covered in all sorts of plants. The region of Marzun is similar to it. It is likewise situated by the sea side extending for more than one hundred parasangs. The region of Yamama is situated in the middle of the desert as well as the region of Tawaf and the city of Hertha in which the king Mundar Ganbara has his seat, who is sixth in order since the Ishmaelites kings began.