Agapius of Hierapolis

Agapios of Hierapolis (Latin Agapius, actually ibn Mahbub Qustantin ) was a living in the 10th century Christian- Arab cleric and scholar.

Agapios was the son of a certain Constantine. About his life is only known that he was a Melkite bishop of Hierapolis in the first half of the 10th century.

Agapios authored by 942 a world history ( Kitab al-' Unvan ) in the Arabic language, which ranged from "creation" to the early 10th century; However, the resulting parts end in the time of Emperor Leon IV ( 775-780 ). The sources were his various works, including ( indirectly ) the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea and the now lost chronicle of Theophilus of Edessa ( the Agapios explicitly cites as source). The work was praised among others by the Islamic scholars Masudi and used by Michael Syrus.

Editions and translations

• Alexander Vasiliev ( Eds.): Kitab al - ` unvan = Histoire universelle. In: Patrologia Orientalis. Vol 5, Paris 1910; Vol 7, Paris 1911; Vol 8, Paris 1912; Vol 11, Paris 1915. [ Text with French translation]
• Robert G. Hoyland (ed.): Theophilus of Edessa 's Chronicle and the Circulation of Historical Knowledge in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, 2011 (Translated Texts for Historians, 57). [ English partial translation ]