The chronography of Gregory Abû'l Faraj, the son of Aaron, the Hebrew physician, commonly known as Bar Hebraeus : being the first part of his political history of the world / translated from the Syriac by Ernest A. Wallis Budge.
- Bar Hebraeus
- Date:
- 1932
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The chronography of Gregory Abû'l Faraj, the son of Aaron, the Hebrew physician, commonly known as Bar Hebraeus : being the first part of his political history of the world / translated from the Syriac by Ernest A. Wallis Budge. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![failed to heal her. In due course the rumour of Mattai and his healings reached him, and he began to make inquiries about him and tried to find out where he lived. For a time he was unable to discover the abode of the Saint, but his son behnam1 found it out under the guidance of Providence. One day when Prince Behnam and his companions were out hunting in the desert near Nineveh a huge stag suddenly appeared before them and they set off to capture it. Though they rode hard the chase was long, and when the night fell they found themselves tired and exhausted at the foot of the mountain on which Mar Mattai dwelt. Close by was a little running stream or brook, and they decided to camp there for the night. During his sleep an angel woke up the prince and told him to go to Mar Mattai, and when one of his servants, who was a Christian, urged him to obey the angel, he rose up and with some of his companions began to climb the mountain, and at length he arrived at the cave in the rock in which the saint dwelt. Mattai saw him long before he reached the top of the moun¬ tain, and he rose up and went to meet him, and gave him a hearty welcome. In answer to Mattai’s question the prince told him that he was the son of King Sanherib, and that he had come there as the result of following the stag. Very soon Mattai began to talk about spiritual matters, and apparently Behnam hearkened, for he became converted to Christianity, and he and his sister were baptized by Mattai. The leprosy of the princess disappeared, and the king her father built the monastery in which Mattai and his followers took up their abode therein. Ascetics of all classes flocked to the mountain. The anchorites and solitaries lived in clefts and caves in the mountain, and the ordinary monks built ‘cells’ for themselves or lived in the monastery. The mountain itself was called ’alpeph in allusion to the ‘thousands [of monks]’ (’alpaiya) who lived on it. Under the direction of Abraham, the mother of Prince Behnam built the Monastery of Abraham, which is also known as the Daira dhe Kukhyatha, and the Monastery of Beth Gubbe. Prince Behnam and Sara suffered martyrdom at the hands of their father, the Magian, who later was converted to Christianity, in the year of the Greeks 663 = a.d. 352, and he and his sister were buried in the Monastery of Beth Gubbe. The above-mentioned facts are derived from Brit. Mus. MS. Add. 7200, fol. 94 f., from which translations of extracts have been given by Hoffmann, Auszuge, pp. 17 f., and from Brit. Mus. MS. Add. 12174, fol. 400 f. (see Wright, Catalogue of Syriac MSS., p. 1135). There is therefore no doubt that the Monastery of Mar Mattai on Mount ’Alpeph was founded before the end of the fourth century of our era. The popular story that it was built by Sanherib after he had re¬ nounced Magianism and become a Christian, is incredible. Some have thought that Mar Mattai suffered martyrdom during the persecution of the 1 This name means ‘Saint of the Good Name’. Felix Jones compares the Persian (A sj*](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31365334_0066.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
