Acindynus (Carrhae)
Encyclopedia
Acindynus was a Byzantine governor of Carrhae (Harran
), active in the reign of Maurice
(r. 582-602). He was accused of being a pagan
and executed. The main sources about him are Syriac chronicles
, in particular the chronicle of Michael the Syrian
and the Chronicle of 1234
. The source of both accounts was the lost chronicle of Dionysius Telmaharensis
.
) in Osroene
. The term used, "hegemon
", typically implies a civil governor. However, the civil governors of Osroene were usually stationed at Edessa
. Acindynus was likely a military commander stationed in the secondary city.
The Syriac accounts agree that Maurice himself authorized Stephen, Bishop of Harran to persecute the pagans
of his area. During the persecution, the accused were given a choice between a forced conversion
to Christianity
and death. Acindynus was known to be a Christian. But his scribe/secretary Iyarios (elsewhere called Honorius)
accused him of secretly practicing paganism.
Stephen proceeded to have Acindynus executed, either by impalement
or crucifixion
. The deceased governor was succeeded by Iyarios.
offers some additional information on Iyarios. According to his account, Iyarios was an orphan abandoned by his parents. He believed the birthplace of the man to be in Armenia Prima
(First Armenia). He was raised and educated in the vicinity of Nicopolis, trained to be a scribe.
(r. 527-565) had initiated the search for Crypto-Pagans
among the ranks of the Christian
s. But the enforcement of his laws on the subject was "spasmodic". In other words, sudden bursts of actitity in persecuting pagans, alternated with periods where nobody was actively seeking suspects. In 578, the Byzantine authorities had received reports on an impending revolt of Crypto-Pagans in Baalbek
. Theophilus, an official who had previously faced revolts by Jews and Samaritans
, was tasked with locating said Crypto-Pagans. Suspects were arrested and interrogated under torture
, forced to name other "pagans". Soon Theophilus had lists of names, including prominent citizens spread throughout the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire
. The persecution spread to the rest of these provinces.
Theophilus himself had visited Edessa in the course of his investigations. He claimed to have interrupted a sacrifice to Zeus
taking place within the city. He proceeded to arrest Anatolius
and Theodore, respectively the provincial governor of Osroene and his second-in-command. They were transported first to Antioch
for their interrogation and secondly to Constantinople
for their trial. Liebeschuetz sees these activities as a regular "witch-hunt", where everyone is a suspect. He points that many of the "pagans" executed were probably actual Christians.
Liebeschuetz and other modern historians point to the involvement of the Monophysites
in these events. The last reign favorable to them was that of Anastasius I
(r. 491-518). Since 518, they were seen as heretics, with "their churches and monasteries ... liable to be confiscated, and their bishops to be exiled and imprisoned". Yet, they participated enthusiastically in the search for Crypto-Pagans. They were probably seeing it as an opportunity to discredit their enemies, since many of the "suspects" happened to be prominent Chalcedonians. For example, Gregory, Patriarch of Antioch
(term 571-593) was accused of participating in a human sacrifice
.
Harran
Harran was a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia whose site is near the modern village of Altınbaşak, Turkey, 24 miles southeast of Şanlıurfa...
), active in the reign of Maurice
Maurice (emperor)
Maurice was Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602.A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians...
(r. 582-602). He was accused of being a pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
and executed. The main sources about him are Syriac chronicles
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
, in particular the chronicle of Michael the Syrian
Michael the Syrian
Michael the Syrian , also known as Michael the Great or Michael Syrus or Michael the Elder, to distinguish him from his nephew, was a patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1166 to 1199. He is best known today as the author of the largest medieval Chronicle, which he composed in Syriac...
and the Chronicle of 1234
Chronicle of 1234
The Chronicle of 1234 is an anonymous West Syriac universal history from Creation until AD 1234. The unknown author was probably from Edessa. The Chronicle only survives in fragments, from which it is known to be divided into two parts: the first on ecclesiastical history, the second on secular...
. The source of both accounts was the lost chronicle of Dionysius Telmaharensis
Dionysius Telmaharensis
Dionysius Telmaharensis was a patriarch or supreme head of the Syrian Orthodox Church . He was born at Tell-Mahre near ar-Raqqa on the Balikh River....
.
Biography
Acindynus was reportedly a governor of Carrhae (HarranHarran
Harran was a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia whose site is near the modern village of Altınbaşak, Turkey, 24 miles southeast of Şanlıurfa...
) in Osroene
Osroene
Osroene, also spelled Osrohene and Osrhoene and sometimes known by the name of its capital city, Edessa , was a historic Syriac kingdom located in Mesopotamia, which enjoyed semi-autonomy to complete independence from the years of 132 BC to AD 244.It was a Syriac-speaking kingdom.Osroene, or...
. The term used, "hegemon
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
", typically implies a civil governor. However, the civil governors of Osroene were usually stationed at Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
. Acindynus was likely a military commander stationed in the secondary city.
The Syriac accounts agree that Maurice himself authorized Stephen, Bishop of Harran to persecute the pagans
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
of his area. During the persecution, the accused were given a choice between a forced conversion
Forced conversion
A forced conversion is the religious conversion or acceptance of a philosophy against the will of the subject, often with the threatened consequence of earthly penalties or harm. These consequences range from job loss and social isolation to incarceration, torture or death...
to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and death. Acindynus was known to be a Christian. But his scribe/secretary Iyarios (elsewhere called Honorius)
accused him of secretly practicing paganism.
Stephen proceeded to have Acindynus executed, either by impalement
Impalement
Impalement is the traumatic penetration of an organism by an elongated foreign object such as a stake, pole, or spear, and this usually implies complete perforation of the central mass of the impaled body...
or crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
. The deceased governor was succeeded by Iyarios.
Iyarios
Michael the SyrianMichael the Syrian
Michael the Syrian , also known as Michael the Great or Michael Syrus or Michael the Elder, to distinguish him from his nephew, was a patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1166 to 1199. He is best known today as the author of the largest medieval Chronicle, which he composed in Syriac...
offers some additional information on Iyarios. According to his account, Iyarios was an orphan abandoned by his parents. He believed the birthplace of the man to be in Armenia Prima
Roman Armenia
From the end of the 1st century BC onwards, Armenia was, in part or whole, subject to the Roman Empire and its successor, the East Roman or Byzantine Empire...
(First Armenia). He was raised and educated in the vicinity of Nicopolis, trained to be a scribe.
Interpretation
The events can be dated to c. 589. John Liebeschuetz connects the narrative to a wave of religious persecutions which started in 578. Justinian IJustinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
(r. 527-565) had initiated the search for Crypto-Pagans
Crypto-Paganism
Crypto-Pagans are pagan and neoplatonic groups that have had to pretend to be members of a mandated or mainstream religion while secretly practicing their true religion.-Neopaganism:...
among the ranks of the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s. But the enforcement of his laws on the subject was "spasmodic". In other words, sudden bursts of actitity in persecuting pagans, alternated with periods where nobody was actively seeking suspects. In 578, the Byzantine authorities had received reports on an impending revolt of Crypto-Pagans in Baalbek
Baalbek
Baalbek is a town in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, altitude , situated east of the Litani River. It is famous for its exquisitely detailed yet monumentally scaled temple ruins of the Roman period, when Baalbek, then known as Heliopolis, was one of the largest sanctuaries in the Empire...
. Theophilus, an official who had previously faced revolts by Jews and Samaritans
Samaritan Revolts
The Samaritan Revolts were a series of insurrections during the 5th and 6th centuries in Palaestina Prima province, launched by the Samaritans against the Christian East Roman/Byzantine Empire...
, was tasked with locating said Crypto-Pagans. Suspects were arrested and interrogated under torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, forced to name other "pagans". Soon Theophilus had lists of names, including prominent citizens spread throughout the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. The persecution spread to the rest of these provinces.
Theophilus himself had visited Edessa in the course of his investigations. He claimed to have interrupted a sacrifice to Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
taking place within the city. He proceeded to arrest Anatolius
Anatolius (Osroene)
Anatolius was a Byzantine official, active in the reign of Tiberius II Constantine . He was a topoteretes of the praetorian prefecture of the East and praeses of Osroene. He was accused of being a crypto-pagan and consequently executed.- Sources :Primary sources about him include Evagrius...
and Theodore, respectively the provincial governor of Osroene and his second-in-command. They were transported first to Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
for their interrogation and secondly to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
for their trial. Liebeschuetz sees these activities as a regular "witch-hunt", where everyone is a suspect. He points that many of the "pagans" executed were probably actual Christians.
Liebeschuetz and other modern historians point to the involvement of the Monophysites
Monophysitism
Monophysitism , or Monophysiticism, is the Christological position that Jesus Christ has only one nature, his humanity being absorbed by his Deity...
in these events. The last reign favorable to them was that of Anastasius I
Anastasius I (emperor)
Anastasius I was Byzantine Emperor from 491 to 518. During his reign the Roman eastern frontier underwent extensive re-fortification, including the construction of Dara, a stronghold intended to counter the Persian fortress of Nisibis....
(r. 491-518). Since 518, they were seen as heretics, with "their churches and monasteries ... liable to be confiscated, and their bishops to be exiled and imprisoned". Yet, they participated enthusiastically in the search for Crypto-Pagans. They were probably seeing it as an opportunity to discredit their enemies, since many of the "suspects" happened to be prominent Chalcedonians. For example, Gregory, Patriarch of Antioch
Gregory of Antioch
Gregory of Antioch was the Greek Patriarch of Antioch from 571 to 593.Gregory of Antioch began as a monk in the monastery of the Byzantines in Jerusalem, or so we learn from Evagrius Scholasticus. He was transferred by the emperor Justin II to Sinai. He was abbot there when the monastery was...
(term 571-593) was accused of participating in a human sacrifice
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...
.