Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

33 The sixth and seventh centuries 229
for example, that bishops and clergy formed part of her train; moreover,
Xusrō built for her places of worship dedicated to St Sergius and Mary, the
mother of Jesus. 102 We find the most elaborate account regarding Seirem
in the so called Chronicle of Guidi, which was composed in Syriac in the
660s. This is the anonymous work of a Nestorian author, who probably
wrote in Khuzistan (hence it is also called Khuzistan Chronicle). After the
historiography of Theophylact Simocatta there are few reliable sources that
describe the events along the Eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire. A
source such as the Chronicle of Guidi, which dates from a period very close
to the end of the Sasanian Empire, is therefore extremely valuable. 103 The
text shows that Seirem was also a political factor and personally exerted
influence on the appointment of the catholicos Gregorius (605–9). 104 Most
likely, the marriage between Xusrō and Seirem did not meet with approval
by the Zoroastrian nobility. Theophylact Simocatta seems to allude to
this when, in an earlier passage, he mentions that the king debased the
customs of the Babylonians when he slept with the Christian Seirem. 105 In
our passage, the author explicitly states that such a marriage was against
the Sasanian laws. Nevertheless Xusrō II chose St Sergius to sanction his
plans and rewarded him generously. Just as Theophylact Simocatta does,
many other sources attest to the king’s benefactions to the shrine of Saint
Sergius. 106
Aside from the Seirem episode, the Persian king’s affinity to Christianity
surfaces in further Western as well as Eastern sources. According to these
the patriarch of Antioch, Anastasius, consecrated three churches that had
been built upon the Sasanian ruler’s initiative. 107 Xusrō is said even to have
worshipped Christian relics. According to Theophylact Simocatta when
the Roman ambassador Probus, bishop of Chalcedon, was dispatched to
Ktēsiphōn the king summoned him to the palace and asked to see the image
of the Mother of God. 108 As the bishop carried a representation with him,
he allowed the king to take a look at it. Xusrō knelt in front of the panel
and claimed that the figure represented on it had appeared to him and told
him that she was granting him the victories of Alexander of Macedon. 109
102 Cf. ibid.
103 Guidi 1903; for an English translation of the first part, which covers the period between the death
of Hormizd IV in the year 590 and the end of the Sasanian Empire, see Greatrex and Lieu 2002:
229–37; on the dating of this text see Hoyland 1997: 182–5.
104 See the references in Greatrex and Lieu 2002: 317 n. 55.
105 Theoph. Simoc. v.13.7.
106 See the references in Greatrex and Lieu 2002: 176–8.
107 Flusin 1992: 101–2.
108 The incident once more attests to the important function of bishops as diplomats in late antiquity
(see 35 below).
109 Cf. Theoph. Simoc. v.15.9–10.