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sword-shaped. In the 24th year, Abubachar dies, having ruled as amir for two and a half years, and in his place Umar rules, who took the city of Bostra and many others, and came as far as Gabitha. Theodore, the brother of Heraclius, engaged him and, having been defeated, comes to the emperor in Edessa. But the emperor appoints another general, Vahan, and sends the *sakellarios* Theodore with a Roman force against the Arabs. And having arrived in Emesa, he encounters a multitude of Saracens and their amir, and encamps by the Vardanisios river. But Heraclius, despairing, abandons Syria, and taking up the precious wood from Jerusalem, he departed for Constantinople. And he turns Vahan from Damascus to Emesa, and the *sakellarios* Theodore, who had an army of 40,000. And they pursue the Arabs from Emesa to Damascus. In the 25th year, the Saracens campaign with a multitude of Arabs, and when battle was joined, the Romans are defeated. But the followers of Vahan, having revolted, renounce Heraclius and proclaim Vahan emperor. In these circumstances, the followers of the *sakellarios* withdraw, and the Saracens, finding an opportunity, join battle with Vahan and defeat him; for when a violent 1.746 south wind blew against the Romans, and they were not able to face the enemy because of the thick dust, they were terribly routed, and casting themselves into the narrows of the Yarmuk river, the forty thousand perished. And they took Damascus and the lands of Phoenicia, and settled there. Then they campaign against Egypt, and taking it also, they dwell in it. In the 20th year, Umar campaigns against Palestine, and takes the holy city by treaty while Sophronius was patriarch. And Umar, entering the holy city dressed in squalid garments of camel hair, showing a Satanic hypocrisy, sought the temple of the Jews, which Solomon had built, to make it a place of worship for his own blasphemy. Sophronius, seeing him, said, "In truth this is the abomination of desolation, standing in a holy place," and with many tears he lamented the Christians. He therefore urged him to take a linen cloth and put it on; but he would not endure it. So he was persuaded with difficulty, and when his own were washed, he returned the patriarch's. At this time Sophronius died, having struggled much against Heraclius and his like-minded followers Sergius and Pyrrhus, the monothelites. In this year Umar sent Iyad to Syria, and he subjected it all to the Saracens. 1.747 Concerning the holy land, the divine Moses said to Israel: "Behold, the Lord your God will bring you into a good and broad land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates, and palm trees; a land of oil and honey; a land wherein you shall eat your bread without scarceness; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig bronze; a land flowing with milk and honey; a land which the Lord your God cares for, which is blessed and fruitful above all the earth, and compared to the paradise of God." And to these things the most wise Aristotle also testifies, saying: "For the promised land is populous, and abounds with all kinds of fruits, an immense multitude of vines and fruit-trees and palm trees, and very many and diverse cattle, and their pasture is abundant throughout the whole year because of the great temperateness and richness of the land; and there is a great multitude of spices and precious stones and gold brought through by the Arabs." Likewise, therefore, Josephus also said: "For being all-productive because of its temperate air and great richness, in the season of winter it brings forth nuts and in the heat, palms, and cultivates a great deal of oil. And the inhabitants there eat grapes and figs for ten months, and they gather the other fruits twice a year." But the size of the bunches of grapes of the

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ξιφοειδής. Τῷ κδʹ ἔτει Ἀβουβάχαρ τελευτᾷ, ἀμηρεύσας ἔτη δύο ἥμισυ, καὶ ἀντ' αὐτοῦ κρατεῖ Οὔμαρος, ὃς παρέλαβε Βόστραν τὴν πόλιν καὶ ἄλλας πολλάς, καὶ ἦλθε μέχρι τοῦ Γαβιθᾶ. τούτῳ συμβα λὼν Θεόδωρος ὁ τοῦ Ἡρακλείου ἀδελφὸς καὶ ἡττηθεὶς πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα ἔρχεται ἐν Ἐδέσῃ. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς προχειρίζεται ἕτερον στρατηγὸν Βοάνην, τὸν δὲ σακελλάριον Θεόδωρον μετὰ Ῥωμαϊ κῆς δυνάμεως πέμπει κατὰ Ἀράβων. παραγενόμενος δὲ εἰς Ἔμεσαν συναντᾷ πλῆθος Σαρακηνῶν καὶ τὸν ἀμηρᾶν αὐτῶν, καὶ εἰς τὸν Βαρδανίσιον ποταμὸν παραφοσσατεύει. Ἡράκλειος δὲ ἀπελ πίσας καταλιμπάνει τὴν Συρίαν, καὶ ἄρας τὰ τίμια ξύλα ἀπὸ Ἱε ροσολύμων ἐπὶ Κωνσταντινούπολιν ἀπῄει. Βοάνην δὲ ἀπὸ ∆α μασκοῦ εἰς Ἔμεσαν στρέφει, καὶ Θεόδωρον σακελλάριον ἔχοντα στρατὸν χιλιάδας μʹ. καὶ διώκουσι τοὺς Ἄραβας ἀπὸ Ἐμέσης ἕως ∆αμασκοῦ. Τῷ κεʹ ἔτει ἐπιστρατεύουσιν οἱ Σαρακηνοὶ μετὰ πλήθους Ἀράβων, καὶ συμβολῆς γενομένης ἡττῶνται Ῥωμαῖοι. στασιάσαντες δὲ οἱ περὶ Βαάνην Ἡράκλειον ἀποκηρύττουσι καὶ Βαάνην ἀναγορεύουσιν βασιλέα. ἐν τούτοις ὑποχωροῦσιν οἱ περὶ τὸν σα κελλάριον, καὶ οἱ Σαρακηνοὶ εὑρόντες ἄδειαν συμβάλλουσι μετὰ Βαάνους πόλεμον καὶ ἡττῶσιν αὐτόν· ἀνέμου γὰρ πνεύσαντος 1.746 βιαίου νότου κατὰ Ῥωμαίων, καὶ μὴ δυναμένων τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἀντωπῆσαι διὰ τὸν πολὺν κονιορτόν, δεινῶς τρέπονται, καὶ ῥίπτον τες ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τοὺς στενωποὺς τοῦ ποταμοῦ Ἰερμοχθᾶ διεφθά ρησαν αἱ τεσσαράκοντα χιλιάδες. παρέλαβον δὲ καὶ τὴν ∆αμα σκὸν καὶ τὰς χώρας τῆς Φοινίκης, καὶ οἰκίζονται ἐκεῖ. εἶτα στρα τεύονται κατ' Αἰγύπτου, καὶ λαβόντες καὶ αὐτὴν κατοικοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῇ. Τῷ κʹ ἔτει στρατεύει Οὔμαρος κατὰ Παλαιστίνης, καὶ παραλαμβάνει λόγοις τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν Σωφρονίου πατριάρχου ὄν τος. εἰσελθὼν δὲ Οὔμαρος εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν τριχίνοις ἐκ κα μήλου ἐνδύμασιν ἠμφιεσμένος ἐρρυπωμένοις, ὑπόκρισίν τε Σατα νικὴν ἐνδεικνύμενος, τὸν ναὸν ἐζήτει τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ὃν ᾠκοδόμησε Σολομῶν, προσκυνητήριον ποιῆσαι τῆς αὐτοῦ βλασφημίας. τοῦ τον ἰδὼν Σωφρόνιος ἔφη "ἐπ' ἀληθείας τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως, ἑστὼς ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ," πολλοῖς τε δάκρυσι τοὺς Χριστιανοὺς ἀπωδύρετο. παρεκάλεσεν οὖν αὐτὸν λαβεῖν σινδόνα καὶ ἐνδύσασθαι· ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἠνέσχετο. μόγις οὖν ἐπείσθη, καὶ πλυνθέντων τῶν αὐτοῦ πάλιν ἀπέστρεψε τὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου. ἐν τούτοις ἀπεβίω Σωφρόνιος, πολλὰ κατὰ Ἡρακλείου καὶ τῶν ὁμο φρόνων αὐτοῦ Σεργίου καὶ Πύρρου τῶν μονοθελητῶν ἀγωνισάμε νος. τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ἀπολύει Οὔμαρος τὸν Ἰὰδ εἰς Συρίαν, καὶ ὑπέταξε πᾶσαν τοῖς Σαρακηνοῖς. 1.747 Περὶ δέ γε τῆς ἁγίας γῆς ὁ θεσπέσιος ἔλεγε Μωϋσῆς πρὸς τὸν Ἰσραήλ "ἰδοὺ κύριος ὁ θεός σου εἰσάξει σε εἰς γῆν ἀγαθὴν καὶ πολλήν, ἧς χείμαρροι ὑδάτων καὶ πηγαὶ ἀβύσσου ἐκπορευόμεναι διὰ τῶν πεδιάδων καὶ τῶν ὀρέων. γῆ πυροῦ καὶ κριθῆς, ἄμπε λοι καὶ συκαῖ καὶ ῥοιαὶ καὶ φοίνικες· γῆ ἐλαίου καὶ μέλιτος· γῆ ἐφ' ἣν οὐ μετὰ πτωχείας φάγῃ τὸν ἄρτον σου· γῆ ἧς οἱ λίθοι σίδηρος, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀρέων αὐτῆς μεταλλεύσεις χαλκόν· γῆ ῥέουσα γάλα καὶ μέλι· γῆ ἣν κύριος ὁ θεός σου ἐπισκοπεῖ, ἥτις εὐλογη μένη ἐστὶ καὶ καρποφόρος ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, καὶ τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ θεοῦ παρεικαζομένη." προσμαρτυρεῖ δὲ τούτοις καὶ ὁ σοφώ τατος Ἀριστοτέλης λέγων "καὶ γὰρ πολυάνθρωπός ἐστιν ἡ γῆ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, καὶ παντοίοις καρποῖς εὐθηνοῦσα, ἀμπέλων τε καὶ ἀκροδρύων καὶ φοινίκων πλῆθος ἄπλετον, καὶ κτήνη πάμπολλα καὶ διάφορα, καὶ δαψιλὴς ἡ τούτων νομὴ δι' ὅλου τοῦ χρόνου γίνεται διὰ τὴν πολλὴν εὐκρασίαν τῆς γῆς καὶ πιότητα· πολὺ δὲ πλῆθος καὶ τῶν ἀρωμάτων καὶ λίθων πολυτελῶν καὶ χρυσοῦ πα ρακομιζομένου διὰ τῶν Ἀράβων." ὡσαύτως οὖν καὶ Ἰώσηπος ἔφη "πάμφορος γὰρ οὖσα δι' εὔκρατον ἀέρα καὶ πολλὴν πιότητα χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ ἐκφέρει κάρυα καὶ ἐν καύματι φοίνικας, καὶ πλεῖ στον γεωργεῖ ἔλαιον. καὶ σταφυλὴν μὲν καὶ σῦκα διὰ μηνῶν δέκα ἐσθίουσιν οἱ ἐκεῖσε, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς καρποὺς δὶς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ τρυγῶσι." τὸ δὲ μέγεθος τῶν βοτρύων τῆς