The Persian Martyr Acts or PMA are a large corpus of texts in Syriac, Greek, Armenian, Georgian, and Sogdian. They describe the persecution of Christians during the Sasanian Empire. The exact date of composition is uncertain for the most part but they generally date from the third to the seventh century and even later. Over sixty text are in extant; the length of which varies. Not all have been studied in-depth or translated. Several volumes have been published by Gorgias Press. These texts are often referred by either BHO (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Orientalis) numbering systems or AMS (Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum) for Syriac texts. Brock’s History of Mar Maʾin provides an excellent guide for the study of these texts.
Bibliography:
Amiri Bavandpour, Sajad. The Persian Martyr Acts in Syriac. Tehran: Abi Parsi, 2022.
Becker. Adam H.“The Invention of the Persian Martyr Acts.” In Syriac Christian Culture, 113–. Catholic University of America Press, (2021). (PDF)
Brock, Sebastian P. History of Mar Maʾin, with a Guide to the Persian Martyr Acts. Piscataway: Gorgias, 2008.
- John of Arbela (BHO 500)
- Abraham of Arbela (BHO 12)
- Hananya (BHO 372)
- Jacob and Mary (BHO 426)
- Barhadbeshabba(BHO 138)
- Aitallaha and dcn. Hophsai (BHO 29)
- Thekla and companions (BHO 1157)
- Jacob and Azad (BHO 423)
- 11 Men and 9 Women (BHO 718)
- Pr Shapur of Niqator and bp Isaac of karka (BHO 1042)
- Narsai and Joseph (BHO 806)
- Martyrs of Beth Slok (BHO 807)
- Captives from Beth Zabdai (BHO 375)
- Baday (BHO 130)
- Barshebya (BHO 146)
- Daniel and Warda (BHO 245)
- `Aqebshma (BHO 22)