Elias bar Shenaye elided his sources

I am reading Marianna Mazzola and Peter van Nuffelen, on Daniel bar Mushe of Ṭur ʿAbdīn. This "historian" passed along some lore about the Marwânid era, its start and its end. In between? Nobody tells us, so these authors (to their credit, and to that of their peer-reviewers) won't speculate.

Most of the Daniel fragments (the authors identify four) and one of the two testimonies come from the same historian, also lost: Dionysius of Tell-Mahré. Mazzola and van Nuffelen note for exceptions "F2" and "F4", where Dionysius' tradents don't give Dionysius' source... but another Syrian does: a Nestorian, Elias / Elia bar Shenaye of Nisibin. Elias is here the only one who relates that the anecdotes derive from Daniel. Mazzola and van Nuffelen point out that the two pericopae as Elias lists, where not from Khwarezmi or the Nestorian abbot (we'll get to the latter), summarise what we know elsewhere to come from Dionysius. Elias admits to using Dionysius for other anecdota (n. 25). The authors doubt that Elias ever had a copy of Daniel direct. So they would restore "Daniel reports..." somewhere in that F2 / F4 text.

It might be in Elias' interest to avoid being seen to cite a Miaphysite and a patriarch no-less. Skipping his name toward pretending his source would be a nice way out, where Dionysius offered Elias that "out". See nowadays Bryce Ross and Kyle Campbell, bypassing the McDowells.

As for Elias' "Abbot of the Great Monastery": that monastery, for AG 1051/AH 122 (739/740), fell under catholicos Petyon whose death Elias records for that year (accurate for AD 740). The monastery would be the Mār Abraham on Ṭur Izla (I blew over a year of free-time on the whereabouts). As to which Abbot: I suppose one could look up Thomas of Marga or Ishoʿdnaḥ or maybe those Arabic-language Majdal texts. Um. Assemani < ʿAbdishoʿ? Anyway, have at it, dear readers; he's off-scope for this poast.

For Elias readers, all this implies Elias might have “Early!” sources only through intermediaries. Looking eastward, along with the nameless Abbot, Elias cites Ishoʿdnaḥ of the Mayshan and others. Did such come to Elias via such as Siirt and the Khuzestan miscellany?