Passion of the Sixty Martyrs of Gaza

The Passion of the Sixty Martyrs of Gaza is a hagiography text pertaining to the martyrdom of sixty Byzantine soldiers at Gaza. Contrary to many hagiographies which martyrs were killed for religious reasons, martyrs had also died for either military, political, or non-religious reasons such as in the "Passion of the Sixty Martyrs of Gaza". Palestine 's history during Muslim conquest in the Greek original "Passion of the Sixty Martyrs of Gaza" contains unique details of significant events along with Jerusalem's early occupation by the Muslims. The text is also an early witness to many of these events predating Theophilus of Edessa, even contradicting him such as Gaza's surrender on a different date and Sophronius's circumstances leading to his death.
Narrative overview.
Captured in Gaza (est. 639 AD), the first group of ten soldiers were excecated at Jerusalem (est. November 11) for refusing to covert to Islam by the order of Ammiras, an Arab commander possibly identifiable as Amir ibn Abdallāh al-Jarrāh. Likewise, the second group of fifty soldiers were executed at Eleutheropolis (est. December 17) by the orders of Arab commander Ambrus who is possibly identifiable as Amr ibn al-Āș. Prior to the death of the fifty, Sophronius had ministered to the group who were imprisoned, to be stedfast; not a single soldier converted to Islam. Sophronius was later executed, possibly, because of events leading to the collapse of the first mosque at the Temple Mount.
Manuscripts.
Deriving in some way from the Greek but with issues, the two Latin texts "The Story of Saint Florian and his companions" and "The passion of the sixty" were transmitted differently yet are witnesses to the text. The Greek original is not extant. The "Passion of the sixty" was evidently translated directly from a Greek text though with incomplete sequences of events from either the Greek text or from the translation. It did not concluded with the death of Sophronius in Jerusalem, instead, the death's of the fifty soldiers at Eleutheropolis. The "Story of Saint Florian and his companions" evidently presents reworking, not from a Greek original, but an older Latin text. It contains the original conclusion with the death of Sophronius but is referred to as Florian in the text.