Rubens Duval - Olivier Holmey - Syriac Literature An English Translation of La Littérature Syriaque-Gorgias Press (2013)

Syriac Literature
Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies
35
Series Editors
George Anton Kiraz
István Perczel
Lorenzo Perrone
Samuel Rubenson
Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies brings to the scholarly world the

underrepresented field of Christianity as it developed in the Eastern
hemisphere. This series consists of monographs, edited collections,
texts and translations of the documents of Eastern Christianity, as
well as studies of topics relevant to the world of historic
Orthodoxy and early Christianity.
Syriac Literature
An English Translation of La Littérature Syriaque
By
Rubens Duval
Translated by
Olivier Holmey
9
34 2013
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2013 ‫ܝ‬
9
ISBN 978-1-61143-962-5 ISSN 1539-1507
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Data
Duval, Rubens, 1839-1911.

[Littérature syriaque. English]
Syriac literature : an English translation of
La littérature syriaque by Rubens Duval / by
Olivier Holmey.
p. cm. -- (Gorgias Eastern Christian
Studies ; 35)
Includes bibliographical references and
index.
ISBN 978-1-61143-962-5
1. Syriac literature--History and criticism.
I. Holmey, Olivier, translator. II. Title.
PJ5601.D813 2014
892’.3--dc23
2013040787
Printed in the United States of America
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword to the English Edition ......................................................... vii

PART I
SYRIAC LITERATURE AND ITS DIFFERENT GENRES ....... 1
I. The Origins of Syriac Literature ......................................................... 3
II. General Features of Syriac Literature. Poetry................................. 7
§1. — Features of Syriac Literature .............................................. 7
§2. — Poetry .................................................................................... 9
III. The Ancient Versions of the Old and New Testaments........... 21
§1. — The so-called Peshitta version of the Old Testament . 21
§2. — The ancient versions of the New Testament ................ 31
IV. The Syro-Palestinian Version of the Old and New
Testament ....................................................................................... 37
V. The Later Versions of the Old and New Testament................... 43
VI. The Syrian Masoretic Text ............................................................. 47
VII. The Biblical Commentaries .......................................................... 53
VIII. The Apocrypha Concerning the Old and New Testament ... 67
§1. — The apocrypha of the Old Testament ............................ 67
§2. — The apocrypha of the New Testament. ......................... 73
IX. The Acts of the Martyrs and of the Saints .................................. 97
§1. — The Acts of the Martyrs of Occidental
Mesopotamia ......................................................................... 97
§2. — The Acts of the Martyrs of Persia.................................102
§3. — The Syriac texts on the martyrs outside
Mesopotamia and Persia....................................................116
§4. — Lives of the saints and martyrs ......................................122
X. The Apologetic Texts .....................................................................133
XI. Ecclesiastical Canons and Civil Law...........................................137
§1. — Ecclesiastical canons translated from Greek ...............137
§2. — Syriac ecclesiastical canons. ............................................141
§3. — Civil law.............................................................................148
v
vi SYRIAC LITERATURE
XII. The Historiographers ..................................................................153

§1. — General history.................................................................153
§2. — Particular histories. ..........................................................177
XIII. Ascetic Literature .......................................................................187
XIV. Philosophy ...................................................................................203
§1. — Syriac philosophy .............................................................203
§2. — Aristotelian philosophy...................................................212
§3. — Other Syriac versions of Greek philosophy ................223
XV. The Sciences of the Syrians ........................................................231
§1. — Medicine ............................................................................231
§2. — Natural history .................................................................236
§3. — Astronomy, cosmography and geography ...................238
§4. — Chemistry ..........................................................................242
§5. — Mathematics .....................................................................243
XVI. Grammar, Lexicography, Rhetoric and Poetic ......................245
§1. — Grammar...........................................................................245
§2. — Lexicography ....................................................................253
§3. — Rhetoric and poetic .........................................................258
XVII. Syriac Translations ....................................................................261
§1. — Translations of the works of the Greek Fathers ........262
§2. — Translations of the secular works .................................276
PART II
NOTES ON THE SYRIAC AUTHORS ........................................281
I. Writers up to the 5th Century.........................................................285
II. Writers up Until the 7th Century..................................................293
§1. — The Orthodox ..................................................................293
§2. — The Nestorians.................................................................296
§3. — The Monophysites ...........................................................304
III. Writers under the Arabs ...............................................................321
§1. — The 7th century ................................................................321
§2. — The 8th century ................................................................331
§3. — The 9th century ................................................................337
§4. — The 10th century..............................................................343
§5. — The 11th century..............................................................345
§6. — The 12th century..............................................................348
§7. — The 13th century and the end of Syriac literature ......352
Index of Names ....................................................................................363
FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH
EDITION
Despite having been written over a century ago, Rubens Duval’s La

Littérature Syriaque remains one of the best — and most readable —
introductions to Syriac literature. This edition provides the first
English translation of the 1907 third edition of the work, translated
by Olivier Holmey and benefiting from a comprehensive index of
names compiled by Edward Chandler. We are grateful to both
Olivier and Edward for their supurb work. Preparing a translation
of such a classic work for publication is never without its perils and
thanks are also due to James E. Walters for his invaluable advice
throughout the course of this project.
Gorgias Press
September 2013
vii
I. THE ORIGINS OF SYRIAC LITERATURE
Syriac literature was formed and developed in Mesopotamia under

the influence of Christianity, to which it owes its religious
character. It is first and foremost an ecclesiastical literature. Indeed,
the works that have come down to us were written virtually
exclusively by clergymen and theologians. Be they doctors devoted
to the study of Greek philosophy, such as the masters of the
School of Edessa in the 5th century, or of natural and medical
sciences, such as Sergius of Reshʿayna in the following century, or
even the famous Syrian physicians of Baghdad in the time of the
Abbasid caliphs, all were well-versed in matters of theology. In the
Orient, sciences were branches of philosophy, and the most
important of these branches was knowledge of God and religious
dogma. This line of study had its roots in the religious spirit of the
Semites, whether Syrian, Israelite or Arabic. The Jewish intellectual
endeavour largely focused on the study of the Torah, that is, the
religious law, and Muslim instruction was given at the madrassa
attached to mosques and directed by oulemas (doctors of law).
Likewise, the Christian Syrians studied in schools attached to
monasteries.
Pagan Mesopotamia is not to be counted among those nations
of literary genius. It comes as no surprise that the works it
produced, besides several inscriptions preserved on stone, vanished
with the fall of paganism. Had there been a true national culture, its
tradition would have been preserved or would at least have left its
mark on the Christian era. Yet this is not so: Syriac literature was
born out of the great Christian movement of the Orient, drawing
Mesopotamia in at a remarkable pace. This area soon became a
major centre of religious dispute, holding a prominent place in the
history of the Church. Following Bardaisan, it was to become the
last bastion of Gnosticism. While the Syrians of the Persian Empire
were to greet the vanquished Nestorianism in the West, the Syrians
3
4 SYRIAC LITERATURE
of the Roman Empire were to declare themselves partisans of the

Monophysite heresy and form the Jacobite sect.
We have noted that Mesopotamia was the cradle of Syriac
literature. Syrians were, it is true, spread out across a vast expanse
of land. Syria proper (cis-euphratic Syria), Mesopotamia, Babylonia,
and the oriental provinces such as Adiabene, Garamee and Susiana,
were largely inhabited by Arameans who, following the
evangelisation of these lands, took the title “Syrians.”1 Yet Syria
had been deeply hellenised following the Seleucid occupation.
While Syriac was the vernacular, Greek was used in writing. The
use of Greek was universal and survived long after the Roman
conquest.2 Mesopotamian Syriac only became the literary and
ecclesiastical language of Syria after the Monophysite schism
occurred. Beforehand, the offices had been celebrated in Greek,
and the Holy Scriptures were in all likelihood explained orally in
the popular dialect, which differed significantly from spoken
Aramaic in both Mesopotamia and Babylonia.3
The origins of Syriac literature are closely tied to the
evangelisation of Mesopotamia, which, following a constant
tradition, began at Edessa.
1 When the Jews, who had been taken to Babylonia, found themselves
surrounded by Aramaic populations devoted to the cult of celestial
bodies, the word “Aramaic” became a synonym of “pagan” in Jewish
literature. The Christian Arameans adopted the Greek word Σύροι to
differentiate themselves from the Arameans who had remained pagan.
2 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. Syr., ed. BRUNS, Leipzig, 1789, p. 120, ed.
BEDJAN, Paris, 1890, p. 115, remarks that Greek remained the language
of literature until the 8th century AD, as for instance in Damascus, where
Caliph Walid forbade its use for the writing of official edicts, replacing it
with Arabic instead.
3 On these different dialects, see BAR HEBRÆUS, ed. Œuv. gramm.,
ed. MARTIN II, p. 5, and A Compendious History of Dynasties, ed. Pocock,

Oxford, 1663, p. 16; ed. SALHANI, Beyrouth, 1890, p. 18. Western
Syriac, a very corrupt form, is still spoken today in two villages in the
vicinity of Damascus.
THE ORIGINS OF SYRIAC LITERATURE 5
The positive influence of Christianity was soon felt in

Mesopotamia. Longstanding relations were established first
between Edessa and the Church of Jerusalem, and later with the
Church of Antioch as well. These led to the birth of an intellectual
movement that turned Edessa into a great centre of religious and
scientific study. They would also lead Mesopotamian Syriac to
become the literary language that was eventually adopted by all
Syrians, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Adiabene, and
from the Taurus Mountains to the Persian Gulf.
This literary language appears in its final form in the ancient
Syriac versions of the Old and New Testament. It was to remain
intact throughout the centuries and retain its status as a scholarly
language until the Muslim conquest, when the Syrian people
adopted Arabic as their vernacular tongue.
It has been argued that the roots of Syriac literature go back
even further, to the Chaldean civilisation, but only vague
hypotheses have been put forward in support of this claim.
II. GENERAL FEATURES
OF SYRIAC LITERATURE.
POETRY
§1. — FEATURES OF SYRIAC LITERATURE

Syriac literature is not the masterly creation of a nation which
progressively developed and possesses a longstanding tradition. As
we have said, nothing ties this literature to an indigenous past. It
grew as an offspring of the sacred literature of Palestine on which
were grafted the branches of Greek culture. Likewise, its surviving
monuments do not display an original quality characteristic of the
work of those great writers who reflect the unique genius of their
people.
This literature bears primarily a historical value. The
chronicles contain crucial documents for the history of Asia prior
to their composition, under Roman, Persian, Arabic, Mongolian,
and finally Turkish rule. Indeed, ecclesiastical historians laid claim
to the bulk of this literature. Syria was affected by all the struggles
that cast their shadow over the Christian world: heresies and
schisms flourished in its fertile ground. Until the 7th century,
dissensions, polemics and religious controversies were
commonplace among the Syrians of the Roman and Persian
empires.
By reason of their antiquity, the biblical versions require the
work of the exegete. Just as the Syriac Hexapla provides the basis
for a useful examination of the Septuagint, so can the Peshitta be
employed to critique the Hebrew text. Likewise, the New
Testament versions, including the Harqlean, can prove useful, as
can the commentaries of the Holy Scriptures written by the Fathers
of the Syrian Churches.
The apocryphal literature of Judas [Thomas] resonated in
Syria, triggering new writings on the biblical Patriarchs, the life of
7
8 SYRIAC LITERATURE
Our Lord, the Virgin Mary and the Apostles. The legends which
were born there later thrived even in the West.
Hagiography is as prominent in Syriac literature as it is in
other Christian literatures. The Occidental Syrians wrote Acts of
martyrs that differed from those composed by the Oriental Syrians.
The latter’s works contain historical and geographical data that
shed light on obscure points of the history of ancient times.
We need not dwell now on those aspects that will be
developed later in this book. Rather, we shall focus here on the
value of the translations of Greek books, which form an important
branch of Syriac literature.
Pagan Mesopotamia had remained impermeable to Greek
literature. By contrast, from as early as the 5th century BC, we see
at the heart of Christian Mesopotamian thought a reliance on the
writings of the Fathers of the Greek Church and of the hellenistic
Church of Antioch. At that time, Greek was taught at the famous
school of Edessa, which successively published translations of
Theodore of Mopsuestia’s commentaries, treatises of St Cyril of
Alexandria, the logic of Aristotle and other books of the Organon.
From there the study of Greek spread across the whole of
Mesopotamia, where it remained strongly established for centuries
thereafter. Under Abbasid rule, Baghdad underwent a scientific
renaissance sparked by the illustrious physicians of the caliphs’
court. Schools under the direction of famous masters revised and
re-edited ancient translations of Aristotle and Galen and published
in Syriac works of Dioscorides and Paul of Aegina. The Greeks
also introduced the Syrians to grammar and lexicography. The
Syriac language bears the mark of that culture. After having been
the Greeks’ disciples, the Syrians were to become the Arabs’
masters, passing Greek works on to them. Few Arab versions of
Greek writings lack a Syriac intermediary. By a remarkable turn of
events, Greek philosophy returned from the Orient to Europe
through the medium of Arabic books. These were to become the
authoritative versions at home in the Middle Ages.
We are also indebted to the Oriental Syrians for their Syriac
versions of Pahlavi books: the book of Kalila and Dimna, the
Alexander romance and in all likelihood also the book of Sindban or
the Seven Sages.
GENERAL FEATURES OF SYRIAC LITERATURE. POETRY 9
These translations have preserved a number of works of which

the originals are, in part or in full, lost. Owing to their great
antiquity, certain versions of Greek writings are nearly as valuable as
an original manuscript and deserve to be consulted for a critical
edition.
§2. — POETRY
A taste of the idiosyncratic nature of the Syrian literary mind is to
be sought in their poetry. One should not expect their poetic
productions to display a highly lyrical quality, or to possess that
naïve charm inherent to heroic epics. The distinct character of this
poetry does nonetheless make it a literary phenomenon whose
features and history are worthy of study.1
Being a purely ecclesiastical genre, Syriac poetry was born, and
later flourished, within the clergy. It served this body as the most
effective instrument for spreading religious instruction among the
people. Moreover, it endowed the cultic offices with the solemnity
that befitted these positions. Once again no tradition linking
Christian poetry to popular songs of pagan times is attested.
Analogies can be sought in ancient Hebrew poetry: the Syriac lines
grouped in pairs form a metric phrase, an edifice (‫ ) ܰܒܝܬܳܐ‬as the
Syrians would say, mirroring rather closely the parallelism of
Hebrew verses. There is no doubt that the use of acrostic stanzas,
organised in alphabetical order, was introduced in Syriac poetry
through the emulation of certain Psalms and the Lamentations of
Jeremiah, which both present this structural arrangement.2
1 The following discussion of Syriac poetry was the object of a lecture

given at the assembly of the Société asiatique in June 1897, and was
printed in the Journal asiatique of July-August 1897.
2 The metric homilies of Narsai (5th century) contain a large number
of “answers,” i.e. the reuse at the beginning of a stanza of a word or

thought found in the preceding stanza. M. D. H. Müller has observed that
this poetic form appears in Hebrew texts as well, as, for instance, in the
Book of Prophets, the Psalms and various biblical poems. There is thus
yet again a striking analogy between Hebrew and Syriac poetry.
10 SYRIAC LITERATURE
However, the determined number of syllables per line, which

is the fundamental principle of Syriac metre, is not found in
Hebrew. One would be mistaken to look for its origin in ancient
Greek and Latin poetry. Syrians did not distinguish long vowels
from short vowels. Moreover, no evidence brought to light thus far
suggests that, at the dawn of their literary age, they knew Western
poetry. Syriac literature, rendered less sharp under the effect of
prolonged usage, only very rarely maintains the short vowel in an
open syllable. Consequently, the words are broken down into clear-
cut syllables of identical prosodic value. It is therefore natural that a
rhythmic sentence contained a specific number of syllables.
Similarly, in French lines, the length of vowel emissions is not
taken into account.
Were it not for the number of controversies this question has
sparked, we would be tempted to admit a certain relationship
between Syriac and Byzantine hymnology. This contentious point
will not, however, be treated here.
It is believed that the credit of creating Syriac poetry belongs
to the famous Bardaisan of Edessa, who lived at the end of the
2nd century AD. In one of his hymns against the heretics,3 St
Ephrem writes of Bardaisan:
He created the hymns and wed them to musical airs.
He composed canticles and arranged them metrically.
In measure and in weight he divided the words.4
To healthy people he gave bitter poison concealed by
sweetness.
The sick had no access to a liberating remedy.
He sought to imitate David, donning himself with his beauty.
Aspiring to the same praises, he composed like him
One hundred and fifty canticles.
3S. Ephraemi syri opera syriace et latine, ed. STÉPH. ÉVOD.

ASSÉMANI, Rome, 1737–1743, II, p. 554.
4 That is, he divided the lines into measures with both rhythm and
accent.
According to St Ephrem, Bardaisan wrote these hymns in

order to ingrain his religious teachings in the mind of the people.
His invention was, it seems, a great success, and the ecclesiastical
writers recount that his son Harmonius grew so excellent at this art
that he even outdid his father. Unfortunately, with the exception of
several lines of Bardaisan quoted in St Ephrem, nothing survives of
his poems. The writings of the Gnostics and the theories they
espoused have been permanently lost.
Yet, although the writings disappeared, the mold in which
they were fashioned did not. One and a half centuries later, St
Ephrem adopted Bardaisan’s poetic armour to fight erroneous
doctrines; through the use of hymns and metric homilies the
illustrious father of the Syrian Church rebutted the heretics’ views
and popularised orthodox doctrines.
The wealth of St Ephrem’s literary production is remarkable.
His many poetic works were scrupulously preserved and have now
been published. However, it is true that, were the author to be
consulted, he would deny having written many of the works
attributed to him. Certain compositions of his school, including
writings of Isaac the Doctor and even of the Nestorians, such as
Narsai, have been attributed to him.
In this art, Ephrem was a master often imitated but rarely
equalled. Yet his prolixity and lack of warmth were criticised: the
didactic and moralising genres are hardly prone to lyricism. The
special character of the sacred hymn, which two choruses sang
during the service, should not be disregarded. Indeed, in this type
of poetry, the sentence is subject to the hymn from which its
texture derives.
As for St Ephrem’s prolixity, which is sometimes considered
fastidious, it should not be condemned without prior awareness of
the Syrians’ taste for repetitions and developments of the same
thought, seeing qualities where we would discern flaws. These
supposed flaws we encounter not only in the works of the most
esteemed poets Isaac of Antioch, Narsai, and Jacob of Serug, but
also in those of Aphrahat and Philoxenus of Mabbug, prose writers
of that blessed age.
Syriac poetry can be subdivided into two categories: metric
homilies and hymns.
The homilies or poetic discourse (‫ܐܳܕܡ ̈ܘܫܚܬܐ‬

̈ܶ
ܽ ‫ ) ܺܡܐܡܪ‬belong to
the narrative and epic genre. They follow a regular pattern and are
composed of lines of identical metre. In his homilies St Ephrem
employed seven-syllable lines, most often divided into two
rhythmic measures of three and four syllables respectively. After
him, other metric patterns were also used for this poetic genre. Mar
Balai composed homilies with five syllables per line organised in
two measures of two and three syllables respectively. It is alleged
that Narsai favoured the six-syllable metre but this claim has not
yet been substantiated, as his known poems are organised in either
seven or twelve-syllable lines. In his numerous homilies Jacob of
Serug also employed the twelve-syllable line divided into three
measures of four syllables each.
Homilies were most often composed for, and recited during,
Church celebrations and the commemoration of saints and martyrs.
They were occasionally also meant as pious works designed for the
enlightenment of believers, in which case they were of similar
length to an extensive poem. Of the works of Isaac of Antioch
only a homily on penitence of 1928 lines and another of 2136 lines
about a parrot who sang the hymn of Trisagion to Antioch survive.
Jacob of Serug is the author of a homily of 1400 lines on the
chariot that appeared before Ezekiel and of another of 730 lines on
the legends of Alexander the Great. Where a poem was too long to
be read at one time, it was divided into several homilies. Hence, the
poem on Joseph, son of Jacob, attributed to St Ephrem
encompasses twelve homilies and hymns.
Hymns form the second group of Syriac poetry. I retain the
word “hymn” made congruous by common usage. Syrians,
however, did not know this term; they called these poems
ܳ̈ܶ ‫) ܰܡܕܪ‬. Indeed, as already pointed out, it is through
“instructions” (‫ܫܐ‬
hymns that Bardaisan spread his doctrines among the people, a
successful approach which was later emulated by St Ephrem.
Bardaisan composed one hundred and fifty hymns; St Ephrem
twice as many. Some are directed at heretics and sceptics, others
are moralising, finally a number of them were meant to be sung
after homilies at Church and on saints’ holidays.
St Ephrem’s biographer relates that “when St Ephrem
recognised the Edessians’ taste for songs, he established the
counterpart of the youths’ games and dances. He set up choruses

of nuns and taught them hymns divided into stanzas with a refrain.
In these hymns he introduced delicate thoughts and spiritual
instructions on Nativity, baptism, Lent and the acts of Christ, the
Passion, Resurrection and Ascension, as well as on confessors,
penitence and the deceased. When the virgins congregated on
Sundays, at great feasts and martyrs’ commemorations, he would
stand among them as a father, accompanying them with his harp.
He divided them into choruses for alternating hymns and taught
them the different musical tunes so well that the whole town
gathered around him and that his opponents were covered in
shame and disappeared.”
A legend, recovered by the historian Socrates (VI, 8) and
adopted by Solomon of Basra (The Book of the Bee, 130, transl. 115)
and Bar Hebræus (Chron. eccl., I, 41), attributes the institution of the
antiphon in Syria to St Ignatius of Antioch, who is said to have
been inspired by a vision: angels appeared before him singing the
praises of the Trinity in hymns sung alternately.5
As opposed to homilies, hymns represent the lyrical genre.
They enjoyed every form this genre can carry, from the four-
syllable line to that which has ten, and were composed of a varying
number of stanzas of different length. The first chorus sang the
longest stanzas while the second chorus performed the refrain,
which was made up of the shortest ones.
The refrain consisted of a doxology or prayer; returning after
every main stanza, it could either remain constant or be somewhat
modified. It was sung to the same tune as the hymn’s other stanzas.
The musical tunes were indicated by headings. These headings
provided the first words of the hymn of which the known chant
served as model; for instance, the rubric To the tune of “THAT
DAY” indicated the chant of the hymn on the Nativity of Our
Lord, of which the first words were THAT DAY. A similar
5 According to BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, 33, the institution of

choruses in Babylonia and in eastern Mesopotamia was the work of
Simeon bar Sabbaʿe, who died in 341.
method is used to record musical tunes in our collections of

canticles and popular songs.
Tunes varied depending on the various types of hymns whose
stanzas were either formed of identical or unequal metres.
M. Lamy, who devoted a study to the poems of St Ephrem,
recognised seventy-five types of hymns in this author’s work.6
St Ephrem produced a certain number of acrostic hymns in
which stanzas were organised in alphabetical order, in the manner
of several Hebrew poems of the Bible. Before him, Aphrahat had
already made use of this numbering system. Each and every one of
his prose homilies begins with a letter of the alphabet, which
determines its place. Word acrostics are less common. St Ephrem
signed some of his compositions with the acrostic formed by the
letters of his own name.
A type of hymn, the canticle, known as a sougithâ (‫ܘܓܝܬܐ‬ ܺ ‫) ܽܣ‬,
contains a prayer, or praises, directed either at the Divinity or a
saint. Narsai wrote some of his canticles in acrostic stanzas. These
were then recited by choruses on religious holidays after the
homilies with which they belonged.7 The distinct character of these
canticles is the dialogue form. Following a short introduction,
which varies in length between four and five stanzas, made up of
four lines of seven syllables each, begins a dialogue between two
characters or groups of characters. Thus, for instance, in the
Nativity canticle, the dialogue takes place between the holy Virgin
and the Wise Men, and between the archangel Gabriel and the
Virgin Mary in the Annunciation canticle. Every character is
successively attributed a stanza. The stanzas are organised in
alphabetical order, with every letter of the alphabet being assigned
two stanzas, thereby forming a dialogue of forty-four stanzas, the
Syriac alphabet consisting of twenty-two letters.
6S. Ephraem syri Hymni et Sermones, t. IV, p. 486–494, Malines, 1902.

7 SACHAU, Ueber die Poesie in der Volksprache der Nestorianer, in the
Proceedings of the Academy of Berlin, 1896, p. 195–208; FELDMANN,
Syrische Wechsellieder von Narses, Leipzig, 1896; MINGANA, Narsai Homiliae
et carmina, Mosul, 1905.
These canticles are short and vivid dramas not devoid of a

certain grace; they bring to mind the religious dramas of the Middle
Ages in which were staged the main acts of Our Lord and the
Virgin Mary. Syrians appear to have been very fond of this genre.
Although composed by a Nestorian, the canticles concerning the
Nativity, Annunciation and Epiphany were integrated in the
Maronite breviary for festival services, but debaptised and placed
under the authority of St Ephrem.8
Such is, broadly outlined, Syriac poetry at its literary peak
between the 4th and 8th centuries AD.
The decline began a century after the Arab conquest, when
Syriac ceased to be spoken and became solely a literary language.
Based on our current understanding, it appears that Arabic poetry
did not exert any influence on Syriac poetry until the 9th century.9
Around this time a rhyme was introduced into Syriac poetry in
imitation of Arabic poetry,10 a practice that would soon be
8 Although these canticles are part of the Nestorian breviary and

appear after the homilies written by Narsai, MINGANA, l. c., t. I, p. 21,
believes that Narsai was not their author.
9 P. CARDAHI’s Liber thesauri de arte poetica, Rome, 1875, includes
rhyming poems attributed to former authors, but these claims are

erroneous. The poem on p. 124, in which the acrostic is formed by the
rhyme used in all of the stanza’s lines, can certainly not be the work of
Ishoʿyahb of Adiabene. The dates of the authors’ deaths indicated at the
end of each of the compilation’s sections are often inaccurate and cannot
be adopted: 500 for John bar Khaldoun, p. 78; 600 for Baouth, p. 76; 793
for Israel of Alqosh, p. 96; and 700 for Adam of Akra, p. 102. Bar
Khaldoun lived in the 10th century, cf. Vie du moine Rabban Youssef
Bousnaya in the Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1897 and 1898.
10 Around the year 820, Antony the Rhetor composed rhyming
poems. For a specimen, see RŒDIGER’s Chrestom. syr., 2nd ed., Halle,
1868, p. 110, 111; see also the poems in the Liber thesauri: those of Saliba
al-Mansouri, whom Cardahi mistakenly claims died in 900, p. 57; those of
Elias of Anbar, around 922, p. 72; those of ʿAbdishoʿ bar Schahhare,
around 963, p. 136.
generalised.11 The ancient Syrians did not know the art of

separating lines with rhymes. The rare traces of rhymes found in
the poems of St Ephrem and other contemporaneous poets
indicate little more than the Orientals’ fondness for certain
assonances. As opposed to rhymes, these assonances do not fix the
lines’ configuration.12
As in the Arabic kasida, the same rhyme is sometimes used for
every one of the poem’s lines.13 Yet, in most cases, only the
stanza’s lines form rhymes with one another. The Syrians did not
restrict themselves to the stringent rules of Arabic prosody; they
created a new art comprising several types. The twelve-syllable
metre, for instance, which is, as noted earlier, divided into three
measures of four syllables, can receive the rhyme at the end of
every measure. The two initial measures sometimes form their own
rhyme, or form a rhyme with the corresponding measure in the
stanza’s other lines. We find a type in which each stanza has its
own rhyme, with the exception of the last line, which echoes in the
manner of a refrain the rhyme of the first stanza.14 In the
frequently-encountered case of acrostic stanzas, the corresponding
letter of the alphabet can form the stanza’s rhyme.15 Supreme art
11From then on, non-rhyming poems become rare. One such poem
by Timothy of Karkar († 1169) does not differ from ancient homilies,
Liber Thesauri, p. 145.
12 M. H. GRIMME’s objections, Zeit. f. Assyriologie, XVI, p. 276, do
not strike us as being conclusive.

13 This is already the case in the 10th century in Elias of Anbar, Liber
thesauri, p. 72, and in the following century in Elias bar Shinaya, ibid., p. 83;
comp. with authors from subsequent centuries mentioned in this book:
Al-Madjidi, p. 160; Ibrahim of Seleucia of Syria, p. 104; ʿAbdishoʿ, the
Chaldean patriarch, p. 80; Gabriel the Chaldean, p. 120; Asko al-
Schabdani, p. 168. See also ʿAbdishoʿ’s Paradise of Eden, published by
F. GARDAHI, Beyrouth, 1889, and The Life of Rabban Hormizd, by
WALLIS BUDGE, Berlin, 1894.
14 See the 13th homily in ʿAbdishoʿ’s Paradise of Eden.
15 See the poems printed in the Liber thesauri, p. 124, 130, etc.
consists in the formation of a double acrostic, the line beginning

with, and ending in, the same letter of the alphabet.16
We observe that the declining Syrians garnered the difficulties
of versification and turned poetry into a mind game in which talent
had but a little role to play. As such, the Syrians of this period can,
more so than those of other times, be readily called versifiers rather
than poets.
The seven and twelve-syllable metres, the ordinary metres
employed in ancient homilies, remained popular, this period seeing
the introduction of only few new metric lines.
Homily and hymn merged. The former adopted the latter’s
properties, that is, the regular stanza configuration and the acrostic.
Although this remained a rare occurrence, stanzas occasionally
made use of varying metres. We encounter stanzas composed of
seven and eight-syllable lines, as well as stanzas of one four-syllable
line and three seven-syllable lines.17
The Syrians of the Late Period, who were in awe of the
fertility of the Arabic language, sought to demonstrate that Syriac
could rival its literary productions. Rare and artificial expressions
were pursued and regarded as archaisms that would bring poetic
images to life. Bar Bahlul’s compilation of such words served as a
valuable mine of information for the metric compositions of the
last centuries.
The archetype of that genre is the Paradise of Eden, composed
by ʿAbdishoʿ, citizen of Nisibis, in 1290. ʿAbdishoʿ’s model was the
famous Arabic author Hariri, whose fifty Makamat or “Sessions”
are remarkable displays of ingenuity. Hariri’s works, endowed with
both the colour of Oriental irony and the intricacies of the
vernacular tongue — reproduced with uncanny subtlety —
captured the imagination of Arabs, Jews and Syrians alike. Judah
Harizi, a Jewish poet of the late 12th century from Toledo, was so
16 Besides the Paradise of Eden, see Israel of Alqosh’s poems in the Liber
thesauri, p. 96, and those by Ibn al-Masibi, ibid., p. 105.
17 See Liber thesauri, p. 76, 126 and 128. Other types can be found in
the Paradise of Eden.

captivated by the Makamat that he translated them into Hebrew

and wrote the Sepher tahkemoni in imitation of a composition not
devoid of a certain literary flavour, albeit of a far lesser quality.
The author’s great intellectual ingenuity displayed in the
Paradise of Eden is the text’s only noteworthy property. ʿAbdishoʿ
worked with a dead language and in such cases talent is merely an
artifice. Moreover, the fifty metric homilies which he wrote in
imitation of the Makamat treat religious matters hardly prone to
fantasies of the imagination. While the pleasure of a difficulty
overcome can recompense the author’s toil, it does not compensate
for the reader’s exhaustion in following the plot. Several examples
will serve to clarify this pastiche. The third homily is composed of
metric lines made up of sixteen syllables that can be read from right
to left or from left to right indiscriminately, thus forming a double
acrostic. In the fourth homily, every word ends with the letter olaf;
the doubly acrostic stanzas have four lines of seven syllables each.
In the opposite direction, there is not a single olaf in the fifteenth
homily, also composed of doubly acrostic stanzas of four seven-
syllable lines. In addition, there is a unique rhyme in an.18 The sixth
homily is written in lines of seven syllables, reduced to six syllables
when a word in red (i.e. a peg) can be taken out without altering the
meaning; this is an acrostic poem with the same rhyme for every
line. In the twenty-eighth homily, every line contains no less and no
more than the twenty-two letters of the alphabet; these are twelve-
syllable acrostic lines. ʿAbdishoʿ, after Hariri,19 added new subtleties
18 Compare with a poem by Elias bar Shinaya, from which the letter
olaf is also excluded and which includes the unique rhyme in an, with the
Liber thesauri, p. 83.
19 We are referring to F. CARDAHI’s edition of the Paradise of Eden,
Beyrouth, 1889, which only includes the twenty-five first homilies.

Assemani reviewed this publication in B. O., III, part I, 325–332.
F. CARDAHI printed in his Liber thesauri, p. 54, part of the thirteenth
homily in response to Hariri’s eleventh Makama: in it we find, p. 36, l. 13–
18, six lines that were left out of the edition of the Paradise of Eden.
F. GISMONDI published ten homilies with a Latin translation, Ebed–Jesu
Sobensis carmina selecta, Beyrouth, 1888; in his Linguae syriacae grammatica, 2nd
to the numerous prosodic types he inherited from his predecessors.

In order to facilitate the reading of this Paradise, the author deemed
the addition of a commentary necessary in 1316.
We conclude this review of the declining Syriac poetry with
the mention of another work usually regarded as an oddity,
although for different reasons altogether. I am referring to a poem
about Rabban Hormizd, founder of the Nestorian monastery of
Alqosh. The author, a monk of the said monastery named Sergis,
can hardly have lived before the 17th century.20 The poem,
organised in twelve-syllable lines, is a long acrostic divided into
twenty-two hymns after the twenty-two letters of the Syriac
alphabet, excluding the prologue and epilogue. The alphabetical
letter to which the hymn corresponds provides the rhyme, identical
in every line of each hymn. Yet its strange physiognomy lies in the
language employed, not in the book’s poetic form. In a manner
most astounding, the author seeks rare and obsolete words, coins
remarkably audacious neologisms, turns expressions from their
original meaning, eventually composing truly puzzling writings.
Were there no explanatory lexical commentaries in the margin to
ease the reader’s effort, these writings would no doubt require the
accompanying use of Bar Ali and Bar Bahlul’s lexica.
Let us also remind ourselves of the short poem on science
and virtue published by M. Salomon Samuel,21 in which the author
immoderately injected a number of Greek words as well as rare and
artificial Syriac expressions. This work, accompanied by a
commentary, also belongs to the last stage of the literature here
under review. Although the editor attributes it to the hand of Bar
Hebræus, this is most unlikely.
ed., Beyrouth, 1900, p. 159 in the Chrestomathy, he reproduced the thirty-

seventh homily “on the dissolution of the universe”.
20 George of Alqosh, whom F. Cardahi claims died in 1700, is the
author of a poem published in the Liber thesauri, p. 131, of which the style
strikingly brings to mind the works of Sergis of Alqosh. Sergis’s poem was
published in BUDGE, The Life of Rabban Hormizd, Berlin, 1894.
21 Das Gedicht (‫)ܬܐܩܦܳܐܠܪܣܛܘܛܐܠܝܣ‬, Halle, 1893.
The dim rays of light which the declining Syriac literature

delivered chiefly illuminated Oriental Mesopotamia, where the
Syrians closest to the seat of government led a more bearable life.
The credit of producing most of the compositions through which
we encounter Late Period Syriac poetry lies with the Nestorians.
III. THE ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE OLD
AND NEW TESTAMENT
§1. — THE SO-CALLED PESHITTA VERSION

OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Syriac writing is not the subject matter of this study, and we will
not consider the ancient coinage and lapidary inscriptions of
Edessa that, granted, carry historical and palaeographic value but
have only a faint connection with Christian literature.
The most ancient monument of this literature is without a
doubt the Old Testament version known by the name Peshitta
(‫ܦܫܝܛܬܐ‬ܺ ), which tradition places as far back as the establishment of
Christianity in Mesopotamia. In his Introduction à la critique textuelle du
N.T. (I, p. 101), Abbot Martin reproduced a passage from the
Hexameron by Moses bar Kepha († 913) which reads as follows:
“One must realise that two versions of the Old Testament exist in
our Syrian language: the one we read, termed Peshitta, translated
into Syriac from the Hebrew original; the other, that of the
Septuagint (i.e. the Syriac Hexapla), which is based on the Greek
text.
According to Mar Jacob of Edessa, the Peshitta, a translation
from Hebrew, dates back to Abgar’s time. Indeed, Mar Jacob
writes that the apostle Addai and his devoted follower Abgar sent
men to Jerusalem and Palestine to translate the Old Testament
from Hebrew into Syriac. It was Paul, bishop of Tella Mauzalat,
who translated the Greek Septuagint into Syriac.” Although this
tradition concerning the Peshitta’s origin derives directly from the
legend of Abgar, it is not devoid of historical accuracy. This
version, written in the Mesopotamian tongue, was no doubt
composed for the Christians of Mesopotamia, while the hellenising
Christians of Syria proper used the Septuagint.
We can ascertain that a Christian community resided at
Edessa around 150 AD. The first mention of the Christian
communities of the Osrhoene παροικίαι we find in Eusebius (Hist.
21
eccl., V, 23) in relation to those discussions on the Easter holiday

that emerged at the end of the 2nd century.
Melito, bishop of Sardis around 170, appears to provide
evidence for the dating of the Peshitta. Indeed, in a commentary of
Genesis XXII: 13, he writes, concerning the ram sacrificed in place
of Isaac: κατεχόμενος τῶν κεράτων, ὁ Σύρος καὶ ὁ Ἑβραῖος κρεμάμενός
φασιν. In extant texts, the Syriac and Hebrew versions do not
differ, and they have, like the Septuagint, the reading “held” by,
rather than “hanging” from, the horns (κρεμάμενος, as Melito would
have expressed it). This has led to the assumption that Melito’s use
of the words ὁ Ἑβραῖος and ὁ Σύρος refers neither to the borrowed
Hebrew text nor to the Peshitta. Rather, it is believed to allude to
some Greek version wrought by the joint labour of a hellenising
Jew and a Syrian.1 But another problem renders the issue even
more complex. Origen’s Hexapla and the ancient studies of the
Church’s founders list the variants in the Greek text under the
headings ὁ Ἑβραῖος, ὁ Σύρος and τὸ Σαμαρειτικόν. At times these
variants coincide with the Hebrew text, the Peshitta or the
Samaritan (Samaritan Hebrew version, or Samaritan version), and
at times they differ. Many inconceivable hypotheses have been
advanced on the subject.
In the introduction to his edition of Origen’s Hexapla, Field
assumed that ὁ Ἑβραῖος referred to a Greek version of biblical
books made by a Jew; ὁ Σύρος to another Greek version composed
in Syria; finally τὸ Σαμαρειτικόν to a Greek version of the Samaritan
Hebrew Pentateuch or the Samaritan version. “Yet,” observes
Abbot Loisy,2 “it is most unlikely that all these versions actually
existed. Why call versions Hebrew or Syriac when they are identical
to the Greek ones? Would the Hebrew’s variants not have been
borrowed from some Targum, the Syriac’s from the Peshitta, the
Samaritan’s from the Samaritan books? These variants must have
1Eichhorn, de Wette, Field, and others. Renan, in his Histoire des

langues sémitiques (4th ed., Paris, 1853, p. 263, note 4) accepts this theory.
2 Histoire critique du texte et des versions de la Bible in L’enseignement biblique,
January-February 1893, p. 35.

THE ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE OT AND NT 23
belonged to the Greek texts but Origen was able to acquire them
without the complete translation of the documents to which they
belonged. Some citations of the Syriac version differ from the
traditional text of the Peshitta. Others do, however, conform to it;
hence, in order to discard the idea of a loan made to the Syriac
version, the Peshitta would have had not to be revised after
Origen’s time.” As we shall see later, this collation is attested in the
early 4th century and was modelled on the Septuagint. This
circumstance suffices to explain how Melito’s mention, under the
heading ὁ Σύρος, of the explanatory note is absent from the current
Syriac text, even though Melito knew of the Peshitta.3
Another argument in favour of an early date for the Old
Testament Peshitta derives from the New Testament Peshitta’s
biblical citations. As the work of Frederic Berg demonstrates,4 a
large proportion of these citations concur with the OT Peshitta
text, diverging from both the Hebrew and Greek versions. These
cases occur in such great number that a later harmonising revision
cannot be said to explain the concordance. It is more likely that the
OT Peshitta predated the NT Peshitta. Thus Merx’s claim5 that
Bardaisan, an author of the late 2nd century, already knew the OT
Peshitta appears to be well founded.
It might be worth mentioning here several legends concerning
the Peshitta’s origins that were widespread among Syriac authors.
Ishoʿdad, bishop of Haditha, relates6 that in Solomon’s time, and at
the request of Hiram, the king of Tyre, the OT was translated into
Syriac. The only books not included in that version were
Chronicles and Prophets, which were translated only later, under
3 As for PERLES, he has established in his Meletemata Peshittaniana,

Breslau, 1859, p. 49, that ὁ Σύρος designates the Peshitta version in the
Hexapla. This opinion is shared by WELLHAUSEN, Einleitung in das alte
Testament by Bleek, 4th ed., Berlin, 1878, p. 604.
4 The Influence of the Septuagint upon the Peschitta Psalter, New York, 1895,
p. 137–150.
5 Bardesanes von Edessa, Halle, 1863, p. 19.
6 See ASSEMANI, Bibliotheca orientalis, Rome, 1719–1728, III, part I,
42 ff.
Abgar, the king of Edessa. Others claim7 that the author of the
Peshitta was the priest Asa, whom the Assyrian king had sent to
Samaria to that effect. In the early 5th century, Theodore of
Mopsuestia8 did not know the author of that version.
The name Peshitta, (‫ܦܫܝܛܬܐ‬ ܺ ), lit. “the simple (translation)”, is
itself not very ancient; it is first attested in MSS from the 9th and
10th century. Only one explanation of this name deserves to be
retained: The word Peshitta was formed in imitation of Greek τὰ
ἁπλά, which referred to MSS containing only the Septuagint text, as
opposed to τὰ ἑξαπλᾶ, Origen’s great critical edition, which set out
the different Greek versions alongside a transcription of the
Hebrew text. Likewise, the Syriac version was named “the simple
one” to distinguish it from the Hexapla, which was based on the
Septuagint text of the Hexapla. Syriac authors certainly viewed
these two versions as antithetical, as is obvious, for example, from
the passage by Moses bar Kepha cited above.
Perhaps the only delicate matter on which a consensus has
been reached is in recognising that several authors contributed to
the writing of the OT Peshitta. The Syriac exegetes also agreed on
this point; in their commentaries on the Peshitta, St Ephrem and
Jacob of Edessa speak of “the interpreters” (pl.) when referring to
the authors of this translation.
However, no agreement has been reached when it comes to
these translators’ nationality and religion. Hirzel, Kirsch and
Gesenius thought them to be Greek; others, such as Perles and
Prager, believed they were Jews; finally Dathe, Nœldeke and Renan
were of the opinion that they were Judeo-Christian. The last of
these opinions is the most likely, if we rightly understand the word
Judeo-Christian as referring to converted Jews rather than to
Ebionites. Indeed, in Mesopotamia, where the Peshitta was
composed, Christianity appears to have flourished among the
7 See BAR HEBRÆUS’s preface to his commentary entitled The

Storehouse of Mysteries and his History of Dynasties, ed. POCOCK, Oxford,
1663, p. 100; ed. SALHANI, Beyrouth, 1890, p. 100.
8 In his commentary on Sophonias, I, 6.
Jewish communities. According to the Legend of Abgar, Addai, the

apostle of the Osrhoene, was from Paneas in Palestine. When in
Edessa, he stayed with the Jew Tobit. On hearing his words, the
Jews of Edessa converted just as readily as the Pagans had. On the
other hand, the Peshitta most certainly derives from the Hebrew
text, not from the Septuagint. Just like the Hebrew canon, the
primitive Peshitta did not include the deuterocanonical books of
the Septuagint. The Targum’s influence on the Syriac version, in
particular on the Pentateuch, has been undeniably demonstrated by
Perles,9 while its influence on Ezekiel and Chronicles has been
proven by Cornill10 and Siegmund Fraenkel11 respectively.
Although the Greek Christian translators hypothesis must be
discarded, several passages display an undeniably Christian
character, thereby suggesting that the authors of the Peshitta were
converted Jews. In Isaiah, VII, 14, the Syriac version reads:
“Behold, the Virgin shall conceive”, translating as virgin the Hebrew
word that Jewish tradition takes to mean young woman. This change
is all the more striking in that other passages preserve the same
word as in Hebrew. In support of this opinion, other verses of
Prophets and Psalms have also been put forward.
Like the Septuagint, the Peshitta was not all composed at the
same time. The books it comprises were translated at different
points in time, starting with those that appear to have been
required first, such as the Pentateuch, Prophets and Psalms. The
early canon of the Syriac Church did not include Chronicles, Ezra
with Nehemiah or Esther. In the ancient MSS, these books are
distinct from the protocanonical ones.12 By the 4th century, the
translation of biblical books was complete. Aphrahat and St
Ephrem’s citations indicate that it even included some apocryphal
books.
9Melelemata Peschittoniana, Breslau, 1859.

10Das Buch des Propheten Ezechiel, Leipzig, 1886, p. 154–155.
11 Die syrische Uebersetzung zu den Büchern er Chronik, in Jahrb. Für protest.
Theologie, 1879. Cf. BARNES, Apparatus criticus to Chronicles in the Peschitto,

Cambridge, 1897.
12 WRIGHT, Syriac literature, 2nd ed., London, 1894, p. 4–5.
Although the Peshitta derives from the Hebrew text and

conforms to the Targumic tradition, the influence of the Septuagint
is visible to varying degrees, depending on the biblical book
considered. The Pentateuch and Joshua,13 but even more so the
Psalms14 and Prophets,15 attest to this influence. In the case of the
Psalms, as Nestle and Bæthgen have shown,16 the titles of Psalms
cannot be invoked in support of that argument. In the centuries
preceding the birth of Christ, the musical notes contained in these
titles were not understood and were therefore discarded by the
authors of the Peshitta. The credit of providing the Psalms with
new titles — encountered in the Syriac MSS and editions —
belongs to Theodore of Mopsuestia. Note also that these titles vary
from MS to MS.
The books least affected by this influence are: Job, which
closely follows the Targum,17 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and
Esther, which were translated only later. Also included in this
category is Proverbs, which displays, like the Peshitta, a striking
resemblance with the Targum. Yet Pinkuss18 has argued in favour
of a certain number of parallels between the Peshitta and the
Septuagint. On the other hand, there can be little doubt today that
13 PERLES, Melelemata Peschittoniana, Breslau, 1859; HOLZINGER,

Das Buch Josue, Leipzig, 1901, p. XIV.
14 FREDERIC BERG, The Influence of the Septuagint upon the Peschitta
Psalter, New York, 1895; compare with OPPENHEIM, Die syr.

Uebersetzung des fuenften Buches der Psalmen, Leipzig, 1891; BAETHGEN,
Untersuchungen über die Psalmen, Kiel, 1878, with Jahrbücher für protest.
Theologie, VIII, 405 ff., 593 ff.
15 NESTLE for Isaiah and the Twelve Minor Prophets; CORNILL
for Ezekiel; RYSSEL for Michee; SEBOEK, Die syrische Uebersetzung der
zwölf kleinen Propheten, Breslau, 1887.
16 NESTLE, Theol. Literaturzeit., 1876, col. 283; BAETHGEN, Zeitschr.
f. die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 1885, p. 66 ff.

17 Comp. with STENIJ, De Syriaca libri Jobi interpretatione, Helsinki,
1887; MANDI., Die Peschitto zu Hiob, Leipzig, 1892.

18 Die syrische Uebersetzung der Proverbien, in the Zeitrschr. Für die alttest.
Wissenschaft, t. XIV, 1894, p. 65–141 and 161–222.

the Targum of Proverbs depends on the Peshitta, the opinion

according to which the Peshitta is derived from the Targum having
been completely abandoned.
How can we explain the influence of the Septuagint on the
Peshitta? Some critics have advanced a double hypothesis without
favouring one over the other: either the authors of the Peshitta
were well versed in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, using the
Targumim and Septuagint for their translations, or a revision of the
Peshitta based on the Septuagint took place later on. The latter
hypothesis is the only viable one. The Aramaic Jews of
Mesopotamia — let us not forget that the authors of the Peshitta
were converted Jews from this land — were a Judeo-Christian
people with no knowledge of Greek. Had they been able to read
Greek, they would not have used that version, since the Jewish
schools of Palestine and Babylonia regarded it as a vile work that
corrupted the sacred character of the Hebrew text. In reality, in
Palestine and in Syria, only the Christians esteemed the Septuagint;
yet, in its early days, the Church of Osrhoene leaned towards
Judaism. A sudden shift occurred in the 3rd century: Palut, bishop
of Edessa, received the blessing of Serapion, bishop of Antioch
around the year 200. Thereafter, the Church of Edessa was bound
to Antioch, the metropolis of the hellenising Christians of Syria.
One can easily conceive a scenario in which the ancient Syriac
version was later revised in order to agree with the Septuagint, a
text in use among the hellenising Syrians.
This revision must postdate Origen and the first Fathers of
the Church, who cite lessons from the Syriac versions no longer
included in the current text. It must have been complete by the
early 4th century since Aphrahat (around 340) and St Ephrem
(† 373) had access to a Syriac version very similar to that which the
MSS reproduce. At that time, Lucian of Antioch’s collation19 had
spread far and wide across Syria, and it is worth considering
19 On this collation, see PAUL DE LAGARDE, Librorum Veteris

Testamenti canonicorum pars prior græce, Gœttingen, 1883.
whether the revision of the Peshitta remained outside the

boundaries of this collation.20
The Syriac version of the deuterocanonical books, which
Aphrahat and St Ephrem’s citations place in the 4th century, goes
back to around the time of the collation. With the exception of
Ecclesiasticus, which derives directly from the Hebrew text, these
books were translated from Greek.21
The Syriac Ecclesiasticus is riddled with lacunae, at times
intentional, at times caused by the poor state of preservation of the
manuscript used by the translator. Misinterpretations engendered
errors in translation; the translation is not always literal, either
abbreviating or lengthening and paraphrasing. The publication of
recently discovered fragments of the Hebrew original22 has exposed
these flaws. The Syriac part corresponding to these fragments
appears to reveal several hands. Israël Levi23 observes that “up to
chapter XLIII the translator follows the Hebrew original with a
certain attention. All of a sudden the text stops, then comes a
fragment of chapter XLIII, 1–10, a translation based on the Greek
text.
This is not the case of the version that begins in chapter
XLIV, but it is strikingly unfaithful to the original. Another hand
appears to have revised the entire text to have the Syriac and Greek
20 In Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel, Oxford, 1890,

p. LXXII, DRIVER noted that a number of passages from Samuel mirror
Lucian and the Peshitta but differ from the Septuagint and the Hebrew
text. Cf. STOCKMAYER, Zeitschr. für die alttestam. Wissenschaft, 1892,
t. XII, p. 218; MERITAN, La version grecque des livres de Samuel, Paris, 1898,
p. 96–113.
21 Distinct from the Ecclesiasticus of the Hexapla, which was
translated from Greek, see p. 44.

22 The fragments were not discovered all at once and have been the
object of several publications and numerous critical works. For further

details, see NORBERT PETERS, Der jüngst wiederaufgefundene hebraïsche Text
des Buches Ecclesiasticus, Friburg en Brisgau, 1902.
23 L’Ecclésiastique ou la sagesse de Jésus, fils de Sira, Paris, 1808, p. LII, 10th
vol., fasc. I of the Bibliothèque des Hautes études, sections des Sciences religieuses.
versions converge: numerous translations differ from the Hebrew

in order to conform to the Greek… Despite these all-too-natural
flaws, Syriac is often favoured over Greek when it remains faithful
to the original and is not overtly extravagant.”24
As for the Book of Tobit, it is worth bearing in mind that the
Syriac version that has come down to us consists of two distinct
fragments: one from the Hexapla (I–VII, 11), the other from an
unknown source (VII, 12 – XIV, 15).25
By the late 5th century, when the Oriental Syrians turned
Nestorian separated from the Occidental Syrians, the Peshitta text
had reached its final form, since the versions of both groups
presented only very slight variations.
The critical studies on the Peshitta 26 are either based on
Samuel Lee’s edition or on a combination of Ourmia’s edition and
several specific MSS.
24 Norbert Peters, op. cit., p. 61, §9, rejects Israël Levi’s view that there
were several translators.
25 CERIANI, Le edizioni… del Vecchio Test., in the Memoirs of R. Istituto
Lombardo, XXI, 2, p. 22; FIELD, Origenis Hex. Fragmenta, Oxford, 1875, I,

p. LXVIII, note 3; NŒLDEKE, Monatsberichte der Berliner Akademie der
Wissenschaften, 1879, p. 46.
26 We cannot here provide a comprehensive list of these studies; some
of the most recent ones have been mentioned earlier, while the older ones
only have a retrospective interest. Such a list can be found in NESTLE’s
article, Syrische Uebersetzungen in the Real-Encyklopedie für protest. Theologie und
Kïrche, 3rd ed.; consider also: SCHMIDT, Die beiden syrischen Uebersetzungen
des I Maccabaeerbuches in Zeitschr. für die alttestam. Wissenschaft, 1897;
TECHEN, Syrisch-Hebr. Glossar zu den Psalmen nach der Peschita, ibid., 1897;
SCHWARTZ, Die syr. Uebersetzung des ersten B. Samuelis, Berlin, 1897;
BAUMANN, Die Verwendbarkeit der Peschita zum Buch Ijob, in Zeitschr. f.
alttest. Wissensch., XVIII, 305; XIX, 288; CHAJES, Etwas über die Peschita zu
den Proverbien, in Jewish Quart. Review, XIII, 86; EURINGER, Die Bedeulung
der Peschitto f. die Textkritik des Hohenliedes in Biblische Studien, VI, 417;
LAZARUS, zur syr. Uebersetzung des Buches der Richter, Kirchhain, 1901;
HOLTZMANN, Die Peschitta zu der Weisheit, Friburg en Brisgau, 1903;
KAMENETZKY, Die Peschitta zu Koheleth, in Zeitschr. f. alttest. Wissensch.,
XXIV, 181; W. E. BARNES, The Peschitta version of 2 Kings, Journ. of theol.
Lee’s edition, prepared in 1823 for the English Biblical Society

for the benefit of the Christians of Malabar, is the reproduction of
a text printed in the Walton Polyglot, although Samuel Lee did
consult several manuscripts. Walton had in fact only reprinted the
text which Gabriel Sionita had published in the Paris Polyglot, and
then added to it the deuterocanonical books.
The text used by the Oriental Syrians was printed at Ourmia
by the American mission in 1852. The Catholic Mission also
prepared an edition at Mosul in 1887.
Although the order of the biblical books differs in the
Oriental and Occidental collations, the editions coincide. Ourmia’s
edition has the advantage of providing an entirely vocalised text
recreating Oriental pronunciation.
Paul de Lagarde27 published the deuterocanonical books
separately, based on the London Polyglot and MSS held in the
British Museum.28
The absence of a critical edition of the Peshitta is regrettable
and one can only hope that the task of producing such a useful tool
Studies, 1905, p. 220; G. DIETTRICH, Ein Apparatus criticus zur Peschitto

zum Propheten Iesaias, Beihefte z. Zeitschr. f. alttest. Wissensch., VIII, Giessen,
1905.
27 Libri. Vet. Test. Apocryphi syriace, Leipzig, 1861.
28 Ceriani, whose studies of the Syriac versions of the Bible are hugely
valuable, has published a photolithographic reproduction of the Cod.

Ambrosianus (a Jacobite MS of the 6th century), which contains both the
protocanonical and the deuterocanonical books: Translatio syra-pescitto vet.
Testamenti…, vol. I, 4th part, Milan, 1877–1887. The British Museum
holds a MS written at Amid in 464 and which contains all the books of
the Pentateuch with the exception of Leviticus, as well as another MS
dated to 532 and which contains the Book of Daniel.
for biblical exegesis will soon be undertaken.29 Barnes has recently

published such an edition for the Psalms.30
§2. — THE ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

Three different Syriac versions of the Gospels are known to have
existed: (1) the Harmony, composed by Tatian under the name
Diatessaron and sometimes known as the Gospel of the Mixed (texts)
̈
(‫ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢܳܕܡܚܠܛܐ‬ ); (2) the Gospel of the Separated (texts) (‫ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ‬
‫ ;)ܕܡܦܪܫܐ‬and (3) the Peshitta of the NT. Although much has been
said about the respective dates of these three documents and the
links that might have existed between them, no definitive
conclusion has been reached. The hypotheses recently advanced by
Burkitt in his book Evangelion da-Mepharreshé,31 Gospel of the Separated
(texts) are summarised here.
The Gospel of the Separated (texts) has come down to us in two
MSS, C and S, initially believed to have contained two distinct
versions: Cureton32 edited C, and Mrs Lewis found S in 1892 in a
palimpsest of the St Catherine monastery on Mount Sinai. Burkitt,
one of the editors of the latter version,33 has since then recognised
29 NESTLE, in Syrische Uebersetzungen, in the Real-Encyklopedie für

protestantische Theologie und Kirche, 3rd ed., gives a list of the editions of
specific books of the Peshitta. See also his Syrische Grammatik, 2nd ed.,
Berlin, 1888, Litteratura, p. 17 ff.
30 W. E. BARNES, The Peschitta Psalter according to the West Syrian Text
with an Apparitus criticus, Cambridge, 1904.

31 F. CRAWFORD BURKITT, Evangelion da-Mepharreshé.. The
Curetonian Version of the four Gospels with the readings of the Sinai palimpsest and
early Syriac patristic evidence, collected and arranged, 2 vol., Cambridge, 1904.
32 CURETON, Remains of a very ancient recension of the four Gospels in
Syriac, London, 1858; Wright, Fragments of the Curetonian Gospels (for private
circulation), London, 1872.
33 The Four Gospels in Syriac transcribed from the sinaitic Palimpsest by the late
ROBERT L. BENSLY, RENDEL HARRIS and CRAWFORD

BURKITT with an Introduction by AGNES SMITH LEWIS, Cambridge,
1894; AGNES SMITH LEWIS, Some pages of the four Gospels retranscribed
from the sinaitic Palimpsest, London, 1896. Merx’s German translation of the
that both texts are collations of a single version. He re-edited that

version with an English translation in the first volume of his
Evangelion da-Mepharreshé, basing it primarily on Cureton’s text (C)
while still pointing out as annotations the variants in the Sinaitic
text (S), with passages of the Diatessaron included when deemed
relevant. The second volume of the Evangelion exposes the fruits of
Burkitt’s research on the ancient versions of the NT, which he
describes as follows:
“(1) The Peshitta is a revision of the Evangelion da-Mepharreshé,
whose main goal is to bring the translation closer to the Greek text
read at Antioch in the early 5th century. It was prepared by
Rabbula, bishop of Edessa (411–435), and published under his
authority as a substitute for the Diatessaron.
(2) The Diatessaron is the most ancient manifestation of the
Syriac Gospel. Most probably initially composed in Greek, in
Rome, by Tatian, the disciple of Justin the Martyr, it was translated
into Syriac during Tatian’s lifetime, around 170 AD. As is to be
expected from a document produced in the West, the Gospel text
of the Diatessaron is very closely related to the Codex Bezae (D)
and to the various forms of the ancient Latin version.
(3) The Evangelion da-Mepharreshé dates to around 200 AD. It
was the first Syriac version of the four separated Gospels. The
translator was familiar with the Diatessaron, often adopting its
phraseology. Serapion, bishop of Antioch, whom the Ecclesiastical
History of Eusebius identifies as the one who deleted the
apocryphal Gospel according to Peter, is in all likelihood
responsible for the preparation of the Evangelion da-Mepharreshé.
Some elements suggest that Palut, the third (known) bishop of
Edessa, may have been its translator.
Syriac text is followed by a still incomplete critical commentary:

ADALBERT MERX, Die vier Kanonischen Evangelien nach ihrem älttestten
bekannten Texte, Uebersetzung und Erläuterung der syrischen im Sinaikloster
gefundenen Palimpsesthandschrift; erster Teil: Uebeberzetzung, Berlin, 1897, zweiter
Teil: Erläuterung; erste Hälfte, Das Evangelium Matthaeus, Berlin, 1902; zweite
Hälfte, Das Evangelium Markus und Lukas, Berlin, 1905.
(4) The Evangelion da-Mepharreshé text, being a direct translation

from Greek, provides us with the text in usage in Antioch in the
late 2nd century, a text of great critical value rarely accounted for in
the existing Greek manuscripts. The translator’s use of the
Diatessaron introduced lessons that in reality belong to the texts
commonly employed in the Western world. S and C, the two MSS
of the Evangelion da-Mepharreshé, both contain readings which were
made to conform to the Diatessaron by the copyists. Besides, C
was fashioned on a text revised following later Greek MSS.”
Little evidence has come to light in support of the claim that
Palut translated, at the behest of Serapion, the Greek text in usage
in Antioch in the late 2nd century, thereby composing the
Evangelion da-Mepharreshé. As Burkitt has already suggested,34 it is
more likely that the NT version attributed to Rabbula by the
biographer of that Edessan bishop35 is the NT Peshitta, which
became the Vulgate of the Syrians.
C and S vary considerably. Burkitt notes that both of them
were revised following the Diatessaron, yet we should not assume
that differences with the Diatessaron indicate a passage that
remained unchanged. The dissimilarity could be the result of a later
collation made after the Greek MSS. Such a scenario applies to C,
in which we find Western readings or interpolations. On the other
hand, the text of S is virtually identical to the Evangelion da-
Mepharreshé or the Diatessaron.36
35 S. Ephraim’s Quotations from the Gospel collected and arranged by

F. CRAWFORD BURKITT, Texts and Studies, VII, n. 2, Cambridge 1901.
34 OVERBECK, Ephraemi syri. … opera selecta, Oxford, 1865, p. 220.
36 Is here given only a short list of those works devoted to the ancient
versions of the NT published prior to Burkitt’s book: BICKELL,

Conspectus rei Syrorum litterariae, Munster, 1871, p. 8; WILDEBOER, De
Waarde de syr. Evangelien door Cureton ontdekt en witgegeven, Leiden, 1880;
HARNACK, Die Ueberlieferung der griechischen Apologeten, Leipzig, 1882;
ZAHN, Forschungen zur Geschichte des neatest. Kanons, I Teil, Leipzig, 1881;
Geschichte des neut. Kanons, I Teil, 1, Leipzig, 1888, p. 405; Evangelien
Harmonie in the Real-Encykl., 3rd ed., V, p. 657; BAETHGEN, Evangelien
Fragmente. Der griech. Text des Cureton, Introd., Leipzig, 1885;
The original Diatessaron is now lost. St Ephrem’s

commentary of the text does, however, survive in an Armenian
translation, which Moesinger reproduced in Latin in 1876. In 1881,
building on the work of Moesinger and on passages cited in
Aphrahat and Ephrem, Zahn attempted a reconstruction of the
Diatessaron.37 A. Ciasca38 published and translated into Latin the
Arabic version of the Diatessaron attributed to Abu al-Faraj ibn at-
Tayyib. Hill and Robinson39 gathered and translated into English
the passages of the Diatessaron cited in St Ephrem’s
commentaries. Finally, Harris and Goussen have published extracts
from commentaries by Ishoʿdad and other authors.40
HILGENFELD, Zeitschr. f. wissenschaft. Theologie, 1889, p. 119; WOODS,

Studia biblica, III, p. 105, Oxford, 1891; PARISOT, Patrologia syriaca
(Graffin), t. I, p. XLVI, Paris, 1894; HARRIS, in the Contemporary Review,
November 1894; Carl HOLZBONUS, Collatio codicis Lewisiani rescripti,
Oxford, 1896; BEWER, The history of the New Testament canon in the syrian
Church, Chicago, 1900; HJELT, Die altsyrische Evangelienübersetzung und
Tatians Diatessaron, Leipzig, 1901; ADALBERT MERX, Die vier Kanonischen
Evangelien; II Teil, Das Evangelium Matthaeus, p. XVI, Berlin, 1902;
W. BAUER, Der Apostolos der Syrer…, Giessen, 1903.
37 ZAHN, Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutest. Kanons, I Teil, Tatians
Diatessaron, Leipzig, 1881.

38 AUGUSTINUS CIASCA, Tatiani Evangeliorum Harmoniae arabice,
Rome, 1888. The Arabic translation is not a copy of the original text, cf.
E. SELLIN, Der Text des von Ciasca herausg. arab. Diatessaron untersucht in
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutest. Kanons, IV, p. 225; ZAHN, Geschichte des
neutest. Kanons, II, 2, p. 530. According to F. CHEIKHO (Journ. asiat.,
sept.–oct., 1897, p. 301), and as suggest fragments discovered in the
Orient, the Arabic translation was produced prior to the 11th century, that
is, prior to the time of Ibn al-Tayyib.
39 HAMLY HILL and ARMITAGE ROBINSON, A Dissertation on the
Gospel, commentaries of S. Ephrem the Syrian, Edinburgh, 1895.

40 HARRIS, Fragments of the commentary of S. Ephrem Syrus upon the
Diatessaron, London, 1895; GOUSSEN, Apocalypsis S. Joh. Versio Sahidica,

Leipzig, 1895. Cf. G DIETTRICH, Ischodad’s Stellung in der
Auslegungsgeschichte des A. T. …, Giessen, 1902, p. 24.
The Diatessaron remained in use among the Syrians until

Rabbula, bishop of Edessa († 435), forbade it in the churches and
monasteries of his diocese. That bishop’s biographer informs us
that Rabbula ordered the priests and deacons to ensure that every
church held one exemplar of the separated Gospels.41 His
contemporary Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, had over two hundred
copies of the Diatessaron destroyed.
The definitive text of the NT Peshitta, like the OT Peshitta,
had reached its final form by the end of the 5th century, when the
schism of Occidental and Oriental Syrians took place. There is no
difference between the texts of both communities.42
Apart from the four Gospels, the original Peshitta contained
the Acts of the Apostles and three of the Catholic Epistles: St
Peter’s 1st, St John’s 1st, St James’s, and finally St Paul’s Epistles. It
did not contain St Peter’s 2nd Epistle, St John’s 2nd and 3rd, St
Jude’s Epistle, nor did it contain the Apocalypse. Also missing were
verses 17 and 18 in chapter XII of St Luke’s Gospel, verses 1–11 in
chapter VIII of St John’s Gospel,43 and verse 7 in chapter V of St
John’s 1st Epistle.
In 1555, Widmanstadt printed in Vienna the NT Peshitta as
found in a MS identical to the Vatican’s Tetraevangelium of 548.44
It was reprinted on several occasions between 1569 and 1621, as,
for instance, in the Polyglot of Anvers. In 1627, Louis de Dieu
edited in Leiden a text of the Apocalypse that appears to conform
to the Harqlean. In 1630 Pocock published in Leiden the four
Catholic Epistles, as found in a MS which might have been based
on the Philoxenian, that were missing from the ancient canon. The
Peshitta thereby completed was printed first in the London and
Paris Polyglots, then by Gutbir, Schaaf, Lee, and in the Ourmia and
Mosul Bibles.
41 OVERBECK, Ephraemi syri…, opera selecta, Oxford, 1865, p. 220.

42 Cf. GWILLIAM, Studia biblica, III, Oxford, 1891.
43 Verses on the adulterous woman; cf. Zachariah in LAND, Anecdota
syriaca, III, p. 252.

44 Cf. ALBERT BONUS, Collatio codicis Lewisiani, Oxford, 1895.
There is no point in enumerating here the ancient MSS of the

Peshitta and reminding the reader of the works of Wickelhaus,
Adler, Jones, Cureton, Gwilliam, etc., based on these manuscripts.
For a critical edition of the Gospels, one may consult Pusey and
Gwilliam.45
45 Tetraevangelium sanctum, simplex Syrorum versio, P. E. PUSEY and

G. H. GWILLIAM, Oxford, 1901. Cf. H. GRESSMANN, Studien zum
syrischen Tetraevangelion in Zeitschr. f. neutest. Wissenschaft, 1905, p. 135.
IV. THE SYRO-PALESTINIAN VERSION
OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT
One of the Christian communities of Palestine is known to have

had an ecclesiastical literature consistent with the Melkite rite and
written in a dialect that was very similar to the Judeo-Aramaic
language attested in the Palestinian Targumim and the Talmud of
Jerusalem. The documents that have survived come from a
translation and from lectionaries of the OT and NT, from homilies,
hymns and Lives of saints. Both the lectionaries and a number of
fragments of the OT are relatively well preserved but the rest is,
unfortunately, very damaged.
We know neither the origin of that community nor the extent
of the territory it occupied. The texts we have do not go very far
back: the oldest may date to the 6th or 7th century; the most recent
date to the eleventh century or even later. The priest Elias of ʿAbud
wrote the lectionary of the four Gospels, dated to 1030, in the
monastery of Moses at Antioch of the Arabs. The other MSS and
fragments are held in the monastery of St Catherine on Mount
Sinai or were brought from Egypt and Damascus.
Burkitt1 has established that by Antioch of the Arabs, Antioch
of Syria is meant, and that Abud was a large village halfway
between Jaffa and Caesarea. From this he inferred that part of that
Christian community was well established in Antioch and at the
confines of Judah and Samaria. As a number of Syro-Palestinian
MSS and fragments held in that monastery suggest, the orthodox
1In Christian Palestinian Literature, Journal of Theological Studies, II, p. 174–

183; cf. Actes du XIIeme Congres des Orientalistes, Rome, 1899, t. III,
1st part, p. 119–126. Burkitt’s work has served as a guideline for the
writing of this issue. We have not mentioned the older hypotheses, which
Burkitt’s study has rendered obsolete.
37
monks from Palestine lived in the monastery of St Catherine in the

Sinai. Besides, as is indicated in an Egyptian MS containing the rite
of the annual benediction of the Nile, Syro-Palestinian Christians
were also present in Egypt. The current state of our understanding
does not enable us to say any more on the spatiotemporal context
of that community.
Here is the list of Syro-Palestinian MSS and fragments known
to this day:
(1) A lectionary of the four Gospels in Vatican Syr. MS n. 19,
dated to August 1341 of the Seleucids (1030 AD).2
(2) Fragments acquired by Tischendorff and kept in St
Petersburg, as well as fragments from the desert of Nitria now held
in the collections of the British Museum;3 they contain parts of
Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Psalms, Proverbs, Job and the four Gospels,
the Acts of the Apostles, homilies, the Acts of St Philemon and
probably also of the Acts of St Saba.
(3) Two leaves of a MS from the monastery of St Catherine;
these contain fragments of the Epistles to the Galatians.4 Mrs
Lewis has added the content of the two following leaves to
fragments of St Matthew, St John and a homily about St Peter and
St Paul.5
2 Its existence was revealed by ASSEMANI’s catalogue; ADLER

analysed it in his Novi Testamenti versiones syriacae, Copenhaguen, 1789. First
edited by Count MINISCALCHI ERIZZO, Evangeliarium Hierosolymi-
tanum…, 2 vol., Verona, 1861–1864, P. DE LAGARDE edited it more
critically in Bibliothecae a Paulo de Lagarde collectae Gœttingen, 1892, p. 257–
404.
3 Published by LAND, Anecdota syriaca, IV, p. 103–224, Leiden, 1875.
4 Published by RENDEL HARRIS, Biblical fragments from Mount Sinai,
London, 1890; reprinted by SCHWALLY in Idioticon des christlich

palästinischen Aramäisch, Giessen, 1893, p. 131–134.
5 AGNES SMITH LEWIS, Catalogue of the syriac mss. of S. Catherine on
Mount Sinai; Studia Sinaitica, n. 1, London, 1894, p. 99–102, with several

emendations to the first two leaves.
THE SYRO-PALESTINIAN VERSION OF THE OT AND NT 39
(4) Seven fragments of palimpsests from the Genizah of the

Cairo synagogue currently in the Bodleian; five6 of them contain
part of Numbers and of the Epistles of Apostle Paul, the remaining
two7 hold several verses from Exodus and the Book of Wisdom.
(5) Fragments of homilies copied by Mrs Bensly at the
monastery of St Catherine.8
(6) Other leaves of palimpsests also found in the Genizah of
the Cairo synagogue and now in Cambridge. These are passages
from the Pentateuch, Prophets and Paul’s Epistles; elements of
theology and of the Life of St Anthony.9
(7) Readings for the rite of the benediction of the Nile, which
M. G. Margoliouth found in a MS from the British Museum, Or.
4951, that contains a series of services of the Melkite rite.10 These
readings come from Genesis, Kings, Amos and the Acts of the
Apostles.
(8) A lectionary containing readings from Genesis, Exodus,
Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Prophets (the whole of
6 Edited by GWILLIAM, The Palestinian Version of the Holy Scriptures,

Five more fragments… Anecdota Oxoniensia, Oxford, 1893.
7 Edited by GWILLIAM and STENNING, Biblical and patristic relics of
the Palestinian Syriac Literature… Anecdota Oxoniensia, Oxford, 1896, with

additions and emendations to the five first fragments.
8 Published by GWILLIAM and BURKITT in Anecdota Oxoniensia,
Oxford, 1896, see the previous footnote.

9 Published by Mrs LEWIS and Mrs GIBSON, Palestinian Syriac texts
from palimpsest Fragments in the Taylor-Schechter collection, London, 1900.

10 G. MARGOLIOUTH, The Liturgy of the Nile… in the Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society, October 1896, p. 667–673. The following year,

Margoliouth published a second edition with verses from Psalms and St
Luke, photographic facsimiles, a transcription, a translation, an
introduction, a vocabulary and notes: The Palestinian Syriac Version of the
Holy Scriptures, Four recently discovered portions, privately printed by the Society of
Biblical Archaeology, London, 1897.
Jonah), the Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s Epistles and St James’s

Epistles; Mrs Lewis acquired it in Egypt in 1895.11
(9) Two NT lectionaries from the monastery of
St Catherine.12
(10) Fragments, most of them palimpsests, which Bruno
Violet found in 1900 at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus; they
contain passages from the OT (Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, I
Kings, Psalm 16, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus); the NT (from the
four Gospels, St Peter’s 2nd Epistle, St Paul’s Epistles); the Acts of
Andrew and Matthias; the apocryphal Gospels; Lucian’s letter
concerning the discovery of Stephen’s relics by Gamaliel,
Nicodemus and Abib; the Acts of St Adrian; and finally from
several hymns.13
(11) Two leaves containing fragments of patristic works
translated from Greek. These are now in St Petersburg.14
Some of these fragments suggest a continuous text and prove
that there existed a complete version of the OT and NT in the
Palestinian dialect. The lectionaries, once believed to have been
translated directly from Greek, in fact derive from that version.
The translation and lectionaries differ widely throughout these
texts. Burkitt no doubt underestimated the scope of their
11AGNES SMITH LEWIS, A Palestinian Syriac Lectionary… in Studia

Sinaitica, n. VI, London, 1897, with notes by NESTLE and a glossary by
Mrs GIBSON.
12 Mrs LEWIS and MRS GIBSON published one of the two texts and
provided the variants of the second and of the Vatican MS, as found in
Lagarde’s edition: The Palestinian Syriac Lectionary of the Gospels, re-edited from
two Sinai ms. and from P. de Lagarde’s edition of the Evangeliarium
Hierosolymitanum, London, 1899.
13 Published by SCHULTHESS, who had already used them for his
Lexicon syropalaestinum: FRIEDRICH SCHULTHESS, christlich-palästinische

Fragmente aus der Omajjaden-Moschee zu Damaskus, Berlin, 1905. Cf. the
fragments published by SCHULTHESS in the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl.
Gesellschaft, LVI, p. 249.
14 Published by P. KOKOWZOFF, Nouveaux fragments syro-palestiniens,
St Petersburg, 1906.
THE SYRO-PALESTINIAN VERSION OF THE OT AND NT 41
expansion. He writes:15 “The only place where this literature seems

to have been the ecclesiastical language of the people is ‘Abûd, a
place not far from the frontier between Judaea and Samaria. All
this points to the age of Justinian and Heraclius, and the
determined efforts made by these emperors to extirpate Judaism
and other ancient faiths from Christian territory… No doubt some
measure of success actually attended the persecuting zeal of the
Byzantine Emperors, and so communities of Aramaic-speaking
Christians were founded in Palestine. The converts and their
descendants needed religious instruction in their own tongue, and
the Bible (or great parts of it) was translated, together with certain
Homilies and other ecclesiastical documents, the greater part of
which have perished.”
Burkitt adds that this presentation of the question is purely
hypothetical: “I have chiefly wished to point out that there are no
real signs in Christian Palestinian Literature of high antiquity or of
any special connexion with the more ancient forms of Christianity.
We can trace its existence almost to the time of Justinian, but an
earlier date is not suggested either by the general course of history
or by the character of the surviving documents.”
However, it should be pointed out that the time of Justinian,
during which Monophysitism expanded so greatly in Syria, goes
against Burkitt’s thesis. Besides, how could the Christians of
Palestine, entirely hellenised by the time of Justinian, have shaped
an ecclesiastical literature in an Aramaic dialect? This ancient
literature has, more likely, come down to us through relatively
recent manuscripts.
The texts of the OT and NT are translations from Greek.
Those of the OT generally correspond to a version of the
Septuagint that postdates Origen’s Hexapla. According to
Theodotion, the Job fragment (ch. XXII) is included in the part
that was originally absent from the Septuagint and was added by
Origen. While no evidence that has come to light points to Lucian’s
collation, the Peshitta appears to have been used on several
15 In the article cited earlier, Journal of Theological Studies, p. 181–182.

occasions, for instance in the passage on the benediction of the

Nile. Besides, Mesopotamian Syriac influenced the Palestinian
dialect displayed in these texts, thereby setting it apart from the
Judeo-Aramaic tongue of Palestine.
V. THE LATER VERSIONS
OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT
The Western Syrians, having taken part in the Christological

controversies that had affected the Church in the early 6th century,
wished to acquire a version of the Bible that would be more
faithful to the Septuagint than the Peshitta had been. The OT and
NT were at the heart of every discussion, and misunderstandings
inevitably arose from interpretations being based on different texts.
In this climate, accusing one’s adversaries of falsification was
commonplace. For the OT, the Septuagint version was the
authoritative text in both the Greek Church and hellenised Syria. In
these circumstances, Syrians of the Euphratic provinces and of
Western Mesopotamia found themselves in need of a Syriac
version of the Septuagint. The Syrian Church, turned Monophysite,
had developed closer, stronger ties with the Church of Alexandria.
Consequently, these Syrians were all the more aware of the
resulting desideratum. As we have seen, the Septuagint served as
the model for an emendation of the OT Peshitta, but that revision
had only altered several words and phrases, leaving it for the
greater part untouched.
In either 505 or 508,1 Philoxenus, bishop of Mabbug, one of
the most spirited proponents of the monophysitic heresy, ordered
the chorepiscopus Polycarp to produce a literal translation of the
OT and NT based on the Greek version. This new version appears
to have enjoyed a certain standing during the 6th century: Moses of
Aggel (around 570) mentions the Psalms and NT;2 but it fell into
disuse when the OT Syriac Hexapla and the NT Hexapla were
1 Cf. ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 23; IGNATIUS EPHRAEM II

RAHMANI, Studia syriaca, Mount Lebanon, 1904, p. 54.
2 See ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 82.
43
produced. Of these, only fragments preserved on several

manuscripts3 survive.
Paul, bishop of Tella of Mauzalat (Constantina of Syria),
composed the Syriac Hexapla a century later, 615–617, at the
request of Athanasius I, Patriarch of Antioch. It is a Syriac version
of the Septuagint based on Origen’s Hexapla, conscientiously
reproducing the additions and variants marked by asterisks and
daggers, as well as the notes in the margins referring to Greek
versions other than the Septuagint.4 In reality, this version did not
supercede the Peshitta, which remained the main Bible of the
Syrians. Its downfall accompanied that of the religious quarrels in
view of which it had been made, the Muslim conquest having led
to a number of changes for the Syrian Church. It nonetheless
remained an important work of sacred literature for biblical
exegesis. Bar Hebræus, in his commentary entitled the Storehouse of
Secrets, frequently refers to it simply as “the Greek.” That author
held it in even higher esteem than he did the Peshitta. In his great
grammar,5 he wrote an entire chapter to demonstrate how inferior
the Peshitta was to the Hexapla.
The Hexapla has not survived in its entirety. MSS in Milan,
Paris and London preserve both complete and incomplete books
of that version. The most famous of these MSS is the Ambrosianus,
3 Fragments of Isaiah in a British Museum MS; comp. with GUIDI,

Rendiconti della R. Academia dei Lincei, 1886, p. 404; see also HALL, Syriac
ms., Gospels of a pre-Harkleian Version, Philadelphia, 1884. CERIANI
published the fragments of Isaiah in Monumenta sacra et profana, Milan,
1873, t. V, fasc. I, p. 1–40. GWYNN, The Apocalypse of St John in a syriac
version hitherto unknown, Dublin, 1897, has published an ancient Syriac
version of the Apocalypse, which he believes to be Polycarp’s translation,
whereas the version that Louis de Dieu edited in 1627 would belong to
Thomas Harkel’s revision. Gwynn’s publication provides a restitution of
the Greek text on which, in his opinion, the Syriac version was based.
4 FIELD used these notes for his publication entitled Origenis
Hexaplorum fragmenta, Oxford, 1875.

5 Œuvres grammaticales d’Abou’lfaradj dit Bar Hebraeus, edited by Abbot
MARTIN, Paris, 1872, I, p. 240.

THE LATER VERSIONS OF THE OT AND NT 45
which forms the second volume of a complete exemplar. The first

volume contained the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Kings, Ezra with
Nehemiah, Judith and Tobit. It was lost after the death (1573) of
Andreas Masius, to whom it belonged. Norberg published Jeremiah
and Ezekiel (1787); Bugatus, Daniel (1788) and Psalms (1820). In
1835, Middeldorpf edited the fourth Book of Kings (Paris MS),
Isaiah, the Minor Prophets, Proverbs, Job, the Song of Songs,
Lamentations and Ecclesiastes (Milan MS). Ceriani has produced a
photolithographic reproduction of Ambrosianus.6 Skat Rœrdam
has published the book of Judges and Ruth, as found in a MS from
the collections of the British Museum, in Copenhagen in 1859–
1861. Paul de Lagarde edited in Hebrew characters, in the Veteris T.
ab Origen recensiti fragmenta (Göttingen, 1880), the fragments
contained in the London and Paris MSS: fragments of Exodus,
Numbers, Joshua and Kings. In his Bibliothecae syriacae (Göttingen,
1892), this professor reprinted in Syriac characters the same
fragments with new additions, most notably fragments from
Genesis.
The Harqlean is the revision of the Philoxenian NT produced,
in 616, by Thomas of Harkel (or of Heraclea), bishop of Mabbug.
The bishop, after losing his office for having advocated
monophysitic propaganda, withdrew to Alexandria where he
worked on this revision in the monastery of St Anthony, in the
village of Enaton. The Harqlean contains the same books as the
Peshitta, as well as four Epistles: St Peter’s 2nd, St John’s 2nd and
3rd and finally St Jude’s. In the late 19th and early 20th century, J.
White took on the task of editing it, using the Oxford MSS.7
6 CERIANI, Monumenta sacra et profana, vol. VII. Codex syro-hexaplaris

Ambrosianus photolith., Milan, 1874. He had begun a critical study of that
version in vol. I and II of the same work.
7 S. Evangeliorum versio syr. Philoxeniana, Oxford, 1778; Acluum Apost. et
Epistol…, Oxford, 1799–1803. The lacuna in the Epistle to the Hebrews

as edited by White was filled by BENSLY, using a MS from Cambridge,
The Heraclean version of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Cambridge, 1889, chap. XI,
28 – XIII, 25. Among other writings, that Cambridge MS contains
Clement’s two Epistles, placed between the Catholic Epistles and St Paul’s
The Philoxenian, Hexapla and Harqlean were the work of

Jacobites. The Nestorians, who were less directly in contact with
the West, primarily used the Peshitta.8
A version ordered by Mar Aba, patriarch of the Nestorians
from 536 to 552, is there mentioned. Amr relates that Mar Aba
“interpreted and explained the OT and NT; he wrote a book of
commentaries.”9 In his catalogue,10 ʿAbdishoʿ writes: “Mar Aba the
Great interpreted and translated from Greek into Syriac the entire
OT.”11
Epistles. — BERNSTEIN in Leipzig, in 1853, has edited St John’s

Gospel with the vowels and diacritic marks of the Masoretic text under
the title Das heilige Evangelium des Johannes… That edition, at the time of its
publication, represented a typographical feat. — In 1886, HALL
reproduced by phototype the four Epistles missing from the Peshitta, as
found in a MS dated to 1471, The Syrian Antilegomena Epistles, Baltimore,
1886. On the Apocalypse version, see above p. 44, n. 3. Cf. P. CORSSEN,
Die Recension der Philoxeniana in the Zeitschr. f. die neutest. Wissenschaft,
lahrg. II, Heft I, Darmstadt, 1901.
8 A letter from the Nestorian patriarch Timothy I († 823), published
by BRAUN, Oriens christianus, Rome, 1902, informs us that this patriarch

ordered that copies of the Syriac Hexapla be prepared for the Nestorians.
Ishoʿdad, among the Nestorians (around 850), made use of that version in
his biblical commentaries.
9 Maris, Amri et Slibæ commentaria, pars altera, ed. GISMONDI, Rome,
1896, p. 41. No such notice is to be found in Mari, who solely treats of a

Syriac version of the works of Theodore of Mopsuestia, ibid., pars prior, p.
50.
10 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 75.
11 No other traces of that version of Mar Aba are known. Its mere
existence remains a matter of debate, yet it is accepted both by

BAUMSTARK in Oriens Christianus, II, p. 457, and by MARTIN LEWIN,
Die Scholien des Theodor bar Koni, Berlin, 1905, p. XXIX.
VI. THE SYRIAN MASORETIC TEXT
The corpus of works devoted to establishing the exact reading of

the biblical text in the Syriac versions is known to the Jacobites as
The Tradition, ‫ ܰܡܫܠ ܡ ܽܢܘܬܐ‬, in relation to the Jewish Masora; the
Nestorians̈ܶ preferred the expression Book of the Masters of Reading,
ܰ ‫ܟܬ ̈ܒ‬. We retain the term Masora, which is most common,
‫ܐܳܕܡܩܪܝ ܢܶ̈ܐ‬
and Masoretes for the authors of these works.
The Peshitta was the first book which students encountered in
school. In that version they would first read the Psalms, then they
would move on to the NT and the other books of the OT, and
only later would they consult the works of the Fathers of the Syriac
and Greek Churches. Although the vowels were not written, the
masters of reading would teach their disciples the correct
pronunciation of these words, how to distinguish the propositions
of the various sentences following Aristotle’s five categories, and
how to raise and lower the voice in adopting the different
intonations required by the sentence’s meaning. For this
instruction, they would use dots or groups of dots called accents,
subdivided into logical accents and rhetorical accents, written on the line
above or under the words.
The original Masoretic Text dates back to the School of
Edessa in the early 5th century. Narsai, whose Nestorian views had
led to his banishment from Edessa, entrusted it shortly after to the
School of Nisibis. In the 6th century, Joseph of Ahwaz, professor
at that school, modified the system devised by the masters of the
School of Edessa,1 and invented nine accents, using Ibas’s version
of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s commentaries for his readings.2
1 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, p. 77, writes: “Joseph of Ahwaz

held the office (of Narsai) at Nisibis. He replaced the Edessanian reading
by the Oriental reading used by the Nestorians. They read, during the
47
Sabroy, the founder of a school at Beth Shahaq, near Nisibis,

together with his sons Ram Yeshu and Gabriel, monks of the
monastery of Mar Mattai, are responsible for the spread of the
Nestorian system of dots, vowels and accents among the Oriental
Monophysites in the 7th century.3
The Masoretic Text has produced three types of works: (1)
examples of the Bible punctuated and annotated with explanations
in the margin; (2) treatises of points and accents; (3) treatises of
ambiguous words (De æquivocis).
The treatises on accents and those on ambiguous words are
part of the grammar and lexicography. These will be addressed in
n. XVI. Only the Bible exemplars that contain the Masoretic Text
will be treated here.
The revision of the OT Peshitta produced in 705 by Jacob,
bishop of Edessa, while in residence at the monastery of Talada,
can be regarded as the first systematic work of the Jacobite
Masoretic Text. Jacob divided the biblical books into chapters, the
contents of which were summarised in their heading. Numerous
explanatory notes in the margin accompanied the text. Of these
notes, some record lessons from the Greek and Syriac versions,
others give the words’ exact pronunciation. Several derive from the
works of Severus of Antioch. Explanatory notes are also at times
inserted in the text.
This work by Jacob of Edessa has not come down to us in
full. The Bibliothèque nationale holds two MSS containing the
entire lifetime of Narsai, as we Occidentals do.” The modification did not

concern the vowels. Rather, it focused on the dots that marked the
different items of the sentence, cf. MERX, Historia artis grammaticae apud
Syros, Leipzig, 1889, p. 28.
2 After a note in a MS held in the collections of the British Museum,
WRIGHT, Catal. of the syr. ms., col. 107, n. V, 3.

3 See the letter of David, son of Paul, published by IGNATIUS
EPHRAEM II RAHMANI in Studia syriaca, Mount Lebanon, 1904,

chap. X, n. 3, and that chapter’s notes, p. 67–68. Cf. NOELDEKE,
Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., LVIII, 1904, p. 495; WRIGHT, Catal. of the
syr. ms., col. 105 b.
THE SYRIAN MASORETIC TEXT 49
Pentateuch, with the exception of several missing verses, and the

book of Daniel. The British Museum also has two MSS containing
the two books of Samuel and the beginning of Kings and Isaiah,
the first book of Samuel presenting several lacunae.4 These MSS
are dated to 719 and 720, that is, about ten years after the death of
Jacob of Edessa.
Jacob had paved the way for the Syrians’ systematisation of
the works of the Masoretic Text. He did not have to wait long to
find worthy emulators among the monks who, in their retreat,
dedicated their lives to the study of the Scriptures. In the
monastery of Qarqaphto (“the skull”), situated near the town of
Reshʿayna, the Jacobite Masoretic Text reached its apogee. The
Jacobite Masoretes are known by the name Qarqaphians, ‫ ܰܩܪܩܦܝܶ̈ܐ‬,
and their work is entitled The Qarqaphian Tradition, ‫ܰܡܫܠ ܡ ܽܢܘܬܐ‬
‫ ܰܩܪܩܦܝܬܐ‬, in Bar Hebræus’s commentary The Storehouse of Secrets and
in the MSS of the Jacobite Masoretic Text.
The exact meaning of that title has long been misunderstood.
Assemani translated it versio Karkaphensis hoc est Montana and
described it as the version used by the mountain dwellers.5 Cardinal
Wiseman discovered that pseudo-version in Vatican MS 152.6
Abbot Martin was the first to determine its true meaning and
demonstrate that the words translated as Qarqaphian version in reality
referred to the Qarqaphian tradition, that is, the Masoretic Text
produced in the monastery of Qarqaphto.7 Yet Abbot Martin still
ignored the actual location of that monastery; Georg Hoffmann
4 Fragments of that revision were printed by BUGATUS, Daniel

secundum editionem LXX Interpretum, Milan, 1788; and by GERIANI,
Monumenta sacra et profana, t. II and V. — UGOLINI, in Oriens christianus,
Rome, 1902, p. 409, has shown that MS Add. 14429 of London and MS
27 of Paris were two parts of one same copy of Jacob of Edessa’s
revision. He believes that MS V of the Vatican, which contains fragments
of Ezekiel, is a third fragment of this copy.
5 Bibl. Orient., II, p. 283.
6 Horæ syriacæ, Rome, 1828, p. 78 and 151.
7 Tradition karkaphienne ou la Massore chez les Syriens in the Journal
asiatique, October–November 1869.

has since proved that it lay at Magdal on the Khabur River, not far
from the town of Reshʿayna.8
In MSS of the Jacobite Masoretic Text, the explanatory notes
in the margin, which clarify the teachings and pronunciationܽ of the
text, are often indicated under the rubric toubana (‫ܛܘܒܢܐ‬, often
abbreviated ‫)ܛܘ‬. Cardinal Wiseman believed that this word
designated the Peshitta, while Abbot Martin saw in it an epithet of
Rabban Theodosius, a Syriac author. Thanks to two explanatory
notes from Bar Bahlul’s lexicon, we now know the following:9 “The
two doctors Toubana and Saba. There were two illustrious doctors of
the Masoretic Text (‫ ) ܰܡܫܠ ܡ ܽܢܘܬܐ‬of the Testaments at Reshʿayna.
The first of these, Toubana Santa, resided in one of its monasteries;
the other, named Saba, was respected and renowned for his
chastity and the exactitude of his Masoretic Text. That is why,
wherever there is a note in the margin surmounted by a semkat (the
letter s), that letter indicates what Saba changed in Toubana’s
reading, for these authors presented diverging teachings. This fact
is here written in order to make it known.” This explanatory note
in Bar Bahlul’s lexicon indicates what the words Toubana and Saba,
found in the MSS of the Jacobite Masoretic Text, mean.10 Saba of
Reshʿayna was an able copyist. Indeed, we have several MSS
written by his hand at the end of which he prides himself on having
never made a mess of the curl of a single tav (the letter t).11 These
MSS, dated to 724 and 726, give a clearer idea of the time during
which the Jacobite Masoretic Text flourished.
8Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesellschaft, XXXII, p. 745.

9Lexicon syriacum, auctore Bar Bahlule, ed. R. DUVAL, Paris, 1888–1896,
col. 1364, l. 6. GEORG HOFFMANN revealed the first of these
explanatory notes, Zeitschr. f. die. Altt. Wissenschaft, 1881, p. 159; I added the
second explanatory note, Journal asiatique, June 1884, p. 560.
10 Compare with WRIGHT, Catal. of the syr. ms., p. 100, col. 2.
11 WRIGHT, Catal. of the syr. ms., p. 9, col. 1; p. 16, col. 1; p. 25, col. 1.
WRIGHT, ibid., p. 38, col. 1, believes that Saba himself composed the MS
dated to 719 which contains the two books of Samuel in Jacob of
Edessa’s revision.
THE SYRIAN MASORETIC TEXT 51
The Masoretic Text does not provide a continuous biblical

text. Rather, it reproduces the verses that require an explanation,
that contain words of which the exact pronunciation must be
established, or that differ from the Greek and Syriac versions.12
The number of omitted verses varies from MS to MS. The text is
vocalised in the Jacobite Masoretic Text thanks to so-called Greek
vowels, and in the Nestorian Masoretic Text thanks to vowel dots;
the diacritic dots that indicate the aspiration or non-aspiration of
certain consonants, and the dots marking punctuation or
accentuation, are carefully inserted.
Ten MSS of the Jacobite Masoretic Text are attested, the main
ones being: Vatican MS 15213 dated to 980; two MSS of the British
Museum, one, Add. 12178, from the 9th or 10th century, similar to
the Vatican MS,14 and the other, Add. 7183, probably from the 12th
century, containing fewer verses than the Vatican MS;15 the
Barberini MS dated to 1089 or 1094 (the dating is uncertain);16 and
a MS of the Bibliothèque nationale from the 11th century which is
identical to the Vatican MS.17 According to Abbot Martin,18 there
exists a further MS dated to 1015 in the Mosul cathedral.
The Paris MS just cited and the London MS, Add. 14683,
contain a section devoted to the Masoretic Text of the doctors’
works which were read in schools, that is, passages by pseudo-
Dionysius the Areopagite, St Basil, St Gregory of Nazianzus,
Severus of Antioch, and (in the London MS) from the Diætetes of
John Philoponus.
12We call attention to the fact that the Nestorian Masoretic Text
knows neither the Hexapla nor the Harqlean.
13 Described by WISEMAN, Horæ syriacæ, 149 ff.; comp. with Abbot
MARTIN, Tradition karkaphienne, p. 245.

14 WRIGHT, Catal. of the syr. ms., p. 108, n. 162.
15 Catalogue Forshall et Rosen, p. 64, n. 42.
16 Also described by Card. WISEMAN.
17 Catalogue Zotenberg, n. 64. It has also been described by Wiseman,
comp. with Abbot MARTIN, Tradition kark., p. 245 ff.

18 Introduction à la critique textuelle du N.T., partie théorique, Paris, 1882–
1883, p. 201.
The Nestorian Masoretic Text is preserved in an important

MS in the British Museum, written in the monastery of Mar
Gabriel near Harran in 899.19
Bar Hebræus made good use of both Masoretic Texts not
only in his commentary The Storehouse of Secrets but also in his great
grammar, The Book of Splendour.20
MS Add. 13138, Catalogue Wright, p. 101, n. 161.

19
20M. GUSTAV DIETTRICH published the Masoretic Text for
Isaiah, Die Massorah der östlichen und westlichen Syrer…, London, 1899; and
for the Song of Songs in the Zeitschr. f. die altt. Wissenschaft, 1902, p. 193.
VII. THE BIBLICAL COMMENTARIES
Were it not for the loss of a great many biblical commentaries due
to the passing of time, these texts, written by the Fathers of the
Syrian Church, would form a complete library.
The commentaries by St Ephrem († 373) on the OT and NT
are the oldest attested. No doubt Ephrem wrote them in view of
his teachings at the School of the Persians at Edessa. Only in the
case of Genesis and much of Exodus, in MS 110 of the Vatican
from the 6th century, has the commentary on the OT survived in
its original form; for the other books, it exists in an abridged
version in the Catena Patrum, which Severus, a monk of Antioch,
compiled in 861.1 The abridged text of Severus, as compared with
the Vatican MS 110, shows that St Ephrem’s commentary, which
the monk of Antioch consulted for Genesis, differed from that
MS.2 That commentary is based on the Peshitta yet has fallen
victim to interpolations; we find citations from the Septuagint
which St Ephrem, who did not know Greek, could not have used.3
1 See Catal. Wright, p. 108.

2 POHLMANN, S. Ephræmi Syri commentariorum in S. Scripturam textus,
Brunsberg, 1863–1864; BICKELL, Conspectus rei Syrorum litterariæ, Munster,
1871, p. 19.
3 Much of it is printed in the Roman edition, S. Ephræmi opera, t. I and
II. M. LAMY has completed that edition in t. II of S. Ephræmi syri hymni et

sermons, Malines, 1886, p. 105–310, after the British Museum MSS M.
LAMY has published in the Revue biblique, 1897–1898, a translation of St
Ephrem’s commentaries on Zachariah, of which two chapters were as yet
unpublished.
53
As for the NT, St Ephrem’s commentary of the Diatessaron

is only preserved in Armenian (see p. 34). Likewise, his
commentary on St Paul’s Epistles only survives in Armenian.4
Apart from these commentaries, ܽ St Ephrem wrote exegetic
homilies and interpretations, ‫ܬܘܪܓ ܶ̈ܡܐ‬, on various biblical verses.5
Mar Aba, one of St Ephrem’s disciples, wrote a commentary
on the Gospels, a discourse on Job and an explanation of verse 9
of Psalm XLII.6 He should not be mistaken for the Nestorian
patriarchs Mar Aba I and Mar Aba II, whom we shall consider
shortly. Ishoʿdad cites Isaac, another disciple of St Ephrem, for
Samuel.7
Two incomplete manuscripts in the British Museum (Wright,
Catal., p. 526, n. 674 and 675) contain a commentary on the
Gospels by Philoxenus, bishop of Mabbug († circa 523).
The first of these MSS, dated to 511, contains fragments of a
commentary on St Matthew and St Luke. The second, which
belongs to the same period, contains a commentary on selected
passages from the Gospels, and particularly verses 1–18 of the first
chapter of St John’s Gospel. The author fights various heresies and
especially that of the Nestorians, which he calls “heretics of the
present time.”
4 Translated into Latin by the Mechitarist Fathers, S. Ephræmi

commentarii in Epistolas D. Pauli…, Vienna, 1893.
5 Roman edition, II, 316–395; OVERBECK, S. Ephræmi syri… opera
selecta, Oxford, 1865, p. 77–104. MŒSINGER published several scholia on

S. Matthew, Isaiah, Osee and Proverbs in the 2nd vol. of Monumenta syriaca,
Innsbruck, 1878, p. 33 ff.
6 He is cited in some MSS; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 831 and 1002.
Fragments have been published in HARRIS, Fragm. of the comment. of

Ephrem Syrus, London, 1895, p. 93. He is also the author of a poem of
seven-syllable lines preserved in a MS from Mount Sinai, of which LAMY
gives the four first lines in t. IV of S. Ephræmi syri hymni et sermons, Malines,
1902, p. 87–88.
7 G. DIETTRICH, Ischodâdh’s Stellung in der Austegungsgeschichte des
A. T., Giessen, 1902, p. XXVII.

THE BIBLICAL COMMENTARIES 55
Daniel of Salah (a monastery in Tur Abdin) wrote

commentaries of Psalms and Ecclesiastes. At the request of John,
abbot at the monastery of Eusebius near Apamea, Daniel
composed in 542 a commentary on Psalms, divided into three
volumes of fifty psalms each.8 Only the extracts provided by
Severus’s Catena shed light on the Ecclesiastes commentary.9
John, abbot of the monastery of Qenneshre (6th century), is
the author of a commentary on the Song of Songs.10
Marutha, Jacobite metropolitan of Tagrit († 649), wrote a
commentary on the Gospels which is cited in the Catena of monk
Severus. Two ancient notes by Marutha on Exodus XVI, 1, and
Matthew XXVI, 6–14, are printed in Mœsinger’s Monumenta syriaca,
t. II, p. 32.
Jacob, bishop of Edessa († 708), composed commentaries and
scholia on the Scriptures. In several letters he also treats various
biblical passages. The commentaries are cited in Severus’s Catena
8 The first complete volume and the second incomplete volume

survive in MSS now in the Vatican and the British Museum.
(ASSEMANI, B. O., I, p. 495; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 605 and 606); the third
part is preserved only in an Arabic version now in Berlin, Collection Sachau,
n. 55. A summary of that commentary can be found in MS Add. 17125
(WRIGHT, Catal., p. 125). Daniel of Salah was a Monophysite, cf.
IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI, Studia syriaca, Mont Liban, 1904,
chap. VI et adnotatio in caput VI, p. 61; G. DIETTRICH, Eine jacobitische
Einleitung in den Psalter…, Giessen, 1901; and Die Massorah der östl. und westl.
Syrer, London, 1899. NESTLE has already provided extracts of the
commentary on Psalms in his Brevis linguæ syr. Grammatica, Chrestomathia,
VI, Karlsruhe and Leipzig, 1881.
9 Catal. Vat., III, 17; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 909.
10 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, p. 54. Extracts of that commentary are
preserved in a chain of the fathers now in the British Museum (MS Add.
12168, f. 138 a). A commentary on the Gospels is attributed to Mara of
Amid (ca. 519) by ASSEMANI, B. O., II, p. 52; but Wright’s study of
Zachariah (in LAND, Anecdota syriaca, III, p. 245 and 250) has
demonstrated that Mara only wrote a preface in Greek for a copy of the
Gospels produced in Alexandria; WRIGHT, Syriac lit., 2nd ed., London,
1894, p. 83.
and in the writings of Dionysius bar Salibi and Bar Hebræus.

Philipps, Wright, Schrœter and Nestle have published several
ancient notes as found in MSS held in the British Museum;11
others, compounded in St Ephrem’s commentaries, were printed in
the Roman edition of St Ephrem (t. I and II).
George, bishop of the Arabic tribes of the Euphrates, a
contemporary and a friend of Jacob of Edessa, wrote notes on the
Scriptures. These are cited in the Catena of Severus, in the
commentaries by Dionysius bar Salibi and in the Storehouse of Secrets
by Bar Hebræus.12
A MS now in the collections of the Vatican 13 contains a
commentary on St Matthew’s Gospel written by George, who was
elected patriarch of Antioch in 758.
In the late 8th century, Lazarus of Beth Qandasa compiled a
commentary on the NT. Two manuscripts in the British Museum
(Cat. Wright, p. 608–612, n. 713–714) contain the commentary on
St Mark and St John and on some of St Paul’s Epistles. The
commentary on the Epistles is an abridged version by St John
Chrysostom.
Moses Bar Kepha, who took the name Severus upon being
appointed bishop of Beth Ramman and Mosul († 903), composed
commentaries on the OT and NT. These are often cited by Bar
Hebræus in his Storehouse of Secrets, which preserves, albeit in an
11PHILIPPS, Scholia on some passages of the Old Testament by Mar Jacob,

London, 1864; WRIGHT, Journal of sacred literature, vol. X, p. 430 ff.;
SCHRŒTER, Zeitschr. der deut. morgen. Gesellschaft, 1870, t. XXIV,
p. 261 ff.; NESTLE, ibid., 1878, t. XXXII, p. 465 ff., 735 ff.; compare also
with ASSEMANI, B. O., I, p. 489–493; MAI, Script. vet. nova collectio, Rome,
1825–1838, t. V; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 591, 910 and 997.
12 ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 494; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 909, col. 2.
V. RYSSEL translated these notes into German, Georgs des Araberbischofs

Gedichte und Briefe, Leipzig, 1891.
13 Catal. Vat., III, 299. Cf. BAUMSTARK, Die Petrus und Paulus Akten,
Leipzig, 1902, p. 12.

incomplete form, the commentary on Genesis, the Gospels and St

Paul’s Epistles.14
Bar Hebræus also cites a commentary on the Book of Wisdom
by John Maron, who died around 1017.15
The commentaries of this period are better preserved; because
they were summaries of previous works, they exempted the
theologian from consulting the original documents. Such are the
commentaries of Jacob bar Salibi and Bar Hebræus.
Jacob Bar Salibi, who took the name Dionysius upon his
elevation as bishop of Marash († 1171), is the author of a richly
documented commentary on the OT and NT, yet which is as much
of a compilation as it is an original work.16 The entire commentary
on the OT is preserved in its entirety in the Bibliothèque nationale
MS n. 66;17 its composition is atypical: “The commentary on each
book, writes Zotenberg (Catal., p. 33), is divided into two distinct
parts: one material or corporal commentary, i.e. literal, and another
spiritual or mystical commentary, i.e. symbolic. In the books of Job,
Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Psalms and Daniel, the first
commentary is known by the word ‫( ܣܘܥܪܢܝܐ‬material) and the
second by ‫( ܣܘܥܪܢܝܐ ܳܘܪܘܚܢܝܐ‬material and spiritual). The second
commentary on Psalms contains, for most of the thirty first psalms,
two commentaries: one by the author, Dionysius bar Salibi, the
other attributed to Andrew, priest of Jerusalem; or both by
Dionysius bar Salibi, but one based on the Peshitta version and the
other on the Hexapla version… Such is also the case for Proverbs,
14 WRIGHT, Catal., p. 620, n. 720; also several fragments at the

Bodleian, Catal. Payne Smith, 410 and 418, and at the Bibliothèque
nationale, Catal. Zotenberg, p. 156, n. 206; commentary on the Gospel of St
John in MS Add. 1971 in Cambridge, Catal. by WRIGHT and COOK,
p. 47.
15 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 283.
16 Comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 157; Catal. Payne Smith, col. 414;
G. DIETTRICH, Ischôdâdh’s Stellung in der Auslegungsgeschichte des A. T.,

Giessen, 1902, p. XXXIX.
17 The Cambridge Library contains an older MS but it only gives one
choice of commentaries, Catal. of WRIGHT and COOK, p. 53.

Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and Daniel, books for which the first
commentary is based on the Peshitta and the second on the version
established by Paul of Tella. There exist three commentaries for the
Book of Jeremiah: one abridged commentary devoted to the
Hexapla… a second abridged commentary… finally a third more
extensive commentary.”
The NT commentary, which is preserved in several MSS held
in libraries throughout Europe,18 has the same characteristic.
Bar Hebræus’s commentaries on the OT and NT, written in
1277–1278, form a large group of explanatory notes for biblical
exegesis, the critique of the Peshitta, the Hexapla and the Harqlean,
as well as on Syriac grammar and lexicography. Inܰ his
commentaries, which bear the title Storehouse of Secrets, ‫ܘܨܪܳܪܐܙܶ̈ ܐ‬
ܰ ‫ܐ‬, the
author cites, besides the Syriac versions, the Septuagint, Aquila,
Symmachus and Theodotion; and, for Psalms, the Armenian and
Coptic versions. He also cites the Hebrew text, albeit only
secondhand. The Fathers of the Church mentioned in these works
are: Athanasius, Basil, Cyril of Alexandria, Ephrem, Epiphanius,
Eusebius, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, Hippolytus,
Origen, Philoxenus, Severus of Antioch, Jacob of Edessa, Moses
Bar Kepha and even Ishoʿdad of Merv, a Nestorian author. As for
18Cat. Vat., III, 296 and 298, comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 157;
Cat. Zotenberg, n. 67 and 68; Cat. Forshall et Rosen, p. 71; Cat. Wright, p. 623;
Cat. Payne Smith, col. 410–418; Catal. Sachau, p. 594. After a MS now held
in Dublin and dated to 1197 (thirty-two years after the work was
composed in 1165), DUDLEY LOFTUS made an English translation of
part of the commentary of St Matthew and the beginning of the
commentary of St Mark (The Exposition of Dionysius Syrus, Dublin, 1672; A
clear and learned Explication…, Dublin, 1695). Extracts of the commentary
on the Apocalypse have been published with notes and a translation by
GWYNN in Hermathena, VI, 397; VII, 137. RENDEL HARRIS published
extracts of the commentary on St John’s Gospel in Hermas in Arcadia,
Cambridge, 1896, p. 58. The commentaries on the Gospels are in the
process of being published by J. SEDLACEK and J.-B. CHABOT,
Dionysius bar Salibi. Commentarii in Evangelia in the Corpus script. christ. orient.,
2nd series, t. 98; the facsimile is available, I, Paris, 1906.
exegesis, the sagacious bishop stayed well clear of mystical allegory

and built instead on the work of his predecessors to shed light on
the literal meaning of the biblical verses. For his critique of the text
of the Syriac versions, he plundered the Jacobite and Nestorian
Masoretic Texts and gathered a great number of notes on the exact
pronunciation of Syriac words, as well as on the differences
between Nestorians and Jacobites on that matter. The explanatory
lexicographical notes, borrowed from various sources, including
Bar Ali and Bar Bahlul’s lexica, are most numerous for the books
that were most read: the Pentateuch, Psalms and NT.
The Storehouse of Secrets survives in several MSS held in various
European libraries.19 A general edition has yet to be undertaken,
but many partial publications, including several doctoral
dissertations, have already appeared.20
19 Rome, Cod. Vat. 170 and 282; Florence, Palat. Med., 26; London,
Catal. Rosen et Forshall, n. 45; Catal. Wright, n. 723 and 724; Oxford, Catal.
Payne Smith, n. 122; Cambridge, Catal. Wright and Cook, p. 513; Berlin,
Catal. Sachau; Göttingen, Bibl. de l’Université.
20 Card. WISEMAN has published the preface of the Storehouse of
Secrets in his Horæ syriacæ, Rome, 1828. LARSOW has published a

specimen of an edition, Leipzig, 1858. The other partial publications are:
Le Pentateuque, WEINGARTEN, Halle, 1887. Cf. L. UHRY, Genèse,
chap. XXII–L, Strasbourg, 1898; GÖTTSBERGER, Barhebraeus und seine
Scholien, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1900; GLÜCK, Beiträge zur Geschichte der
Bibelexegese. Die Scholien des Barhebræus zu Gen., XXI–L… Frankfort-sur-le-
Mein, 1903. — Le Lévitique, KERBER, Leipzig, 1895. — Les fragments de
l’Hexaplaire pour le Lévitique et le Deutéronome, in this commentary,
KERBER, Zeitschr. f. die alttest. Wissen., 1876, p. 249. — Le Deutéronome,
KERBER, The American Journal of Semitic languages and literature, 1867, p. 89.
— Extraits de Genèse, Exode, Deut., chap. V des Juges, SCHRŒTER, Zeitschr.
der deut. morgen. Gesell., XXIV, p. 495. — Job, BERNSTEIN, Chrestomathie
de Kirsch, 2nd ed. (separately, Breslau, 1858). — Josué et les Juges, KRAUS,
Kirchhain, 1894. — Samuel, SCHLESINGER, Leipzig, 1897. — Les
fragments de l’Hexaplaire pour Samuel in this commentary, KERBER, Zeitschr.
f. die altt. Wissen., 1898, p. 177. — Les Rois, MORGENSTERN, Berlin,
1895. — Les Psaumes, P. DE LAGARDE, Prætermissorum libri duo, 1879
(text in Hebrew characters); Ps. 5 and 18, RHODE, Breslau, 1832; spécimen
All of these commentaries were the work of Occidental

Syrians. Considering how few Nestorian MSS have come down to
us, it will come as no surprise to the reader that works of that
genre, composed by Oriental Syrians, seldom survive. Our
knowledge of the names of the commentators who wrote in
Oriental Mesopotamia and in Babylonia chiefly derives from
ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue published in the Bibliotheca orientalis of
Assemani (t. III, part. I).21 They are:
Patriarch Dadishoʿ (422–457): commentary on Daniel, Kings
and Ecclesiastes.
Ibas, bishop of Edessa († 457): commentary on Proverbs.22
Narsai, professor at the School of Nisibis († 507):
commentary on the four first books of the Pentateuch, Joshua,
Judges, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, the Twelve Minor Prophets, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel and Daniel.23
des Psaumes, TULLBERG, Upsal, 1842; Ps. 68, KNOBLOCH, Breslau,

1852; Ps. 8, 40, 41, 50, SCHRŒTER, Breslau, 1859; Ps. 3, 4, 6, 7, 9–15,
23, 53, and Préface du N.T., Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., XXIX, p. 247;
Ps. 23, 29, E. FUCHS, Halle, 1871. — Les Proverbes, l’Ecclésiaste, le Cant. des
Cant., la Sagesse, RAHLFS, Leipzig, 1887 (Anmerk. zu den Salomonischen
Schriften). — Ruth et les additions apocryphes à Daniel, HEPPNER, Halle, 1888.
— Isaïe, TULLBERG, Upsal, 1842. Jérémie, KORAEN and
WENNBERG, Upsal, 1852. — Ezéchiel, GUGENHEIMER, Berlin, 1894.
— Les douze petits Prophètes, MORITZ, Leipzig, 1882. — Daniel,
FREIMANN, Brunn, 1892. — Ecclésiastique, KAATZ, Frankfort, 1892. —
Saint Matthieu, SPANUTH, Göttingen, 1879. — Saint Luc, STEINHART,
Leipzig, 1895. — Saint Jean, SCHWARTZ, Göttingen, 1878. — Les Actes
des Apôtres et les Epîtres catholiques, KLAMROTH, Göttingen, 1878. — Les
Epîtres paulines, LŒHR, Göttingen, 1889.
21 In this catalogue, the commentaries are designated by the word
tradition, ‫ ܰܡܫܠ ܡ ܽܢܘܬ ܐ‬.

22 We here cite Ibas because, although he wrote at Edessa, he was a
Nestorian.
23 He is cited by Ishoʿdad when referring to Leviticus and Samuel, see
G. DIETTRICH, Ischôdadh’s Stellung in der Auslegungsgeschichte des A. T.,

Giessen, 1902, p. XXVII.
Elisha bar Quzbaye, successor of Narsai at the School of

Nisibis, wrote a commentary on all the books of the OT, based on
Barhadbshabba in MINGANA, Narsai, vol. I, p. 35, n. III, Mosul,
1905.
Mari (same period): commentary on Daniel.
Mika, the doctor: commentary on Kings. Cf. Addaï Scher,
Revue de l’Orient Chrétien, 1906, p. 21, n. XXI.
Abraham, the syncellus of Narsai: commentary on Joshua,
Judges, Kings, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, the Twelve Minor Prophets,
Daniel and Song of Songs.24
John, colleague of Abraham at the School of Nisibis:
commentaries on Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Job, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel and Proverbs.25
Henana of Adiabene, professor at Nisibis (6th century):
commentaries on Genesis, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Song of Songs, the Twelve Minor Prophets, the Gospel of St Mark
and St Paul’s Epistles.26
Patriarch Elisha (around 523): commentary on Job and several
Epistles of St Paul.
Patriarch Mar Aba I (540–552):27 commentary on Genesis,
Psalms, Proverbs, St Paul’s Epistles. A commentary on Daniel is
24 Barhadbshabba in MINGANA, Narsai, p. 36, says: commentary on

Prophets, Bar Sira, Joshua and Judges. Cited by Ishoʿdad for the Leviticus,
cf. G. DIETTRICH, op. cit., p. XXVIII
25 Cited by Ishoʿdad for Ezekiel, cf. G. DIETTRICH, op. cit.,
p. XXVIII.
26 Cited for Psalms, Isaiah and Ezekiel by Ishoʿyahb, G. DIETTRICH,
op. cit., p. XXVIII; for Genesis, Gospel of St Matthew and St Paul’s

Epistles, in a large chain of the fathers called The Garden of Earthly Delights, see
J.-B. CHABOT in Orientalische Studien Theodor Nöldeke, Giessen, 1906,
p. 495.
27 Maybe Mar Aba II or Mar Aba of Kashkar, who lived some two
centuries († 751) after Mar Aba I, see J.-B. CHABOT, Le jardin des délices,
same as previous citation [n. 26], p. 494. Mar Aba of Kashkar, or simply
Mar Aba, is cited in this book for Genesis, Isaiah, the Gospels and the
attributed to his disciples. One of his disciples, Paul of Nisibis, is

said to be the author of commentaries on the Scriptures.
Theodore of Merv (around 540): commentary on Psalms.
Sergius of Adiabene (around 550): commentaries on Jeremiah,
Ezekiel and Daniel.
Elisha bar Saphanin (same period): commentary on Psalms.
Gabriel Arya: commentary on various passages of the
Scriptures. Cf. Addaï Scher, l. c., p. 17, n. XVII.
Barhadbshabba (early 7th century): commentary on Psalms
and the Gospel of St Mark.
Quryaqos, bishop of Nisibis (around 630): commentary on St
Paul’s Epistles.
Babai, abbot of the monastery of Izla (569–628): commentary
on the entire text of the Scriptures.
Patriarch Ishoʿyahb II (628–644): commentary on Psalms.28
Theodore Bar Koni (early 7th century) is the author of a
collection of notes divided into eleven books; the four first books
treat the OT and the four subsequent ones are concerned with the
NT.29
Elias, metropolitan of Merv (around 660): commentaries on
Genesis, Isaiah, the Twelve Minor Prophets, Proverbs, Song of
Songs, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus and St Paul’s Epistles; as well as
a chain of the fathers on the four Gospels.
Nathaniel (late 6th century): commentary on Psalms. Cf.
Addai Scher, l. c., p. 12, n. XIII.
Jacob, bishop of Halat (8th century): commentary on
Proverbs.
Epistle to the Romans. Ishoʿdad cites Mar Aba for Kings, G.

DIETTRICH, opere supra cit., p. XXVIII.
28 Cited by Ishoʿdad, DIETTRICH, opere cit., p. XXVIII.
29 MARTIN LEWIN has published the notes on Genesis XII–L, Die
Scholien des Theodor bar Kôni zur Patriarchengeschichte, Berlin, 1905. Lewin has
established that Theodore bar Koni lived in the late 6th century or in the
early 7th century. We shall come back to this author in the second part
when considering the writers of the 7th century.
Ishoʿ bar Nun, Nestorian patriarch in 823: questions on the

Scriptures in two volumes.30
Denha or Ibas (around 850):31 commentary on Psalms.32
Ishoʿdad of Merv, bishop of Haditha (around 850):
commentary on the totality of the OT and NT.33
Houb or Ahob or Job of Qatar34 (around 900): commentary
on the NT, on the Pentateuch, Judges and Prophets.
Michael the interpreter:35 questions on the Scriptures in three
volumes.
Henanishoʿ bar Seroshway, bishop of Hira (around 900):
questions on the Scriptures.
ʿAbdishoʿ himself claims in his catalogue36 to be the author of
a commentary on the OT and NT.
30 A MS in Cambridge, of which RENDEL HARRIS has given several

extracts, Fragments of the comm. of Ephrem Syrus, London, 1893, p. 96.
31 Assemani places him under patriarch Pethion, who died in 740, but
John bar Zobi claims he was a disciple of patriarch Ishoʿ bar Nun;
WRIGHT, Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 218.
32 An extract in the chrestomathy entitled The Little Book of Crumbs,
‫ ܟܬܒܘܢܐܳܕܦܪܬܘܬܐ‬, Ourmia, 1898, p. 309.

33 G. DIETTRICH, Ischo’dâdh’s Stellung in der Auslegungsgeschichte des
Alten Testaments an seinen Commentaren zu Hosca, Joel, Jona, Sacharia 9–14, und
einigen angehängten Psalmen (Syriac extracts with a German transl.), Giessen,
1902. Diettrich has established the importance of Ishoʿdad’s
commentaries that form the bridge by which the commentaries of
Theodore of Mopsuestia came to the Jacobites. For the NT, Ishoʿdad is
often cited in The Garden of Earthly Delights, see J.-B. CHABOT, Orient.
Studien Theodor Noeldeke, Giessen, 1906, p. 493. Cf. BAUMSTARK,
Römische Quartalschrift, XV, p. 273–280.
34 The writing of the name varies; see R. DUVAL, Lexicon syr. Bar
Bahlul, t. III, proœmium, p. XIX; VANDENHOFF, Exegesis Psalmorum apud

Syros Nestorianos, Rheine, 1899; J.-B. CHABOT, Le jardin des délices, p. 495.
Bar Bahlul’s lexicon cites this author for Daniel.
35 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 147: comp. with The Book of the Bee,
ed. BUDGE, Oxford, 1886, chap. LVII; G. HOFFMANN, Opuscula

nestoriana, Kiel, 1889, p. XXI; Addai Scher, Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1906,
p. 16, v. XVI.
Later Nestorian compilations have come down to us in several

MSS. The most extensive of these is The Garden of Earthly Delights
mentioned above. In his Opuscula nestoriana M. G. Hoffmann edited
a commentary, entitled Dirstarsinos, of the difficult passages of the
OT, and another similar one for the OT and NT.
Apart from these original works, the Syrians had translations
of the Greek commentaries, which are partly preserved, either in
their primitive form or in the chains of the fathers. These are:
The commentaries of Hippolytus on Ezekiel, Psalms, Song of
Songs, Daniel, St Matthew. In his Analecta syriaca, p. 79–91, Paul de
Lagarde published passages from the commentary on Daniel, notes
on Psalms, an extract from the commentary on Ezekiel, after MSS
held in the collections of the British Museum. Abbot Martin
reprinted these fragments with a Latin translation in the Analecta
sacra of card. Pitra, t. IV, p. 36–64, in the following order: (1) a
commentary on Song of Songs, IV, 15-VI, 7. Mœsinger had edited
the entire commentary in the Monumenta syriaca, II, p. 9–31, as
found in a Vatican MS; in this MS, the name of the author is not
indicated; the title reads: “Explanation and illustration of Song of
Songs gathered and abridged by an industrious man.” Mœsinger
thought it to be St Ephrem’s commentary but Abbot Martin has
observed that the biblical text reproduces the Septuagint, not the
Peshitta; the commentary can therefore not be St Ephrem’s; it is
also very unlikely that St Hippolytus was its author; (2) other small
fragments of the same commentary; (3) extracts of the commentary
on Ezekiel. Putting aside the two first pericopes and several other
passages, argues Abbot Martin, all the rest coincides with the
commentary published under Ephrem’s name; the text suggests a
Syriac author; (4) extracts of the commentary on Daniel. Abbot
Martin has established the concordance of these extracts together
with the various published Greek fragments.37 The commentary on
ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 325.

36
37Comp. with Die griechischen christl. Schriftsteller, Hippolytus by
N. BONWETSCH and H. ACHELIS, Leipzig, 1897. That edition
contains a translation of the Syriac fragments edited by P. de Lagarde and
Daniel is mentioned in the letter by George, bishop of the Arabs,

concerning Aphrahat; (5) other extracts of the same commentary;
(6) ancient notes on Psalms; (7) ancient notes on the names
omitted from the genealogy of Jesus Christ. A passage of the
commentary on St Matthew, I, 11, is cited in a chain (Catal. Wright,
p. 910, col. 1).
The commentary of Eustathius of Antioch on Psalms.38
The commentary of Eusebius of Caesarea on Psalms.39
The commentary of Gregory of Nyssa on Song of Songs.40
The commentary of St John Chrysostom on the NT.41
The commentary of Athanasius of Alexandria on Psalms.42
The commentaries of Theodore of Mopsuestia on the OT and
NT. The works of Theodore were translated into Syriac by Ibas
and his disciples at the School of Edessa in the first half of the 5th
century, shortly after their author’s death. What remains of
Theodore’s commentaries most likely comes from that version.
They are fragments on Genesis, Psalms, the Minor Prophets, St
Abbot Martin and of those which Simone de Magistris had published last
century in his Acta Martyrum, Rome, 1795, p. 274 ff.
38 Abbot Martin printed a fragment in the Analecta sacra of Card.
PITRA, t. IV, p. 212, n. VII.

39 Catal. Wright, p. 35, col. 2; 36, 2; 125, 1. In a chain, Catal. Wright,
p. 909, are cited the Ζητήματα of Eusebius on the Gospels.

40 Catal. Wright, p. 445, n. 565, 6th century MS; p. 905, col. 2; 906, 1.
41 Catal. Wright, p. 465–468, 6th century MS: Homil. I–XXXII on
St Matthew; p. 469–474, 6th or 7th century MS: homil. on St John; p.

471–479: Homil. on St Paul’s Epistles; compare also with, ibid., p. 907,
col. 2. The Bibliothèque nationale holds the comment. on the Epistle to
the Ephesians, Cat. Zotenberg, n. 69.
42 Catal. Wright, p. 403, MS dated to 599; the Syriac text is often much
shorter than the Greek; a summary in a chain, ibid., p. 906, col. 1.

Abbot Simeon translated the letter of Athanasius to Marcellinus on
the interpretation of Psalms into Syriac at the request of monk Barlaha, as
shown by two letters published by GUIDI, Rendiconti della R. Academia dei
Lincei, June 1886, p. 547 ff. There still exist several fragments of that
translation, GUIDI, l. c., p. 553; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 36.
Matthew and the Epistle to the Hebrews;43 and the entire

commentary on the Gospel of St John.44 The last commentary
reproduces the text of the 4th Gospel and can be used as an
ancient witness for the critique of both Greek and Syriac Gospels.
The commentary of Theodoret on the Minor Prophets, cited
in a chain.45
The commentary of Hesychius of Jerusalem on Psalms;
extracts in the British Museum.46
The commentaries of Cyril of Alexandria on Genesis, Exodus,
Isaiah, the Minor Prophets and the NT.47
The commentary of Olympiodorus, deacon of Alexandria, on
Job and Ecclesiastes.48
The commentary of Œcumenius on the Apocalypse.49
ʿAbdishoʿ also cites, in the first part of his catalogue, other
commentaries by Greek authors, which do not appear to have been
preserved in Syriac.
43 Published after MSS held in the British Museum (including one

from the 6th century), by P. de Lagarde, Analecta syr., Leipzig, 1858, p. 107
and 108, and by SACHAU, with a Latin translation, Theodori Mopsuesteni
fragmenta syriaca, Leipzig, 1869. — Cf. BAETHGEN, Der Psalmencommentar
des Theodor Mopsuestis, Zeitschr. f. die alttest. Wissensch., V, 1885, p. 53;
MERCATI, Un palimpsesto Ambrosiano dei Salmi esapli, Turin, 1896, p. 15.
44 Published by Abbot CHABOT, Commentarius Theodori Mopsuesteni in
Evangelium Johannis, Paris, 1897, as found in a MS of the Bibliothèque

nationale; comp. with Journal asiatique, July-August 1894, p. 188.
45 Catal. Wright, p. 917, col. 2.
46 Catal. Wright, p. 35, 2; 36, 2; 121, 1; 916, 2; 1002, 2.
47 Numerous fragments in the British Museum, Cat. Wright, General
index under the name Cyril of Alexandria. That library is in possession of

the commentary on St Luke, which is complete apart from several
lacunae; it is published by PAYNE SMITH in S. Cyrilli commentarii in Lucæ
Evangelium, Oxford, 1858; English translation, A commentary upon the Gospel
according to S. Luke by S. Cyril, Oxford, 1859, 2 vol.; WRIGHT has edited
several new fragments, Fragments of the Homilies of Cyril of Alexandria on the
Gospel of S. Luke, London, 1874.
48 Catal. Wright, p. 904, col. 2; 906, 2.
VIII. THE APOCRYPHA OF THE OLD AND
NEW TESTAMENT
§1. — THE APOCRYPHA OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

There are Syriac versions of texts that the Septuagint version
includes among the deuterocanonicals. Of these, Lagarde edited:1
The Epistle of Jeremiah, the two Epistles of Baruch, the Song of
Ananias2 and his companions, and the story of Bel and the Dragon.
Wright3 has edited five apocryphal psalms following a MS
from Cambridge and one from the Vatican. The first, Psalm 151, is
a translation of the Septuagint which is known from the Codex
Ambrosianus. The second is a prayer that Hezekiah pronounced
when surrounded by enemies. The third is a song by the Israelites
whom Cyrus had authorised to return home. The fourth David
sang while he was fighting the lion and the wolf that had taken a
sheep from his herd. The fifth is a song of David following his
victory against the lion and the wolf.
The Syriac text of the Apocalypse of Baruch is preserved in
the Codex Ambrosianus.4 That version, which is based on a Greek
original now lost, is divided into two parts: one formed of chapters
I–LXXVII and the other of chapters LXXVIII–LXXXVI (the
latter is the first Epistle of Baruch in Lagarde’s edition of the
Apocrypha, mentioned previously, p. 88–93). The first part only
1 Libri Vet. Test. apocryphi syriace, Leipzig, 1881.

2 In the Septuagint: Azarias.
3 In the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, t. IX, June 1887,
p. 257–266.
4 Published in photolithography by CERIANI, Monumenta sacra et
profana, t. VII, Milano, 1874. Ceriani translated that apocryphon into Latin
in 1866 and prepared a first edition of the text in 1871, Monumenta sacra et
profana, t. I, fasc. II, p. 73–98.
67
survives in the Codex Ambrosianus; the second part can still be found
in other MSS. Charles has published a critical study of that
apocrypha and an account of the previous studies which he has
devoted to it; he has translated it into English and re-edited chap.
LXXVIII–LXXXVI.5
Ceriani edited the fourth book of Ezra and the fourth book of
the Maccabees as found in the Codex Ambrosianus.6 Barnes7 has
published a new edition, begun by Bensly, of the fourth book of
the Maccabees. It reproduces the Codex Ambrosianus with variants
from other MSS. It further contains six Syriac texts concerning the
martyr of the Maccabees.
Of the Parva Genesis or the Book of Jubilees, only one section has
been preserved in Syriac.8 Likewise, only fragments of the Christian
and Oriental writings of the Testament of Adam survive.9 But the
second and third parts of that last apocrypha are attested, with new
legends, in the Cave of Treasures. The first part, The Conflict of Adam
and Eve, is replaced in the Cave of Treasures by a description of
5The Apocalypse of Baruch translated from the syriac, London, 1896.

6Monumenta sacra et profana, vol. V, fasc. I; in the first volume, fasc. II,
Ceriani had made a Latin version of the Syriac apocrypha. In the Codex
Ambrosianus, following the 4th book of Maccabees, we find a fifth book,
which is the sixth book of the De bello judaico of Josephus, as established
by KOTTEK, Das sechste Buch des Bellum judaicum, Berlin, 1886 (with the
Syriac text of chapters I and II).
7 The fourth Book of Maccabees and kindred documents in syriac, Cambridge,
1895.
8 Edited by CERIANI, Monumenta sacra et profana, t. II, fasc. I, p. IX. —
Cf. R.A. CHARLES, The ethiopic version of the hebrew Book of Jubilees…,
Oxford, 1895.
9 Manuscripts in the Vatican 58 and 164, as well as several MSS in the
British Museum, WRIGHT, Catal. General index, under the name Adam.
RENAN published these fragments, Journal asiatique, Nov.-Dec. 1853,
p. 427, and WRIGHT, Contributions to the aprocryphal Literature of the N.T.,
London, 1865, p. 61. — Cf. CARL BEZOLD, Orientalische Studien Theodor
Noeldeke, Giessen, 1906, p. 893.
THE APOCRYPHA CONCERNING THE OT AND NT 69
creation, which forms the basis of the Hexameron of pseudo-

Epiphanius. ̈ܶ ܰ ܰ ܰ
The Cave of Treasures, ‫ܬܳܓ ̈ܙ ܐ‬ ‫ܡܥ ܪ‬, belongs to the literature of the
Books of Jubilees, which recounts the fabulous history of the tribes of
Israel. The full title of that apocrypha is: “Book of the lineage of
the tribes or the cave of treasures, which St Ephrem composed.”
The attribution to St Ephrem is incorrect, for the work postdates
that Father and cannot be placed any earlier than the 6th century. It
is nonetheless presumably a product of his school. In any case, the
book was written in Mesopotamia; as the editor 10 points out, the
Syrian language is there named the queen of all languages; it is the
primitive language spoken by all people before the confusion of the
Tower of Babel; the Syrians did not take part in the crucifixion of
Christ, etc.
In fact, the title Cave of Treasures only befits the part
concerning the patriarchs. Driven out of Paradise, Adam withdraws
to a neighbouring mountain and finds shelter in a cave. There he
places the gold, myrrh and incense obtained from the land of
delights. Adam and the patriarchs, his successors, then sanctify the
cave through their offerings to God and use it as a resting place for
their dead until the time of the Deluge. When it comes Noah
transports into the ark Adam’s relics along with the gold, myrrh
and incense. After the Deluge and the death of Noah, Shem and
Melchizedek, led by an angel, place these relics at the centre of the
earth “where the four parts of the Universe are gathered,” at
Golgotha, which opens up in the shape of a cross to receive them.
It is on Mount Golgotha that Adam was to be baptised with the
blood and water from the Saviour’s wound; it is also where he was
to receive his sin. After Shem, no mention is made of this cave.
10 CARL BEZOLD, Die Schatzhæhle aus dem syrischen Texte uebersetzt,

Leipzig, 1883. BEZOLD has published the Syriac text and the Arabic
version in Leipzig in 1888. Comp. with LAGARDE, Mittheilungen, III, 43;
IV, 6. GIBSON has published a very different Arabic version: Apocrypha
Arabica; Studia sinaitica, VIII, London, 1901.
Legends collected by Solomon, bishop of Basra around 1222,

are included in this literature and set down in his Book of the Bee.11
Several of the legends found in this book coincide with those
included in the Cave of Treasures; but the Book of the Bee contains
many more documents of that type. The Cave ends after the
Passion of Christ; but Solomon continues his story further; he
adds: the missions of the Apostles; lists of Nestorian patriarchs,
Achaemenid kings, Ptolemies, Roman emperors; a prediction of
the Muslim conquest taken from the Revelation to Methodius in Prison;
a tale on Gog and Magog and the bronze gates of Alexander, in
imitation of pseudo-Callisthenes; another tale on the coming of the
Antichrist; and finally, several chapters of theology with no link to
historical events.
The Encounter of Moses with God on Mount Sinai passed into
Syriac and was published by Hall in Hebraica, VII, p. 161.
Moses of Aggel translated the Story of Joseph and Aseneth from
Greek into Syriac (around 570).12 The version Moses produced,
although incomplete, coincides with the Greek text published by
Abbot Batiffol; Greek is used where there are gaps in Syriac.13
G. Oppenheim has made a Latin translation from the Syriac, Fabula
Josephi et Asenethæ apocrypha e libro syriaco latine versa, Berlin, 1886.
Certain apocrypha in circulation bore the title Testaments and
were attributed to biblical characters. Apart from the Testament of
11 BUDGE, The Book of the bee, with an English translation, Oxford,

1886. SCHŒNFELDER, Salomonis liber Apis, Bamberg, 1866. An analysis
in ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 309–324.
12 It was included in the compilation made by a Monophysite of the
Histoire ecclésiastique of Zacharias Rhetor, and was published by LAND in

the 3rd vol. of the Anecdota syriaca, p. 18 ff. We should not include in the
apocrypha the Story of Joseph, son of Jacob, a poem of twelve songs
attributed to St Ephrem and published by BEDJAN; for an Arabic
version of that poem, see Catal. Zotenberg, n. 65, 5.
13 See F. BATIFFOL, Studia patristica, Paris, 1889; LAND, op. cit.,
p. XVII; SACHAU, Hermes, 1870, t. IV, p. 77.

Adam, we know the Testament of Levi14 and the Testament of Solomon

addressed to his son Rehoboam.15
The Vitæ Prophetarum are attested in several Syriac and Greek
collations. It used to be mistakenly believed that the Syriac texts
corresponded to the original while the Greek texts were
translations from Syriac.16
Various pseudepigraphic writings were attributed to Daniel
and Ezra. An apocalypse is entitled: The young Daniel, concerning Our
Lord and the end of the world.17 Another apocalypse relating to the
kingdom of the Arabs bears the following title: Question which the
scribe Ezra asked while in the desert with his disciple Karpos.18 The author
of that late production — it postdates the Arab conquest19 —
made use of the 4th Book of Ezra and borrowed its motifs from
Daniel and the Apocalypse of St John. Iselin, in the study he
devoted to that apocryphon,20 came to the conclusion “that the
Apocalypse of Ezra is composed of elements borrowed from one
14 An extract in the British Museum, Catal. Wright, p. 997, col. 1.

15 In the Bibliothèque nationale in Karshuni (Arabic written in the
Syriac alphabet), Catal. Zotenberg, n. 194, 23.
16 NESTLE has published a Syriac collation of the Vitæ Prophetarum, as
found in MSS from the British Museum, in the Syrische Grammatik, 2nd
ed., Berlin, 1888, n. III of the chrestomathy. Michael the Syrian included
another collation in his History. HALL has also translated a collation in the
Journ. of the exegetical Society, 1887, p. 28; comp. with ibid., 1887, p. 97; 1888,
p. 63; NESTLE, Die dem Epiphanius zugeschriebenen Vitæ Prophetarum in
Marginalien und Materialen, Tübingen, 1893.
18 Published with a German translation by BÆTHGEN in the Zeitschr.
für die alttest. Wissenschaft, 1886, 200–210; and with a French translation by
CHABOT, Revue sémitique of Halévy, 1894, 242–250, and 333–346.
English translation by HALL, Presbyterian Quarterly, 1886.
19 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, I, 282 ff., dated its composition to after the
capture of Constantinople by the Turks. Chabot argues against such a late

date; the events referred to in the tale correspond to the 1st century of the
Hijra.
20 Apocalyptische Studien; die Apocalypse des Esra in syrischer Sprache von Prof.
Bæthgen veröffentlicht in the Theol. Zeitschrift aus der Schweiz, 1887, p. 60–64.
or more Jewish apocalypses reworked by a Christian.” But Chabot

rejects that conclusion, which is influenced by Fischer’s recent
theories on the Apocalypse of St John, for he believes, rightly it
seems, “that the Apocalypse of Ezra is merely a bizarre
composition, a medley of badly combined biblical motifs, a
compilation written by a Christian author of Syria based solely on
his biblical memories and with no access to documents, which are
in any case now lost.”21
Also written under the name of Ezra are a tale of the Nativity
of Our Lord22 and a treatise on alchemy. Several chemical
preparations attributed to that biblical character are preserved in a
Cambridge MS entitled the Book of the Learned Scribe Ezra and
translated in the Chimie au moyen âge by Berthelot (Paris, 1893, II,
p. 294–296).23
There is in Arabic a History of the Deportation of the Israelites to
Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar at the time of Jeremiah, which, according to
Zotenberg,24 is of Jewish origin but must have passed into Arabic
via a Syriac intermediary. That very extensive history begins with
the conflict between Jeremiah and Zedekiah and extends to the
time of the Jews’ return and the rebuilding of the Temple.
The Story of Ahiqar, the Scribe of the King of Assyria, Sennacherib,
and of his nephew Nadan, was composed in Hebrew or in Aramaic
prior to the Christian era, shortly before the Book of Tobit, with
which it shares several elements. Several traces of that apocryphon
can be found in the ancient Christian documents. The original is
lost but we have several collations (in Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic,
Armenian, Greek and Slavonic) published with an English
21Revue sémitique, 1894, p. 343.

22An extract in the British Museum, Cat. Wright, p. 352, col. 2.
23 It must be noted that in other MSS, the same preparations are part
of book X of the treatise of pseudo-Democrite. The name Ezra (‫ )ܥܙܪܐ‬and

the word ten in Syriac (‫ܥܣܪܐ‬, esra) are close enough to explain that
confusion.
24 Catal. syr., n. 65, 3; n. 238, 8, contains the same apocryphon; as do n.
273, 4, and 276, 15.

translation by Rendel Harris, Conybeare and Lewis (with an

introduction by Rendel Harris).25
The History of the Rechabites, as told by Zosimus, survives in
several Syriac collations; it is of Jewish origin but Jacob of Edessa
based his Syriac translation26 on a Greek version.
The Legend of Bahira, of Christian origin, is composed of three
distinct parts containing apocalyptic visions: the first part seems to
date back to the late 11th or early 12th century; the second part, the
true Legend of Bahira, could be much more ancient; the third part
does not appear to have been composed at a much later date than
the first. Gottheil has edited the Syriac and Arabic texts of the
legend with an English translation.27
§2. — THE APOCRYPHA OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Apocrypha of the NT are regularly attested in Syriac literature.
Besides the Testament of Our Lord, which is the object of the first
book of the Apostolic Constitutions attributed to St Clement, are also
known a Testament of Our Lord Given to the Disciples on the Olive Tree
Mound and a Testament of Our Lord addressed to St Peter.28
Lagarde’s edition (see below, p. 81) of the Testament of Our
Lord, placed at the beginning of the Apostolic Constitutions, contains
nothing but fragments. An edition of the entire text came with
Rahmani’s publication of two MSS, from Mosul and the Borgia
25 The Story of Ahikar by F. C. Conybeare, J. Rendel Harris and Agnes Smith

Lewis, London, 1898; the Ethiopic text edited by CORNILL and the
Slavonic text have not been reprinted. That edition has led to a new study
of the Story: Cf. COSQUIN, L’histoire d’Ahikar in the Revue biblique, 1899,
p. 50–52 and 510–531; THEODORE REINACH, Revue des études juives,
1899, p. 1; LIDZBARSKI, Deutsche Literaturzeitung, 1899; HALEVY, Revue
sémitique, 1900, p. 23; MARC, Die Akhikarsagen, Berlin, 1902.
26 Edited with a French translation by NAU, Les fils de Jonadab, fils de
Réchab et les îles Fortunées, Paris, 1899. The editor stresses its importance for
apocryphal literature and for the geographical myth of the fortunate
islands.
27 GOTTHEIL, A Christian Bahira Legend, New York, 1903.
28 Cat. Vat., t. III, p. 506 and 507; Catal. Zot., n. 194, 20; n. 232, 3.
Museum respectively.29 Following these MSS, Jacob (of Edessa)

composed the Syriac version in 998 of the Seleucids (687 AD).
The Gospel of Thomas the Hebrew or the Childhood of Our Lord has
come down to us in a Syriac collation that differs from both the
Greek and Latin collations. The Syriac MS in the British Museum
on which it is written30 omits the first chapter of the Greek text.
The Bibliothèque nationale holds an Arabic version on two MSS
written in Syriac characters.31
Budge has published: (1) the Story of the Virgin Mary and of the
life of Our Lord on earth, an apocryphon that gives a sufficiently
complete summary of the Proto-Gospel of St James, the Gospel of
pseudo-Matthew, the Gospel of Thomas the Hebrew, the Gospel of the
Nativity of the Virgin Mary and the Transitus; (2) the Story of the
Mocking Portrait which the Jews of Tiberias made of Jesus. In appendix,
Budge reprinted the Syriac fragments of the Proto-Gospel of St James
and the Gospel of Thomas the Hebrew edited by Wright.32
29 IGNATIUS EPHRAEM II RAHMANI, Testamentum D. N. Jesu

Christi nune primum edidit, latine reddidit et illustravit, Mayence, 1899. That
edition led to a great many critical studies, of which only several can be
mentioned here: FUNK, Das Testament unseres Herrn und die verwandlen
Schriften, Mayence, 1901; NAU, Fragment inédit d’une tradition jusqu’ici inconnue
du Testamentum D. N. Jesu Christi, Journ. asiatique, March-April 1901, p. 233;
BAUMSTARK, Ueberlieferung und Bezeugung der διαθήκη, Römische
Quartalschr., XIV, p. 1; ARENDZEN, A new syriac Text of the apocalyptic part
of the Test. of our Lord, Journ. of theol. Studies, II, 401; COOPER and
MACLEAN, The Test. of our Lord translated…, London, 1902; GUERRIER,
Le Test. de N.-S., essai sur la partie apocalyptique, Lyon, 1903.
30 Published by WRIGHT, Contributions to the apocryphal Literature of the
N.T., London, 1865; comp. with TISCHENDORF, Apocalypses apocryphæ,

Leipzig, 1866, p. LIII; COWPER, The apocryphal Gospels, London, 1867,
p. LXXV and CX.
31 Catal. Zotenberg, n. 238, 7; n. 273, 3.
32 A. WALLIS BUDGE, The History of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the
History of the Likeness of Christ, I, the syriac texts; II, English translations,
London, 1899. Cf. WRIGHT, Contributions to the apocryphal Literature of the
N.T., London, 1865. LEWIS has reprinted the Proto-Gospel of St James and
the Transitus Beatae Mariae, as found in a palimpsest of the monastery of St
Wright has published with an English translation33 the Syriac

version, in six books, of the Transitus Beatae Mariae, as found in the
British Museum. Another apocryphon of the same type is Obsequies
of the Holy Virgin, also published by Wright.34
A prayer is attributed to St John Baptist.35
The Apocalypse of St Paul is preserved in two Syriac MSS now
in the Vatican.36
The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, with the Revelations that were Made
to Them, which dates to the 8th century, has been published by
Harris.37
The library of the monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai
holds the Syriac and Arabic texts of the Anaphora Pilati and of the
Paradosis Pilati.38
What we know of the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles we also
owe to Wright, for he collected these from several Syriac MSS into
Catherine on Mount Sinai, in Studia sinaitica, n. XI, London, 1902. On the

Paris MSS of the Proto-Gospel of St James, see ZOTENBERG, Catal.,
n. 232, 8; n. 238, 170.
33 WRIGHT, Journal of sacred Liter., 4th series, vol. VI and VII, 1865.
Cf. CURETON, Ancient syriac Documents, London, 1864, p. 110, n. 6;

BICKELL, Theol. Quartalschr., 1866, p. 465.
34 In Contributions to the apocr. Liter. of the N.T., London, 1865.
35 Catal. Zotenberg, n. 12, 20.
36 Catal. Vat., 374 and 472. ZINGERLE has translated the Syriac
version into German, Vierteljahrschrift, IV, p. 139; edited by PERKINS,

Journal of American or. Society, VIII, 182; and reprinted in the Journ. of sacred
Literature, 1865, p. 372. On the Apocalypse of St Peter, an 8th century Arabic
apocryphon, see E. BRATKE, Handscr. Ueberlieferung und Bruchstücke des
arab.-äthiop. Petrus-Apokr. in the Zeitschr. f. wissensch. Theologie, 1893, p. 454–
493.
37 RENDEL HARRIS, The Gospel of the twelve Apostles with the apocalypses
of each one of them, Cambridge, 1900.

38 These texts have been published by Mrs GIBSON, Apocrypha
sinaitica in Studia sinaitica, n. V, London, 1896. The Syriac text also contains
the letters of Pilate and of Herod, edited by Wright after the British
Museum MS Add. 14609 in his Contributions to the apocryphal literature of the
N.T.
one compilation.39 The compilation includes: (1) ghe Story of St John

of Ephesus, a story which, according to the title, Eusebius of
Caesarea composed following a Greek book, and which was later
translated into Syriac. The composition postdates the Ecclesiastical
History of Eusebius. The Syriac version has the advantage of
reproducing a previously unknown original Greek text; (2) the
Death of St John, translation of the last part (from ch. XV onwards)
of the text published by Tischendorf; (3) a portion of the Περίοδοι
of St Philip which is absent from the Greek text and contains the
tale of the conversion of the Jew Ananias and of the city of
Carthage; (4) the Acts of St Matthew and of St Andrew, translated
from Greek;40 (5) the Story of St Thecla, disciple of Paul the Apostle,
translated from Greek;41 (6) the Acts of St Thomas.42
As Wright notes, the Acts of St Thomas are the masterpiece of
his collection. At the time of the collection’s birth, the Greek
version of these Acts, which has since been entirely published by
39 Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, London, 1871; vol. I, the Syriac text;
vol. II, the English translation.
40 There is a different Syriac document in the Bibliothèque nationale,
Catal. Zotenberg, n. 234, 40.

41 The story is included in The Book of Women with the stories of Ruth,
Esther, Judith and Susanna; comp. with Catal. Wright, p. 98, 651, 1042 and
1123. LEWIS has collated that edition of the Story of Thecla with a
palimpsest of the Sinai, Studia sinaitica, n. IX, London, 1900, Appendix II;
in Appendix I, she has published the Story of Susanna.
42 In the 3rd vol. of his Acta martyrum et sanctorum, Paris, 1892, F.
Bedjan has provided an edition of the text, with the addition of the Syriac
Acts of Thomas. That reedition reproduces the text of Wright with variants
and the numerous additions of MSS from Berlin. WRIGHT’s text is
divided into eight acts (πράξεις), as in Greek (ed. BONNET); the edition
of BEDJAN contains sixteen acts but does not include the hymn on the
soul, which is absent from both the Berlin and Cambridge MSS, see Catal.
of the syriac ms. of Cambridge, p. 702. BURKITT has published fragments of
the Acts of St Thomas, as found in a Sinai MS in Studia sinaitica, n. IX,
London, 1900; LEWIS has edited other fragments, as found in a Sinai
palimpsest, Acta mythologica Apostolorum in Horae semiticae, III (transl. IV),
London, 1904.
Max Bonnet (Acta Thomæ, Leipzig, 1883), was not yet fully known.
The Bonnet edition wholly coincides with the Syriac text.43 The
Gnostic character of these Acts, more readily visible than in other
such apocrypha, is, however, less conspicuous in the Syriac text,
which was reworked to agree more closely with the Orthodox view.
The Hymn on Wisdom, for instance, which St Thomas sang in the
first of his Acts, became in Syriac a hymn on the Church. Yet, by a
happy coincidence, the Syriac text has preserved a Gnostic hymn
on the soul which is absent from the other collations.44
The Syriac origin of the hymn on the soul is not called into
question. Indeed, the Acts were most likely composed in Syriac in
the East and then travelled West through the medium of a Greek
version. Macke45 has pronounced himself in favour of that view
and Nœldeke’s cross-examination of the Wright and Bonnet
editions has confirmed that opinion.46 Wright had already
43 NŒLDEKE was the first, in his review of WRIGHT’s publication,

Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., 1870, t. XXV, p. 670, to recognise the
Gnostic character of that passage. The critics have accepted his opinion,
see: KARL MACKE, who translated that hymn in the Theologische
Quartalschrift of Tübingen, 1874, p. 3–70; LIPSIUS, who has also made a
German translation, Die apokr. Apostelg., t. I, p. 292–300; and BEVAN,
who reedited the hymn with an English translation in the Texts and Studies
of ARMITAGE ROBINSON, vol. V, n. 3, Cambridge, 1897. BONNET
has found a Greek version of the text, Acta Apostolorum apocr., vol. II, pars
2, Leipzig, 1903, p. 109. G. HOFFMANN reprinted, translated, and
provided a commentary of, the three hymns, Zwei Hymnen der Thomasakten
in the Zeitschr. f. die neutest. Wissenschaft, 1903, p. 273–309. Cf.
PREUSCHEN, Zwei gnotische Hymnen ausgelegt, mit Text und Uebersetzung,
Giessen, 1904.
44 LIPSIUS, Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden,
Brunswick, 1883, t. I, p. 232. Cf. BONNET, Acta Apostolorum apocr., vol.

II, pars 1, Leipzig, 1898; vol. II, pars 2, Leipzig, 1903.
45 See previous note.
46 In LIPSIUS, Die apocr. Apostelgesch., t. II, 2nd part, p. 423–425;
comp. with HARNACK, Die Chronologie der altchrist. Litteratur bis Eusebius,
Leipzig, 1893, I, 545–549; and BURKITT, The original language of the Acts of
commented on the archaic style of the Syriac composition. Since

then it has been observed that the various hymns contained in that
composition are organised in six-syllable lines. As for the
irregularities in measure in some lines, they are due to the
alterations of the Orthodox copyist. The author had a clear
recollection of the dates and locations of the events he describes;
the itinerary followed by the apostle journeying to India is that used
by merchants at the beginning of the Christian era; indeed, the
Kings Gondophares and Mazdai, who appear in the story, ruled at
that time.47 Nœldeke deduced that these Acts were composed at
Edessa in the school of Bardaisan. Lipsius further notes that their
composition dates to 232, time of the victory of Alexander Severus
over Artaxerxes and of the transfer of the apostle’s relics to Edessa.
This transfer was the setting for the writing of the Acts of St Thomas.
We would thereby have a document clearly demonstrating the
continuing influence of Gnostic ideas on the Church of Edessa in
the first half of the 3rd century AD.
Both the veneration inspired by the tomb of the apostle at
Edessa and the Syrian origin of the Acts serve to explain the degree
of popularity the Acts of St Thomas enjoyed in Syria. Jacob of Serug
composed a metric homily about the palace which the apostle
Thomas had built for the king of India.48 Gewargis of Alqosh, a
Nestorian author of the 18th century, put into verse the various
acts of the apostle’s mission.49
Judas Thomas in Journal of theological studies, I, 2, 1900, p. 280–290. According

to BURKITT, that hymn was composed by Bardaisan himself in the early
3rd century.
47 VON GUTSCHMID, Die Kœnigsnamen in den apocryphen
Apostelgeschichten in the Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, 1864, 161–183, and
380–401, or Kleine Schriften, II, 332–394; SYLVAIN LEVI, Journal asiatique,
Jan.-Feb. 1897, p. 27.
48 Edited by SCHRŒTER, Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., t. XXV, p.
321, and t. XXVIII, p. 584.

49 CARDAHI has published that little poem, Liber thesauri de arte poetica
Syrorum, p. 130. Bar Hebræus summarised the Acts of St Thomas at the

beginning of the second part of the ecclesiastical chronicle. In the Book of
Bedjan published in Syriac the Story of St Peter and the Story of

St Paul in the first volume of the Acta martyrum et sanctorum.50 The
second volume of that collection contains the Colloquium of St Peter
with Emperor Nero.
The legend of the Finding of the Head of St Paul is reproduced in
several Syriac documents; it is at times included in the apocryphal
letter of Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy concerning the
martyrdom of St Peter and St Paul.51 We also find it in the Book of
the Bee and in a Syriac chronicle.52
In the Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1898, Abbot Nau published a
French translation of the Syriac version of the martyrdoms of
St Peter, St Paul and St Luke, as found in British Museum MSS
Add. 12172 and 14732, as well as the text on the martyrdom of
St Luke. Nau established the links that exist between the Syriac
texts and the Greek collations for St Peter and St Paul. The
martyrdom of St Luke is not attested in Greek, only in Coptic and
Ethiopic; it seems to be of Coptic origin; Nau nonetheless argues
for a Greek original.
Cureton53 published the Sermon of Simon Kepha in the Town of
Rome after MSS held in the British Museum.
the Bee, ed. BUDGE, p. 110 (transl., p. 105), merchant Habban is the one
who brings the body of the apostle back to Edessa.
50 Cf. GUIDI, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesellschaft, XLVI, p. 744;
BAUMSTARK, Die Petrus und Paulusacten, Leipzig, 1902; EPHRAEM II

RAHMANI, Studia syriaca, Mount Lebanon, 1904, chap. II, n. 2; LUIGI
DE STEPHANI, Storia del beato apostolo S. Paolo, traduzione del siriaco,
Giornale della Soc. asiat., t. XIX, p. 201.
51 Published in Syriac by Abbot PAUL MARTIN in the Analecta sacra
of Card. Pitra, t. IV, p. 241–249.

52 The book of the bee, ed. BUDGE, Oxford, 1886, p. 122 (transl., p.
108); cf. Abbot NAU, Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1896, p. 396 ff.;
RAHMANI, Studia syriaca, cited above, chap. II, n.1.
53 CURETON, Ancient syriac documents, p. 35–41. LIPSIUS has briefly
analysed the historical content of that document, Die apocr.

Apostelgeschichten, II, 206. Cf. BAUMSTARK, Die Petrus und Paulusacten,
cited above [in n. 50], p. 38.
The Sermon of St Peter, the Martyrdom of St James, the Sermon of

Simon son of Cleophas and the Martyrdom of Simon son of Cleophas, as
found in Arabic MSS from the monastery of St Catherine, were
probably the work of medieval monks.54
Paul de Lagarde has published the Syriac version of part of
these Homilies and Recognitions of pseudo-Clement in Clementis romani
Recognitiones syriace, Leipzig, 1861.55
The extant Syriac documents contain most of the
constitutions and canons attributed to the apostles.56 Paul de
Lagarde has published the Didascalia apostolorum, lost in Greek but
fortunately preserved in Syriac, as found in Syr. MS 62 of the
Bibliothèque nationale, Didascalia apostolorum syriace (without the
name of the editor), Leipzig, 1854.57
54 GIBSON published these apocrypha with an English translation,

Apocrypha sinaitica in n. 5 of the Studia sinaitica, London, 1896.
55 Compare with BATTIFOL, La littérature grecque in that collection of
the Anciennes littératures chrétiennes, p. 47. GIBSON edited in the Apocrypha

sinaitica, n. V of the Studia sinaitica, two abridged Arabic versions of the
Recognitions: one after a Sinai MS, the other after MS Add. 9965 in the
British Museum. The second version is followed by the fabulous tale of
the martyrdom of St Clement.
56 In the catalogue of the works of Dionysius bar Salibi is mentioned a
Compendium Canonum Apostolicorum which has not yet been recovered;

ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 210.
57 Lagarde’s edition served as the basis for the study of FUNK, Die
apostolischen Konstitutionen, Rottenburg, 1891, and for the French translation

by NAU: La Didascalie traduite du syriaque, Paris, 1902. GIBSON has
reedited the Syriac text with an English translation: The Didascalia
Apostolorum in Horae Semiticae, I and II, London, 1903. Cf.
WELLHAUSEN, Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1903, p. 258; HOLZHEY,
Die Abhängigkeit der syr. Didascalia von der Didache in Compte rendu du IVe
congrès scient. internat. des Catholiques, Freiburg, 1898; by the same author,
Dionysius von Alexandrien und die Didascalia in Zeitschr. f. neutest. Wissenschaft,
II, p. 151; FUNK, La date de la Didascalie des Apôtres in Revue d’histoire ecclés.,
II, p. 798; ACHELIS and FLEMMING, Die ältesten Quellen des oriental.
Kirchenrechts, II Buch, Die syrische Didascalia übersetzt und erklärt, Leipzig,
1904.
The MS in the Bibliothèque nationale which contains the

Didascalia apostolorum includes extracts from books I to VII and
book VIII of the Apostolic Constitutions attributed to St Clement.
Paul de Lagarde has also published these texts.58
Paul de Lagarde59 and Cureton60 published the Apostles’
Doctrine in Syriac. Cureton placed the Doctrine of St Peter61 after that
apocryphon.
The Syriac apocrypha we have mentioned so far are, for the
most part, translations from Greek. The Doctrine of Addai is, on the
other hand, an original document of Syriac literature. As such, it
requires more than just a brief mention. Indeed, that apocryphal
work is closely tied to, and thus sheds light on, the history of the
first churches of Oriental Syria.
Abgar Ukkama, the king of Edessa, who was suffering from a
chronic, incurable disease, hears of the miracles and marvellous
cures performed by Jesus in Palestine. He writes to the Saviour
asking him to come to Edessa to heal him and be king by his side;
Jesus would thereby be sheltered from the Jewish assassination
plots against him. The Lord replies that he has a mission to
accomplish on Earth and cannot accept Abgar’s invitation, but
adds that before returning to heaven he shall designate one of his
apostles to restore the king’s health.
The task of evangelising Mesopotamia befalls the apostle
Addai. After Pentecost, that apostle proceeds to Edessa, where he
58 Reliquæ juris ecclesiastici antiquissimæ syriace, Leipzig, 1856, p. 2–32 and

44–60; the Greek edition by Paul de Lagarde came out the same year and
bears the same title. There also is a Recueil de tous les canons des saints Apôtres
et des synodes des saint Pères, containing one hundred and fifty one titles,
Catal. Vat., III, n. CXXVII, p. 178; Catal. Zotenberg, n. 62, 4; cf.
BAUMSTARK, Die nichtgriechischen Paralleltexte zum achten Buche der
apostolischen Konstitution in Oriens Christianus, 1901, p. 98.
59 Reliquiæ, etc., p. 32–44, as found in the same Bibl. nat. MS, in which
that apocryphon bears the title Doctrine of Addai.

60 Ancient syriac documents, London, 1864, p. 24–35, as found in the
British Museum MS, Add. 14044.

61 Anc. syr. doc., 35–41, as found in two MSS from the British Museum.
heals King Abgar, as well as one of his courtiers who had also
fallen victim to an incurable disease. Thereafter he gathers all the
inhabitants on the town’s main square and, at the sound of his
voice, all, be they pagan or Jewish, convert with equal haste. Addai
has the idols’ temples destroyed; he builds the first church at
Edessa and administers it up to his final hour. Before dying he
designates Aggai, whom he had previously ordained, as his
successor; after his death he is buried with all due honours in the
sumptuous mausoleum of the kings of Edessa, and everyone
mourns.
That is, in essence, the nature of the apocryphon. Scholars62
agree that the Doctrine of Addai should be viewed as a legend. It is
now known that the first Christian king of Edessa was Abgar IX,
son of Manu, who reigned from 179 to 214, not Abgar V, or Abgar
Ukkama, also son of Manu, who reigned in the early years of the
Christian era. The princes who preceded Abgar IX at Edessa were
pagan; on the coins from their respective reigns is depicted above
the prince’s head a tiara bearing the emblem of the ancient sidereal
cult: the moon crescent and three stars. Moreover, the Chronicle of
Edessa provides us with a document from the archives of Edessa
on the inundation of year 201. In this text the Christian church is
referred to in a manner that suggests Christianity was not the state
religion at that time. Only after his return from Rome, around 206,
did Abgar IX become a Christian. The similarity in name and
filiation readily explains the confusion between the two Abgars, yet
this confusion was not wholly fortuitous; rather, it was deliberately
sought after. Edessa, turned religious and literary centre of Oriental
62 As had done several scholars before him, RAHMANI in Acta s.

Confessorum Guriae et Shamonae, Rome, 1899, has sought to establish the
historicity of the evangelisation of Mesopotamia at the time of the
apostles, basing his research on a list of bishops provided by the Chronique
de Michel le Syrien (ed. CHABOT, p. 110; transl., I, p. 184), but
BAUMSTARK in Oriens Christianus, 1901, p. 190, has established that the
list is false; for the Church of Edessa, Michael relies on the Chronicle of
Edessa.
Syria, placed the origin of its church in the time of the apostles. A
claim which can be observed in many other churches as well.
The legend surrounding the name of Abgar V must have
emerged quite some time after the conversion of Abgar IX for it to
carry any credibility at Edessa proper. In any case, it must have
been accepted by the early 4th century since Eusebius records it as
a historical fact.
The two texts used for the critique of that legend are chapter
XIII of the first book of the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius and
the Syriac version of the Doctrine of Addai; all the other documents,
be they Syriac, Greek, Latin, Armenian, Coptic, Arabic, etc. derive
from these two sources.63 As Eusebius himself testifies, the tale he
gave was based on a Syriac text, a copy of which he owned; before
transcribing Abgar’s letter and Jesus’s reply into Greek, he writes:
“You can find the written testimony of these events in the archives
of the town of Edessa, which at that point was ruled by kings. The
public documents which record the ancient events and facts
concerning Abgar have survived and, therefore, preserved that
testimony. Nothing can be better than to hear a selection of letters
made by us (or for us, ἡμῖν ἀναληφθεισῶν) and translated literally
into Syriac in the following way.” The note of the Edessa archives
is drawn from the ending of the Syriac apocryphon, which will be
discussed later.
The Doctrine of Addai reproduces an extended version of the
ancient document of Eusebius: several legends omitted from the
original text were added. In its current form, it must date to the late
4th or early 5th century. Cureton recognised important extracts in
two MSS from the 5th or 6th century now in the British Museum.64
Philipps has brought the complete text to light thanks to a MS in St
63 TIXERONT made a list of the main documents among these in his

work: Les origines de l’Eglise d’Edesse et la légende d’Abgar, Paris, 1888;
compare also with MATTHES, Die Edessenische Abgarsage auf ihre
Fortbildung untersucht, Leipzig, 1882.
64 Published in Ancient Syriac Documents, ed. CURETON, London,
1864, where the passage of the Eccl. History of Eusebius concerning the
legend of Abgar precedes them.
Petersburg, probably dating to the 6th century, which he published

in London in 1876 under the title The doctrine of Addai the Apostle.
The Syriac text indicates October of year 343 of the Seleucid
era, or 31 AD, for the departure of the deputees sent by Abgar to
Palestine. That source agrees with the prevalent chronology, which
places the Passion of Christ in year 32. However, the original
followed by Eusebius gave year 340, as in the ancient computation
which placed the Passion in year 29 of the Christian era.65 Eusebius
replaced the name of the apostle Addai, which his copy presumably
bore, with Thaddeus (Θαδδαῖος); he believed that the Syriac name
Addai corresponded to the Greek name of the apostle Jacob
Thaddeus. Lastly, Hannan (Greek Ananias), deputy of King Abgar,
bears the title of courier (ταχυδρόμος) in Eusebius and that of
secretary (tabularius) in the Doctrine. That variation is due to
Eusebius reading tabellarius rather than tabularius, confusion brought
about by the word’s transcription into Syriac letters.66
In these two documents, Abgar’s letter and Jesus’s response
differ on several occasions. That is due to the nature of Syriac
writing, which is prone to detailing or explaining facts through
short additions. Jesus’s reply to Abgar’s letter is written in Eusebius
but is spoken in Syriac, thereby invalidating the argument by which a
letter of the Lord, were it authentic, would figure in the canonical
books of the NT.
The most substantial difference is the addition found at the
end of Jesus’s reply in the Doctrine: “Your town shall be blessed and
no enemy shall be able to overcome it.” That addendum
corresponds to a new legend, unknown to Eusebius, which appears
to have developed around the middle of the 4th century.
St Ephrem alludes to it in his Testament; the Gallo-Roman pilgrim,
whose travel tales Gamurrini67 found and published, also mentions
65A Greek MS, the Medicæus, adds in the margin before number 340
the word τρίτῳ, in order to harmonise the tale with the new chronology.
66 LIPSIUS, Die Edessen. Abgarsage, Brunswick, 1880, p. 22.
67 In the fourth volume of the Historical and Juridical Academy of
Rome, 1887, under the title S. Hilarii tractatus… et sanctæ Silviæ Aquitaniæ
it. That pilgrim, a pious lady, received from the bishop of Edessa,
whom unfortunately she does not name, a copy of both Abgar’s
and Jesus’s letter. The latter contained the benediction, as the
following passage demonstrates (p. 68): “Although I have copies of
these letters in my country, I very much appreciated receiving these
from the bishop, for the letters available here had been somewhat
shortened; what I have received from his hands surely represents a
more complete version (nam vere amplius est quod hic accepi).” Besides,
the bishop refers to this benediction (two pages higher). To the
traveller he relates the Persian siege of Edessa that took place a
short time after Abgar received the Lord’s letter. Abgar, he claims,
immediately made for the city gates and, holding the letter, he
exclaimed: “Lord Jesus! You promised us no enemy would enter
the city.” At once, an impenetrable gloom encircled the town and
the Persians were made to depart. This tale differs little from that
which we find in the chronicle attributed to Joshua the Stylite.68 In
that chronicle we are told that, on Wednesday 17 September 503,
the Persians lay siege to Edessa but were unable to defeat it: “All
the city gates were open yet Christ’s benediction prevented the
Persians from entering.” Further, both the Acts of Mari, discussed
below, and a homily by Jacob of Serug69 mention this legend. Of
interest are Procopius’s observations on the subject:70 “The authors
of the history of that time ignored the end of the letter, which
contained the benediction, but the Edessanians alleged that this
benediction was part of the letter. Because of this belief, they
placed the letter as a palladium before the city gates. In order to
assess the validity of this belief, Khosro lay siege to Edessa. A
sudden inflammation of his face forced him to withdraw in
disgrace.” This note refers to the siege of year 544, an episode
which Procopius has already related in depth.
peregrinatio ad loca sancta; reedited for the Corpus scriptorum eccl. latinorum by
PAUL GEYER, Silviæ peregrinatio in Itinera Hierosolymitana, Vienna, 1898.
68 See below p. 153.
69 CURETON, Anc. syr. documents, p. 107.
70 Book II, chap. XII, ed. DINDORF, p. 208–209.
Due to the weight that the benediction legend carried in the

Orient, it came to overshadow the legend of the portrait of Jesus.
Neither Eusebius, the Gallo-Roman pilgrim nor Procopius
mention the latter tale.
On the other hand, in the West, where the legend of the
portrait was celebrated, it grew and changed through time.
According to the Doctrine, Hannan, the archivist and painter of
Abgar, after having completed the mission Jesus had assigned him,
set out to execute a portrait of the divine Master using choice
colours. Once complete, he brought it to King Abgar, who gave
him a prime position in his palace.
Later the legend was fundamentally changed: the portrait was
no longer considered to be the work of a man, for how could a
human creation produce miracles?71 It must therefore have been
made by Jesus himself. The brilliance of the divine face, or the
perpetual transformations it experiences, prevents Hannan the
painter from fixing the traits of the Lord. Jesus takes the canvas
from the hands of the painter and applies it on his face, thereby
leaving its imprint; or Jesus washes then dries his face either with
the painter’s canvas or with ordinary linen.72
The Syriac texts which mention the portrait of Jesus are,
according to the Doctrine of Addai: the Acts of Mari (ed. Abbeloos,
p. 13–15); the Story of Zachariah (Land, Anecdota syriaca, III,
p. 324); cf. A Compendious History of Dynasties by Bar Hebræus (ed.
Pocock, p. 71; ed. Salhani, p. 113).
71 In Evagrius, the siege of Edessa by Khosro in 544 did not fail, as

Procopius claims, due to the benediction but rather because of the
portrait of Jesus.
72 LIPSIUS, Die Edess, Abgarsage, p. 54 ff.; MATTHES, Die Edess.
Abgarsage auf ihre Fortbildung untersucht, p. 42–43; TIXERONT, Les Origines

de l’Eglise d’Edesse et la légende d’Abgar, p. 53 ff.; these works establish the
links between the legend of the portrait and the Latin edition of St
Veronica. Moreover, they relate the story of the various copies of the
portrait, and of the transfer of the original from Edessa to Constantinople
and later to Rome.
According to the original document (Eusebius and the

Doctrine), the healing of Abgar and the evangelisation of
Mesopotamia took place after the Ascension. Later apocrypha,
such as the Transitus Beatæ Mariæ73 and the Story of the thirty denarii of
Judas discussed below, place these events after the Passion.
Another legend in the Doctrine of Addai concerns a first
Finding of the Cross. That legend is unexpectedly inserted, in the
manner of a hors d’oeuvre, at the heart of a sermon which Addai
delivered to the Edessanians. “I shall relate to you, said the apostle,
what occurred and took place before those who, as you do,
believed that Christ was the Son of God.” Once Tiberius had
delegated his powers to Emperor Claudius and had set out to battle
the insurgent Spaniards, Protonike, Claudius’ wife, converted at the
sight of the miracles performed by Simon Peter in Rome. The
empress then proceeded to Jerusalem with her two sons and her
daughter to visit the holy sights. She ordered the Jews to hand over
to James, director of the Church of Jerusalem, Mount Golgotha,
which was in their possession. On Golgotha, Protonike found
three crosses and was unable to distinguish the Saviour’s from the
other two, but a miracle relieved her of her misery. Her daughter
died a sudden death; the two first crosses, placed in contact with
the young girl’s body, yielded no result. The third cross, however,
immediately resuscitated the princess, who arose unharmed.
This legend echoes the story of the Finding of the Cross by St
Helen, from which it derives and which it postdates, as Lipsius and
Tixeront have established. The latter places the date of the Syriac
legend circa 400 AD.74 It is around that time that the Greek and
Latin tradition concerning the travels of Constantine’s mother to
Jerusalem and the Finding of the Cross spread throughout the
Orient. The Syriac text confused St Helen with Helen, Queen of
Adiabene, whom Josephus tells us came to Jerusalem in the time of
Claudius. There she settled and built a superb mausoleum.

74 Les Origines de l’Eglise d’Edesse, p. 190.
Owing to this confusion, the event that the Church tradition

places in the 4th century was said to date back to the 1st century in
the Oriental legend. Although this hypothesis is very plausible, the
name of Protonike calls for an explanation that has failed to reach
scholarly consensus. This name appers in Syriac in three different
forms: ‫ܦܪܘܛܘܢܝܩܝ‬, ‫ ܦܛܪܘܢܝܩܝ‬and ‫ܦܪܘܛܢܝܩܐ‬. Nœldeke sees in it an
allusion to the ἐν τούτῳ νίκα of Constantine’s Labarum; other
scholars (Zahn and Nestle) view it as a compound word, Πετρονίκη
“Peter’s victory”, or (Tixeront) πρωτονίκη “the first victory”, i.e. the
first Finding. The word is Greek nonetheless and we must infer
that the document was composed in Greek in Palestine, entering
Mesopotamia only later in its Syriac form.
The first Finding of the Cross was later reconciled with the
second by relating that, following Trajan’s expedition to the Orient,
the true Cross had fallen into the hands of the Jews, who had once
again buried it with the crosses of thieves.
There are several Syriac collations of the Finding of the Cross
which follow either the Oriental tradition or the Occidental
tradition.75
The Doctrine of Addai adds to these apocryphal documents:
(1) a letter from Abgar to Narsai, king of Persia, in which the
former informs the latter of the acts of the mission of Addai the
apostle; (2) two letters from the correspondence between King
Abgar and Emperor Tiberius. Abgar reports to the emperor that
the Jews committed a crime by crucifying Christ, whom they
should have adored. Tiberius replies that the war that opposed him
to the Spaniards prevented him from dealing with this affair. Once
75NESTLE gathered the various Syriac texts in a work entitled De

sancta cruce, Berlin, 1889. F. BEDJAN published the second tale of the
Finding of the Cross in his first volume of the Acta martyrum et sanctorum;
and the first tale in the third volume of the same collection. Cf. RYSSEL,
Archiv f. das Studium der n. Sprachen und Litter., t. XCIII, 1894, p. 1–22
(German translation); Theol. Zeitschr. aus der Schweiz, 1896, 60–63; Zeitschr. f.
Kirchengeschichte, XV, 222; NESTLE, Byzantinische Zeitschr., 1895, IV, 319–
345; PIZZI, Due Legende siriche intorno all’invenzione della Cruce, in Giornale
arcadico, II, 346.
the war had come to an end, however, Tiberius puts several Jewish
leaders of Palestine to death. Abgar rejoices at the decision. In
Tiberius’s letter, the eparch of Syria is called Olbinus rather than
Sabinus, name given at the beginning of the Doctrine. Gutschmid76
has convincingly argued that the Greek writing is responsible for
that variant: CABINOC can easily have become OABINOC. That
legend therefore originates in a Greek document. On the other
hand, the mention of the Spanish War recalls the previous tale on
the Finding of the Cross, of which the war against Spain is also
part. Thus it is likely that the two legends of the Doctrine derive
from the same Greek document, composed in Palestine in the early
4th century. The Doctrine has preserved the order of appearance of
the two legends in the Greek original; which explains why the
legend of the Finding of the Cross occupied such a strange place in
the Doctrine, at the heart of the sermon of the apostle.
The Syriac collation of the Transitus Mariæ gives a different
and far more concise writing of Abgar’s letter to Tiberius. Lipsius
believed the Transitus text to have been the most ancient. For rather
unconvincing reasons, Matthes and Tixeront argue for the opposite
hypothesis.77
The Letter of Jacob, Bishop of Jerusalem, to Quadratus in Italy, asks
to be informed of the decision taken by Tiberius took concerning
the Jews who crucified Jesus.78
The Doctrine does not end with the death of Addai the apostle,
as the title suggests. Rather, it continues with the acts of Aggai, the
successor of the apostle in the administration of the Church of
Edessa. After Abgar’s death, one of his sons took over the throne
76 Untersuchungen über die Geschichte des Kœnigreichs Osrhoene, St-Petersburg,

1887, p. 13.
77 LIPSIUS, Die Edessenische Abgarsage, p. 36, and Die apocr.
Apostelgeschichten, II, 2nd part, p. 192; MATTHES, Die Edess. Abgarsage auf
ihre Fortbildung untersucht, p. 52; TIXERONT, Les Origines de l’Eglise d’Edesse,
p. 73.
78 Published by IGNATIUS EPHRAEM II RAHMANI in Studia
syriaca, Mount Lebanon, 1904, chap. I. F. Daschian has edited an

Armenian version of that letter.
of Edessa. The new prince, who was still pagan, had Aggai put to
death and had his legs broken. That prince can be no other than
Severus Abgar, the son and successor of Abgar IX, whom Dio
Cassius says showed himself deeply cruel towards the inhabitants
of Edessa, claiming his deeds were required for the introduction of
Roman customs. His father had named him Severus in homage to
the Emperor Septimius Severus. A Syriac fragment published by
Cureton79 confirms that conjecture: “Addai evangelised Edessa and
Mesopotamia. He was from Paneas and lived in the time of King
Abgar. As he was in Sophene, Severus, son of Abgar, put him to
death near the citadel of Aggel, together with a young man, his
disciple.” As Gutschmid has already made clear,80 this text denotes
an Armenian source. The Armenian Church believes it dates back
to the time of the apostles and confuses Addai with his successor
Aggai; it claims that the missionary responsible for evangelising
Armenia passed away in that province. Although only a legend, it is
nonetheless based on historical events.
The Doctrine of Addai ends with the following tale: “Aggai,
having passed away right after his legs had been broken, did not
have the time to install Palut. Palut went to Antioch and was
enthroned by Serapion, who was the bishop of that town. Serapion
had been enthroned by Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome, who himself
had been consecrated by Simon Peter. Our Lord had designated
Simon Peter, who was bishop of Rome during twenty-five years in
a time when Caesar reigned for thirteen years.”
That tale contains obvious anachronisms: Serapion was
bishop of Antioch from 190 to 210 and Zephyrinus was bishop of
Rome from 198 or 199 to 217. In reality, Caesar did not reign for
thirteen years, if we are to believe Augustus, who reigned for forty-
Anc. syr. documents, p. 110, n. IV.

79
80 Untersuch. Ueber die Geschichte des Kœnigreichs Osrhoene, p. 16.
SOLOMON OF BASRA, in his Book of the Bee, ed. BUDGE, Oxford,
1886, p. 123, reproduces this fragment, but with the variant of Herode,
‫ܗܪܘܕܣ‬, not that of Severus, ‫ܣܘܪܘܣ‬, confusion brought about by the Syriac
writing; but the confusion was intentional, the name of Herode fitting
better the time period fixed by the legend (1st century).
five years; but that length of time fits Septimius Severus, who died
in 211, if we are to start counting his regnal years from the death of
his competitor Albinus. These anachronisms suggest that the
legend grew out of historical facts. These are as follow: Addai the
Palestinian evangelised Mesopotamia around the middle of the
2nd century AD. He founded the first church at Edessa and
administered it up to his death. Aggai succeeded him, followed by
Palut in the late 2nd century.
Then comes the final clause of the official acts: “According to
custom, in the kingdom of Abgar and in all kingdoms was written
and archived all that was said before the king. Thus, Labubna, son
of Senac, son of Ebedshaddai, the king’s scribe, put down in
writing these Acts of the apostle Addai, from beginning to end.
Hannan, the secretary-archivist of the king, added his testimony
and placed it in the archives of the royal acts, where all the decrees,
laws and sale contracts are conscientiously stored.” That final
clause was also part of the Syriac text which Eusebius had access
to, and that eminent historian indeed refers to it when he writes
that the document was brought to him from the archives of
Edessa.
Several elements in the legend of Abgar bring to mind the
legend of the thirty denarii of Judas, though the latter belongs to
the literature of the Books of the Jubilees.81 The denarii handed over to
Judas as the price of his treason had been forged by Tareh then
given to his son Abraham; they later passed from the hands of
Abraham to those of Isaac, then came under the possession of the
Pharaohs of Egypt and the queen of Saba, who eventually left them
to Solomon. Nebuchadnezzar, having taken them after seizing
Jerusalem, gave them to the three Wise Men. On their way to
Bethlehem, they misplaced the denarii by a fountain near Edessa.
Merchants found them and used them to buy a seamless tunic from
herdsmen who had received it from an angel. Abgar, the king of
81 We find that legend in Prætermissorum libri duo, ed. LAGARDE,

Göttingen, 1879, p. 94, and in the Book of the Bee, ed. BUDGE, p. 107–108
(transl., p. 95–96).
Edessa, having been made aware of these events, had the tunic and
denarii brought to him and sent them to Jesus to show his
gratefulness to Our Lord, who had restored his health. Jesus took
care of the tunic for him and had the denarii taken to the temple;
those very same coins that would later serve to buy the traitor.
The Doctrine of Addai provided Jacob of Serug with the subject
matter of one of his canticles.82 That apocryphon did not remain in
Edessa. Rather, it spread East and West. We find it, with new
developments, in Armenia, Persia and Babylonia. We shall here
concentrate on the Syriac documents connected to that
apocryphon and which continue its tradition in the Oriental
countries.
The main document, the Acts of Mar Mari (St Maris),83
concerns the evangelisation of Assyria, Babylonia and Persia. That
apocryphon represents the Nestorian tradition; its goal was to
profess that the church of Koke near Ctesiphon, where the seat of
the Oriental patriarchs lay, had been founded in the time of the
apostles. The Occidental Syrians did not know Mari and no
mention was made of him before Bar Hebræus, who relates the
Acts of Mari at the beginning of the second part of his ecclesiastical
chronicle, following the Acts of Addai and Aggai; he borrowed his
tale from the Nestorian books, probably from the Book of the Tower
by Mari, son of Solomon.
The composition of these Acts does not predate the
6th century. No clear recollection of pagan times is integrated in
the fabric of the text; the apostle converted populations that
adored demons living in trees or stones; the astral cult in Babylonia
and the cult of fire in Persia are alluded to only in passing. The
miracles which the apostle is said to have accomplished are in no
82Cureton published an extract of that canticle, Anc. syr. documents,

p. 107; followed, p. 108–110, by a selection of extracts relevant to Abgar
and Addai.
83 Acta sancti Maris syriace sive aramaice, ed. ABBELOOS, Brussels, 1885,
with a Latin translation; reedited in the first vol. of the Acta martyrum et
sanctorum by F. BEDJAN, Paris, 1890; German translation by RICHARD
RAADE, Die Geschichte des Dom Mari, Leipzig, 1893.
way original: a series of known miracles listed is taken, for instance,

from the Book of Daniel.
The Acts of Mari are preceded by an introduction in which are
mentioned: the bronze group of Paneas, representing the Lord and
the hemorrhaging woman, after Eusebius; the correspondence
between Abgar and Jesus, the portrait of the Lord, the healing of
Abgar and the conversion of the inhabitants of Edessa by the
apostle Addai, after the Doctrine of Addai. Following that
introduction, the author addresses his subject matter. Mari, one of
Addai’s disciples, is assigned by his master the task of evangelising
the Orient. The missionary leaves Edessa, accompanied by the
disciples Philip, Malkishoʿ and Adda; he reaches Arzen on the
Armenian border and sends Philip to Gazarta (or Kardu); he then
heads south, converts Assyria, the provinces of the Upper and
Lower Zab, Garamea, and finally arrives in Babylonia. The
inhabitants of Seleucia are debauched drunkards in whose orgies
the apostle has to take part in order to influence them.84 Mari is
better received in Ctesiphon, where the news of his Seleucian cures
had already spread; King Artaban sends him to Dur Qunni, to his
indisposed sister; after her cure she builds, at the saint’s request, the
churches of Dur Qunni and Koke, that were to become renowned
institutions. Kashkar (the center of one of the main Nestorian
bishoprics) greets without resistance the Christian gospel, but the
Maisan (partly occupied by the Mandeans) remains deaf to the
apostle’s sermon. The apostle then goes to preach in Susiana and
reaches its border with India, which the apostle Thomas is in the
process of evangelising. On his return to Babylonia, Mari visits the
churches and disciples of that region and proclaims that the
director of the church of Koke will be superior to all the bishops of
the East, for that church was founded before all the others. He
asks Dur Qunni to send him his disciple Papa and, in the presence
84 FRANZ CUMONT, Note sur un passage des Actes de saint Mari in the
Revue de l’instruction publique en Belgique, t. XXXVI, sixth delivery, sees in
these Seleucian feasts an institution analogous to the gerousia or colleges of
elders established in certain Greek cities of Asia.
of the clergy, he appoints him as his successor. The apostle Mari

then leaves this world for life everlasting and his body is placed in
the church of Dur Qunni.
Papa, referred to in the Acts as the successor of Mari, was
elected primate of the Orient in 266.85 However, even if we allow
that Addai lived in the second half of the 2nd century, as is widely
believed, it would not suffice to make of Mari the disciple of Addai,
for they would still be separated by a hundred year interval.
According to the Book of the Tower,86 Mari died in the year 82. The
gap in the text between the time of Mari and that of Papa is
thereby significantly extended, since there is a discrepancy of 184
years between 82 and 266. Thanks to five intermediary patriarchs
whose historical accuracy can be brought in question, the Book of
the Tower and the chronicle of Bar Hebræus are able to fill that
lacuna. If we are to believe the note written by Papa, the successor
of Mari, the apostle of Oriental Mesopotamia and of Babylonia
lived around the middle of the 3rd century.
According to another tradition, found in the Doctrine of the
Apostles,87 the Book of the Tower,88 the Story of the town of Beth Slok89
and Bar Hebræus,90 the apostle Addai himself, accompanied by his
two disciples Aggai and Mari, was responsible for the
evangelisation of these lands. The Book of the Tower goes as far as to
describe Mari as a direct disciple of Jesus Christ: as a member of
the delegation which Abgar sent to Palestine, he would no doubt
have heard the word of Christ.
85BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, p. 27.

86 GISMONDI, Maris, Amri et Slibæ de patriarchis Nestorianorum
commentaria, pars prior, p. 5; pars altera, p. 2, Rome, 1896–1899.
88 GISMONDI, Maris, Amri et Slibæ, etc., p. 1; ASSEMANI, B. O., III,
II, p. 18 ff.
89 HOFFMANN, Auszüge aus syrischen Akten pers. Märtyrer, Leipzig,
1880, p. 45; see the Syriac text in MŒSINGER, Monumenta syriaca, II,
p. 65, and in BEDJAN, Acta martyrum et sanctorum, II, p. 512.
90 Chron. eccl., II, p. 14.
Among the later apocrypha, we have in Syriac: the Story of

Arsenius, a king of Egypt whom Our Lord resurrected in order to
turn into a Christian ascetic;91 the Letters of Our Lord descended from
heaven in order to declare the sanctity of Sundays.92 The prediction
of the coming of Christ, as announced to the pagans of Harran by
their prophet Baba,93 was probably laid out in an apocryphon.
91 Published by HALL in Hebraica, V, p. 81–88. Comp. with

SACHAU, Verzeichniss der syr. Handschriften, Berlin, 1899, p. 201 and 373.
92 MAXIMILIAN BITTNER, Der vom Himmel gefallene Brief in seinen
morgenländischen Versionen und Recenzionen in the Denkschriften der Kaiserl.

Akademie der Wissensch. in Wien, philosophisch-historische Klasse, L1, Vienna,
1905. Bittner has edited the Greek and Oriental texts of that apocryphon;
he recognises that the original, in Greek, only comprised the first letter,
and that letters II and III were produced only later, in Syria. There one
will find the older publications concerning that legend. Cf. R. DUVAL,
Journal asiatique, Jan.-Feb. 1906, p. 147.
93 IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI, Studia syriaca, Mount
Lebanon, 1904, chap. XI. Cf. NŒLDEKE, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl.
Gesellschaft, LVIII, 1904, p. 495.
IX. THE ACTS OF THE MARTYRS
AND SAINTS
In Syriac literature, as in the other Christian literatures, these Acts

were, for many years, the subject matter of a wealth of writings.
The first ones preserve the names of the confessors who suffered
martyrdom during the persecution of Christians. This persecution
can be divided into two distinct phases: the first took place in the
Eastern Roman Empire, the second occurred in the Persian
Empire under the Sassanian dynasty. The Syriac Acts on the
Roman persecution are limited to Occidental Mesopotamia, Greek
being the literary language of cis-euphratic Syria at that time.
§1. — THE ACTS OF THE MARTYRS

OF OCCIDENTAL MESOPOTAMIA
The compilation in which these Acts are collected is short; it
contains the tale of the martyrdoms of Sharbel, Barsamya, Gurya
and Shamona, as well as that of Habib, which all occurred in
Edessa at different times. That town was the seat of the
government of Roman Mesopotamia and was under the direct
control of the civil and military governor. Moreover, it was the
Christian metropolis of that province. Nowhere else were
Christians so heavily exposed to persecution. However,
prosecutions were rare. The author of the Acts of Habib claims
“many Christians were prosecuted but openly confessed to their
faith, fearing not the potential consequences, since the persecuted
outnumbered the persecutors.”1 These words are the words of an
apologist, not of a historian.
1 CURETON, Anc. syr. documents, p. 73. In that work, p. 41 ff., were

published, with an English translation, the Acts of Sharbel, Barsamya and
97
A few lines will here suffice to provide a brief analysis of the

Acts of Sharbel and Barsamya. In the 15th year of Trajan, which,
according to the synchronisms given in these Acts, corresponds to
the third year of the reign of Abgar VII of Edessa and to year 416
of the Seleucid era (105 AD), the emperor decreed that sacrifices
should be made to the gods and that those who refuse to comply
should be executed. The emperor’s orders reached Edessa during
the festival of Nisan (April), a celebration presided by the great
priest Sharbel and which King Abgar attended. Barsamya, bishop
of Edessa, secretly converted the great priest to the Christian faith,
and he then refused to burn offerings to the false gods. This
conversion led to that of the town’s leading figures. Lysanias, the
Roman governor, after trying in vain to turn Sharbel back to his
first beliefs, had him tortured and put into prison. Only on the
following Aylul (September) 2nd was Sharbel put to death, along
with his sister Babai.
The Acts of Barsamya give the same synchronisms as the Acts
of Sharbel, excluding the year of Abgar VII but adding a mention
of the consulate of Commodus and Cerialis. On Elul 5th, someone
denounces Barsamya to the governor Lysanius as being responsible
for the conversion of Sharbel. The bishop is sent to prison. After
many days, he is again brought before the judge and torture
commences, when the “letters of Alusis the chief proconsul
ὕπαρχος, father of emperors” arrive in Edessa, putting an end to the
persecution.
The clauses added at the end of the Acts of Sharbel and the
Acts of Barsamya prove, through the anachronisms they contain,
that these Acts belong to the same legendary cycle as the Doctrine of
Addai, analysed in the previous section. The great figures of Edessa
who converted to Christianity bear the same names in these
documents. The persecution cannot date back to Trajan, for his
conquest of Edessa was short-lived. Rather, these Acts postdate the
Council of Nicaea, to which they clearly allude.
Habib, reedited by BEDJAN in the first volume of his Acta martyrum et

sanctorum, Paris, 1890.
THE ACTS OF THE MARTYRS AND OF THE SAINTS 99
The Acts of Gurya and Shamona,2 written by Theophilus,

indicate dates for the passion of these confessors that do not all
coincide: year 618 of the Seleucids; regnal year 14 of Diocletian,
who reigned 19 years, and the 8th year of his consulate; the 6th
year of Musionus (governor of Edessa), when Aba and Abgar, sons
of Zeora, were strategists, and Kune was bishop of Edessa.3 Gurya,
who had devoted his life to religion, and his friend Shamona are
cited as fervent Christians before the provincial judge, who sends
them to prison along with many other Christians. Musionus, the
governor of Edessa, requests in vain that they should obey the
emperor’s orders and make a sacrifice to Jupiter. At their refusal,
he has them tortured and eventually put to death on December 15,
618 (306 AD). In it we are told that Theophilus wrote the Acts of
Gurya and Shamona five days after their death.
In the Acts also written by Theophilus, Habib’s martyrdom is
said to date to year 620 of the Seleucids (309 AD), under the
consulate of Licinius and Constantine, when Julius and Barak were
strategists and Kune was bishop of Edessa. Habib is denounced
and prosecuted on account of his active role in the Christian
evangelization of the Edessan countryside. On Aylul (September)
2nd, that confessor is burnt at the stake. Immediately after, the
Acts continue; the news of Constantine’s attack against Licinius
turns minds away from the persecution of the Church, which
therefore finds itself somewhat at peace for some time. The final
clause concerning the writing of the Acts is as follows: “I,
2 Rahmani has found the Syriac text in a MS from Jerusalem:

IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI, Acta sanctorum confessorum Guriæ et
Schamonæ, adjecta Latina versione, Rome, 1899. GALOUST MKERTCHIAN
published the Armenian version in Ararat, August 1896, and translated
into English by CONYBEARE in The Guardian, 10 February 1897. Cf.
The Greek version in the Patrol. gr. by Migne, t. CXVI, p. 145, following
the Acts of Sharbel and Barsamya; and the Latin version in SURIUS, De
probatis sanctorum vitis, 15 Nov., p. 339 and 345; in the Bollandists, 15 Nov.;
in CURETON, Anc. syr. documents, p. 113.
3 BAUMSTARK, Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 192, thinks the exact date
of the martyrdom of Gurya and Shamona is 306 AD.

Theophilus, pagan by birth and converted to Christianity, I

hastened to copy the Acts of Habib, just as I had formerly written
the Acts of the martyrs Gurya and Shamona, his companions. He
admired them for having been stabbed and in turn was himself
burned alive. If I have mentioned the year, month and day of these
confessors’ martyrdom, it is not for those who, like myself, have
witnessed it. Rather, it is to let the future generations know when
these confessors lived and what Acts the ancient martyrs
performed in the time of Diocletian and the other emperors, etc.”
The Acts of Sharbel, Barsamya, Gurya and Shamona, and of
Habib form a whole and share a common origin. Habib’s
martyrdom is a sort of appendix to the Acts of Gurya and
Shamona, in the same way that Barsamya’s confession is attached
to the Acts of Sharbel. The precise dates and names it contains aim
to give the text a false air of historical accuracy. The writing is
attributed to eyewitnesses based on archives from Edessa.
The four legends are closely tied to one another and
presumably share a single author, or at least a specific author for
each group. In the latter case, the second author must have
imitated his predecessor with remarkable accuracy, both in plot and
in style. The Acts from the time of Diocletian would only just
antedate the Acts from the time of Trajan. That literature is no
earlier than 360 AD and could have been composed up to thirty
years later. It contains only a few historical events: the deaths of
Gurya and Shamona, as well as the death of Habib, which can all
be dated to the time of Diocletian.4
These Acts display the whole apparatus of Roman
administration, in all its skilful organisation, transferred to
Mesopotamia with the technical terminology of the legal and
official language. Hence the great many Greek and Latin words
4 The conclusions summarised in the two previous paragraphs were

taken from NŒLDEKE’s article, Ueber einige Edessenische Martyrerakten in
Strassburger Festschrift zur XLVI Versammlung deutscher Philologen, Strasburg,
1901, p. 13–22. Cf. LIPSIUS, Die Edessenische Abgarsage, Brunswick, 1880,
p. 51; and the short martyrology published by WRIGHT after a Syriac MS
dated to 411 in the Journal of sacred literature, Oct. 1865 and Jan. 1866.
contained in these Acts, some of which survived in the vernacular.

One would be mistaken to believe, based on these words, that
these documents were originally composed in Greek: they are
Syriac and were written in Edessa. Later literature alludes to these
texts: in a homily5 St Ephrem mentions Gurya, Shamona and
Habib, while Jacob of Serug composed homilies on Sharbel, Gurya
and Shamona, and Habib.6
Religious persecution also took place in the town of Samosata.
Several Christians of that town were allegedly killed in the third
year of Maximian (308), on the occasion of sacrifices made to the
temple of Fortune. Hipparchus and Philotheus keep well clear of
these sacrifices; furthermore, they convert their noble patricians
friends: Jacob, Paragrus, Habib, Romanus, and Lulianus. All are
arrested, tortured and eventually crucified. The Acts of these
martyrs were probably written down by eyewitnesses; they contain
an interesting description of the town of Samosata. Ev. Assemani,
who published them (Acta Mart., II, 123–147), linked that
persecution to Maximian, but Schulthess believes, backed by more
solid evidence, that these events are the doing of Galerius
Maximianus, who violently persecuted Christians.7
We should also mention here the Story of St Azazail, son of a
nobleman of Samosata, who was taken to Rome where he suffered
martyrdom by the hands of Maximian Hercules in 304. As
demonstrated by Macler, who published the Syriac text with a
French translation,8 that legendary story is an imitation of the
Greek Acts of S. Pancras.
5 S. Ephræmi carmina nisibena, ed. BICKELL, Leipzig, 1866, p. 53.

6 MŒSINGER published the homily on Sharbel in the 2nd vol. of the
Monumenta syriaca, p. 52–63; CURETON edited the homilies on Gurya and
Schamouna, and on Habib, Anc. syr. documents, reprinted by F. BEDJAN in
the first vol. of the Acta martyrum et sanctorum.
7 Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., t. LI, p. 379, note 2.
8 MACLER, Histoire de saint Azazaïl, Paris, 1902.
§2. — THE ACTS OF THE MARTYRS OF PERSIA

The era of persecutions had only just come to an end in the West
when it began in the East against the Christians of the Persian
Empire. The first persecutions date to Shabur II, who reigned for
seventy years, from year 309 to year 379; they were not as
widespread, nor was their duration as clearly determined, as those
in the West. Conceived by the Magi, these persecutions were
decreed by the Persian kings, for they knew the sympathy which
their Christian subjects held for the age-old enemies, the Romans.
Even after Shabur promulgated the Edict against the Church in his
ninth regnal year, the persecutions remained limited to several
provinces of the empire.
The Syriac Acts of the martyrs of Persia contain precious
information concerning the history and geography of Persia at the
time of the Sassanians.9 The first of these Acts relate the
martyrdom of two brothers, Adarparwa and Mihrnarse, and of
their sister Mahdukt, which took place on Mount Beryan, in the
vicinity of Beth Slok (modern Karka), the capital of the Beth
Garmai, in the 9th year of Shabur II (318 AD). Rabban Gabriel, a
monk of the monastery of Beth ʿAbe who lived in the second half
of the 7th century,10 composed these Acts; they relate numerous
legends which cover the primitive tradition.11
In the eighteenth year of Shabur, in 327, the martyrdom of
Zebina, Lazarus, Maruth, Narsai, Elia, Mahri, Habib, Saba,
Shembayteh, Yonan and Brikishoʿ took place. According to the
Greek and Latin authors, these confessors were killed during the
thirty-first regnal year, after the promulgation of the edict against
9 See G. HOFFMANN, Auszüge aus syrischen Akten persicher Märtyrer,

Leipzig, 1880.
10 See Thomas of Marga, ed. BUDGE, London, 1893, t. II, p. 213.
11 HOFFMANN has analysed these Acts in his book cited above;
BEDJAN has published the Syriac text at the beginning of the 2nd vol. of
the Acta mart. et sanctorum; according to the editor, after a MS from Berlin and
MSS from the Vatican. These Vatican MSS are nothing else than MS XVIII
of the Borgia Museum (now in the Vatican), extracts of which can be
found in KAYYATH, Syri orientales, Rome, 1870, p. 164 and 165.
the Church, not in the 18th year of Shabur. We should, it seems,

rely on the date given in the Syriac Acts; the other date was born
out of a later confusion that appeared later, when it was believed
that all persecutions in Persia took place after that edict. Isaiah of
Arzon, son of Hadabo, one of the knights of the country’s king
and eyewitness of the events, is the author of these Acts.12 The
scene is set in Arzanene, on the border between the two rival
empires. That province is not named but its identification is made
obvious by the context.
The Acts of Shabur, bishop of Niqator, of Isaac, bishop of
Beth Slok, of Mani, of Abraham and of Simon bring us back to the
Beth Garmai.13 We are told that the torment of these confessors
dates to the 30th year of Shabur, i.e. 339 AD. The extant Syriac
composition appears to be a product of Edessa, for in it we read
that the martyrs now lie in Edessa, in the new martyrium within the
town. It is nonetheless probably based on ancient documents; the
Christians are referred to as Nazareans, as they were once known in
Persia. However, on comparing it with the Story of the town of Beth
Slok,14 we find major contradictions. In that story, Bishop Isaac,
who was made a martyr, is the predecessor of Yohannan, who
attended the council of the 318 bishops, otherwise known as the
Council of Nicaea, in 325; moreover, Mane, Abraham and Simon
were confessors not under Shabur II but under Yazdgird II, in the
eighth year of his reign (407 AD). The Story provides, for the time
of the martyrs, precise details based on ancient sources. If the
author of the Syriac Acts wrote in Edessa after the saints’ relics had
been transfered there, he will have confused the dates of the
events. The anachronism by which Bishop Isaac is made a
12 EVODIO ASSEMANI published the Syriac Acts in the first vol. of

the Acta sanctorum martyrum, Rome, 1748, and F. BEDJAN published
them, after Assemani and a MS from Mosul, in the 2nd vol. of the Acta
mart. et sanctorum, Paris, 1891, p. 39.
13 ASSEMANI and BEDJAN published these Acts in the collections
cited above.
14 MŒSINGER, Monum. Syriaca, II, p. 66; HOFFMANN, Auszüge,
p. 48; BEDJAN, Acta mart. et sanct., II, p. 513.

contemporary of Mane, Abraham and Simon, derives from the fact

that a priest named Isaac died with these martyrs, as well as
because the execution took place in the same location, in the town
of Kenar in the district of Niqator.
Other martyrs of that town are known to us from the Story of
Beth Slok. Bishop Maʿna, Isaac’s predecessor, was the first to be
persecuted at the Manicheans’ bidding and put to death with the
town’s Christians. The church was destroyed and the persecution
was even extended to the nuns, who were killed outside of the
town, in a place called Hora. The story does not give the names of
these holy women, but these names survive in another Syriac
document;15 their names were: Thekla, Danaq, Taton, Mama,
Mzakhya and Anna. The other persecutions mentioned in that
story took place in the following century; we shall return to them
later, but for now let us resume our catalogue of the documents
dating to the 4th century.
The great persecution of Shabur lasted, with short
interruptions, thirty years, from 340 to 379. It properly started only
one year after the promulgation of the edict of 340 against the
Christians.16 The tale of that persecution has been attributed17 to
Marutha, bishop of Maypherqat, who lived in the late 4th and early
5th century. That bishop was well-versed in literature and was a
distinguished physician. On two occasions he was sent as an
ambassador to Yazdgird I, first by Arcadius and later by
Theodosius II. Thanks to him, peace was restored to the Church
by the Persian king.18 While we can doubt that Marutha authored
15 EVODIO ASSEMANI, Acta s. martyrum, I, p. 100; BEDJAN, Acta

mart. et sanct., II, p. 288.
16 NŒLDEKE, Geschichte der Perser… aus Tabari, Leiden, 1879, p. 411.
17 Cf. J. LABOURT, who questions the veracity of this attribution, Le
christianisme dans l’empire perse, in this collection of the Anciennes littératures

chrétiennes, Paris, 1904, p. 52. ZINGERLE has translated the Syriac text
into German, Echte Acten der heil. Märtyrer, Innsbruck, 1836. Cf.
KMOSKO, Oriens christianus, 1903, p. 385.
18 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, p. 45. A homily for the New
Sunday, attributed to Marutha, is probably the work of Marutha of

the collection of writings on Shabur’s persecutions, it is even more

unlikely that he would have written on the martyrs persecuted by
Bahram V and Yazdgird II; the latter’s death had presumably been
preceded by that of the bishop of Maipherkat.
According to a notice by Amr,19 Ahai, who was patriarch in
418, would also be the author of a story on Shabur’s persecution.
However, we do not know whether any part of that story has
survived, or if all the Lives of the martyrs are the work of Marutha.
First in the collection attributed to Marutha come two
homilies on the martyrs of Persia. These are some of the best
pieces of apologetic literature.20
Patriarch Simeon bar Sabbaʿe inaugurated the martyr series in
the 32nd year of Shabur (341 AD).21 The persecutions were
motivated by the patriarch’s refusal to levy the double poll-tax
which the king had imposed by edict against the Christians, at the
Maipherkat, argues KMOSKO, who published the text in Oriens christianus,

1903, p. 384–415.
19 Ed. GISMONDI, p. 26; comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part II,
p. 369.
20 These two homilies can be found in BEDJAN, Acta mart., II, p. 57
ff.; ASSEMANI’s edition only includes the shorter one.

21 At that time, Simeon had been patriarch for thirteen years,
according to BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, p. 35; for eighteen years
according to Mari and Amr, ed. GISMONDI, pars prior, p. 18; pars altera,
p. 19. Amr mistakenly places the date of Simeon’s death in year 655 of the
Seleucids, or 344 AD. Simeon wrote, according to ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue,
letters which have not survived. OVERBECK has published one of these
hymns, S. Ephræmi… opera selecta, Oxford, 1865, p. 424. There is in Berlin,
Coll. Sachau, n. 108, a MS containing the Book of the Fathers, attributed to
Simeon bar Sabbaʿe, but that book is a treatise on the celestial and
ecclesiastical hierarchies which Simeon of Shanklawa wrote in the
12th century, according to DOM PARISOT, La science catholique, May and
June 1890. Cf. Catal. Sachau, p. 360; Catal. des ms. syr. of Cambridge,
p. 1099. An extract of the Book of the Fathers is included in the
chrestomathy entitled The little book of fragments, ‫ܟܬܒܘܢܐ ܳܕܦܪܬܘܬܐ‬. —
MACLEAN translated a hymn attributed to Simeon bar Sabbaʿe into
English in East Syrian Daily Offices, London, 1894, p. 221.
behest of the Jews, who were in favour with the queen mother.
The author of the tale echoes an accusation made against the Jews,
which was repeated in various Acts of the martyrs of Persia even
though it might have been unfounded. As for the queen mother,
Ephra Hormiz, she was indeed partial to the Jews and had the
capacity to influence the king, her son, as we know from the
Talmud.22
The churches were completely destroyed and Simeon was led,
along with a few priests, to Karka of Ledan, in Susiana, where the
king resided at that point in time. Several bishops were also
brought before Shabur: Gadyahb and Sabina, bishops of Beth
Lapat, Yohannan, of Homizd Ardashir, Bolida, bishop of Prat,
Yohannan, bishop of Karka of Maishan, as well as ninety-seven
priests and deacons. These numerous victims were decapitated;23
their death was preceded on the previous day (Nisan 13, Thursday
of the Holy Week) by that of Guhshtazad, chief of the king’s
eunuchs, who had converted and publically confessed to his
Christian faith. The Christians of Karka of Ledan were not
persecuted, for the newly-constructed town did not pay taxes. The
writer declares that he composed these Acts based on the far more
detailed accounts of previous authors.
These Acts are followed by the tale of the execution of Posi
— chief of the craftsmen, he had encouraged the confessors to
remain steadfast in their beliefs — which took place the following
day. Then comes the tale of the martyrdom of Possi’s daughter,
who had also embraced a religious life; her martyrdom took place
two days later, at Easter.
The persecution did not end there. Instead, it raged on for
several days. On these events we have the testimony of two
documents that differ on several points but agree on the main
22 See NŒLDEKE, Geschichte der Perser… aus Tabari, Leiden, 1879,

p. 52 and 68, notes.
23 According to the Breviarium Chaldaicum, ed. BEDJAN, Paris, 1886,
t. III, p. 133, the relics of Simeon bar Sabbaʿe were deposited in Susa.
aspects.24 According to these documents, the massacre of the

Christians that had been brought to Susiana lasted without
interruption for ten days, from the Holy Thursday to the Sunday of
the second week of Easter (Sunday of Quasimodo). The names of
the victims have not survived, for they were brought from distant
provinces and were unknown in Susiana; we cite: Amarya and
Moqima, bishops of Beth Lapat, and the priest Hormizd, of
Shustar. The commemorative festival of these confessors lasted
three days, on Friday and Saturday of the first week of Easter and
on Sunday of the second week of Easter.
Among the victims of these killings was found the body of
Azad, the king’s favourite eunuch, who, consumed by the zeal
characteristic of proselytes, had placed himself before the
executioners’ sword. The king, who was deeply moved by his
servant’s death, ordered that more caution be used in future. First
the names of the Christians, their parents and their addresses had
to be written down. Only after were they to be interrogated. That
order came out on Sunday of the second week of Easter: “Then,
the first document adds, the carnage ceased and there was a short
respite.”
In the course of the following month of May are recorded the
martyrdom of Simeon bar Sabbae’s two sisters, one of whom was
named Tarbo, and of their maid; all three had devoted their lives to
religion.
The Acts of Tarbo and her companions were followed by
those of Miles, bishop of Susa, crowned king on November 13 of
that same year. The Acts of Miles are of interest for they contain an
ancient tale on the dissensions between the patriarch Papa and his
24 Published in the Acta mart. of F. BEDJAN, t. II, p. 241 and 248; the
Roman edition only contains the second document. The first document
dates the persecution to year 31 of Shabur, the year of the promulgation
of the edict against the Church; the second document gives the more
accurate date of 32. The second document is mistaken in mentioning the
Pentecostal week rather than the Easter week.
clergy, and in which the bishop of Susa played a part. That tale
differs from Bar Hebræus’s25 on several key points.
The second year of Shabur’s persecution began with the
martyrdom of Shahdost, successor of Simeon bar Sabbaʿe on the
patriarchal seat of Seleucia. The patriarch was arrested along with
one hundred and twenty-eight clergymen, priests, deacons, monks
and nuns. They were decapitated, as were most of the other
prisoners, on February 20, 342.26
Barbaʿshmin, successor of Shahdost, suffered the same fate.
He was killed along with seventeen priests, deacons and monks, on
January 9, 346. Thereafter, the patriarchal seat of Seleucia and
Ctesiphon remained vacant for twenty-two years.27
The collection attributed to Marutha also contains Acts of the
martyrs of Susiana and of Fars during the years 342 and 344. The
martyrdom of Narsai, bishop of Shahrgard, took place in Beth
Garmai, the ancient metropolitan seat of the province. That bishop
25 Chron. eccl., II, p. 29–31: comp. with Mari, ed. GISMONDI, pars
prior, p. 8; AMR, ibid., pars altera, p. 15 omits Mari’s tale. We have on that
subject Papa’s correspondence (apocryphal) in a MS from the Borgia
Museum, K. VI, vol. 4; compare with GERSOY, Les manuscrits orient. au
Musée Borgias, in the Zeitschr. für Assyriologie, t. IX, p. 370. BRAUN has
made a German translation of that correspondence in the Zeitschr. für
Kathol. Theologie, 1894. GISMONDI has edited a letter, Linguæ syr.
grammatical, 2nd ed., Beyrouth, 1904, p. 30; cf. ibid, p. 127, a letter from
Jacob, bishop of Nisibis, to Papa. Following ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue, Miles
wrote letters and sermons of which none have survived. Cf.
J. LABOURT, Le christianisme dans l’empire perse, Paris, 1904, p. 22.
26 EV. ASSEMANI and F. BEDJAN published these Acts in the
collections indicated above. Amr and Bar Hebræus relate this tale with
several variations. Cf. DELEHAYE, Les versions grecques des Actes des martyrs
persans sous Shabur II, Patrologia orientalis, t. II, fasc. 4, p. 445.
27 According to the Synodicon orientale published by J.-B. CHABOT,
Paris, 1902, p. 48, l. 33 (transl., p. 292–293). According to the Acts of

Barba’shmin published by ASSEMANI and BEDJAN, l. c., about twenty
years. Amr, Elias of Nisibis and Bar Hebræus relate different tales on the
vacancy of the patriarchal seat.
was crowned king, with his disciple Joseph, on November 10, 344,
while King Shabur was in the town of Shahrgard.
At that time, Erbil and Adiabene became the main theatre of
persecutions against Christians. Persecutions lasted there for much
of the period between 344 and 376: the Acts28 relate the
persecution of John, bishop of Erbil, killed together with the priest
Jacob on November 1, 344; of Abraham, John’s successor, who
was decapitated on February 5, 345; of Hanania, a secular man,
killed in Erbil on December 12, 346;29 of the priest Jacob and the
nun Maryam, his sister, who were from the village of Tella Shlila,
put to death on March 17, 347; of the nun Thekla and of four
other nuns, her companions, executed on June 6, 347; of
Barhadbshabba, deacon of Erbil, condemned on July 20, 355; and
of Aitallaha and of Hofsay,30 killed on December 16, 355.
Yet the most resounding event in that persecution was the
conversion and martyrdom of Qardag, military governor of
Adiabene, in the forty-ninth year of Shabur (358 AD). The many
miracles, visions and allusions to later historical facts that the Acts
of Qardag contain prove that these Acts were composed long after
the saint’s martyrdom; they probably date to the 6th century.31 As
has been suggested,32 it is possible that Qardag’s conversion was
not purely disinterested. That governor of illustrious origin had
revolted against Shabur II after having built a castle on the Malqi
hill near Erbil; he probably believed his conversion to the Christian
faith would win him the support of the Roman troops. If such was
28 Published by F. BEDJAN in the 4th vol. of the Acta mart., p. 128.

29 BEDJAN, ibid., p. 131. On April 6, 345, one hundred and eleven
priests, deacons and monks, and nine nuns were executed in Seleucia.
A lady of Erbil named Yazdandukt distinguished herself by taking great
care of the prisoners.
30 BEDJAN, Acta mart., t. IV, p. 193.
31 ABBELOOS published them the same year, in 1899, as found in
different MSS from Brussels, together with a Latin translation, and so did
FEIGE in Kiel, with a German translation; BEDJAN reprinted them in
the 2nd vol. of the Acta mart., p. 442.
32 NŒLDEKE, Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., t. XLIV, p. 530.
his hope, then it was short-lived. Indeed, no help came, the castle
was taken and Qardag stoned. These Acts, despite the interpolation
of heterogeneous anecdotes, contain precious information on the
region’s geography and the political and social situation in Persia
under the Sassanians. The saint was for a long time venerated in his
land; a church was constructed under his patronage on the location
where he was put to death. There a festival was celebrated in his
honour over three days and the pilgrimage that led to this
monument lasted six days.
Here we must mention the Acts of the Gilani Martyrs, for
they bear a certain historical interest.33 The Gilanis lived along the
southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, in the (Gilan) plain, close to
the Dailamites, who inhabited the mountains. From the Acts of
these martyrs we learn that the Gilanis served as mercenaries in the
Persian armies and that they had become Christian by the 4th
century. The martyrdom of these soldiers took place in 351, on the
banks of the Euphrates, during an expedition that Shabur led on
Roman territory. The names of these confessors were: Brikishoʿ,
ʿAbdishoʿ, Shabur, Santruq, Hormizd, Hadarshabur, Helpid,
Aitallaha, Moqim, etc.; two women, Halmdor and Phoebe, were
also executed with their children. The Gilanis had been evangelised
at an early date.34
In the 53rd year of Shabur II, in 362, persecution was
widespread in the Beth Zabdai, on the right bank of the Upper
Tigris. That province formed the border between the Roman and
Persian empires. The area’s stronghold was known by the name
33 BEDJAN published these Acts in the 4th vol. of the Acta mart., p.
166; unfortunately, their ending is incomplete.
34 According to BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, p. 45, their
evangelisation dated back to the time of Addai’s mission; it appears to

date significantly later than LABOURT, Le Christianisme dans l’empire perse,
p. 78, note 2, although this work is unable to put forward any conclusive
evidence. MARQUART, Osteuropaïsche und ostasiatische Streifzüge, Leipzig,
1903, p. 282 and 284, has demonstrated that Christians are already being
referred to in the Book of the laws of the lands by Bardaisan and in the Ancient
syr. documents by Cureton.
Castra of Beth Zabdai, or Panak. On various occasions Shabur had

attempted to conquer the Beth Zabdai and Nisibis, for control over
these lands meant access to Armenia and Mesopotamia. He
succeeded in seizing the stronghold of Panak in the course of the
summer or autumn of 360.35 As was usual among the Persians, the
town’s conquest was followed by both a mass deportation of its
inhabitants to various Persian provinces and the execution of its
principal ecclesiastics. We have on that subject several documents,
the most important of which is the “Confession of the captives.”36
In that document, the deportation and persecution of the
inhabitants of Beth Zabdai are said to date to the 53rd year of
Shabur, i.e. 362 AD. Since that date is also used in several martyrs’
Acts, we must regard it as accurate and accept that the deportation
took place two years after the capture of Panak, presumably
following an uprising of the inhabitants, who were counting on the
support of the Roman troops. Nine thousand men and women
were taken captive. Among them was Bishop Heliodorus, together
with his two vicars, priests, deacons, monks and nuns. The bishop
died en route. Three hundred captives were selected to stay in the
Dara province, on the condition that they would convert to the
religion of the Magi; only twenty-five complied, the rest were
massacred.
The Acts of Saba Pirgushnasp,37 which contain useful
historical and geographical notes on that province and the
neighbouring province of the Beth Arabaya, relate the persecutions
of the Beth Zabde. However, these Acts mistakenly place the
conquest of Panak after the transfer of Nisibis to the Persians, an
event that took place in 363. The anachronism is all the more
striking that these Acts indicate exactly the 53rd year of Shabur.
35 AMMIEN MARCELLIN, XX, 7.

36 Published by ASSEMANI, Acta sanct. mart., I, p. 134, and BEDJAN,
Acta mart., II, p. 316.
37 G. HOFFMANN has analysed them, Auszüge aus syr. Akten pers.
Märtyrer, p. 22; F. BEDJAN has edited the Syriac text in Acta mart., IV,
p. 222.
The tradition concerning the massacre of the Beth Zabdai

Christians is still alive among the country’s inhabitants, who know
where Shabur put to death six thousand Christians owing to their
religion and his son’s conversion.38
In the course of that persecution also occurred the martyrdom
of Bassus, whose name spread among the Occidental Syrians
thanks to the famous monastery of Apamea, which was named
after that saint.39 Although the original Acts of Bassus have not
been found, we are able to reconstruct the martyr’s story thanks to
a metric homily40 based on these Acts. There must have existed a
complete compilation of the Acts of the martyrs of the Beth
Zabdai; yet only several of these Acts have survived. The homily
mistakenly refers to the 76th year of Shabur’s reign instead of the
53rd year.41 There were two other monasteries under the patronage
of Mar Bassus: one on the exact location where the saint was put to
death, the other nearby, at Hdyl, in Tur Abdin.
This persecution is also described in the Acts of Benham and
of his sister Sara, which are closely linked to the history of the
monasteries of Mar Mattai and Mar Behnam.42 These Acts give the
correct date of 663 of the Seleucids, or 352 AD, but by a singular
anachronism place the persecution after Julian’s expedition to
Mesopotamia.
The peace treaty concluded between Jovian and Shabur in
363, by which Nisibis was handed over to the Persians, was
38 See the interesting tale of the traveller TAYLOR (Journal of the

Geographical Society of London, 1865, vol. 35, p. 51), related in
HOFFMANN, Auszüge, p. 27–28.
39 Abbot F. MARTIN published, in the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell.,
t. XXX, p. 217, the correspondence between the monks of that monastery

and Jacob of Serug. Also of interest is a letter from Severus of Antioch to
these monks.
40 Published by CHABOT, La légende de Mar Bassus, Paris, 1893;
compare with Journal asiatique, Nov.-Dec. 1893, p. 537.

41 Shabur only reigned seventy years.
42 HOFFMANN has analysed these Acts, Auszüge, etc., p. 17;
F. BEDJAN has published the text, Acta mart., II, p. 397.

followed by a momentary discontinuation of the persecution

against Christians; but the respite was brief. Indeed, the year 376
was marked by the martyrdom of forty members of the clergy of
the province of Kashkar, two of whom were bishops. The Acts of
these martyrs belong to the collection attributed to Marutha. The
same year saw the martyrdom of Badma, director of the monastery
which he founded near Beth Lapat. The last Acts are those of
ʿAqebshma, bishop of Hnayta, of priest Joseph and of deacon
Aitallaha.
At the end of his history of the martyrs of Persia, the author
declares that he was himself aware of the latest events in the
persecution. As for previous events, he based his tale on
respectable and trustworthy elders who had witnessed the
happenings.
To complete that dark picture, a legendary document should
be cited: the Acts of Gubralaha and of Qazo, the son and daughter
of King Shabur. According to one version of these Acts,43 Dado
instructed the king’s son in the Christian religion. Following
Shabur’s orders, Dado was decapitated and the young prince
beaten. The execution took place in the Medes’ province. A Syriac
fragment that Hoffmann has analysed provides us with a different
version of the text:44 in it Gubralaha dies after being severely
tortured; his sister Qazo, whom he converted, is beaten and killed
after having been baptised. Prior to the death of these confessors
came that of a magus named Gargamush, whom Gubralaha had
converted to the Christian faith. The location of the execution is, in
that version, Karka of Ledan, while the date indicated is September
22 of the 23rd year of Shabur, i.e. 332 AD. It is difficult to to
establish how much of this legend is true. According to Taylor’s
account cited above, the local tradition is still alive and indicates
that the conversion of King Shabur’s son was the principal reason
43Published in the 4th vol. of the Acta mart. of F. BEDJAN, p. 141.

44Auszüge aus syr. Akten pers. Märtyrer, p. 33; the Syriac text is published
in the 4th vol. of the Acta mart. of F. BEDJAN, p. 218.
for the persecution that took place in 352 in the province of Beth
Zabdai.
We shall not dwell on the long martyrology of the Christians
of Persia. Persecutions persisted, with varying intensity, under the
other Sassanian kings. The introduction of Nestorianism in Persia
in the second half of the 5th century had the advantage of bringing
down the number of persecutions by creating a divide between the
Western and Eastern Syrians. What we have said on the Acts of the
martyrs from the time of Shabur II suffice to make known that
literary genre. To extend this analysis to the Acts of later martyrs
would have only a very limited use that could not possibly
compensate for the boredom born out of the resulting
uniformity.45 We shall only signal several of the most important
episodes of the following persecutions.
The Story of the town of Beth Slok reports46 that Yazdgird II
showed himself clement during the first seven years of his reign;
but in the eighth year47 he put to death his daughter, who was also
his wife,48 together with the great men of his kingdom.49
Yazdgird II’s persecution resulted in St Pethion’s martyrdom,
which took place in the ninth year of that king’s reign. Several
versions of that martyrdom have survived. F. Corluy published one
of them in vol. VII of the Analecta Bollandiana, 1888, after a MS
held in the British Museum of which Hoffmann has already given
45 One can find these Acts in the Acta sanctorum martyrum of EVODIO
ASSEMANI and in the Acta martyrum et sanctorum of F. BEDJAN;
HOFFMANN has analysed several of them in his Auszüge aus syrischen
Akten pers. Märtyrer.
46 HOFFMANN, Auszüge, p. 50; the Syriac text in MŒSINGER,
Monumenta syriaca, II, p. 68, and in BEDJAN, Acta mart., II, 518.
47 The eighth year of Yazdgird II corresponds to 446 AD.
48 Sassanian kings married within their own family, thus preventing the
dilution of royal blood.

49 That harsh decision was provoked by a plot against the king. On the
persecution of Yazdgird II, see LABOURT, Le christianisme dans l’empire

perse, p. 126, §3.
an account.50 Another more extensive version was included in the

second volume of the Acta martyrum of F. BEDJAN, p. 559–634. A
Vatican manuscript, Syr. 184, contains a poem on St Pethion
composed by the archdeacon Mara.
The Acts of Jacob Intercisus date that saint’s martyrdom to
732 of the Seleucids (421 AD), in the course of the 1st or 2nd year
of Bahram V.51 They were published by Evodio Assemani in Acta
sanct. martyr., I, 242, and by F. BEDJAN in Acta mart., II, p. 539.
Peroz put Patriarch Baboy to death in 481 based on the
denunciation of Bar Sauma, who had chanced upon a letter from
that patriarch in which he solicited Roman intervention. The Acts
of that martyr contain a tale which matches both those of Amr and
of Bar Hebræus.52
The 10th year of Khosro I, or Khosro Anoshirwan, allegedly
saw Gregory’s execution. Gregory, whose real name was
Pirnagushnasp, was originally from Rai and belonged to the Persian
family of Mihran.53
The martyrdom of Yazdpaneh followed closely that of
Gregory. Yazdpaneh, originally from the province of Karka of
Ledan, was both a governor and a judge in his country.54
50 Auszüge, p. 61–68. To F. CORLUY we also owe our awareness of

the Acts of Abdalmessih, a man of Jewish origin who was killed by his
own father, on July 27, 390, for having converted to Christianity: Analecta
Bollandiana, Brussels, 1886; BEDJAN reprinted the Syriac text in the Acta
mart., I, p. 173.
51 The first year is indicated at the end of the Acts, and the second at
the beginning, comp. with NŒLDEKE, Geschichte der Perser… aus Tabari,
p. 120; Mari and Amr, ed. GISMONDI, pars I, 34; pars II, 28.
52 AMR, ed. GISMONDI, p. 30–31; BAR HEB., Chron. eccl., II, p. 61–
65. For the text of these Acts, see BEDJAN, Acta mart., II, 631.
53 HOFFMANN has analysed the Acts of these martyrs, Auszüge…,
p. 78, and BEDJAN has published them in Histoire de Mar-Jabalaha, de trois

autres patriarches…, Paris, 1895, p. 347–394.
54 HOFFMANN has analysed the Acts of that martyr, l. c., p. 87, and
BEDJAN has published them, l. c., p. 394–415.

In the 25th year of Khosro II, or Khosro Peroz (615 AD), the
priest George, of noble Persian stock and in reality named
Mihrgushnasp, was executed after having been baptised by Simeon,
bishop of Hira. His sister Hazaruy also converted to Christianity,
changed her name to Mary and became a nun. Mar Babai, abbot of
the monastery of Mount Izla, described the Acts of that saint.55
They contain information that sheds light on the history of the
Nestorian Church in the late 6th century.
In the 30th year of that same king, Ishoʿsabran, a Nestorian
ascetic of Persian origin who had spent some years in prison, was
executed. Ishoʿyahb III, who became patriarch of the Nestorians
around 650, wrote down that martyr’s Acts several years after his
death.56 After Ishoʿsabran, twelve other notable Christians
perished. Ishoʿyahb notes that another author wrote down their
story.
§3. — THE SYRIAC TEXTS ON THE MARTYRS OUTSIDE

MESOPOTAMIA AND PERSIA
According to the Church tradition, the legend of the Seven sleeping
ones of Ephesus is connected to Decius’ persecution.57 It appears
in Syriac literature primarily in two Syriac texts and in a metric
homily by Jacob of Serug. One of these texts is included in the
Syriac compilation entitled Story of Zachariah;58 the other is part of
the chronicle of pseudo-Dionysius of Tel Mahre, probably based
55 Analysed by HOFFMANN, Auszüge…, p. 91 and published by

BEDJAN, Histoire de Mar-Jabalaha, de trios autres patriarches…, p. 416.
56 CHABOT published them, together with an analysis, in the Archives
des missions scient., VII, p. 486.

57 SURIUS, Vitæ sanct., July 27; the Bollandists, Acta sanct., VI. 375–
387; KOCH, Die Siebenschlæferlegende, Leipzig, 1883; V. RYSSEL, Theol.

Zeitschr. aus der Schweiz, 1896, p. 48.
58 LAND, Anecdota syriaca, t. III, p. 87. Cf. Michel le Syrien, ed.
CHABOT, II, p. 17 (text, p. 173).

on the story of John of Asia and on manuscripts now in London,

Paris and Berlin.59
Jacob of Serug’s homily contains details that are absent from
the translations and therefore may have been added by the author.
Jacob, on the other hand, sometimes shortens the ancient texts.
Guidi has edited two collations (of varying length) of that homily,
as found in two MSS held in the Vatican.60
Bar Hebræus’s summary of the legend, which appears in his
Ecclesiastical Chronicle, differs when it comes to proper names.61
The main document for the history of the persecutions which
the country’s Jewish king ordered against the Yemenite Christians
in the 6th century AD remains the letter Simeon, bishop of Beth
Arsham, wrote to Simeon, abbot of the monastery of Gabbula. In
that letter, the bishop of Beth Arsham records that, on January 20,
524, he left the town of Hira in the company of the priest
Abraham. Justin I had had appointed Abraham as deputy in order
to bring about a peace settlement with Mondhir, king of the Arabs.
The travellers encountered Mondhir at Ramla. Immediately
thereafter, the king of the Arabs received a letter from the Jewish
king of the Himyarites (Homerites) in which were described a tale
of the persecutions ordered by that king against the Yemenite
59 TULLBERG published the first part of the second document,

Dyonisii Tellmahharensis chronici liber primus, Upsal, 1851, p. 167; IGNAZIO
GUIDI published the second part, Testi orientali inediti sopra isette dormienti di
Efeso, in the memoirs of the Reale Academia dei Lincei, 1884, with the other
Oriental texts (Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic and Armenian) connected to that
legend. The text is reprinted in BEDJAN’s Acta mart., I, 301. The MS in
the Bibliothèque nationale, n. 235, fol. 326, contains a third text which
includes relatively insignificant variations. Cf. MANNA, Morceaux choisis de
littérature araméenne, Mosul, 1901, t. II, p. 110. NŒLDEKE, Götting. Gelehrte
Anzeigen, 1886, n. 11, has shown that the second Syriac text is the original
composition of the legend. V. RYSSEL has translated that legend into
German, Archiv f. das studium der neueren Sprachen und Litt., XCIII, 241;
XCIV, 369.
60 In the publication cited in the previous note.
61 Chron. eccl., I, p. 141 ff.
Christians. The purpose of that missive was to encourage Mondhir

to act against his own Christian subjects. In the letter, the
Christians of Najran, in Yemen, were said to have been massacred
in the following situtation: following the death, over the winter, of
the Christian king whom the Ethiopians had enthroned in that
town, they had been unable to cross the sea and take care of the
defunct king’s succession; the Jews had taken advantage of the
situation to seize control of government; the Jewish king, whom
they appointed treacherously, conquered the town of Najran after
having massacred the two hundred and eighty Ethiopian men, both
religious and secular, who had remained in Yemen. Once overrun,
the town’s church was burnt down and its Christians, those who
would not deny that Christ is God, were put to death by order of the
Jewish king. The men were the first to be executed, although a
number of them were able to escape through the mountains. The
women’s faith too could not be shaken and they were eager to be
put to death. A noble lady named Dauma (var. Rome) distinguished
herself by her enthusiasm; she and her daughters asked to be killed,
thereby insulting the king, who had been so struck by her beauty
that he had wished to spare her life.
“Thus was,” adds Simeon, “the content of the letter which
Mondhir, King of Hira, received as priest Abraham (mentioned
above), Sergis (var. George), bishop of Resafa, and myself arrived
by his side.”
Back in Hira, Simeon learnt of new episodes of that
persecution which had not been mentioned in the Jewish king’s
letter. Indeed, a messenger whom deputies of the old Himyarite
king in Hira had ordered to collect information, reported news of
the town of Najran. As soon as the town had been conquered, the
three hundred and forty leading figures had been taken before the
Jewish king; at their head was Harith (Aretas), who bravely
confessed to being Christian and encouraged his fellow men to
follow his example. Another event omitted in the Jewish king’s
letter was the confession of a three-year-old child who would
rather die with his mother than renounce Christ, as had also been
the case with Dauma’s youngest daughter.
Simeon, on completing his letter, encouraged the bishops of
his confession (Monophysite) to pray for the Himyarite Christians
and expressed his hope that the bishops of the emperor’s

confession may convince him to put an end to the Tiberian Jews’
scheming against Christians.
Assemani62 was the first to publish the letter written by the
bishop of Beth Arsham, as found in the section of the chronicle of
pseudo-Dionysius of Tel Mahre which is taken from the story of
John of Asia. That letter is also included in the Syriac compilation
of the story of Zachariah and has been reprinted, based on that
source, in vol. X of Mai’s Script. veterum nova collectio and in vol. III,
p. 235, of Land’s Anecdota syriaca. The text of the chronicle of
pseudo-Dionysius differs only slightly from the story of Zachariah;
it is an abridged collation of the original document that should
probably be attributed to John of Asia.63 Guidi, whose research in
the field of Syriac studies has been so fruitful, has discovered, in a
MS from the Borgia museum and in two MSS from the British
Museum, the primitive, and rather more complete, text. He
published it in the memoirs of the Reale Academia dei Lincei, in 1881,
under the title of La lettera di Simeone vescovo di Beith-Arscham sopra i
martiri Omeriti.64
The persecution of Dhou-Nowas and the martyrdom of
Aretas form the first part of the Martyrium Aretæ, which is
preserved in Greek.65 Guidi notes that the original text of Simeon’s
letter confirms F. Carpentier’s conjectures on the age and
composition of the Martyrium Aretæ. Sergis (or George?), bishop of
Resafa, who had been with Simeon and Abraham by Mondhir’s
side when he received Dhou-Nowas’s letter, composed the first
part of that document. The Syriac text was then translated into
62 Bibl. Orient., I, 364.

63 MICHAELIS and ZINGERLE have reprinted this text in the
chrestomathies, the former after Assemani, the latter after Card. Mai.
KNŒS has also published it in his little chrestomathy, after a MS from
Paris that poorly summarises the letter. Portuguese translation by
ESTEVES PEREIRA, Historia dos Martyres de Nagran, Lisbon, 1899, p. 3.
64 Reprinted in the Acta mart. of F. BEDJAN, I, p. 372.
65 Published by BOISSONADE, Anecdota græca, t. V, p. 1; and by
F. CARPENTIER, Acta sanct. of the Bollandists, Oct., X, p. 721.

Greek and the tale of Ella-Asbeha’s expedition was added to the

Greek version.
Much had been said of the letter of Simeon of Beth Arsham
and its authenticity. The first works on the matter, by Blau,
Prætorius and Mordtmann, appeared in the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl.
Gesellsch., t. XXIII, 560; XXIV, 624; XXV, 260; XXXI, 66 (comp.
Nœldeke, Tabari, 185, note 1; Guidi, La lettera di Simeone). Halevy, in
the Revue des Etudes juives, t. XVIII, 16–42 and 161–178, has again
studied that letter and the related documents; he is able to bring
forward convincing arguments in support of the view that
Simeon’s letter is apocryphal and was composed at the end of
Justinian’s reign. Besides, Halevy seeks to clear the Jews of the
accusation of being responsible for the persecution, claiming
instead that Arians are to blame. Duchesne (Revue des Etudes juives, t.
XX, p. 220) does not object to Halevy’s thesis regarding the
apocryphal nature of the letter, but he accepts the tradition
according to which Jews were responsible for the massacre of the
Christians of Najran; cf. Halevy, ibid., t. XXI, p. 73 ff.66
There are two other Syriac documents on the persecutions of
the Himyarite Christians. The first is a condolence letter addressed
to these Christians by Jacob of Serug and published by Schrœter.67
Jacob having passed away in 521, the editor dated the letter’s
composition to 520, several years prior to the martyrdom of Aretas.
However, Guidi rightly points out that a Christian king reigned
over Najran in 520; Jacob’s letter relates the first persecution of
Dhou-Nowas, which ended after his flight in 519.
The second document is a hymn by John Psaltes, a
monophysitic abbot of the monastery of Qenneshre who lived in
the first half of the 6th century. That hymn is part of a collection of
Greek hymns translated into Syriac by Paul of Edessa during his
66See also: FELL, Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., t. XXXV, p. 1 ff.;
ESTEVES PEREIRA, Historia dos Martyres de Nagran, Lisbon, 1899;
HALEVY, Revue sémitique, Jan. 1900, p. 88.
67 Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., t. XXXI, p. 360 ff.
stay in Cyprus and later revised by Jacob of Edessa. It relates the

persecution in the course of which Aretas perished.68
The other Syriac texts concerning different martyrs are of
lesser interest; they are for the most part translations of Greek
Acts.
Evodio Assemani has published the Syriac translation by
Eusebius of the story of the martyrs of Palestine in the second
volume of the Acta sanct. martyrum. Cureton has edited in London in
1861 another collation, as found in a MS from the British Museum,
later reprinted by F. Bedjan in the Acta martyrum, I, p. 202. Bruno
Violet has made a German translation of that collation, complete
with a study of the various texts which Eusebius devoted to the
martyrs of Palestine, in the Texte und Untersuchungen of Gebhardt
and Harnack, t. XIV, 4th edition; the second part of the work was
printed separately as a doctoral dissertation, Ueber die Palæstinischen
Märtyrer, Leipzig, 1896.69 The panegyric of Eusebius on the
Christian martyrs, also part of the same Syriac manuscript of the
British Museum, has been made available by Wright in the Journal of
sacred literature, 4th series, t. V, p. 403; in the same periodical (t. VI,
p. 129), one will find a translation of the text by Cowper.
F. Bedjan has published the Syriac version of the Acts of the
Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in the third volume of the Acta martyrum, p.
355, and Jacob of Serug’s homily on these martyrs in the sixth
volume, p. 662. Lamy has edited St Ephrem’s homily on the same
subject, Sancti Ephræmi syri hymni et sermones, III, 936.
The Acta martyrum of F. Bedjan also contain Syriac translations
of various Greek Acts of martyrs. In vol. VI, p. 650, we find Jacob
of Serug’s homily on the martyrs Sergius and Bacchus, whose Acts
are printed in vol. III, p. 283.
68 Also published by SCHRŒTER, loc. cit. (in the previous note),

p. 400. The inclusion of that hymn, which mentions the Ethiopian
Masrouq rather than Dhou-Nowas, is a later addition, NŒLDEKE,
Tabari, 185, note 1.
69 Cf. MERCATI, I martiri di palestina d’Eusebio di Cæsarea nel codice
Sinaitico in the Rendiconti del R. Istituto Lombardo, 1897, XXX, 1060.

Among those documents that should be regarded as fictitious

rather than historical are the Acts of St George, whom a Persian
king named Dadian executed;70 of St Sophie (wisdom) and of her
three daughters, Pistis, Elpis and Agape (faith, hope and charity),
all put to death by Hadrian;71 of St Febronia in the time of
Diocletian;72 of St Paphnutius and of his companions, also under
Diocletian.73
§4. — LIVES OF THE SAINTS AND MARTYRS

The oriental monks,74 who were cenobite and solitary, greatly
admired the Fathers of the Scetan and Thebaid deserts, whose
Lives they knew from Syriac translations; they visited the sites that
the ascetics had sanctified and those who could afford to settle
there did so. In the Scetis desert the Syrians founded a famous
monastery named Our Lady Mary, mother of God. There must
have existed from a very early date a Syriac translation of both the
Lausiac History of Palladius and the Historia monachorum of Rufin.
Dadishoʿ of Qatar, who lived in the late 7th century, translated the
Paradise of Western Monks, presumably the name by which the
Lausiac History was known at the time.75 The only Syriac collation
we have of Palladius’s book was made by ʿEnanishoʿ, who
70 BEDJAN, Acta mart., I, 277.

71 Ibid., VI, 32. Re-edition in LEWIS, Studia Sinaitica, IX, London,
1900, p. 218; and English translation, ibid., X, p. 168.
72 Ibid., V, 573.
73 Ibid., V, 514.
74 On the monastic institution in Mesopotamia and in Persia, and on
the Acts of S. Eugene, see J. LABOURT, Le Christianisme dans l’empire perse,

chap. XI, p. 392 ff.
75 ASSEMANI, B. O., t. III, part I, p. 98–99, believed the author of
that translation to be Dadishoʿ, Abraham’s disciple, who lived during the

previous century: see Notice sur la vie et les œuvres de Dadischo Qatraya by
ADDAI SCHER in the Journal asiatique, Jan.-Feb. 1906, p. 103. That
translation is cited in the Book of the Bee, ed. BUDGE, p. 57, l. 3 (transl.,
p. 55, l. 1).
undertook that project in the monastery of Beth ʿAbe at the

request of Patriarch George (661–680).
Thomas of Marga’s monastic story76 contains precious
information on this two-volume work by ʿEnanishoʿ. The first
volume contained the Lives of the holy Fathers, written by
Palladius or attributed to St Jerome, the second volume contained
the questions and tales of the Fathers. The work, which was
entitled The Paradise, spread far and wide to the extent that all
Oriental monasteries adopted it. The second volume comprised six
hundred and fifteen numbered articles, divided into fourteen
chapters; in addition, ʿEnanishoʿ had compiled in it four hundred
and thirty articles concerning all sorts of virtues, as well as many
others that were neither put into order nor given a number. The
compiler added the discourse or Encomium of St John Chrysostom
on the monks of Egypt (8th homily on St Matthew); the questions
of Abraham of Nathpar (or Naphtar?) along with demonstrations
and tales that he had taken from the Book of the Fathers.
F. Bedjan has recently published an edition of the Paradise of
ʿEnanishoʿ, based on an ancient and excellent MS in the Vatican
and on other manuscripts in London, Berlin and Paris.77 That
much-anticipated edition contains: (1) the Lives of the Fathers in
three parts (the Lives written by Palladius in the first two parts and
the Lives written by St Jerome78 in the third); (2) the
76 Book II, chap. XV; ed. BUDGE, The book of governors, the historia
monastica of Thomas of Marga, London, 1893, t. II, p. 189.
77 Paradisus Patrum, t. VII of the Acta mart. et sanct., Paris, 1897. Two
students of Tullberg, Markstrœm and Lagerstrœm, have published as their

theses, at Upsal in 1851, several Lives taken from this Paradise; compare
also with BUDGE, The book of governors, t. II, p. 192.
78 Or, to be more exact, the Historia monachorum of RUFIN here
attributed to St Jerome, see J.-B. CHABOT, Revue critique, September 19–

26, 1898, p. 168: BEDJAN, l. c., p. V; DOM CUTHBERT BUTLER, The
lausiac history of Palladius, Cambridge, 1898, distinguishes two Syriac
translations used by ʿEnanishoʿ for his collation. The most extensive
translation contained the History of Monks, of which Rufin has made a
Latin translation. There are, in the British Museum, MSS of three Syriac
Apophthegmata of the Fathers forming the first fourteen chapters

of the third part, wrongly attributed to Palladius and comprising six
hundred and twenty-seven numbers; (3) questions and answers on
all kinds of virtues, chapter XV, each assigned a number; (4) the
demonstrations for the indifferent who are not concerned with
their own salvation, chap. XVI to XXIII; then comes a chap.
XXIV. As an appendix, F. Bedjan has published the Encomium of St
John Chrysostom and the discourse of Abraham of Nathpar, which
Thomas of Marga referred to as being part of the collation of
ʿEnanishoʿ (see previous page), after a MS from the British
Museum (Add. 17174) which contains that collation.
There is also a work entitled Illustrations from the Book of Paradise
in another London MS, Add. 17264. Unfortunately, the author’s
name has been erased in the original MS. From the following
epithet we are nonetheless able to establish that the author is not
ʿEnanishoʿ.
F. Bedjan, in the fifth vol. of the Acta martyrum et sanct. printed
the Lives of St Antony, Paul the hermit and St Pachomius, which
are not included in Palladius’s book. According to Frederic
Schulthess,79 the Syriac version of the Life of St Antony, of which
the Greek text is attributed to St Athanasius of Alexandria, proves
that there were at least two different Greek versions, for the Syriac
composition suggests the existence of another Greek text. It also
appears that these different Greek versions have been translated
into Syriac; as F. Bedjan remarks,80 the Syriac manuscripts which
relate the story of that Life differ considerably.
translations of the Monachorum History and of the fragments of a fourth

version; Cf. PREUSCHEN, Palladius und Rufinus, Giessen, 1897.
A. WALLIS BUDGE has reedited ʿEnanishoʿ’s collation for private
circulation in The book of Paradise, London, 1904, vol. I, Syriac text; vol. II,
English translation.
79 Probe einer syrischen Version der Vita S. Antonii, Leipzig, 1894.
80 The Acta mart. of F. BEDJAN also contain Syriac versions of
several Lives of ascetic Egyptians which are not included in the Paradise of
the Fathers.
The Eastern counterpart of Palladius’s Paradise, which

contained the Lives of the Western ascetics, was the Orientals’
Paradise of Joseph Hazzaya (not Joseph Huzaya or of Ahwaz) and
the Little Paradise of David, bishop of the Kartewaye (or of the
Kurds), which contained the Lives of the Eastern ascetics. These
works are known to us solely from the catalogue of ʿAbdishoʿ and
the monastic history of Thomas of Marga.81
Dionysius bar Salibi is presented as the author of the Abridged
History of the Fathers, Saints and Martyrs.82
The Life of Mar Benjamin, disciple of St Eugene, is a late
composition, taken to a great extent from the Life of Mar Mika83
(Bedjan, Acta mart., III, 510).
The Acta martyrum et sanctorum of F. Bedjan relate the lives of
several other saints of the Oriental Syrians: Zaia, great saint of
Kurdistan whose relics are in Djelou;84 Schalita, disciple (of
Egyptian origin) of St Eugene, who went to mount Kardu (Ararat)
with Jacob of Nisibis to found a monastery on the plot of land
where Noah’s ark landed;85 Yonan, a disciple of St Eugene, who set
out to the Orient with his master and led an ascetic life in the
desert of Peroz-Shabur or Anbar;86 Jacob, bishop of Nisibis, who
attended the Council of Nicaea and succeeded, with the help of the
81 ASSEMANI, Bibl. orient., III, I, p. 102; THOMAS OF MARGA, ed.

BUDGE, The book of governors, book II, chap. XXIV.
83 As shown by BROCKELMANN, Zeitschr. f. Assyriologie, 1897, t. XII,
p. 270, after the publication of the Life of Mar Benjamin by F. SCHEIL,

ibid., p. 62. F. Scheil has also edited, ibid., p. 162, the fabulous tale of the
dialogue between Mar Serapion and Mar Marcos and of the death of
Marcos. F. Scheil has made available, in the Revue de l’orient chrétien, 1897,
p. 246–270, a French translation of these documents together with a note
on the monastery of Hanina (now known as the monastery of Zaʿfaran,
near Mardin).
84 Acta mart., I, 398.
85 Ibid., I, 124; that story is divided into seven acts.
86 Ibid., I, 466; story divided into nine acts and written by ZADOE;
abbot of the monastery of St Thomas in India.

prayers of his disciple St Ephrem, in driving off the Persians who

had laid siege to Nisibis in 338.87
The Acts of St Ephrem belong to that category. However, since
that illustrious father will be discussed in part II, it is not worth
focusing on his biography here.
To St Ephrem is attributed the composition of the Acts of
Abraham of Kidouna and the Acts of Julian Saba, two saints
contemporaneous with that Father.88 St Ephrem does not appear
to be the author of the Acts of Abraham; the Acts of Julian are
translations of Philotheus or of the Historia religiosa of Theodoret, see
Migne, Patrol. gr., t. LXXXII, p. 1306. The hymns which St Ephrem
composed in honour of these ascetics are perhaps responsible for
this attribution.89
Are the Acts of Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata,90 a Syriac original
despite the Greek words they contain? The style is elegant and
animated; the details are precise and denote the work of an author
who lived in the time of the events which he describes. The text is
a colourful portrayal of the prosecutions carried out by Valens, at
the Arians’ instigation, against the orthodox; Eusebius of Caesarea
is placed at the head of the Arian party.
The Acts of Simeon the Stylite are a panegyric of the great saint
of Syria. In them miracles hold a very prominent position. The
Syriac text completes the saint’s biography, written by his
contemporary Theodoret of Cyrus. According to a concluding
clause, the authors of this text are Simeon, son of Apollo, and Bar
Hatar, son of ʿUdan. It was composed on April 17 of year 521
during the reign of Antiochus (i.e. 472 AD), barely several years
after the death of the founder of the order of the Stylites. As F.
87 Ibid., IV, 262.

88 LAMY, Acta beati Abrahæ Kidunaiæ in vol. X of the Analecta
Bollandiana, 1891; and in S. Ephræmi syri hymni et sermones, t. IV, Malines,
1902, p. 1–83; reprinted in the Acta mart. of BEDJAN, t. VI, p. 465.
BEDJAN edited the Acts of Julian Saba in the Acta mart., t. VI, p. 380.
89 LAMY has edited these hymns, S. Ephræmi syri hymni et sermones, t.
III, p. 749 ff., 837 ff.

90 BEDJAN, Acta mart., t. VI, p. 335.
Bedjan remarks,91 that clause disproves the hypothesis of Giuseppe

Simone Assemani and Evodio Assemani, who took priest Cosmas
— we have a letter he addressed to Simeon the Stylite92 — for the
author of the document. Thanks to Evodio Assemani,93 we know
that Jacob of Serug composed a metric homily in honour of
Simeon.
The Life of Rabbula, Bishop of Edessa, one of the best surviving
works of that genre,94 was composed by one of the clerks of the
bishopric shortly after the death of the holy bishop. That life paints
an accurate picture of his character, portraying him with traits
deeply imbued with a sense of abnegation, charity and devotion.
Rabbula had led a monastic and ascetic life before becoming a
bishop. Upon being appointed director of the church of Edessa, he
remained true to that existence of privation and mortification. We
shall return to that Father in the second part, when we shall focus
on the Syriac writers of the 4th century.
The Syriac legend of The Man of God, a story which had an
equally resounding impact in the West and the East, belongs to that
91 In the preface to the fourth volume of the Acta mart.; F. Bedjan has
given in that volume, p. 507 ff., an edition of the Acts of S. Simeon, as
found in MS Add. 14484 from the British Museum. It is more complete
and contains fewer inaccuracies than that of EVODIO ASSEMANI, Acta
sanct. mart., II, 268 ff. ZINGERLE, Leben und Wirken des h. Simeon styl.,
Innsbruck, 1855, has made available a German translation of the Acts of
Simeon the Stylite.
92 Published after the Acts of Simeon by J. ASSEMANI, Bibl. orient., I,
237; EV. ASSEMANI, Acta sanct. mart., II, p. 394; BEDJAN, Acta mart.,
IV, p. 644.
93 Acta sanct. mart., II, p. 230; reprinted in BEDJAN, Acta mart., IV,
p. 650. As is often the case with homilies by Jacob of Serug, there is a

second much more extensive collation in MS Add. 17159 of the British
Museum, see BEDJAN, preface to vol. IV of his Acta mart., p. XIV.
94 Published by OVERBECK, S. Ephræmi syri, Rabulæ episcopi… opera
selecta, p. 160; reprinted in BEDJAN, Acta mart., IV, 396; translated into
German by BICKELL in the Bibliothek der Kirchenvæter of TALLHOFER,
n. 102–104; comp. with LAGRANGE, La science catholique, 1888, p. 624.
period. That legend, born in Edessa shortly after the death of

Rabbula,95 tells the story of a Roman patrician known as “The man
of God,” who left Edessa for Rome on the evening of his wedding
day, leaving behind wife and parents alike. There he lived off
people’s charity and devoted his days and nights to praying; he was
content with a little bread and some vegetables, giving to the other
beggars whatever surplus food he had. That saint passed away in
hospital. As soon as he had died, the sacristan of the cathedral of
Edessa, who had witnessed his exemplary piety, reported to
Rabbula the sayings and deeds of the man of God. The bishop
wished to be given the saint’s body, yet it had already been buried.
Once unearthed, all that remained in his tomb was the garb which
he had worn therein. Such is the Syriac version of this legend. In a
later composition, which became the story of St Alexis, the
resurrected saint is back in Rome with his parents, where he lived
with the slaves up until his second death. Only then did his peers
honour him.
According to Gildemeister,96 the Syriac Acts of St Pelagia, a
female comedian of Antioch whom Nonnus (the second successor
of Rabbula on the episcopal seat of Edessa) is said to have
converted, are not an original document. In his opinion, they
represent an extended version of the Greek Acts of the saint.
The Lives of the saints of the Jacobite Church of the late
5th century and of the 6th century are one of the best sources of
information on the introduction of Monophysitism in Syria and on
the active commercial links that developed between Antioch and
Alexandria during that period. The most important collection of
these Lives is the one that John of Asia composed when he was a
95 AMIAUD, La légende syriaque de saint Alexis, l’homme de Dieu, Paris,

1889, 79th part of the Bibliothèque de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes.
96 Acta S. Pelagiæ syriace, ed. GILDEMEISTER, Bonn, 1879; reprinted
in the Acta mart. of BEDJAN, VI, 616, and in the Studia Sinaitica of
LEWIS, n. IX, London, 1900, among the Lives of the holy women, under
the title Select narratives of holy Women: English translation, ibid., n. X.
BEDJAN had already printed several of these Lives in vol. V of his Acta
mart.
monk at the monastery of Mar Yohannan, at Amid, entitled Stories

concerning the lives of the blessed Orientals. All of the male and female
saints whose stories John wrote were Monophysites and his
contemporaries. One can find the list of their names in the second
volume of Land’s Anecdota syriaca, p. 32–34 of the introduction; the
Syriac text is printed in the same volume, p. 2–288, as found in MS
Add. 14647 of the British Museum.97 Among these names are:
Simeon, bishop of Beth Arsham, whom we now know beyond
doubt belonged to the Monophysite confession; Jacob Baradaeus,
apostle of that religion in Syria after whom is named the Jacobite
sect; John of Tella; the patriarchs in exile, Severus, Theodosius,
Anthime, Sergius and Paul. That biographical work by John of Asia
is followed, in Land’s edition, by several supplements taken from
other MSS of the British Museum: from the story of the virgin
Suzanne, of Mary, Malchus, and finally a Life of Jacob Baradaeus
that is more extensive than that of his biography. That second Life
of Jacob Baradaeus is also attributed to John of Asia. However,
Kleyn, the author of an excellent study on Jacob Baradaeus and his
apostolic productions,98 has demonstrated that it is the work of
another author.99
We also owe to Kleyn100 what information we have on a Life
of John of Tella written by Elias, one of the companions of the
ardent Monophysite preacher, a text that is different from the one
composed by John of Asia.
97 VAN DAUWEN and LAND translated it into Latin in the

Verhandelingen of the Academy of Amsterdam, 1889.
98 Jacobus Baradæus, de Stichter der syrische Monophysictische Kerk, Leiden,
1882.
99 Ibid., Aanhangsel II, p. 105. Basing his argument on Berlin MS 26
(Sachau 321), KUGENER posits that this author is Mar Thidas, priest
and Stylite of the monastery of Phesilta, Biblioth. hagiographique orientale,
Paris, 1902, p. 23.
100 Het Leven van Johannes van Tella door Elias, Leiden, 1882.
The Life of Peter the Iberian, bishop of Mayouma near Gaza,

preserved in the Syriac translation of a now lost Greek original,101 is
interesting on several levels; it contains: new notes on the kings and
queens of the Iberians and on their conversion to Christianity;
precise data on various sites of Palestine and Transjordanian
Arabia; and several glimpses of the history of the Church of
Alexandria, Peter the Iberian having taken part in the consecration
of the patriarch of Alexandria, Timothy Ælure. As various
documents attest, the bishop of Mayouma’s reputation in the
Orient derived from his remarkable piety rather than from the
public functions he assumed.
Land published in Syriac the Life of Isaiah the ascetic, written
by Zachariah the Scholastic, at the end of the third volume of his
Anecdota syriaca, p. 346 ff. AHRENS translated it into German in
Die sogenannte Kirchengeschichte des Zacharius Rhetor, Leipzig, 1899,
p. 263.102
Zachariah the Scholastic composed, in Greek, the Life of
Severus, patriarch of Antioch, in 515 or 516 in Constanstinople. As
he explains in the introduction, on writing the biography he had set
out to refute the calumnies uttered by adversaries of the patriarch
of Antioch, who accused him of having practised paganism in his
youth. That document also contains an autobiography by
Zachariah in which we learn that he was born near Gaza and that
he studied grammar and rhetoric in Alexandria and law in
101 Published by RICHARD RAADE, Petrus der Iberer, Leipzig, 1895,

after two MSS. Marr published the Georgian version with a Russian
translation, St-Petersburg, in 1896. On other Syriac texts in which Peter
the Iberian is mentioned, see Raabe’s edition, p. 6, note.
102 Together with the Life of Isaiah, Zachariah had also written the
Lives of Peter the Iberian and of Theodosius of Antinoe, which were

translated neither into Greek nor into Syriac. He composed these Lives in
Constantinople after the Life of Severus rather than before, as a passage
by Zachariah in the Life of Severus had previously led us to believe; see
KUGENER, Observations sur la vie de l’ascète Isaïe et sur les vies de Pierre l’Ibérien
et de Théodose d’Antinoé par Zacharie le Scolastique in Byzant. Zeitschrift, IX, 464,
Leipzig, 1900.
Beyrouth. He baptised Severus in Tripoli and actively participated

in the prosecutions of pagans.103
The Life of Severus by Zachariah treats the hero’s youth and
ends with his consecration as patriarch of Antioch. John, superior
of the monastery of Beth Aphtonia, wrote in Greek a Life of
Severus that details the patriarch’s struggles in the context of an
Orient shaken by constant religious turmoil. The Greek original is
lost but we do have a literal Syriac translation prepared by Abbot
Sergius bar Karya.104
The Plerophories of John, bishop of Mayouma, constitute a
compilation of anecdotic tales, divided into eighty-nine chapters.
That work, composed in Greek around 515, is preserved in Syriac
in the British Museum MS Add. 14650 and is inserted in an
abridged form in the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian.105 It contains
interesting tales on the Fathers of the Monophysite Church in the
5th century, especially on Peter the Iberian, and relates what these
Fathers said against the Orthodox and the Council of Chalcedon.
Other Lives of saints shall be discussed below: see ch. XII, §2,
and ch. XIII of the part on ascetic literature.
103 NAU, Journal asiatique, 9th series, t. IX, p. 531, note 1. The Life of
Severus by Zachariah, lost in Greek, has reached us in the form of an
ancient Syriac version published first in SPANUTH, Zacharius Rhetor, das
Leben des Severus von Antiochien in syr. Uebersetzung, Gœttingen, 1893; and
later in Kugener, Vie de Sévère par Zacharie le Scholastique, with a French
translation, in the Patrologia orientalis, t. II, fasc. 1, Paris, 1903.
104 Published with a French translation and with fragments concerning
Severus by KUGENER, Vie de Sévère par Jean supérieur du monastère de Beith-

Aphthonia in the Patrologia orientalis, t. II, fasc. 3.
105 Edition J.-B. CHABOT, p. 203 (transl., II, p. 69). Abbot NAU has
read out a study on these Plerophories at the Congress of Orientalists in

Paris, September 1897. He published a French translation of that study in
Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1898–1899; printed separately in Les Plérophories de
Jean, évêque de Mayouma, Paris, 1899.
X. THE APOLOGETIC TEXTS
Apologetic literature is originally Greek, yet a number of ancient

texts of that genre survive only in the form of their Syriac
translations. A few years back Rendel Harris brought to light a
version of the Apology of Aristides held in a 7th century MS from the
monastery of St Catherine in the Sinai.1 Thanks to this MS, Harris
has established that the apology was addressed to Antoninus Pius,
not to Hadrian, as Eusebius claims. As for Armitage Robinson, his
study of the Syriac text has shown that the original text was
inserted, with various modifications, in the story of Barlaam and
Josaphat.2 Batiffol speaks in greater depth of the important
publication by Harris and Robinson in his book, La littérature
grecque, p. 86.
The Syriac MS that contains the apology attributed to Melito
presumably also dates to the 7th century. The title is: “Speech by
Melito the philosopher (given) in the presence of Antoninus
Caesar. He encouraged Caesar to recognise God, showing him the
path of truth.” 3 The Syriac text does not include the apology of
Melito, which Eusebius discusses in his Ecclesiastical History
1 The Apology of Aristides by J. Rendel Harris with an appendix by J. Armitage

Robinson, Cambridge, 1891. Richard Raabe published a German translation
and commentary of the apology in Texte und Untersuchungen by
GEBHARDT and HABNACH, t. IX, 1892, entitled Die Apologie des
Aristides aus dem syrischen übersetzt. Schoenfelder has also translated it into
German in Theol. Quartalschrift, 1892, p. 521.
2 That story has been attributed to John of Damascus, in whose works
it appears. However, Zotenberg has shown that it dates to before the time
of that author, Notice sur le livre de Barlaam et Joasaph, Paris, 1886.
3 CURETON, Spicilegium syriacum, p. 22 ff.; and PITRA, Spicilegium
Solesmense, t. II, p. XXXVIII. German translation by WELTE, Theol.

Quartalschrift, 1862.
133
(Book IV, ch. XXIV).4 It does, however, contain one of the many
apologies that were available in the early centuries of the Christian
era, a text attributed to the bishop of Sardis.5 We do not subscribe
to the view, defended by some scholars, that the Syriac text is an
original work and that the apology was addressed to Caracalla
(211–217) by a Christian of Mabbug, or its surroundings, during his
stay in Osrhoene. That conjecture is based on the following
passage: “The Mesopotamians adored the Jewish lady Kutbi, who
had rescued Bakru the abaya of Edessa from his enemies.
Concerning Nebo, who is adored in Mabbug, why should I write to
you that it is the image of Orphee, the magus of Thrace, when all
the priests of Mabbug already know this to be true?” Yet that
passage warrants a different conclusion altogether. The event
alluded to with reference to Koutbi the Jew and Bakrou the king of
Edessa is unknown, but the title of abaya given to that prince is
unusual; it is an artificial word derived from aba “father” which
literally renders the Greek πατρίκιος (Patrice). The kings of Edessa
never bore the title of Patrice. Besides, the Mesopotamians knew
that the god Nebo represented the planet Mercury, not Orpheus of
Thrace. Other passages on the mythology suggest a Greek source.
That apology expands on the common theme of that literary
genre: the true God is the sole God, creator of heaven and earth;
the gods of paganism are deified ancient kings or heros; the
wooden or metallic idols are set apart from the material they are
composed of only by the art of the sculptor or smith; God did not
4 The Spicilegium of CURETON contains the Syriac version of that

chapter by Eusebius as well as fragments of the works attributed to
Melito; the second fragment on faith (Spicileg. of CURETON, p. 32, and
Spicileg. of PITRA, II, p. LIX) belongs to St Justin, according to Abbot
F. MARTIN in the Analecta sacra of PITRA, IV, p. 29, note. See also
G. KRUEGER, Meliton von Sardes oder Alexander von Alexandrien, Zeitschr. f.
wissenchaft, Theol., XXXI (1888), 431, ALBERT EHRHARD, Die altchristl.
Litteratur, Friburg en Brisgau, 1900, p. 260.
5 GEBHARDT and HARNACK, Texte und Untersuchungen, I, 261;
TIXERONT, Les origines de l’Eglise d’Edesse, 9, note 5. Cf. ALBERT

EHRHARD, opere cit., p. 250 and 261.
THE APOLOGETIC TEXTS 135
reveal himself so clearly as to render impossible the existence of

false religions, for he gave man free will and the ability to discern
truth from falsehood.
Also part of that literature are the Hypomnemata of philosopher
Ambrosius, whose Syriac text Cureton published in his Spicilegium,
p. 38 ff. The text is as follows: “Hypomnemata, composed by
Ambrosius, a Greek chief who converted to Christianity. All the
senators, his peers, rose up against him; he took leave of them and
proved to them in writing their own silliness.” That text partially
reproduces the Λόγος πρὸς Ἕλληνας6 mistakenly attributed to St
Justin. The author brought to light the inanity of Greek mythology;
he showed that the gods of Homer’s poems act in ways that are
unworthy of truly divine beings, thereby proving the superiority of
Christianity over paganism. The Syriac document is a translation of
a reworked Greek text rather than of the extant Greek text.7
No ancient apology written by a Syrian has yet been
recovered. One such text, the apology of the Nestorian patriarch
Ishoʿyahb I mentioned by ʿAbdʿisho,8 was probably a defense of
Nestorianism addressed to Emperor Maurice. The apology of
Christianity, which the Nestorian patriarch Timothy I read out
before the Muslims in the presence of Caliph al-Mahdi, is greatly
expanded in one of the patriarch’s letters; cf. BRAUN, Oriens
christianus, 1901, p. 150.
6 CURETON has reprinted the Λόγος πρὸς Ἕλληνας below the English
translation of the Syriac text. Harnack has devoted a study to that work,
of which he reprinted the Greek text with a German translation of the
Syriac text by Baethgen, Die Pseudo-justinische “Rede an die Griechen” in the
Sitzunsberichte der Berl. Akademie, 1896, p. 627; cf. EHRHARD, opere cit., p.
224.
7 Cf. HARNACK, loco supra cit.
8 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 109.
XI. ECCLESIASTICAL CANONS
AND CIVIL LAW
§1. — ECCLESIASTICAL CANONS

TRANSLATED FROM GREEK
The canons of the ancient synods were recorded in Syriac
compilations which have survived in MSS held in the Vatican, the
Bibliothèque nationale and the British Museum.1 Following the
generally accepted order of events, these synods are those of
Nicaea, Ancyra, Neocesarea, Gangra, Antioch, Laodicea,
Constantinople and Chalcedon. Several MSS also contain the
canons of the synods of Ephesus, Carthage and Sardica.
There are at least two Syriac translations of the canons of the
synod of Nicaea: firstly a translation of the authentic canons by
Marutha, bishop of Maipherkat, made at the request of Isaac;
secondly a Syriac collation of the so-called arabici2 canons,
reproduced in the British Museum MSS Add. 14526 and 14528 and
in the Borgia Museum MS n. 4 (now in the Vatican, Cod. Borgiano
siriaco 82).3 Abbot F. Martin published, in chronological order, the
canons of the synods of Ancyra, Neocesarea and Nicaea in the
ASSEMANI, Cat. Vat., t. III, p. 180; Les manuscrits orientaux de

1
gr
M David au Musée Borgia (moved since to the Vatican), by Pierre
CELSOY, in the Zeitschr. für Assyriologie, t. IX, 1894, p. 368; Catal. Zotenberg,
p. 23, n. 62; Catal. Wright, p. 1030, Add. 14528 (perhaps dating to 501);
p. 1033, Add. 14526 (dating to the 7th century). Cf. GELZER,
HILGENFELD and CUNTZ, Patrum Nicænorum nomina…, Leipzig, 1898.
2 See J.-B. CHABOT, Synodicon orientale, Paris, 1902, p. 259, note 3.
3 F. MARTIN, 4th vol. of the Analecta sacra of Card. PITRA,
p. XXVIII; F. Cersoy, l. c., p. 368; COWPER, Analecta Nicæna, London,

1857.
137
4th vol. of the Analecta sacra of card. Pitra, n. XXI–XXIII.4 The list
of Fathers who attended these synods stands as a heading to the
synods of Ancyra and Neocesarea. The canons of the synods of
Nicaea are preceded: (1) by a chronological note; (2) by a letter
from Constantine to the Fathers of the synod; (3) by the symbol of
faith; (4) by a short dogmatic history of the synod’s acts; (5) by a
note on the Easter celebration.5 That same volume of the Analecta
sacra contains, n. XV, Syriac fragments of the synod of Antioch
that condemned Paul of Samosata.
Paul de Lagarde has edited the canons of the third synod of
Carthage, as found in Paris MS n. 62, in his Reliquiæ juris ecclesiastici
syriace, p. 62–88.6 The title of the Syriac version is as follows:
“Synod of the eighty-seven bishops, which took place in the
African city of Carthage in the time of St Cyprian, the bishop and
confessor. Decision of the (eighty-seven) bishops, translated from
4 Several of these canons were inserted in the Nomocanon of

ʿABDISHOʿ and the Book of Directions of BAR HEBRÆUS, which we will
consider later.
5 These five documents are included in Syr. MS 62 of the Bibliothèque
nationale. The London MSS only contain the first three, while the Borgia
Museum MS (now in the Vatican, Cod. Borgiano siriaco 82) has, beside the
Syriac canons, the symbol of faith, Constantine’s letter and a collation of
the seventy-three canones arabici of Nicaea. Cf. COWPER, Syriac Miscellanies
or extracts relating to the first and second general concils, London, 1861; OSCAR
BRAUN, De sancta Nicæna Synodo; syrische Texte des Marutha von Maipherkat,
Munster, 1898; Die Abhaltung der Synode von Gangra in Histor. Jahrb. des
Gorresges, XVI, 586; HARNACK, Der Ketzer-Katalog des Rischofs Marutha von
Maipherkat in Texte und Untersuch. zur Gesch. der altchrist. Litteratur, n. Folge,
IV, 1; RACKHAM, The texts of the canons of Ancyra, Studia biblica, III,
Oxford, 1891, p. 195 ff. For the synods of Tyre and Sidon, see
NŒLDEKE, Byzantinische Zeitschr., II, 333; OSKAR BRAUN, Syrische
Texte über die erste allgemeine Synode von Konstantinopel, in Orientalische Studien
Theodor Nöldeke, Giessen, 1906, p. 463.
6 In the Reliquiæ juris eccl. græce, p. 37–55, the Greek is more complete
than the text in the Patrologia latina, t. III, col. 1079–1102. As does the Patr.
lat., the Borgia Museum MS contains the shorter version under the title
Canons of the eighty-four bishops…, F. CERSOY, l. c., p. 369.
ECCLESIASTICAL CANONS AND CIVIL LAW 139
the Roman language into Greek, regarding those who should be

coined heretics.” That decision is followed by two letters from
Cyprian addressed to Quintus and Fidus respectively, Reliq., p. 88–
98 (reprinted in the Analecta sacra of card. Pitra, IV, n. XI, p. 72–
77). According to a concluding clause (p. 98), the Syriac version
was produced in year 998 of the Greeks, or 687 AD. Already in the
first volume of his Monumenta syriaca, p. 1 and 2, Zingerle had made
known two fragments of that synod respectively containing the
suffrage of Cecilius, bishop of Dispolis,7 and the vow of Polycarp,
bishop of Adrumette. These fragments were accompanied by two
others concerned with the testimony of Pope Felix I, cited in the
fourth session of the synod of Ephesus as well as in the Council of
Chalcedon. For the most part these fragments can be found in the
apocryphal letter which Pope Julius sent to Prosdocius, published
by Paul de Lagarde in his Analecta syriaca, p. 70.
The Acts of the second council of Ephesus, known by the
name Ephesus Synod of Thieves, are preserved in Syriac in two MSS
from the British Museum, Add. 12156 and 14530. The first of these
MSS holds the section of the first session concerned with Flavien
of Antioch and Eusebius of Dorylee. The second contains the
second session dealing with Ibas, his nephew Daniel of Harran,
Irenaeus of Tyre, Aquiline of Byblos, Sophronius of Tella,
Theodoret of Cyrus and Domnus of Antioch. These documents
have been translated into French by Abbot F. Martin (Actes du
Brigandage d’Ephèse, Amiens, 1874, and Le Pseudo-Synode connu dans
l’histoire sous le nom du Brigandage d’Ephèse, Paris, 1875); into German
by Hoffmann (Verhandlungen der Kirchenversammlung zu Ephesus,
1873); and into English by Perry (An ancient syriac document… The
second synod of Ephesus, Dartford, 1867). Besides, Perry has published
the Syriac text of that synod (Secundam synodum Ephesinam… primus
edidit Samuel G. F. Perry, Oxford, 1875).
Bedjan has edited8 the Syriac version of a Latin epitome of
eleven ecumenical synods based on an Arabic translation by Joseph
7 In the Reliquiæ juris eccl., syriace, p. 68, græce, p. 41.

8 Compendium conciliorum œcumenicorum undecim, Paris, 1888.
of Diarbekir from 1693. These synods were: the two in Nicaea, the
one in Ephesus, the one in Chalcedon, the four in Constantinople,
the fourth in Latran, the second in Lyon and the one in Florence. It
appears that the text contained many mistakes and that the editor
found himself having to rework most of it. Bedjan has added a new
Syriac translation of the twelve anathemas of Saint Cyril and of the
second synod of Constantinople.
Paris manuscript n. 62, which is so incredibly rich in such
documents, also contains: (1) canons taken from a letter that the
bishops gathered at Antioch sent from Italy to the bishops of the
East;9 (2) rulings collected in the Epistles of St Ignatius which carry
the weight of ecclesiastical canons (based on that MS by Cureton,
Corpus Ignatianum, p. 192 ff.); (3) an extract from the instruction of
Peter, bishop of Alexandria, concerning those who abjured their
faith during the persecution (edited by Paul de Lagarde, Reliquiæ
juris eccl., syriace, p. 99 to 117; græce, p. 63–73);10 (4) questions
addressed to Timothy of Alexandria and the answers to those
questions;11 (5) letters by Athanasius of Alexandria, St Basil, St
Gregory of Nazianzus, St Damasus of Rome,12 St Gregory of
Nyssa on various matters of canon law; (6) forty-five canons of the
orthodox Fathers bearing the title “Definition concerned with
certain chapters, addressed from the Orient in the form of
questions to the Holy Fathers;”13 (7) seven questions and answers
entitled “Ecclesiastical canons that the Holy Fathers Constantine,
Antoninus, Thomas, Pelagius, Eustache, venerable bishops…,
established in the time of the persecution;” 14 (8) seven decisions
9 Compare with CERSOY, l. c., p. 370, 18°.

10 Towards the end of the Syriac version there is a passage which is
absent from the Greek original; Abbot F. MARTIN, Analecta sacra of
Card. PITRA, IV, p. XXV, note 2.
11 Comp. with ASSEMANI, Catal. Vat., III, p. 181, n. XIII.
12 Comp. with, in CERSOY, l. c., p. 369, 10°, “Two synodicons of pope
Damasus, the first directed at Apollinarius and his disciple Timothy, the
second at various heresies”.
13 Comp. with Catal. Wright, p. 211 d, 1037, 6.
14 Comp. with Catal. Wright, p. 222 g, 1037, 7.
(the third is missing) taken from a letter addressed by the Holy

Fathers to two priests named Paul from a town of Cilicia; (9) four
decisions taken from a letter from Constantine, metropolitan of
Laodicea, to Aba Mark Isaurios; (10) eleven decisions entitled
“Extracts from a letter written by a bishop to one of his friends
concerning several offences”; (11) five canons of Theodosius of
Alexandria; (12) Definition of the penalties incurred by monks for various
sins by St Basil (there are twelve canons in Syriac corresponding to
the eleven canons in Greek). Manuscript n. 4 of the Borgia
Museum, K. VI, vol. 4 (now in the Vatican, Cod. Borgiano sir. 82)
contains the synodal letters of Pope Leo to Flavien, bishop of
Constantinople, directed at Eutyches.15 The British Museum holds
Syriac MSS containing canons of Eusebius, Timothy of Alexandria
and Severus of Antioch.16
Texts translated from Greek only have a limited relevance to
the history of the Oriental Church. More important for the study
of that history are the original Syriac texts, especially those of the
patriarchs of Seleucia and Ctesiphon.
§2. — SYRIAC ECCLESIASTICAL CANONS

Two Syriac manuscripts contain a collection of the Oriental or
Nestorian17 synods: one in the Vatican, Cod. Borgiano siriaco 82 (the
old K. VI, 4, of the Borgia Museum); the other in the Bibliothèque
nationale, Syr. 332. These two MSS are copies of an original MS of
the library of the monastery of Hormizd in Alqosh, near Mosul.
According to a note, Elias I, patriarch of the Nestorians († 1049),
was responsible for compiling these synods. On the other hand,
Chabot argues18 that the suggested date is too late by two centuries:
the collection dates back to the end of the 8th century, that is to
15 V. CERSOY, l. c., p. 370, 17°.

16 Catal. Wright, General index, p. 1253.
17 Published by J.-B. CHABOT, Synodicon orientale or Recueil des Synodes
nestoriens publié, traduit et annoté, Paris, 1902. OSKAR BRAUN has

translated it into German, Das Buch der Synhados, Stuttgart, 1900.
18 Synodicon orientale, p. 12.
the first years of Timothy I’s time as patriarch (780–823); the

addition of the later synods’ decisions completed the collection.
These synods are: (1) of Isaac in 410;19 (2) of Yahbalaha I in
420; (3) of Dadishoʿ in 424; (4) of Acacius in 486; (5) of Bar Sauma
of Nisibis (in reality six letters from that metropolitan to Acacius);20
(6) of Babai in 497; (7) of Mar Aba I in 544;21 (8) of Joseph in 554;
(9) of Ezechiel in 576; (10) of Ishoʿyahb I in 585 (follows: a
disciplinary and dogmatic letter addressed to James, bishop of
Deirin); (11) of Sabrishoʿ I in 596 (follows: a synodal letter
addressed to monks of the monastery of Bar Qaiti); (12) of
Gregory I in 605; (13) of George I in 676 (follows: a dogmatic
letter addressed to Mina, chorepiscopus of Persia, in 660); (14) and
finally of Henanishoʿ II22 in 775. The Paris MS does not contain
Ishoʿyahb’s letter to Jacob of Deirin.
The Paris MS contains the first synod of Timothy I, patriarch
of the Nestorians, part of whose decisions are addressed in letter
form to Ephrem, metropolitan of Elam.23
19 The synod of Isaac, inserted by the Jacobites, had previously been

published after Paris MS 62 in LAMY, Concilium Seleuciæ et Ctesiphonti,
Leuven, 1868. Lamy studied it once more using the Vatican MS Cod.
Borgiano sir. 82, in the Compte rendu du IIIe congrès scientifique des catholiques,
Brussels, 1894, 3rd part, p. 85.
20 Published by OSCAR BRAUN in the Actes du Xe Congrès des
Orientalistes, Geneva, 1894; and by J.-B. CHABOT, Synodicon orient., p. 525.

21 Bedjan has published a letter by Mar Aba after a Life of that
patriarch in his Histoire de Mar-Jabalaha, Paris, 1895. That letter has been
translated into French by NAU, Le Canoniste contemporain, Paris, 1891, p.
20; and re-edited by CHABOT, Synodicon orient., p. 80; also comp. with the
letter published by ASSEMANI in his Bibl. orient., t. III, part I, p. 76, n. 4.
22 The Vatican MS Cod. Borgiano sir. 82 also holds judicial rulings of
that patriarch; F. CERSOY, l. c., p. 372, 31°.

23 J.-B. CHABOT has published that synod, Synodicon orientale,
Appendice IV, p. 599. Chabot dates it to 799, following ʿAbdishoʿ, Collectio

canonum, Treatise IX, chap. VI. OSCAR BRAUN, who has also published
it in Oriens christianus, 1902, p. 283 ff., reckons that the synod dates even
further back, to 782. Based on it Braun published a letter by Timothy, as
In the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenland. Gesellsch., t. XLIII, p. 388 ff.,

Guidi studied the two Arabic versions of that collection,
respectively produced by Elias Jauhari, metropolitan of Damascus
(893) and by Abu al-Faraj Ibn al-Tayyib († 1043). The latter added
the last synods of Timothy, Ishoʿ bar Nun24 and Yohannan III.
Guidi has compared these versions with the Syriac original
contained in the Vatican MS cited above. He has also reproduced
the subscriptions of the various synods, together with the names of
the bishops mentioned in it. At the end of that study, the
alphabetical list of the bishoprics constitutes a useful contribution
to the geography of Oriental Mesopotamia and Persia.
Gabriel, metropolitan of Basra (884–893), is the author of a
bipartite compilation of canons.25
The Nestorian patriarch Elias I (1028–1049) gathered in a
short volume the canons, constitutions and precepts on religion.26
Elias bar Shinaya, metropolitan of Nisibis and a contemporary
of patriarch Elias, composed four volumes of ecclesiastical
decisions.27
ʿAbdishoʿ, metropolitan of Nisibis († 1318), who was struck
by the difficulties that the study of the rich judicial literature of the
Nestorian Orient presented, resolved to codify the various
documents of that literature in order to collect them into a uniform
book that would become the reference work among those of his
confession. Such is the origin of the Epitome of the Synodal Canons,
found in the Vatican MS Cod. Borgiano sir. 82, which he considers to be a

detached part of the first synod dated to 790 by ʿAbdishoʿ.
24 The Vatican MS Cod. Borgiano sir. 82 contains canons, laws and legal
rulings of that patriarch, as well as questions by deacon Macarius and the

patriarch’s answers to those questions, followed by other questions which
were not asked by that patriarch; compare with F. CERSOY, l. c., p. 372,
33°–35°.
25 ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue in ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 202 and 209.
26 Cf. ibid., part II, p. 262; Vatican MS Cod. Borgiano sir. 82, p. 749–803.
27 ʿAbdishoʿ’s catal. in ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 266. In his
Collectio canonum or Nomocanon, Treatise III, ʿAbdishoʿ summarised the

chapter On the sharing of heritage by Elias bar Shinaya.
known as the Nomocanon of ʿAbdishoʿ. That compilation is divided

into two books, which deal with civil law and ecclesiastical law
respectively. Assemani produced a detailed study of it in his
Bibliotheca orientalis, t. III, part. I, p. 332 ff.;28 Card. Mai edited it
together with a Latin translation by Aloysius Assemani in vol. X of
his Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, Rome, 1838.
ʿAbdishoʿ had written his Nomocanon while he was still a monk.
As a bishop, he composed a treatise on canonical law entitled Rules
of Ecclesiastical Judgements divided into two parts of five chapters
each. A MS of the work belongs to Chabot, who has published it.29
From as early as the beginning of the 6th century, the
Monophysite Syrians also had a collection of their synods.30
The codification work done for the Nestorians by ʿAbdishoʿ
had already been undertaken by the Jacobites. In his collection
entitled the Book of Directions, ‫ܐܳܕܗ ̈ܘܕܝ ܶ̈ܐ‬
ܽ ‫ܟܬܒ‬, Bar Hebræus gathered
the legal texts of the Western Syrians, comprising the ecclesiastical
canons and civil laws. That work has been translated into Arabic
but it is also attested in Arabic and Syriac in manuscripts now held
in the Vatican, the Laurentian of Florence, the Bibliothèque
nationale, the Bodleian Library of Oxford, and the Royal Library of
Berlin. In vol. X of the Script. vet. Nova collectio, Card. Mai reprinted
Aloysius Assemani’s Latin translation of the text. F. Bedjan has
edited the Syriac text, Nomocanon Gregorii Barhebræi, Paris, 1898. In
terms of civil law,31 Bar Hebræus’s Nomocanon is more complete
than ʿAbdishoʿ’s.
We also have access to the Nomocanon of David, a Maronite
metropolitan, which Thomas, bishop of Kaphartab, translated
from Syriac into Arabic, with additions and corrections in
28 Ibid., p. 52, Assemani reprinted the synodal letter of the Western

patriarchs to the Orientals regarding the institution of the patriarchate of
Seleucia. That letter is taken from book IX, chap. V, of the Nomocanon of
ʿAbdishoʿ.
29 Synodicon orientale, p. 609.
30 Cf. WRIGHT, Catal., p. 1030; CHABOT, Synodicon orientale, p. 12.
31 MAI, op. cit., preface, p. XI. In the preface to his edition, p. VIII–X,
Bedjan gives the list of subjects treated in each chapter.

accordance with the monothelite doctrine. That work is preceded

by the letter which Joseph the monk addressed to Thomas,
together with the latter’s reply.32
These collections refrained from using previous collections,
which are less complete or less systematic, as well as special
treatises of which they contained an epitome. It therefore comes as
no surprise that a number of legal works from before these
collections have been lost. Some have nonetheless survived.
Rabbula, bishop of Edessa († 435), left us with three short
treatises respectively entitled Canons, Warnings concerning Monks and
Injunctions and Warnings Addressed to Priests and Regulars. Overbeck
published them, following MSS from the British Museum, in his
book, S. Ephræmi syri, Rabulæ, etc., p. 210–221.
Abraham, the founder of the Great Monastery on Mount Izla
(6th century), is considered to have been the reformer of the ways
of the Nestorian monks, which had slackened with the
introduction of monasticism in Mesopotamia. Abraham and
Dadishoʿ, his successor at the head of the monastery of Izla,
composed the canons that governed the monastery, in June 571
and January 588 respectively. Abbot Chabot published these
canons with a Latin translation, following a MS from the Borgia
Museum, in the report of the Academia dei Lincei entitled Regulæ
monasticæ ab Abrahamo et Dadishoʿ conditæ, Rome, 1898. ʿAbdishoʿ had
inserted them in his Nomocanon, published, as noted above, by Mai;
he did, however, modify and alter them in several ways. Budge,
after Mai’s edition, had done an English translation of the canons
of Abraham in his edition of the Monastic History of Thomas of
Marga, t. I, p. CXXXIV ff., and an analysis of the canons of
Dadishoʿ, ibid., p. CXI. Dadishoʿ, a fervent Nestorian, required his
monks to adhere wholeheartedly and without reservation to the
doctrine preached by Nestorius.
John bar Cursus, bishop of Tella of Mauzalat (or simply John
of Tella, † 538), one of the ardent apostles of Monophysitism in
32ZOTENBERG, Catal. des ms. syriaques de la Bibl. nationale, n. 223;

comp. with ASSEMANI, Catal. Vat., t. III, p. 202 ff.
Mesopotamia, composed Warnings and Precepts in the Form of Canons

Addressed to Ecclesiastics and Questions Concerning Various Subjects
Addressed by Priest Sergius to John of Tella, with the answers to those
questions. These two works are in manuscripts of the British
Museum and the Bibliothèque nationale;33 Carolus Kuberczyk
edited the first of the two in Canones Johannis Bar Cursus, Leipzig,
1901; Lamy published the second (Dissertatio de Syrorum fide et
disciplina in re Eucharistica, Leuven, 1859, p. 62).
Extracts of ecclesiastical rulings made by Simeon,
metropolitan of Rev Ardashir (7th century), have been preserved in
the Vatican MS Cod. Borgiano sir. 82.34
The ascetic rules instituted by Rabbula in Edessa in the 5th
century gradually fell into disuse. In the 7th century, Jacob, who
had been appointed bishop of that town, attempted to reinstate the
old ecclesiastical canons, to no avail. His efforts were opposed by
the monks, backed by Julian, the patriarch of Antioch and
successor of Athanasius. Faced with this resistance to his authority,
Jacob abandoned the episcopal seat and proceeded to the
monastery where the patriarch resided; before the monastery’s gate
he set fire to an exemplar of the canons he had brought with him,
crying out: “These canons upon which you tread and by which you
do not abide I hereby burn as superfluous and worthless.”35
Among the many canons composed by Jacob of Edessa,36 several
are written in the form of questions addressed to that bishop by the
priest Addai, together with the answers to those questions. Paul de
Lagarde published those canons, as found in the Paris MS 62, in
Reliquæ juris eccl. syriace, p. 117–134, as did Lamy, Dissertatio de
Syrorum fide, p. 98–171. Kayser has prepared a more complete
33Catal. Wright, see General index, p. 1296, col. 2; Catal. Zotenberg, n. 62,
50° and 51°.
34 CERSOY, l. c., p. 365. To this Simeon is attributed the collection of
canons in the Catalogue of ʿAbdishoʿ, B. O., III, part I, p. 279.

35 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, p. 291.
36 See ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 477.
edition of it, along with a German translation.37 That edition is

based on the two Paris MSS 62 and 111 and on three MSS held in
the British Museum. Moreover, Kayser has taken from the
Nomocanon of Bar Hebræus the canons of Jacob which are inserted
within, albeit in an abridged form.38 Jacob is also the author of a
treatise on the degrees of kinship for which marriage should be
forbidden.39
George, bishop of the Arabs, a contemporary of Jacob of
Edessa and a member of the Jacobite confession, wrote decisions
known to us from the Nomocanon of Bar Hebræus (German transl.
by Ryssel, Georgs des Arab. Gedichte, Leipzig, 1891, p. 145).
Simeon of Taibuteh (around 690) wrote a book on monastic
rules, following the catalogue of ʿAbdishoʿ.40
The ecclesiastical decisions of Ishoʿbokht, the metropolitan of
Persia (around 800), are to be found in the Vatican MS Cod Borgiano
sir. 82.41
Manuscripts from the Vatican, the British Museum and the
Bibliothèque nationale contain canons of Quryaqos, the patriarch
of Antioch († 817).42
The canons and warnings of John bar Abgar, the Nestorian
patriarch († 905), which are cited in the catalogue of ʿAbdishoʿ, are
in manuscripts from Rome that Assemani analysed in his Bibliotheca
orientalis.43 ʿAbdishoʿ further attributed to that patriarch a series of
37 Die Kanones Jacob’s von Edessa übersetzt und erläutert, Leipzig, 1886;
comp. with WRIGHT, Notulæ syriacæ, London, 1887.
38 These same canons are also, with other canons by Jacob of Edessa,
in a MS from Cambridge. WRIGHT has published extracts from that MS

in his Notulæ syriacæ.
39 Cat. Vat., t. II, p. 244.
40 B. O., III, part I, 181.
41 F. CERSOY, l. c., p. 365, 3°; OSKAR BRAUN, Oriens christianus,
1901, p. 145; comp. with the Catal. of Ebedjésu in B. O., III, part I, p. 195.
42 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 116 and 342; Catal. Wright, p. 222; Catal.
Zotenberg, p. 28; n. 54. The catalogue of WRIGHT, p. 993, n. 47, also

mentions the Canons on the clergy by Sergius, bishop of Amphiator (?).
43 B. O., II, 5 and 507; III, part I, 238 ff.
ecclesiastical questions, published by Assemani.44 The Vatican MS

Cod. Borgiano sir. 82 contains ecclesiastical canons attributed to
John, patriarch of the East. For lack of a more precise
identification, Abbot Cersoy45 can only assume that John refers to
John bar Abgar. However, when Cersoy compared that collection
of canons with the works of John bar Abgar which Assemani has
analysed, he was unable to find a parallel between the two.
The canons of George, metropolitan of Erbil (around 945),
are in the Vatican MS Cod. Borgiano sir. 82.46
Ishoʿ bar Shushan, who became patriarch of the Jacobites
under the name John X († 1073), authored twenty-four canons for
the clergy.47 None of these has come down to us.
ʿAbdishoʿ, the metropolitan of Nisibis, composed decisions
and canons that have not survived.48
§3. — CIVIL LAW

We saw in the previous paragraph that the Syrians’ legal collections
contained, besides ecclesiastical canons, civil laws employed in
trials which had been referred to the Episcopal jurisdiction by
Christians. These laws were based on Byzantine forerunners, which
Syrians studied thanks to two collections, as ʿAbdishoʿ notes in the
introduction to the third treatise of his Nomocanon.
St Ambrose prepared one of these collections at the request of
Emperor Valentinian; the other was the collection of laws of
Constantine, Theodosius and Leo. The last of these was very
widespread in the Middle Ages and was known by the names
Statuta imperatorum, Libri basilicon or Leges Constantini, Theodosii et
Leonis; there were several Syriac translations of it.
44 B. O., III, part I, 249.

45 L. c., p. 364–365.
46 F. CERSOY, l. c., p. 398, 11°. An extract in the Linguæ syr.
Grammatica by GISMONDI, 2nd ed., Beyrouth, 1900, p. 73 of the Chresth.

Land was the first to edit the Syriac version contained in the
British Museum MS Add. 14528 dating to the early 6th century
(Anecdota syriaca, I, p. 30–64); and also made a Latin translation
(ibid., p. 128) entitled Leges sæculares e sermone romano in aramæum
translatæ. Yet the manuscript contains many mistakes and the
translation too is imperfect. Sachau has undertaken, with the
collaboration of Bruns, a professor of law in Berlin, a new critical
edition of that version with a German translation of the texts
(Syrisch-rœmisches Rechtsbuch aus dem fuenften Jahrhundert, Leipzig, 1880).
That edition comprises the following texts: (1) the Syriac version,
as found in MS Add. 14528; (2) a fragment of the same version
contained in MS Add. 18295; that fragment has the two first
paragraphs and an introduction lacking from MS 14528; (3) the
Syriac version, as found in MS 112 of the Bibliothèque nationale;
(4) the Arabic version; (5) the Armenian version.
Judging by MS 14528, which is from the early 6th century, the
ancient Syriac version must date to the 5th century.
The Nestorian patriarch Elias and his contemporary, Elias of
Nisibis, used these laws for their collections. As for ʿAbdishoʿ, he
mentions the Laws of the Emperors in ten passages of his Nomocanon;
in two other passages he attributes them to Ishoʿ bar Nun and
Ishoʿbokht. The passages copied by Patriarch Elias and ʿAbdishoʿ
differ from the texts in Sachau’s edition. Sachau therefore
concludes that in the first half of the eleventh century there must
have existed compilations of these laws that were significantly
different from those that have survived to this day.49 This view is
confirmed by Wright’s discovery of another Syriac version of that
work in fragments of a Cambridge MS.50 It is further supported by
Cersoy’s note51 on the Borgia Museum MS, K. VI, vol. 3 (now in
the Vatican, Cod. Borgiano sir. 82), which reads as follows: “Three
49 Syrisch-rœmisches Rechtsbuch, p. 177. In his Book of directions Bar

Hebræus also cites The laws of the emperors, but following their meaning
rather than their context.
50 Cf. WRIGHT, Notulæ syriacæ, p. 1–11; WRIGHT and COOK, Catal.
of the syr. ms. of Cambridge, p. 600, Add. 2023.

51 Zeitschr. für Assyriologie, t. IX, p. 366, 4°.
collections of Roman law. The first is entitled: Laws and Rulings of

the Christian Kings Constantine and Leo. The second is given as Another
Version of those Same Laws, to which are Added Other Laws. The third
bears the following name: Civil Laws of the Romans Made by the
Confessor Ambrosius when Valentinian Ordered him to Codify them for the
(Provincial) Prefects. That third collection is necessarily the one which
ʿAbdishoʿ mentions in his catalogue when he says that Ambrose,
bishop of Milan, collected rulings and rules for the provincial
prefects at the request of Valentinien (Assemani, B. O., t. III,
first part, p. 267 and 269). All three of these collections of Roman
law present many differences with the Syriac documents of a
similar variety published by Bruns and Sachau. They also seem to
diverge significantly from the Syriac version, of which Wright has
published fragments (Notulæ syriacæ).”
The Vatican manuscript (Cod. Borgiano 82) preserves several
treatises of civil law composed by Nestorians. These are: (1) the
treatise of Patriarch Mar Aba on what might prevent a wedding
from being allowed;52 (2) the rules of ecclesiastical rulings and
inheritance composed by Patriarch Timothy I and made up of
ninety-nine canons;53 (3) the treatise of the Nestorian patriarch
Elias I on inheritance and his synodal rules on successions and
causes for forbidding the celebration of a wedding;54 (4) the treatise
on the sharing of inheritance compiled by Patriarch Elias I and
abridged by Elias of Nisibis; probably an epitome of the treatise of
number 3;55 (5) the Laws and Judicial Rulings of ʿAbdishoʿ bar Bahriz,
metropolitan of Erbil and Mosul (around 1028). That collection’s
52 BRAUN has published an extract of the said text in the Zeitschr. der
deut. morgenl. Gesellschaft, LVII, 1903, p. 562. According to Braun, its author
is patriarch Mar Aba I (540–552), although on the basis of the title Chabot
attributes it to Mar Abba II, Synodicon orientale, p. 7, note 4.
53 LABOURT has translated these canons into Latin in his thesis De
Timotheo I, Paris, 1904, p. 50. Cf. J.-B. CHABOT, Syndicon orientale, p. 10,
note 2. The collection was completed in 805.
54 F. CERSOY, l. c., p. 368, 9° and 10°.
55 F. CERSOY, l. c., p. 368, 12°. ʿAbdishoʿ inserted it in his Nomocanon,
as we noted above, p. 143, note 27.

subject matter is the sharing of inheritance; it is divided into two

sections: the first gives the theory on the sharing of inheritance, the
second details specific cases.56
56 F. CERSOY, l. c., p. 365, 1°; comp. with the Catalogue of Ebedjésu,

B. O., III, part I, 267.
XII. THE HISTORIOGRAPHERS
§1. — GENERAL HISTORY

The 6th century, when Syriac literature reached its peak, saw the
birth of the first historical works of the Syrians. In the early years
of the century a chronicle was composed which relates the events
that took place in Syria and Mesopotamia from 495 to the end of
the year 506. It is the most complete and exact document that we
have on the wars of Anastasius I and Kavadh. That history was
written in Edessa around 518, for its author speaks of the end of
the reign of Anastasius;1 it has survived in the form of a
compilation attributed by Assemani to Patriarch Dionysius of Tel
Mahre and which has been known to this day by the title Chronicle of
Joshua the Stylite. It is under that name that it appeared in Assemani’s
detailed analysis of the text, which he found in the compilation of
the so-called Dionysius, in his Bibliotheca orientalis, I, p. 260–283. It
is also under that name that Abbot F. Martin published for the first
time the entire work, together with a French translation. Wright
came later, publishing an English translation based on a collation of
the editio princeps which Guidi based solely on that one MS.2
Nau has established that the author of that chronicle was
unknown and that the text could therefore not be attributed to
1 Abbot NAU, Analyse des parties inédites de la chronique attribuée à Denys de

Tellmahré, Paris, 1898, taken from the Supplément de l’Orient chrétien, 1897.
2 Chronique de Josué le stylite by Abbot PAULIN MARTIN, Leipzig,
1876, in the Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, t. VI. The Chronicle of
Joshua the Stylite, by WRIGHT, Cambridge, 1882.
153
Joshua the Stylite.3 All that can be said from this text is that the
author taught in a school of Edessa; he was probably orthodox; he
praises Flavian, who abandoned the Jacobites and seems to
admonish Anastasius for having forced that patriarch into exile.
Nau believes that chronicle was already included in the second part
of the history of John of Asia and from there entered the
compilation, sole surviving witness of the chronicle. The third part
of that compilation is indeed a literal transcription of the second
part of John of Asia, a transcription so literal in fact that the
narrator (John of Asia) writes in the first person when referring to
another passage of the book; the same is true of the little chronicle.
Several years later an anonymous writer composed a Chronicle
of Edessa, preserved in a Syr. MS in the Vatican (n. 163) but
originally from the library of the Syrian monastery of Our Lady, in
the desert of Nitria. That chronicle begins in year 180 of the
Seleucids (132–131 BC) and ends in 540 AD, which is presumably
when it was composed.
Very concise when it comes to the first period, its account of
events from the 3rd century AD onwards is more detailed. The
historical data it contains, especially the exact dates it cites, make it
a precious document for the history of both East and West.
Assemani has published the entire Chronicle in his Bibliotheca
orientalis, I, p 388–417.4 Ludwig Hallier5 published a second edition
of the text, revised using Guidi’s manuscript, together with a full
critical analysis and a German translation. According to research
conducted by Hallier, the sources of the Chronicle of Edessa are
3 Bulletin critique, January 25, 1897, p. 54; Analyse des parties inédites de la
chronique attribuée à Denys de Tellmahré, 1898, p. 12; taken from the
Supplément de l’Orient chrétien, 1897; comp. with NŒLDEKE, Lit.
Centralblatt, February 12, 1898, p. 190.
4 Reprinted, after Assemani, by MICHAELIS in his Chrestomathie
syriaque, 2nd ed., Gœttingen, 1786, p. 47 ff.

5 Untersuchungen über die Edessenische Chronik mit dem syrischen Texte und
einer Uebersetzung, in the Texte und Untersuchungen by GEBHARDT and

HARNACK, t. IX, fasc. 1, Leipzig, 1892. Hallier, p. 3, note 3, believes
that the English translation cited in Wright does not exist.
THE HISTORIOGRAPHERS 155
documents from Antioch, where the New Year began on the first
of September, and a history of the Persians which has not survived.
The notes concerning Edessa, borrowed from the town’s archives,
cannot be counted in. The author also made good use of the
aforementioned Chronicle. Hallier has argued, unconvincingly in our
opinion,6 that the author was writing in the late 6th century rather
than around 540. That author belonged to the orthodox
confession; he recognised the four first ecumenical synods but
leaned markedly towards Nestorianism, his orthodoxy being the
rather more lax orthodoxy of the Syrians of the early 6th century.
Guidi has reprinted the Chronicle of Edessa with a Latin
translation in the Corpus scriptorum christianorum orientalium.7 He
faithfully reproduced the diacritic signs of that single manuscript.
The first half of the 6th century probably also saw the birth of
a historical novel by an unknown author who was presumably a
monk of Edessa. That novel is divided into three parts: the first
contains the story of Constantine and his sons; the second the
story of Eusebius of Rome and the woes which Emperor Julian
caused him to endure; and the third the story of Jovian (known
among the Orientals by the name Jovinian) during the short reign
of Julian. That work displays such obvious inaccuracies in both
facts and dates, including with respect to Julian’s campaign in the
East, that it is of no use to the historian. Yet it contains the best
instance of Syriac rhetoric, in a pure and elegant hellenistic style,
combined with letters and discourses that bring to mind the
historical genre of Titus Livy. It was read far and wide in the East
during the Middle Ages and regrettably influenced Syriac historians,
such as Bar Hebræus, as well as Arabic historians. Wright8 points
out that the said work is probably the one which is attributed to the
historian Socrates in ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue, where he notes that
Socrates composed “a history of the Emperors Constantine and
Jovinian.”
6 Revue critique d’histoire et de littérature, June 19, 1893, p. 481 ff.

7 Chronica minora, pars prior, Paris, 1903.
8 Syriac Literature, 2nd ed., p. 100.
That historical novel is preserved with many lacunae in the

British Museum MS Add. 14641, which dates to the 6th century
AD. Nothing survives of the first part concerning Constantine and
his sons but the final lines on a leaf. The second and third parts,
which are mostly complete, are presented as a tale written by
Aploris or Apoplaris (?), a close counsellor of Jovien, at the request
of Abdel, Archimandrite of Sandrun Mahoze (?), to encourage the
conversion of Christians. Nœldeke has produced a remarkable
study of that Syriac composition in the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl.
Gesell., t. XXVIII, p. 263–292; he places the date of its composition
between 502 and 532. Georg Hoffmann has published the text, as
found in the British Museum MS, under the title Julian the
Apostate (Iulianos der Abtrünnige, Leiden, 1880).
Another manuscript from the British Museum, Add. 7192,
dating to the 7th century, contains a fragment of a similar work on
Julian’s apostasy. Nœldeke treats that fragment in the same journal,
t. XXVIII, p. 660, and attributes it to an author different from the
one who composed the previous work. Hoffmann edited that
fragment after the first novel, p. 242–250.9
The oldest ecclesiastical history that has come down to us
from the Jacobite Syrians was composed by the famous John of
Asia (or John of Ephesus) in the second half of the 6th century. As
he himself informs us, John divided his work into three parts: the
first two, made up of six books each, extended from Julius Caesar
to the 7th year of Justin II (572); the third part, also comprising six
books, ended in year 585. The author cannot have lived long after
that date for he was then already eighty years old.
Unfortunately, the first part is entirely lost. Important
fragments of the second part are preserved in two MSS from the
British Museum, Add. 14647, dating to 688, and Add. 14650, dated
to 875; Land published them in the second volume of his Anecdota
syriaca, p. 289–329 and 385–391, with a short fragment, p. 363,
taken from MS Add. 12154. On the other hand, the author of the
9 On the historical worth of that fragment, see ERNEST MAASS,

Analecta sacra et profana, Marburg, 1901.
Chronicle of pseudo-Dionysius of Tel Mahre claimed to have

composed the third part of his work with the second part of the
history of John of Asia. Yet it was believed that this later
compilation would provide no information that had not already
been gleaned from fragments preserved in London MSS, and hence
that there would be no point in editing the third part of pseudo-
Dionysius. Abbot Nau has demonstrated that it was not so, and he
came to the conclusion that pseudo-Dionysius of Tel Mahre had
literally transcribed in his compilation the entire second part of
John of Asia, of which we had come to believe only fragments
existed. Nau has indeed recognised that the fragments published by
Land appear complete, and in a better condition, in that
compilation; he suggests that the surplus of John’s second part is
also integrally reproduced therein.10
The third part of the history of John of Asia survives, with
numerous and important lacunae, in MS Add. 14640 (7th century),
whose author probably also wrote MS Add. 14647, a document that
contains fragments of the second part. Cureton published (Oxford,
1853) the third part under the title The third part of the ecclesiastical
history of John Bishop of Ephesus. It was translated into English by
Payne Smith in 1860, and into German by Schœnfelder in 1862. It
begins in 571 in the time of Justin II’s persecution of the
Monophysites. John, an ardent defender of the new Jacobite sect,
was badly affected by that persecution; thrown into prison or
forced into flight, he hastily composed and hid pages of his history;
the confused nature of the composition, and presumably also a
number of lacunae with which the text is riddled, derive from this
imposed haste. The author apologises for these features in chapter
10 Bulletin critique, August 25, 1896; Journal asiatique, 1896, 9th series,
t. VIII, p. 346 ff.; Analyse des parties inédites de la chronique attribuée à Denys de
Tellmahré, 1898, taken from the Supplément de l’Orient chrétien, 1897. In the
latter work, p. 33 ff., NAU has analysed the second part of John of Asia.
KUGENER nonetheless notes that the extracts of pseudo-Dionysius,
which he published in the Vie de Sévère par Jean de Beith-Aphthonia in the
Patrologia orientalis, t. II, fasc. 3, display a writing style which is unlike that
of John of Asia, ibid., p. 299, note 2.
50 of the second book:11 “When learned people read these stories,

they occasionally blame the author for the confused way in which
an event is told, often muddled and dispersed across several
chapters. However, with regard to the chapters to which this
criticism applies, one should bear in mind that many articles were
written in the time of the persecution, hence under very difficult
circumstances. The manuscripts upon which these articles were
written had to be concealed with other documents and books in a
number of different locations, at times for up to two or three years.
As the author did not readily have access to his earlier writings and
did not always recall which events he had already described, he
often related the same event in several different chapters. Later
events rendered impossible the task of bringing together these
notes into one coherent whole.” The troubled times in which John
lived were also responsible for the flaws in his composition, the
exuberance of his rather unpolished style, and the inclusion of
many hellenisms and Greek words. We should add that the
different books were not written in the chronological order of the
events related; rather they were composed of detached fragments
later brought together in a collection. The dates cited in that last
part are12: 581 in ch. 39 of book I; 577 in ch. 15 of book II; 582 in
ch. 22 of book III; 575, 576, 580 and 585 in ch. 13, 19, 53 and 61
of book IV; and 584 in ch. 25 of book VI.
Among what remains of the works of John of Asia, historians
will find precise information on the crises endured by the
Monophysite Church in the course of the 6th century. John denies
being biased: although it is true that he bitterly deplores the
suffering endured by his religious companions while ignoring, or
even approving of, the calamities which affected his adversaries, he
is a genuine and truthful historian, so much so that his work far
surpasses the historical compilations produced in Syria.
11 Ed. CURETON, p. 140.

12 See LAND, Johannes Bischof von Ephesos, der erste syrische
Kirchenhistoriker, Leiden, 1856, p. 82.
The Lives of the Blessed Orientals, which John of Asia composed

and gathered in a collection around 565–566, complement, and are
of near equal importance to, that author’s ecclesiastical history. For
further information on that document the reader is referred to p.
128–129 of this study.
During the same period a Jacobite Syrian composed a
historical compilation in which he included a large part of the
ecclesiastical history (the Greek version of which is now lost)
written by Zacharias Rhetor in the late 5th century and comprising
years 450–491.13 That compilation, divided into twelve books, has
survived in a MS from the British Museum, Add. 17202, dating to
the late 6th or early 7th century. In that MS the final chapters of
book X as well as the whole of book XI are missing; besides, the
beginning and end of book XII are incomplete. Land edited the
Syriac text, as found in that MS, in the third volume of his Anecdota
syriaca.14 In the Syriac compilation the history of Zachariah
occupies books III–VI; the other books I–II and VII–XII come
from different sources. In the introduction to the third volume of
the Anecdota syriaca, p. XVII–XXIII, Land provides a brief analysis
of the content of each of the book’s chapters. From his study we
have selected several passages that will give the reader an idea of
the type of composition under consideration:
Book I, ch. VI, Story of Joseph and Aseneth (see above, p. 70).
13 LAND, Anecdota syriaca, III, p. 5, l. penult.; the compiler says his

history extends to year 880 (569 AD). The Syrians had described
Zachariah as the bishop of Malatya, confusing him with Zachariah, bishop
of Mitylene. On the other hand, as KUGENER demonstrated in La
compilation historique de pseudo-Zacharie le Rhéteur, taken from the Revue de
l’Orient chrétien, Paris, 1900, one should distinguish Zacharias Rhetor, author
of the Ecclesiastical History, from Zacharias Scholasticus, who was appointed
bishop of Mitylene. The Greek authors mistook them for one another.
14 AHRENS and KRUEGER have published a German translation of
that compilation with critical notes, Die sogenante Kirchengeschichte von

Zacharias Rhetor, Leipzig, 1899. HAMILTON and BROOKS have
translated it into English, The syriac chronicle known as that of Zachariah of
Mitylene, London, 1899.
Book I, ch. VII, the Acts of St Sylvester, an important document

for the study of the legendary Acts of St Sylvester and the baptism
of Constantine; the Greek and Latin MSS on which these Acts
were written are not as ancient as the Syriac version. If the Syriac
homily on the baptism of Constantine truly is the work of Jacob of
Serug,15 then that version dates to at least the early 6th century.
Book I, chap. VIII, The Discovery of the Relics of St Stephen.16
Book II, chap. I, The Seven Sleeping Ones of Ephesus (see above,
p. 116).
Book V, ch. VIII, the Syriac text of the Henotikon of Zeno.
Book VIII, ch. III, Homerite martyrs (see above, p. 117).
Book X, ch. IV, Letter from Rabbula to Gemelianus, Bishop of
Perrhin, on the Misuse of Eucharistic Bread. Overbeck made a separate
edition of that letter, which is also included in the Chronicle of
pseudo-Dionysius of Tel Mahre (Assemani, B. O., I, 409) according
to John of Asia, in S. Ephræmi syri et Rabbulæ… opera selecta, p. 231.
Book X, ch. XVI, Description of the Monuments and Decorations of
the City of Rome. This chapter follows the one that describes the
capture of Rome by Totila, king of the Ostrogoths. In publishing
that Description, Guidi stressed its importance for the archaeology of
Italy’s capital city.17
15 Abbot DUCHESNE, Liber Pontificalis, Paris, 1884–1885;

FROTHINGHAM, L’omelia di Giacomo di Sarug sul battesimo di Costantino
imperator, Rome, 1882, in the memoirs of the Reale Academia dei Lincei,
1881–1882. The legend is also recounted in the Chronicle of pseudo-
Dionysius of Tel Mahre, Dionysii Telmahharensis chronici liber primus, ed.
TULLBERG, Upsal, 1848. A German translation, based on Land’s
edition and including variants in the British Museum MS Add. 12174, can
be found in RYSSEL, Archiv f. das studium der neueren Sprachen und Litter.,
1895, 1–54. Some scholars believe in the legend’s Syriac origin, cf.
RYSSEL, ibid. and Theol. Zeitschr. aus der Schweiz, 1896, p. 63.
16 BEDJAN has published the Syriac text, as found in a MS now held
in Berlin, in Acta mart. et sanct., III, 188. RYSSEL translated it into

German, Zeitschr. f. Kirchengeschichte, 1894, 233.
17 GUIDI’s publication (Il testo siriaco della descrizione di Roma nella storia
attributa a Zaccaria Retore, Rome, 1885, taken from the Bulletino della
Book XII, ch. VII, The Description of the Universe by Ptolemy.18

The author inserted in the chapter a tale on the spread of
Christianity beyond the Caspian Gates and on the writing adapted
to the language of the Huns. This took place more than twenty
years earlier.
The books which contain the history of Zachariah, as well as
the following books, recount the events that shook the
Monophysite Churches of Egypt and of Syria in the 5th and 6th
centuries. In that respect, the Syriac compilation of Zachariah is a
useful complement to the history of John of Asia.
At the end of the third volume (p. 341 ff.), Land printed the
tale of the death of Theodosius, bishop of Jerusalem, and the
history of Isaiah the ascetic,19 as found in the British Museum MS
Add. 12174.
The Vatican Syriac MS 145 contains a number of passages
taken from the compilation of Zachariah. These extracts are
presented as the continuation of the histories of Socrates and
Theodoret, largely reproduced in that manuscript. Assemani (B. O.,
t. II, p. 54) was the first to bring attention to these extracts, which
Mai published in tome X of his Script. veter. nova collectio, p. 332–338.
Commissione archeologica di Roma, 1884) is based on MS Vat. syr. 145 and

MSS Add. 17202 and Add. 12154. MAI had already given the Syriac text
with a Latin translation in his edition of MS Vat. 145, which we will
consider later, while SACHAU had translated the text published by
LAND in JORDAN’s Topograph. der Stadt Rom, II, 575. In the Bulletino,
1891, GUIDI reedited the Description, with several variants, following the
Chronique de Michel le Syrien, ed. CHABOT, 309. Cf. BAUMSTARK, Oriens
christianus, 1901, 382.
18 That Description is also included in the 9 th century British Museum
MS Add. 14620, see WRIGHT, Catal., p. 803, col. 1.

19 The tale of the death of Theodosius is not the work of Zachariah, as
Wright believed, see KRUEGER, Die sogenannte Kirchengeschichte von

Zacharias Rhetor, p. XVI, and BROOKS, The syriac chronicle known as that of
Zachariah, p. 3, note 4. It is doubtful that the compiler used the History of
John of Asia, Krueger, ibid., p. XLI; BROOKS, p. 5.
They contain, among other documents, Simeon of Beth Arsham’s

letter and the aforementioned description of Rome.
Syriac authors of the 6th-century who wrote about the history
of the Church already had access to versions of the Greek histories
of Eusebius, Socrates and Theodoret; but the works of Sozomen
were little known to the Syrians.
The version of the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius is
preserved, with lacunae, in two main MSS from the Syrians’
monastery in the desert of Nitria: one of them, which is currently
in St Petersburg, dates to 462; it contains the ten books of
Eusebius, with the exception of the sixth; moreover, of the fifth
and seventh only fragments remain. The other MS, from the 6th
century, is in the British Museum, Add. 14639; it only contains the
five first books and the first has lacunae; parts of the index of
chapters I, II and III are missing. Various fragments are also to be
found in several manuscripts held in the collections of the British
Museum; the most important ones (chap. XVI, XVII and XXV of
book VI) are those of MS Add. 14620.
The Armenian version, printed in 1876 following MSS from
the Library of Mechitarists in Venice, is based on the Syriac
version. It has the advantage of being ancient as well as accurate
and virtually complete, and is of great use for the critique of the
Syriac version.20 In his Armenian history, pseudo-Moses reports
that Eusebius did the translation at the request of Mesrop († 441);
we were led to believe that the Syriac version must have existed for
about a century by the time it passed into Armenian; it would have
been done in the lifetime of Eusebius or soon after his death. Yet
now that we know that the history attributed to Moses of Chorene
is a much later compilation, in which legend holds as prominent a
place as history, that certainty has vanished. As Merx has also
argued, we can nonetheless still adhere to the tradition, echoed by
pseudo-Moses, on the age of the Armenian version.
20MERX, De Eusebianæ hist. eccl. versionibus syriaca et armeniaca in the acts

of the fourth Congrès des Orientalistes, Florence, 1880, I, 199 ff., and Preface
of the edition by NORMAN MAC LEAN, p. XIII–XVII, cited below.
The Syriac version was based on a Greek original which

contained numerous, and at times superior, differences with the
current Greek text. It is remarkably accurate and, despite the
mistakes and omissions it contains, it provides a valuable document
for a new critical edition of the History of Eusebius.
Wright had taken upon himself to produce an edition of the
Syriac version, but the death of the respected Orientalist brought
that project to a halt. Norman MacLean, with Merx’s help for
Armenian, resumed the work that Wright had begun. The
completed edition was published in 1898 in Cambridge.21 A year
earlier, Bedjan had published in Leipzig a first edition of the text
based on the St Petersburg MS and the British Museum MS Add.
14639.22 MacLean’s publication, which is more complete, is based
on the same MSS; it adds in an appendix the chapters preserved in
MS Add. 14620; besides, it gives the variants contained in the
Armenian version.
ʿAbdishoʿ mentions in his catalogue23 a Syriac version of the
Chronicle of Eusebius whose author was Simeon of Beth Garmai, a
writer who lived in the 7th century AD. That version is now lost.
Jacob of Edessa revised the Chronicle of Eusebius and
extended it from the 20th year of Constantine to 692 (the date of
Jacob’s revision).24 We know that Michael the Syrian used this
21 The ecclesiastical history of Eusebius in syriac by the late William Wright and
Norman M. Lean, with a collation of the ancient armenian version by D r Adalbert
Merx. EBERH. NESTLE translated it into German, Des Eusebius
Kirchengeschichte aus dem Syrischen übersetzt, Leipzig, 1901, in the Texte und
Untersuch… neue Folge, VI, 2; cf. Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesellschaft, 1902,
p. 559.
22 Histoire ecclésiastique d’Eusèbe de Césarée. CURETON had previously
published several passages of the Syriac version, Ancient syriac documents,

p. 1 ff.; as had PAUL DE LAGARDE, Prætermissorum libri duo, p. 249.
24 See a note by Theodosius of Edessa in Michel le Syrien, ed.
CHABOT, p. 122. On page 452, Michael says that the chronicle of Jacob
went up to 1021 of the Seleucids, i.e. 710 AD. The period between 692
extended text to write his own Chronicle as he regularly cites it.

Fragments of Jacob’s work are preserved in the British Museum
MS Add. 14685.25
The first part of the compilation of pseudo-Dionysius of Tel
Mahre (see below) contains an epitome of the Chronicle of
Eusebius.26
The British Museum MS Add. 14643 (8th century) contains all
but ten leaves of a chronicle. It is a compilation divided into four
parts: the first part, which is also the longest, ends in year 641; the
second in 570; the third in 636; and the fourth in 529. A brief
history of synods up to the Council of Chalcedon and a catalogue
of caliphs follow. The Chronicle of Eusebius was used in it.27
(date of the composition) and 710 may have been the result of an addition
by a disciple of Jacob of Edessa.
25 Catal. Wright, p. 1062. E. W. BROOKS published the fragments
with a Latin translation in the Corpus script. christian. orientalium; ser. III,
t. IV, Chronica minora, Paris, 1905. Brooks had previously edited the
chronological canons with an English translation in the Zeitschr. der deut.
morgenl. Gesell., t. LIII, 1899, p. 261 and 550.
26 Published by TULLBERG, Dionysii Telmahharensis Chronici liber
primus, Upsal, 1851; SIEGFRIED and GELZER have translated it into

Latin, Eusebii Canonum epitome ex Dionysii Telmaharensis Chronica petita,
Leipzig, 1884. ALFRED VON GUTSCHMID, in his collation of that
translation, Untersuchungen über die syrische Epitome der Eusebischen canonen,
Stuttgart, 1886, has brought attention to important documents for the
study of the Chronicle of Eusebius and the Syriac epitome.
27 E. W. BROOKS has edited that chronicle, with a Latin translation
by J.-B. CHABOT, in the Corpus script. christian. orientalium; ser. III, t. IV,
Chronica minora, Paris, 1904. E. RŒDIGER gave passages from the text in
the 2nd edition of his Chrestomathy, p. 105, and he printed the Latin
translation after the Schœne edition of the Chronicle of Eusebius:
A. SCHŒNE, Eusebii chronicon, Berlin, 1875–1876. LAND, who took the
Jacobite priest Thomas for the author of that chronicle, published its third
part under the title Liber Chalipharum in his Anecdota syriaca, t. I (text,
p. 103–122; Latin translation, p. 2–24). B. H. COWPER, Notes and Queries,
London, 1856, has translated the catalogue of caliphs into English.
The first leaf of the British Museum MS Add. 14461 contains

a half-erased passage of a historical text which Wright reproduced
in his catalogue of the Syr. MSS held in that museum, p. 65, n. 94.
Nœldeke reedited the said passage in the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl.
Gesell., 1875, t. XXIX, p. 76 and following, and he stressed its
importance for the history of the Arabs’ conquest of Syria; it gives
the date of 20 August 636 for the battle of Yarmouk, after which
the Romans abandoned Syria.28
The British Museum MS Add. 17216 contains fragments of a
short Syriac chronicle composed by a Maronite in Palestine around
the 8th century. The first part is of no interest. What survives of
the second part contains dates as well as descriptions of the time of
Muavia. These we find in a slightly modified form in the works of
Theophanes and the later Syriac historiographers.29
A monk from the monastery of Qartamin wrote a chronicle
ending in year 846. The tale is far more concise for the period up to
795 than for the subsequent years, which appear to have been
added on at a later date. That chronicle is in the British Museum
MS Add. 14642.30
The same manuscript contains fragments of an anonymous
chronicle on years 754 to 813 which Brooks published with a Latin
translation in the Corpus script. christian. orientalium: Chronica minora,
Paris, 1905.31 Also included within that volume of the Chronica
28 Reprinted by BROOKS, with a Latin translation by CHABOT, in

the Corpus script. christian. orientalium: Chronica minora, Paris, 1904.
29 BROOKS published the second part with a Latin translation by
CHABOT in the Corpus script. christian. orient.: Chronica minora, Paris, 1904.
Cf. NŒLDEKE, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesellschaft, XXIX, p. 82; NAU,
Opuscules Maronites, taken from the Revue de l’Orient Chrétien, Paris, 1899 and
1900.
30 Edited by E.W. BROOKS, with a Latin translation by CHABOT, in
the Corpus, cited above, t. IV, Chronica minora. He had already edited the
last part in 1897 in the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesellschaft, LI, 569. Cf.
NAU, Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1896, p. 396, and 1903, p. 630.
31 Brooks had previously edited them with an English translation in
the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesellsch., t. LIV, p. 195.

minora are: the fragments of the Chronicle of Jacob of Edessa,

mentioned earlier; three tales from the Berlin MS Sachau 315, which
Brooks edited with a Latin translation; a short chronicle from the
British Museum MS Add. 14683 also published by Brooks; a
description of the people and countries, which Brooks also published after
the British Museum MS Add. 25875; an opuscule on language
families which Brooks based on MS Add. 14541 of that same
museum; a fragment of pseudo-Diocles published by Lagarde in his
Analecta syriaca, p. 201, and reprinted by Guidi with a Latin
translation after MS Add. 12152 from the British Museum and a
MS belonging to Nœldeke; and a Nestorian document which
Goeller included in Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 80, and which Chabot
re-edited with a Latin translation.
Far more important than these documents is the little
Nestorian chronicle, which Guidi has edited and Nœldeke
translated into German with critical notes.32 That chronicle is a
mine of information on the final years of the Sassanian dynasty.
According to Nœldeke it was written in Iraq or Khouzistan around
680, and indeed the last events it records date to that year. It is
entitled: “Various tales of the ecclesiastical and secular histories
since the death of Hormizd, son of Khosro, up to the end of the
Persian kingdom.” The first chapters contain the ecclesiastical
history of that period; the following chapters are made up of
various notes which the author appears to have borrowed from
several sources. Whether that history is complete is a matter of
some debate, for it may in fact be the last part of a more extensive
chronicle.
Dionysius of Tel Mahre, patriarch of Antioch († 845),
composed an as yet unrecovered history dedicated to John of Dara
32 GUIDI, Un nuovo testo siriaco sulla storia degli ultimi Sassanidi, Leiden,
1891; NŒLDEKE, Die von Guidi herausgegeben syrische Chronik übersetzt und
commentirt, Vienna, 1893. Guidi reprinted that chronicle with a Latin
translation in the Corpus script. christian. orientalium; Chronica minora, ser. III,
t. IV, Paris, 1903.
entitled Annals; only a fragment survives in the Vatican Syr. MS

164, published by Assemani in his Bibliotheca orientalis, II, 72–77.
It is worth mentioning here what Michael the Syrian says of
that history, which he used for his Chronicle:33 “The wise Dionysius
(dubbed Dionysius of Tel Mahre), a patriarch, had his Chronicle
end here. He divided it into two parts and sixteen books, each part
comprising eight books arranged into chapters. He composed it at
the request of John, metropolitan of Dara. In that Chronicle is
recorded a period of 260 years, from the beginning of Maurice’s
reign (i.e. year 894 of the Greeks) to year 1154. That date was
marked by the death of Theophilus, Emperor of the Romans, and
Abu Ishaq, king of the Arabs. That year also saw the beginning of
the rule of Harun, son of Abou Ishaq, over the Arabs, and of
Michael, still but a young child, over the Romans (although his
mother effectively governed the empire).” Long passages from the
Chronicle of Dionysius were inserted into the Chronicle of Michael
the Syrian. Likewise, extracts from Michael’s work were included in
the Ecclesiastical Chronicle of Bar Hebræus.
Assemani, who brought to light a Syriac chronicle in another
Vatican MS, n. 162, believed that Patriarch Dionysius was also the
author of that composition, an abridged chronicle of his Annals. It
is a historical compilation divided into four parts that extends from
the origin of the world to the year 775.
The first part ends with Constantine the Great. The main
source for that period is the Chronicle of Eusebius, summarised in
an epitome (see above, p. 163–4). Besides, the compiler made use
of the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, of the Chronography of Julius
Africanus,34 of a Chronicle of Edessa that enabled Gutschmid to
establish the chronology of that town’s kings,35 of the Cave of
33 Chronique de Michel le Syrien, ed. J.-B. CHABOT, p. 554 (transl. t. III,

fasc. I, p. 111). Cf. NAU, Journal asiatique, 1896, 9th series, t. VIII, p. 526.
34 VON GUTSCHMID, Die syrische Epitome der Eusebischen Canones,
p. 42.
35 VON GUTSCHMID, Untersuchungen ueber die Geschichte des Kœnigreichs
Osrohëne, 1887, in the Memoirs of the Academy of St Petersburg,

t. XXXV, n. 1.
Treasures (see above, p. 68–69), of the History of Alexander the Great,36

of the Story of the Seven Sleeping ones of Ephesus (see above, p. 116),
and of the De bello judaico of Josephus. The first part was edited by
Tullberg.37
The second part, which contains the period from Constantine
to Theodosius the Younger, is virtually entirely taken from the
history of Socrates; the author added several notes borrowed from
Syriac documents. Although still unpublished, Abbot Nau has
produced an analysis of this part.38
The third part, which ends in the time of Justin II, reproduces
the second part of the history of John of Asia (see above, p. 156–
157). Among other texts, it contains the chronicle attributed to
Joshua the Stylite (see p. 153) and Simeon of Beth Arsham’s letter
(see p. 117).
The fourth and final part is the author’s own work. Assemani
published numerous extracts from this part in his Bibliotheca orient.,
II, p. 98–116, and Abbot Chabot published the entire text together
with a French translation (Chronique de Denys de Tell Mahré, quatrième
partie, Paris, 1895). Although very concise for previous periods, it
does nonetheless provide a thorough history of the 8th century. It
contains numerous historical notes, especially for the period of
Arabic domination. The author unfortunately lacks method and
historical perceptiveness; he confuses dates and events and
describes situations that belong to previous centuries. It is
nonetheless a valuable document for the historian, provided that it
used with caution. As for the tales of the final years, they are rather
more trustworthy. Besides, the style of its author was
unsatisfactory; he was more preoccupied with lecturing his readers
than with expressing his thoughts elegantly. Chabot writes (p. IV of
36 Edited by BUDGE, The history of Alexander the Great, Cambridge,

1889.
37Dionysii Telmahharensis chronici liber primus, Upsal, 1851.
38Analyse des parties inédites de la chronique attribuée à Denys de Tellmahré, in
the Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1897.
the preface to the Syriac text) that “it would be difficult to find a
writer whose style is more incorrect and bizarre.”
Chabot’s edition revealed to Nau and Nœldeke the mistake of
Assemani, who saw in that work an abridged chronicle of
Dionysius of Tel Mahre. Nau and Nœldeke recognised
simultaneously and independently from one another 39 that the
author of that work, which is dedicated to George, chorepiscopus
of Amid, to Euthalius, archimandrite (of the monastery of Zuqnin),
and to the periodeutic physician Lazarus, was a monk of the
monastery of Zuqnin, who wrote around 775, before the time of
Dionysius. Nau believes that monk was Joshua the Stylite (see
above, p. 153–154).
The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian, patriarch of the Jacobites
of Antioch, has been found in a Syriac MS of the library of the
Jacobite church of Urfa (Edessa) and is currently being published
under the direction of Abbot Chabot.40 It is a general history
extending from the origins of the world to the author’s time. It was
composed in 1196 but ends in 1193 as the final passages are lost; it
is made up of twenty-one books divided into chapters. Most of the
chapters are divided into three columns: the middle one focuses on
civil history; another is devoted to ecclesiastical history; finally the
third gives as synchronisms various tales that do not appear in the
middle column. The title and beginning were on a leaf that has not
39NAU, Bulletin critique, issue of June 15, 1896; Journal asiatique, 1896,
9th series, t. VIII, p. 346 ff. NŒLDEKE, Wiener Zeitschrift, July 1896.
40 Chronique de Michel le Syrien, patriarche jacobite d’Antioche, 1166–1199,
éditée pour la première fois et traduite en français, by J.-B. CHABOT, Paris, t. I,

1899–1900; t. II, 1901–1904; t. III, fascicule 1; fascicules 2 and 3 of t. III
remain to be published. We previously knew that chronicle only from an
abridged Armenian version, which LANGLOIS translated into French:
Chronique de Michel le Grand, patriarche des Jacobites, Venice, 1868. The
Armenian text has been edited in Jerusalem, first in 1870 and then in
1871. There is an Arabic translation of the Chronicle of Michael in the
British Museum MS Orient. 4402. The Arabic version appears to have
been based on the Syriac manuscript of Orfa, for it presents the same
lacunae and mistakes as that manuscript.
yet been recovered, and the manuscript is riddled with other

lacunae of varying degrees of importance.
The part concerned with the time prior to Michael is nothing
more than a compilation, yet it is a precious compilation which
contains citations and texts taken from works that are now lost. As
for the part concerned with events from the author’s lifetime, it is
an important contribution to the history of the crusades. Michael
cites his sources and includes in his work notes on otherwise
unknown Syrian authors:41 Quros (Cyrus), a priest of Serug who
wrote a chronicle extending from Justin II to Tiberus (565–588);
John the Stylite, a monk of the monastery of Litarba (7th century)
who composed a computation of years; Gurya, author of a
chronicle stretching from Justinian to Heraclius; Ignatius of
Malatya († 1094), who composed an abridged chronicle beginning
with Constantin; John of Kaisoum († 1171), whose chronicle is
cited by Michael.
Bar Hebræus († 1286) is the author of two chronicles: the
Chronicon syriacum and the Chronicon ecclesiasticum, in which he
summarised the universal history from creation to his time.
The first chronicle is devoted to secular history. In his preface
the author warns us that he filled the lacunae of previous books, no
one having written on the topic since Patriarch Michael, who had
composed his chronicle eighty years earlier. In reality, the Chronicon
syriacum is an abridged version of the Chronicle of Michael the
41 The Syriac title, placed at the head of the Arabic version in the
British Museum MS Orient. 4402, attributes the text to an unknown author
named Maribas, see NAU, Journal asiatique, 9th series, t. VIII, p. 523 ff.
That title is apocryphal according to Chabot, La chronique de Michel le Syrien
in the Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, proceedings
of the session which took place on July 28, 1899, p. 479. The MS of the
Bibliothèque nationale, Syr. 306, contains extracts from a chronicle in
Garshuni by Maribas the Chaldean; Frédéric Macler, who published them
in the Journal asiatique, May-June 1903, p. 491, saw in them fragments of an
ancient chronicle, but Chabot has shown in the same Journal, March-April
1905, p. 251, that a modern compiler took these extracts from the MS in
Karshuni held in London, Orient. 4402.
Syrian; for the part concerned with events that occurred after
Michael’s time, Bar Hebræus brought together the Syriac, Arabic
and Persian documents held in the library of Maraga, a town in
Azerbaijan. In 1789, Bruns and Kirsch reprinted a first edition of
the Chronicon syriacum together with a Latin translation; the text and
the translation are equally incorrect.42 In 1890, Bedjan produced a
far better second edition43 of the Syriac text. In the final years of
his life Bar Hebræus did an Arabic collation of his first chronicle
under the title Abridged History of the Dynasties, to which he added
new notes borrowed from Muslim literature. Pocock was the first
to publish that collation (Oxford, 1663), and included a Latin
translation. Salhani published it a second time in Beyrouth in 1890,
without any translation but with an index of proper names and a
concordance of the Hijra and Christian dates.
MS 167 of the Bodleian Library of Oxford contains the first
part of the Chronicon syriacum. To complement that text it also
includes three other historical documents: the first, entitled
Expedition of the Huns, of the Persians and of the Mongols in the Province of
Diarbekir, goes from 1394 to 1402; the second, entitled Devastation of
Timour-Khan in Tur Abdin, comprises years 1395–1403; and the
third, a chronical fragment, contains tales concerned with years
1394–1493. Bruns edited them under the title Appendix ad Chr. Bar-
Hebræi in the Repertorium für bibl. und morg. Litteratur of Paulus, Iena,
1790, I, p. 1–116. Behnsch reedited the third text in 1838.44
The Chronicon ecclesiasticum is divided into two parts. The first
part, beginning with Aaron, gives a concise description of the
period leading up to the Christian era. Bar Hebræus includes the
42 Bar-Hebræi Chronicon syriacum, Leipzig, 1789 (Syriac text), and Gregorii

sive Bar-Hebræi Chronicon syriacum, Leipzig, 1789 (translation).
43 Gregorii Barhebræi Chronicon syriacum, Paris, 1890. BEDJAN used the
works that LORSBACH, ARNOLD, MAYER and BERNSTEIN

published on the edition by BRUNS and KIRSCH. Bernstein had collated
the Vatican and Bodleian MSS in view of a new edition.
44 Rerum sæculo quinto decimo in Mesopotamia gestarum librum e codice
bibliothecæ Bodleianæ syriace edidit et interpretatione latina illustravit DrOttomar

Behnsch, Breslau, 1838.
history of the Western Syrian Church and the patriarchs of Antioch

until 1285; an anonymous author resumed his work and brought it
up to year 1495. The second part, devoted to the Eastern Syrian
Church, contains the history of the Jacobite maphrians 45 and
Nestorian patriarchs. Bar Hebræus had completed it in 1286, the
year of his death; Bar Sauma, Bar Hebræus’s brother, continued it
until 1288 and an anonymous author until 1496. Abbeloos and
Lamy46 produced an edition, with a Latin translation, of the
Chronicon ecclesiasticum, to which Assemani often refers in his
Bibliotheca orientalis. The editors checked the facts contained in Bar
Hebræus against the chronicle of Elias of Nisibis, discussed below.
One of Bar Hebræus’s sources used in the second part of the
Chronicon ecclesiasticum is the Book of the Tower by Mari ibn Suleiman, a
Nestorian author of the 12th century. Despite it being an Arabic
text, it warrants a few lines here. The Book of the tower of Mari is
preserved in two Arabic manuscripts from the Vatican, 108 and
109, and in a MS held in the Bibliothèque nationale, arabe 190. It is
divided into two parts: one theological and dogmatic, the other
theological and historical. The latter contains a concise history of
the Nestorian patriarchs that ends with ʿAbdishoʿ bar Moqli of
Mosul († 1147) but was continued until 1317. Saliba ibn Yohanna
of Mosul and Amr ibn Matta al Tyrhani, who lived in the first half
of the 14th century, each produced an abridged collation of the
Book of the Tower. The text is identical in both works, with the
exception of a few additions in Saliba’s edition. We do not know
which of the two copied the other; it may have been Amr, if we are
to believe that he subsequently deleted Saliba’s additions.
45 The bishops responsible for the Jacobites of the eastern provinces

were known as maphrians. They first settled in Tagrit, south of Mosul,
and later north of that town, in the monastery of Mar Matai. Bar Hebræus
was himself a Maphrian of the East.
46 Gregorii Barhebræi Chronicon ecclesiasticum, I–III, Leuven, 1872–1877.
OVERBECK had printed the beginning of the second part in S. Ephræmi

syri… opera selecta, Oxford, 1865, p. 414–423.
Saliba’s collation is in the Vatican MS n. 41 (from the library

of the Neophytes) and, in an incomplete form, in the MS K. VI,
vol. 14, of the Borgia Museum (now in the Vatican). As for Amr’s,
it has survived in the Vatican Arabic MS n. 110, which appears to
have been written by the author himself.47 In 1896–1899,
F. Gismondi published the section of the Book of the Tower relating
to the Nestorian patriarchs. The collation of Amr and Saliba, which
is is sometimes longer than the original work and displays a
different writing style, has been published in extenso.48
The chronicle that Elias bar Shinaya, metropolitan of Nisibis,
composed in 1008 has come down to us in a single document, the
British Museum MS Add. 7197.49 That manuscript, described in the
catalogue of Rosen, p. 86–90, dates to the time of the author. It
was not, however, written by the hand of Elias himself, as was once
believed. Elias probably only wrote the ancient part of the Arabic
text.50 The pages are divided into two columns: the first contains
the Syriac text, the second the Arabic version, which was largely
written by Elias himself. It begins with several chronological tables,
a list of the popes up to the Council of Chalcedon,51 a list of the
patriarchs of Alexandria up to that same date, lists of the various
dynasties,52 and the catalogue of Nestorian patriarchs up to the
47 Vat. MS 687 contains part of the text, which is identical to MS 110.

In the Paris Bibliothèque nationale MSS, see Catal. de Stane, n. 190, 191,
192; on an incomplete MS from Berlin, see Catal. Sachau, n. 116, p. 407;
on another incomplete MS in Cambridge, see Catal. Wright and Cook, Add.
3293, p. 965.
48 Maris Amri et Slibæ de Patriarchis Nestorianum, commentaria, Rome; pars
prior, Maris textus et versio latina, 1899; pars altera, Amri et Slibæ textus, 1896;
versio latina, 1897.
49 Berlin MS 102 (Sachau 108), fol. 144–147, contains a passage taken
from that chronicle, see Catal. Sachau, p. 359.

50 WRIGHT, Syriac Literature, 2nd ed., p. 236, note 6.
51 It was inserted in the ABBELOOS and LAMY ed. of the Chron. eccl.
of BAR HEBRÆUS, t. I, p. 37–38.

52 LAMY published the list of Sassanian kings in Elie de Nisibe, sa
chronologie, Brussels, 1888, p. 28 (Syr. text, p. 41).

time of John V († 905). The chronology proper comprises events in

the East between 25 and 1018 AD. Unfortunately the manuscript is
incomplete, especially for the period prior to the rise of Islam; for
the following period years 169–264 and 361–384 of the Hijra are
missing. That chronicle is especially precious in that it indicates
under each paragraph the sources from which Elias took his notes;
it informs us on the titles of a number of historical works that are
now lost. As can happen with such compilations, the same event is
occasionally related under several years and after different
documents.53 Lamy published the portion that ends with the
Muslim conquest.54 Bæthgen55 had previously edited the following
passages.
Rahmani has begun work on the edition of a chronicle divided
into two parts: the first part extends from the origins of the world
to Constantine; the second from Constantine to the early 13th
century. The author composed it in Mesopotamia, possibly in
Edessa. The recently published fascicule contains the period from
the creation to the Muslim conquest.56 That fascicule holds an
interesting description of the town of Edessa and its monuments.
In Prætermissorum libri duo, p. 90–93, Paul de Lagarde printed
extracts from a brief chronology of ʿAbdishoʿ, metropolitan of
Nisibis († 1318). These passages end with the Nestorian patriarch
Ishoʿ bar Nun († 827).
Though not belonging to the history proper, the Chronology
written by Simeon of Shanklawa at the end of the 12th century at
the request of his student John bar Zobi should also be mentioned
here. It consists of a calendar and an explanation of the different
eras, organised in the form of questions and answers. Together
with his analysis and partial translation of the treatise Friedrich
53NŒLDEKE, Litterarisches Centralblatt, July 12, 1884, p. 980.

54Elie de Nisibe, sa chronologie, Brussels, 1888, with a French translation.
55 Fragmente syrischer und arabischer Historiker, Leipzig, 1884, with a
German translation.
56 Chronicon civile et ecclesiasticum anonymi auctoris quod ex unico codice
Edesseno primo edidit IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI, Mount

Lebanon, 1904.
Mueller printed several passages from the Syriac text.57 The British
Museum MS Add. 17156 contains three letters on the chronology
addressed by Severus Sebokht to the periodeut Basil in Cyprus.
All of these chronicles testify to the prominent place occupied
by ecclesiastical and secular history in Syriac literature. Had all the
historical works of the Syrians survived, its place would be known
to have been even more important than is believed; unfortunately a
number have disappeared. Of these the title or name of the author
are known to us only from citations in the work of later writers.
Michael the Syrian, for instance, records several such names. Elias
of Nisibis, in his chronicle mentioned above, cites: Alahazeka (7th
century?); Mika (same time period); Barsahde (around 735);
Cyprian of Nisibis (who died in 767); Pethion (8th century?);58
Daniel son of Moses (8th century?); Ishoʿdnah, bishop of Basra
(late 8th century);59 Henanishoʿ, bishop of Hira (around 900);
Aaron (same time period); Elias of Anbar (around 922); Simeon,
Jacobite deacon (around 950); and anonymous chronicles by
Jacobite patriarchs, Nestorian patriarchs and metropolitans of
Nisibis. In his catalogue60 ʿAbdishoʿ also mentions the following
Nestorians: Barhadbshabba, Henana’s disciple in the School of
Nisibis who was later appointed bishop of Holwan (7th century);61
Ishoʿ Zeka, also known as Zeka Ishoʿ or Meshihazeka (same time
57 Die Chronologie des Simeon Schanqlâwâjâ, Leipzig, 1889. An extract can

also be found in the chrestomathy entitled The Book of Crumbs,ܳ ‫ܟܬܒܘܢܐ‬
‫ܕܦܪܬܘܬܐ‬, p. 225, Ourmia, 1898.
58 Bæthgen believed him to have been the Nestorian patriarch
Pethion, who died in 740. However, as Wright points out, the notes
attributed to Pethion are said to date from 765 and 768.
59 See the following section on Particular Histories.
60 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 148–231.
61 A. MINGANA, Narsai doctoris syri Homiliæ et Carmina, I, p. 32–39,
Mosul, 1905, published passages on the chronicle of Barhadbshabba

relating to the Schools of Edessa, Nisibis and Seleucia, after a MS which
was in his possession in Mosul and a MS from Siirt. Cf. J.-B. CHABOT,
Journal asiatique, July-August, 1905, p. 157.
period);62 Daniel bar Maryam (around 650);63 John of Beth Garmai

(around 660); Elias of Merv (same time period); Atken, monk of
the monastery of Apnimaran (same time period);64 Theodore Bar
Koni (early 7th century); Simeon of Kashkar (around 754);
Solomon of Haditha (around 760); George of Shuster (around
770); Simeon of Karka (around 800).65
The Book of Chastity, which will be discussed in the next
chapter, mentions the ecclesiastical history of Gregory,
metropolitan of Nisibis (late 6th century).
In his History of Dynasties, Bar Hebræus cites the history of the
Maronite Theophilus of Edessa († 785). In his Syriac lexicon, Bar
Bahlul repeatedly relies upon the chronicle of Hunayn († 873). The
biographer of Moses Bar Kepha († 903) attributes an ecclesiastical
history to that author.66
62 The chronicle of Meshihazeka, which Mingana dates to the

6th century, shortly before that of Barhadbshabba, was addressed to a
certain Pinhes and focused exclusively on the history of Adiabene.
Mingana was able to consult a MS of that chronicle: A. MINGANA,
Réponse à M. l’abbé Chabot à propos de la Chronique de Barhadbshabba (brochure
not currently for sale).
63 According to Amr, ed. GISMONDI, pars II, p. 26 (transl. p. 15), the
ecclesiastical history of Daniel bar Maryam contained the Acts of the

martyrs of Persia. That author and Rabban Gabriel, mentioned above, p.
106, cannot be one and the same person.
64 On that historian the Monastic History of Thomas of Marga, ed.
BUDGE, II, p. 186, 207 and 234.

65 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 230. But WRIGHT, Syriac liter.,
2nd ed., p. 132, makes the connection with Simeon Barkaya, an author of
the late 6th century to whom Elias of Nisibis attributes a chronicle. Both
Simeons are probably one and the same person.
66 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 218. On an ecclesiastical history attributed
to the Nestorian patriarch Sabrishoʿ I, see GUIDI, Zeitschr. der deut. morg.
Gesell., t. XI, 559.
§2. — PARTICULAR HISTORIES

Virtually all of the Syriac compositions that focus on a specific
point of history are religious in character. The Acts of the martyrs
and the Lives of the saints were the subject matter of chapter IX,
as was the History of the Town of Beth Slok. They therefore shall not
figure here. A number of historical tales concentrate on the most
famous Nestorian monasteries; Jacobite authors appear to be less
preoccupied with the history of their own monasteries.
Unfortunately, many Nestorian manuscripts containing monastic
histories have not survived the test of time. Those of Ishoʿdnah
and Thomas of Marga are the only ones that have as yet been
brought to light.
Abbot Chabot edited the Book of Chastity67 of Ishoʿdnah,
bishop of Basra, who lived in the late 8th century. It consists of
one hundred and forty notes on the founders of the Oriental
monasteries; we shall return to it in the next chapter, which is
devoted to Ascetic literature. As suggests a passage of Bar Bahlul
on Sahdona,68 these notes were taken from the Orientals’ Paradise by
Joseph Hazzaya (see above, p. 125); they comprise a useful
collection for the study of the history of the Nestorian Church and
the geography of Mesopotamia and Babylonia.
The monastic history of Thomas of Marga, which is far
longer, is entitled the Book of Governors. We know the text from
Assemani’s Bibliotheca orientalis, in which he gave an analysis of it.69
Budge published it together with an English translation and a well
documented introduction.70 Thomas was ordained monk of the
67 Le livre de la Chasteté composé par Jésudenah, évêque de Baçrah, publié et

traduit par J.-B. Chabot, Rome, 1896. F. BEDJAN reedited it under the title
Historia fundatorum monasterium following the Liber superiorum seu historia
monastica auctore Thoma, episcopo Margensi, Paris and Leipzig, 1901, p. 437 ff.
68 As M. H. GOUSSEN remarks, Martyrius-Sahdona’s Leben und Werke,
Leipzig, 1897, p. 13, note 1.

69 T. III, part I, 464–501.
70 The book of governors: The historia monastica of Thomas bishop of Marga
A. D. 840, London, 1893; vol. I, Syriac text and introduction; vol. II,
English translation. The introduction contains passages taken from letters
monastery of Beth ʿAbe (near Marga) in 832 and soon became its
director. Mar Abraham, who was patriarch of the Nestorians from
837 to 850, took him as secretary; he then appointed him bishop of
Marga and several years later metropolitan of the province of Beth
Garmai. At the request of the monk ʿAbdishoʿ and of other monks
of the monastery of Beth ʿAbe, Thomas wrote in 840 the history of
that monastery. This history is not only that of the monastery of
Beth ʿAbe, for Thomas inserted in it the tale of the life of
Maranammeh, bishop of Adiabene (with a long metric homily
which he had composed in honor of that bishop), of Babai and of
several famous monks of the Great Monastery of Mount Izla. That
work, Budge writes,71 is “a history of Nestorian monasticism and
asceticism in the countries east of the Tigris for nearly three
hundred years, and which is also a most precious supplement to the
history of the Nestorian Church during a period of its existence of
which little is known. [Thomas] describes at some length the
occasions upon which the Nestorian Church came into contact or
conflict with the Persian kings, and he casts some new light upon
events of contemporary history. The dispersion of the monks from
Mount Izlâ, the mission of the Nestorian Patriarch to Heraclius,
the apostasy of Sahdônâ, the stagnation of the Nestorian Church in
the 7th century, the foundation of six schools and the introduction
of church-music in Margâ, the conversion to Christianity of the
peoples on the eastern and southern shores of the Caspian Sea, the
missions of the Nestorian propaganda to southern Arabia, Persia
and China, the decline of the Persian and the growth of the Arab
power, etc., are set forth with much clearness.”
The monastery of Rabban Hormizd, which is still standing
today at Alqosh, north of Mosul, was one of the most famous
Nestorian monasteries. The library of that monastery holds a prose
of the Nestorian patriarch Ishoʿyahb III that are interesting for the history
of the Nestorian Church in the 7th century. F. BEDJAN re-edited it
under the title Liber superiorum seu historia monastica auctore Thoma episcopo
Margensi, Paris and Leipzig, 1901.
71 Preface to his ed., t. I, p. XI.
history of its foundation.72 Its author, Simeon, was the disciple of

Mar Yozadak, a friend of Rabban Hormizd. Rabban Hormizd,
founder of the monastery that bears his name, was born in the first
half of the 7th century.
That same library also holds a poem taken from this prose
history (discussed above, p. 19). Immanuel, bishop of Beth Garmai
(† 1080), composed another poem in honor of Rabban Hormizd,
published by F. Cardahi (Liber thesauri de arte poetica Syrorum,
p. 142) and translated into German by Hoffmann (Auszüge aus syr.
Akten pers. Märtyrer, p. 19). It is a blatant falsification of the history
of the foundation of Rabban Hormizd’s monastery (Hoffmann, l.
c., p. 180). A certain Adam of Akra is the author of a late and
insignifant panegyric of Rabban Hormizd. It has been edited by F.
Cardahi (l. c., p. 102).
Also worth mentioning here are the the Statuses of the School of
Nisibis, which Guidi73 published and which enabled Chabot to write
a very interesting chapter of the history of the intellectual culture
and monastic life of the Nestorians in the 5th and 6th centuries
AD.74
72 It was published by A. WALLIS BUDGE together with Rabban bar

ʿEdta’s history, composed of verses of seven syllables each, in Luzac’s
semitic text and translation series, vol. IX–XI, London, 1902: The Histories of
Rabban Hormizd the persian and Rabban Bar-Edta, the syriac texts; II, part II,
english translations. Ibid., II, part II, Budge has translated into English the
verse Life of Hormizd, which he had published in the Semitische Studien: A.
WALLIS BUDGE, The Life of Rabban Hormizd, Berlin, 1894. Cf.
BAUMSTARK, Römische Quartalschrift, 1901, p. 115; GIAMIL, Oriens
christianus, 1901, p. 62.
73 GUIDI, Gli statuti della scuola di Nisibe in the Giornale della Societa
asiatica italiana, vol. IV, p. 165–195; German translation by NESTLE,

Zeitschr. f. Kirchengeschichte, 1897, p. 211. English translation by FRANCIS
ALBERT, Catholic University Bulletin, April 1906, p. 160 ff.
74 J.-B. CHABOT, L’école de Nisibe, son histoire, ses statuts, in the Journal de
la Société asiatique, July-August 1896, 9th series, t. VIII, p. 43 ff.

Emile Goeller published a fabulous tale of the life of

Nestorius, written by a Jacobite, in Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 276–
287.
Abbot Nau published and translated into French, in the
Journal asiatique, Jan.-Feb. 1903, p. 5 (Syriac text), and March-April
1903, p. 241 (translation), the History of Dioscorus, patriarch of
Alexandria, written by his disciple Theopiste. That history has probably
been translated from Greek into Syriac; it seems to belong to the
group of publications on saints of the Monophysite Church
(discussed above, p. 128–9).
Bedjan published the Lives of the Nestorian patriarchs Mar
Aba I, Sabrishoʿ, Denha and Yahbalaha III, in Histoire de Mar-
Jabalaha, de trois autres patriarches, etc., Paris, 1895.
The patriarch Mar Aba I (540–552) was born into the
Zoroastrian religion; he was baptised in Hira, studied at the School
of Nisibis, then proceeded to Edessa, where his student Thomas
taught him Greek. After having visited Constantinople, Mar Aba
returned to Nisibis, where he became a distinguished professor.
Elected patriarch in 540, he opened a school in Seleucia. His
controversies with the magi made him the target of persecutions;
he spent several years in prison and Khosro Anoshirwan even
forced him into exile in Azerbaijan. According to his Acts
published by Bedjan (Op. cit., p. 206), the patriarch was then
released and died peacefully in his seat. Bar Hebræus’s account75 is
somewhat different as he has Mar Aba die in prison, where he had
been sent on his return to Seleucia. A version of the OT is
attributed to Mar Aba (above, p. 46); he also wrote commentaries
(above, p. 61–62), ecclesiastical canons and synodal letters (above,
p. 142), a treatise on circumstances that may prevent a marriage
from being pronounced (above, p. 150), hymns and homilies.76 He
also translated the liturgy of Nestorius into Syriac.
75 Chron. eccl., I, 95. Cf. J. LABOURT, Le christianisme dans l’empire perse,

Paris, 1904, p. 190 and note 5 on page 190.
76 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 75. A hymn is edited in the Breviarium
Chaldaicum of Mosul, p. 46, see BICKELL, Conspectus rei Syrorum litt., p. 37,
Sabrishoʿ, whose Acts the monk Patros (Peter) wrote down,

was bishop of Lashom in 596 at the time of his elevation as
patriarch by Khosro II (Khosro Parvez), who held him in very high
esteem. Patros’s work paints a vivid picture of the high virtues of
the patriarch, who had initially led an ascetic life and whose
marvellous cures earned him the appreciation of Romans and
Persians alike. It stresses the important role played by Sabrishoʿ,
bishop of Lashom, in the conversion, in Hira, of Numan ibn al-
Mundhir, king of the Arabs. According to Bar Hebræus,77 Sabrishoʿ
accompanied Khosro to Dara and there he passed away — the
Acts make no mention of such an event. In fact the patriarch went
with Khosro to Dara but returned to Nisibis, where he died.78
The history of Patriarch Denha (1265–1281), in rhyming
verses, is the work of one of his contemporaries named John; note,
however, that the author omitted several events of the patriarch’s
life that did not show him to his advantage. Abbot Chabot was the
first to publish that short poem (Journal asiatique, 9th series, t. V, p.
110 ff.); Bedjan reprinted it in the book cited above (Histoire de Mar-
Jabalaha, etc., p. 332 ff.).
Bedjan’s publication79 (1888) of the history of Yahbalaha III
and Rabban Sauma was of great interest to orientalists. Yahbalaha,
known as Marcos until his appointment as patriarch, was originally
from China and had led a religious life with his master Rabban
Sauma in the vicinity of Beijing. The disciple and his master,
wishing to visit the Holy sites of Jerusalem, headed west. They
note 8; another is held in the British Museum, Add. 17219,

fol. 165 b; comp. with MACLEAN, East Syrian Daily Offices, p. 98 and 105.
77 Chron. eccl., II, 107.
78 See the chronicle edited by GUIDI, Un nuovo testo siriaco…,
translation by NŒLDEKE (Op. cit., above, p. 170, note 32), p. 16 and 18;
THOMAS OF MARGA, Book I, chap. XXV; Elias of Nisibis in the
Chron. eccl. of BAR HEBRÆUS, ed. ABBELOOS and LAMY, II, p. 108,
note 2.
79 Histoire de Mar Jab-Alaha, patriarche, et de Raban Sauma, Paris, 1888;
reprinted by F. Bedjan in 1895 in the work cited above, Histoire de Mar-

Jabalaha, de trois autres patriarches, etc.
arrived in Azerbaijan, where they remained for two years due to

problems in the East. Marcos was then named metropolitan of
China, while Sauma became general visitor. Upon the death of
Patriarch Denha, and in order to be favoured by the Mongol
princes, the clergy designated Marcos as Denha’s successor. Marcos
occupied the patriarchal seat under the name Yahbalaha III from
1281 to 1317. He found himself involved in events that took place
under seven Mongol kings. To take but one example, he took part
in negotiations with the European sovereigns initiated by King
Arghun in order to form an alliance against the Arabs. The tale of
the travels of R. Sauma, who was sent on a mission to various
Western courts, is edifying. Bedjan’s publication has been the
object of several studies which stress its value to the historian.80
Abbot Chabot published a translation of the Life of Joseph
Bosnaya by John bar Khaldoun81 after a Syr. MS from the
monastery of the Chaldeans in Siirt. Bosnaya was a monk of the
monastery of Rabban Hormizd; he died in 979. Bar Khaldoun’s
very substantial book contains anecdotes on the ascetic life of
Bosnaya and other monks of the Hormizd Monastery; it ends with
a treatise on mysticism.
80 See my detailed analysis of it in the Journal asiat., 1889, 8th series, t.

XIII, p. 313 ff., comp. also with LAMY, Bulletin de l’Académie royale de
Belgique, 3rd ser., XVII, 223; VAN HOONACKER, the Muséon, t. VIII, n.
2; NŒLDEKE, Litterar. Centralblatt, 1889, 842–844. In 1895, Abbot
CHABOT published a French translation in the Revue de l’Orient latin, t. I
and II, richly annotated and with two appendices. HEINRICH
HILGENFELD proposed various amendments to the Syriac text,
Textkritische Bemerkungen zur Teschita dmar Jabalaha…, Iena, 1894. RUDOLF
HILGENFELD published the Arabic text of the Life of Yahbalaha III
after Saliba’s collation of the Book of the tower, with a Latin translation and
notes, Jabalahæ III vita ex Slivæ Mossulani libro, qui inscribitur Turris, desumpta,
Leipzig, 1896.
81 Vie du moine Rabban Bousnaya, écrite par son disciple Jean Bar-Kaldoun,
traduite du syriaque et annotée par J.-B. Chabot in the Revue de l’Orient chrétien,
1897–1899. Comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 265; CHABOT,
Revue sémitique, 1896, p. 252.
Thomas of Marga in his History, and ʿAbdishoʿ in his Catalogue,

cite works on monastic life that have not come down to us:
Abraham of Kashkar82 (middle of the 6th century) is said to
be the author of a treatise on monastic life, translated into Persian
by his disciple, a monk named John.83
Mar Babai, abbot of the monastery of Izla (569–628),
composed the Book of Abbot Mark and discourses on Matthew the
hermit, Abraham of Nisibis and Gabriel of Qatar. His other works
are: a biography of the martyr George (see above, p. 116); The Cause
of the Hosannas; The Book of the union84 on Christ’s dual nature; a
commentary on the Centuries of Evagrius; a history of the followers
of Diodore; a book on the festival of the Holy Cross; hymns on the
yearly festivals;85 rules for novices; canons for monks; a
commentary on the Holy Scriptures (see above, p. 62); letters
addressed to Joseph Hazzaya.
Sahdona (early 7th century) wrote the biography and eulogy of
Rabban Jacob, his master. The Life of Sahdona is preserved in the
Book of Chastity, discussed in the following chapter.
John the monk wrote the Life of Bar ʿEdta, founder of a
monastery that was named after him. Bar ʿEdta came from
Resapha on the Euphrates; he studied at Nisibis and died in 612.
His biographer attributes to him an apology for King Khosro. He
82 This Abraham must be distinguished from Abraham, founder of the

Great Monastery of Mount Izla, who was also from Kashkar and who
wrote rules for monks, see above, p. 145.
83 Mistakenly called Job by Mari, ed. GISMONDI, part I, p. 52.
84 We are told that the Book of the union in the Corpus scriptorum christian.
oriental will shortly be published by J. LABOURT. Extracts can already be

found in the chrestomathy entitled The Little Book of Crumbs ‫ܟܬܒܘܢܐ‬
‫ܕܦܪܬܘܬܐ‬, Ourmia, 1898, p. 32 and 102. That chrestomathy also gives, p.
316, an extract from the collation of the Book of the union made by a certain
Simon.
85 MACLEAN has translated a hymn attributed to Mar Babai in East
Syrian Daily Offices, p. 100 and 226.

should be distinguished from another Bar ʿEdta who was a

contemporary of Sahdona.86
Rabban Sergius (early 7th century) wrote a history of the
monks of the Beth Garmai at the request of Rabban Jacob; that
history was entitled He Who Destroys the Mighty Ones.
Rabban Sabrishoʿ, known by the name Rostam (around 650),
composed biographies of Mar Ishoʿ Zeka of the monastery of
Gassa, of Mar Ishoʿyahb, of Mar Abraham, abbot of the monastery
of Beth ʿAbe, of Rabban Kam-Ishoʿ, of Abraham of Nathpar, of
Mar Job the Persian, of Rabban Sabrishoʿ the elder, founder of the
monastery of Beth Koke, of Rabban Joseph, abbot of the same
monastery, and of his brother Abraham. His other books are: a
voluminous tome directed against heretics but also treating of
different subjects; a treatise made up of eight books on Our Lord
and the Apostles’ missions; a book on chastity and ascetic life.
Aphnimaran (around 660) also wrote the Lives of Rabban
Joseph and his brother Abraham, as well as some Answers, treatises
on perfection and other works.
Apart from ecclestiastical histories (see above, p. 176), Atken
(around 660) also composed a theological controversy, several
letters and a treatise on monastic life.
Rabban Gabriel, nicknamed Taureta, was abbot of the
monastery of Beth ʿAbe in the time of the Nestorian patriarch
Henanishoʿ I (686–701); besides the tale of the martyrs of Beryan
mountain (see above, p. 102), he also wrote the history of Mar
Narsai, abbot of the same monastery, and a homily on the day of
Christ’s Passion.
John the monk or John of Beth Garmai (same time period)
handed down to us Lives of Abraham, founder of the Great
86 See HEINRICH GOUSSEN, Martyrius-Sahdona’s Leben und Werke,

Leipzig, 1897, p. 13, note 1. Goussen points to the mistakes made by
Assemani and Wright, who confused these two individuals. Abraham used
the Life in prose by John the monk as the basis for his Life in verse,
edited by BUDGE and mentioned above, p. 179, note 73. Cf. ADDAI
SCHER, Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1906, p. 13, n. XIV.
Monastery named after him, of Bar ʿEdta and of Mar Khodawai,

founder of the monastery of Beth Hale near Mosul.87
Monk Solomon bar Garaph (7th century) is the author of a
historical study of the anchorites who lived before his time.
As for David, bishop of the Kartewaye (Kurds) who lived in
the time of Patriarch Timothy (780–823), he composed the Little
Paradise (see above, p. 125). In that book we find a history of the
monks of the Beth ʿAbe monastery in the 7th century.
The Story of Monk Bahira, the Syriac version of which Richard
Gottheil published in the Zeitschr. für Assyriologie, 1899, XIII, 189–
242, is divided into three parts: the first relates Bahira’s encounter
with the monk Ishoʿyahb, said to be the book’s author; the second
describes Mahomet’s encounters with Bahira through which the
Prophet learnt of the Christian religion; the third is composed of a
series of apocalyptic visions on the future of the Arabic domination
ending with the second coming of the Messiah. According to the
editor, that legendary history was originally produced in a Syriac
community of Persia; it was composed in the late 11th or early 12th
century, except for the second part, which dates even further back.
The following should also be mentioned: Histoire de Saint
Marine, published by F. NAU, Revue de l’Orient chrétien, VI, p. 276–
290 and 354–378; Une version syriaque inédite de la vie de Schenoudi, by
F. NAU, in the Revue sémitique, Paris, 1900; the Syriac text of Vie et
récits de l’abbé Daniel le Scétiote, by F. NAU, in the Revue de l’Orient
chrétien, Paris, 1891; Vie de Mar Bischoï in the Acta martyr. et sanct. by
F. BEDJAN, III, p. 572, and the Recension de deux récits de cette vie in
the Zeitschr. f. Assyriologie, XV, p. 103; finally the Texte grec et syriaque
de la vie de saint Malchus dans saint Jérôme et la vie du moine Malchus le
captif, by F. VAN DEN VEN in the Muséon, new series, I, 413; II,
208.
87 Hymns are attributed to John the monk. See MACLEAN, East

Syrian Daily Office, London, 1894, p. 100 and 226.
XIII. ASCETIC LITERATURE
The account of monastic histories given in the previous chapter

brings us to the writings on religious life. The most ancient work of
that genre, composed shortly after the introduction of monasticim
in Mesopotamia, is that of Aphrahat, known as the Persian Sage. It
it true that the twenty-three Demonstrations, which that author wrote
between 337 and 345, deal with theological questions as much as
they do monastic life; their subject is in turn faith, charity, lent,
prayer, penitence, humility, trust, etc. Monastic life is the focus of
the sixth demonstration; the seventh is devoted to the clergy;
others to circumcision, Easter, resurrection and life in the future;
among the last ones several are directed at the Jews; the twenty-
third Concerning the Grape Cluster, ‫ ܛܘܛܝܬܐ‬, by allusion to Isaiah, XLV,
8. The first twenty-two are organised following the order of the
twenty-two letters of the Syriac alphabet; the author added the
twenty-third later and divided his collection into two parts: the first
part is comprised of ten demonstrations written in 337 and the
second contains the other thirteen, written in 344 and 345.
Aphrahat sometimes refers to these treatises as homilies, ‫ ;ܡܐܡܪܐ‬the
Syriac authors called them epistles, for they were written as letters
addressed to a correspondent. They have survived in three ancient
manuscripts (5th and 6th centuries) now held in the British
Museum.1
1 WRIGHT published the editio princeps after these MSS under the title
The homilies of Aphraates, London, 1869. BICKELL translated eight of
these treatises into German in the Bibliothek der Kirchenwæter of
TALLHOFER, Kempten, 1874; BUDGE translated the first one into
English in his edition of the Discourses of Philoxenus, The discourses of
187
Little is known of Aphrahat’s life; his own work suggests that

he was born into paganism. After his conversion he became monk
and was later elevated as bishop; it is in his capacity as bishop that
he is cited in the encyclic letter addressed to the clergy of Seleucia
and Ctesiphon, the subject matter of his 14th homily. In paragraph
XXV of that homily, Aphrahat speaks of his enthronement of
several individuals. We do not know where in Persia the author
wrote; it was in the monastery of Mar Mattai, north of Mosul, if we
are to believe a late MS (1364), but it is unlikely that the monastery
had already been built by that date. Aphrahat appears to have taken
the name Jacob upon his ordination; we find that name in a final
clause of the British Museum MS dated to 512; it is probably
responsible for the confusion we find in Gennadius and the
Armenian version, for both take that author for Jacob, the bishop
of Nisibis who died in 338, i.e. before the composition of the last
homilies.
Aphrahat reproduced his correspondent’s letter before his
homilies, but the beginning of the letter is missing from the Syriac
manuscripts.2
Philoxenus, London, 1894, t. II, p. CLXXV. BERT printed a German

translation of the entire work in the Texte und Untersuchungen of
GEBHARDT and HARNACK, III, Leipzig, 1888. GRAFFIN reedited
Aphrahat in his Patrologia syriaca; the first volume of that patrology, the
only one to have been published so far, contains these treatises with the
exception of the final one; the Latin translation and the introduction are
the work of DOM PARISOT, Patrologia syriaca, I, Paris, 1894. Cf.
FORGET, De vita et scriptis Aphraatis, Leuven, 1882; SAL. FUNK, Die
haggadischen Elemente in den Homelien des Aphraates, Vienna, 1891. There is an
Armenian version for nineteen of Aphrahat’s homilies. ANTONELLI
published it together with a Latin translation, Sancti Patris nostri Jacobi,
episcopi Nisibeni, Sermones, etc., Rome, 1756; 2nd ed., Vienna, 1765.
ANDRE GALLAND reprinted the Latin translation in his Bibliotheca
veterum Patrum, V, Venice, 1788.
2 Dom Parisot filled that lacuna using the Armenian version in the
Latin translation of the Patrologia syriaca. In the Armenian version, that

correspondent is Gregory the Illuminator, bishop of Armenia; that note is
ASCETIC LITERATURE 189
As is obvious from his last homilies, directed against Jews,

Aphrahat owned a copy of all the Scriptures and was well versed in
the Jewish and Christian exegesis of the OT. He lived in the time
of Shabur II’s persecution and recorded specific dates for the
history of that period. His style lacks the grace and elegance of
Philoxenus’s homilies; the inclusion of biblical citations too often
spoils the harmony of sentences. The lengthy, repetitive nature of
this author’s work is tiresome and undermines the overall clarity of
his thought. When he speaks of the difficult times in which he
lived, one can tell that he is somewhat anxious that he might
compromise those who shared his faith. However, his work is of
interest for several reasons; it represents the most ancient form of
Syriac homily,3 unhampered by any Greek influence; it is also a sure
guide for the study of Aramaic syntax. Moreover, it provides us
with valuable information on the early 4th-century controversies
over metaphysics, the Easter problem, the computation of years
from the time of creation, etc., dissensions at the heart of the
Oriental Church, breaches of trust and simony among the high
clergy.
Under the influence of the Platonic ideas relative to the
distinction between the animal or vegetative soul and the spiritual
or intellectual soul, Aphrahat believed that the Holy Spirit dwells in
every man from the time of his baptism to the sin of the guilty or
the death of the innocent, to finally return to the divinity from
which it emanates, as opposed to the animal spirit, which is
recognized with the body. The famous ascetic Isaac of Nineveh
obviously incorrect but we can infer from it that Gregory was the name of
Aphrahat’s correspondent.
3 Syriac homilies are known by the name memra, “discourse”, and have
a different meaning from both Greek and Latin homilies; they are
compositions or short treatises on a specific subject. The divisions of an
extensive work were also given that name, in which case it corresponds to
our word book or chapter. Metric homilies formed a different genre (see
above, p. 12 ff.). Despite being called discourses, Syriac homilies, be they in
prose or in verse, do not belong to the oratory genre, which was not
particularly prominent among the Syrians.
also accepts the distinction between soul and spirit in man;4 but
George, Jacobite bishop of the Arabs, rose up against Aphrahat’s
doctrine. In a letter he wrote in 714 in answer to various questions
addressed to him by the recluse priest Ishoʿ concerning these
homilies, George calls the doctrine crude and inept.5
According to the ancient tradition based on Psalm XC, 4,
Aphrahat accepted that the earth was six thousand years old,
thereby mirroring the six days of creation. His calculations of the
number of years separating creation from his own time are
contained in homilies II, XXI and XXIII. The figures of the 2nd
homily do not always coincide with those of the 21st, presumably
due to mistakes made by a copyist; Sasse has suggested corrections
to reconcile these texts.6 In his letter, which we have already
discussed, George of the Arabs, who was a Jacobite, disdainfully
rejects Aphrahat’s calculations based on the Peshitta and turns to
the data exposed in the Septuagint, which diverges from the
account of the Hebrew text for the time of the biblical patriarchs.
Elias of Nisibis, who was Nestorian and recognised no other text
than the Peshitta, accepts the chronology of the 23rd homily of
Aphrahat.7 George counted 4901 years from Adam to the Seleucid
era. In accordance with Aphrahat, Elias of Nisibis admits to only
3468; he adds: “that number does not coincide with any of the
previous calculations but comes close to the Jewish estimation, for
4 See J.-B. CHABOT, De S. Isaaci Ninivitæ vita, Leuven, 1892, p. 76;

BRAUN, Moses bar Kepha, Friburg en B., 1891, p. 42.
5 PAUL DE LAGARDE printed that letter of George in his Analecta
syriaca, p. 108, and WRIGHT partly reedited it in The homilies of Aphraates,

p. 19 ff. RYSSEL translated it into German, Ein Brief Georgs, Bischofs der
Araber, Gotha, 1883, and so did GEORGE BERT, before his translations
of Aphraate’s homilies, in the Texte und Untersuchungen of GEBHARDT
and HARNACK, III, Leipzig, 1888. Partial English translation by
COWPER, Syriac Miscellanies, London, 1861. Cf. also RYSSEL, Georg’s des
Araberbischof Gedichte und Briefe, Leipzig, 891.
6 Prolegomena in Aphr. Sermones homelilieos, Leipzig, 1879.
7 See the passage of that author’s chronicle printed in WRIGHT, The
homilies of Aphraates, p. 38.

it comes from their own book (the OT); but the Jewish book is
inexact (i.e. was altered), as I have demonstrated elsewhere.”
As opposed to Aphrahat’s homilies, the sole concern of
Philoxenus of Mabbug’s thirteen homilies is the life of an ideal
Christian; they constitute a treatise on religious morality and a set
of rules on ascetism. They contain not a single allusion to dogmatic
controversies, despite that bishop’s ardent involvement in them.
The current title of the work is as follows: “Treatises on morality
composed by the blessed Mar Philoxenus, bishop of Mabbug, who
taught the entire course of the discipline; how one becomes one of
Christ’s disciples; rules and conducts to follow in order to reach
spiritual love; how the perfection by which we come close to Christ
is born according to Apostle Paul.” Budge, to whom we owe the
publication of these homilies,8 pointed out that the biblical citations
are based on the Peshitta; he comes to the conclusion that
Philoxenus composed that work before the edition of the
Philoxenian version (508) and soon after he was appointed to the
episcopal seat of Mabbug (485).
The first homily acts as a prologue to the book; the twelve
others expound on faith, simplicity, the fear of God, poverty,
carnal desires, abstinence and fornication. On writing these
treatises, the author was certainly inspired by Aphrahat’s homilies.
As does Aphrahat, he first discusses the subject of faith, “the
foundation of religion”; yet it is worth mentioning that he fails to
mention prayers, which are the subject of Aphrahat’s fourth
homily. The stylistic qualities of Philoxenus, so dear to Jacob of
Edessa, are best displayed in that book; his sentences are long and
harmonious, perhaps even too long in our opinion, but our literary
taste differs significantly from the Orientals’.
In the Book of Chastity, mentioned in the previous chapter, p.
177, Ishoʿdnah has preserved several notes on the ascetic authors
of Mesopotamia. We here summarise these notes following the
order in which they appear in the book:
8 The Discourses of Philoxenus Bishop of Mabbogh, vol. I. The syriac text; vol.
II, Introduction, translation, etc., London, 1894.
Mar Gregory, the Director, author of a book on monastic life. That

Gregory was of Persian origin; after having experienced visions he
embraced monastic life. He studied at Edessa under the
supervision of the doctor Moses; he then proceeded to Mount Izla
where he led a solitary life. Later, Gregory settled in Cyprus, only to
come back to Mount Izla at the end of his life. From Assemani’s
writings9 we know that this monk lived in the second half of the
4th century; he was in contact with Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis
in Cyprus, and with the monk Theodore. To both he addressed
several treatises and letters. These treatises were in all likelihood
chapters of his work on monastic life, a text that has unfortunately
not survived to this day.10
Mar Abraham the Great, prince of monks, founder of a monastery on
Mount Izla in the vicinity of Nisibis. He established rules for monks
(see above, p. 145).
Mar Babai the Great, founder of a school and a famous monastery in the
Beth Zabdai. He wrote many books and commentaries (see above, p.
183).
Mar Yahb, the anchorite, who wrote on God and his creatures. To him
are attributed numerous books; he lived in the late 6th and early
7th century, for he is placed right after Mar Babai.
Mar Abraham of Nathpar,11 who wrote on monastic life. He lived
around the middle of the 6th century. ʿAbdishoʿ mentions these
works in his catalogue; Assemani gives the titles of eight short
9 B. O., III, part I, 170. Assemani’s tale differs from Ishoʿdnah’s on

several points.
10 That work is mentioned in the Catalogue of Ebedjésu, B. O., III, part I,
191.
11 Alternatively written Naphtar, ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 463; III, part I,
191; IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI, Studia syriaca, Mount

Lebanon, 1904, chap. VIII, n. 4, and adnotatio in cap. VIII, p. 66. Beth
Nathpera or Naphteria is said to be the name of a town of Adiabene near
Erbil.
treatises held in the collections of the Vatican.12 John the monk

translated the books of Abraham of Nathpar into Persian; there is
also an Arabic translation of these texts.
Gregory, metropolitan of Nisibis, who wrote on the duties inherent to
monastic life. That Gregory was from Kashkar; he taught in Erbil and
later in his hometown, where he founded a school. Patriarch
Sabrishoʿ (596–604) named him metropolitan of Nisibis, but he
was made to leave that town because he had excommunicated
Henana of Adiabene. He then returned to Kashkar, where he died.
Ishoʿdnah adds that he wrote books and an ecclesiastical history.
Mar George, monk and martyr, who founded a school in Babylon and
wrote on monastic life and against heretics. On the Life of that Nestorian
martyr, see above, p. 116.
Mar Shoubhalmaran, metropolitan of Karka of Beth Slok, author of
books on monastic life. “That blessed one lived at the time of the
heretic Gabriel, physician of King Khosro (II),13 and was
metropolitan of Karka in Beth Slok. There was no patriarch at that
time.14 He composed numerous works on monastic life. Owing to
the difficulties he experienced with the inhabitants of Sinjar, King
Khosro forced him into a life-long exile.”
Aba Zinai, author of books on monastic life and founder of a monastery
in the Adiabene mountain. He lived in the time of Babai Bar
Nesibnaye (early 7th century).
Scribe Mar Babai, author of books on monastic life (6th century). On
Babai, scribe of the caves, see Addaï Scher in the Revue de l’Orient
chrétien, 1906, p. 19, n. XVIII.
Mar Isaac, Bishop of Nineveh, who abdicated the episcopate and wrote
books on monastic life. “Patriarch Mar George appointed him bishop
12 B. O., I, 464; comp. with MAI, Script. veter. nova collectio, V, 65.
A hymn attributed to Abraham of Nathpar is translated in MACLEAN,
East Syrian Daily Offices, p. 100.
13 Gabriel was a Monophysite who encouraged the king of Persia to be
firm against the Nestorians.

14 From 608 or 609, Khosro II forbade the Nestorians from electing a
patriarch. BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, p. 109; NŒLDEKE, Tabari, p.

358, note; HOFFMANN, Auszüge aus syr. Akten, 116.
of Nineveh in the monastery of Beth ʿAbe. After having governed

the diocese of Nineveh for five months as successor of Bishop
Moses, he abdicated for reasons known only to God and withdrew
into the mountain. The episcopal seat remained vacant for some
time; Mar Sabrishoʿ then succeeded Isaac as bishop but likewise
eventually abdicated, after which point he lived as an anchorite in
the time of the catholicos Henanishoʿ, and finally passed away in
the monastery of Mar Shahin, in the land of Kardu. After having
left the seat of Nineveh, Isaac proceeded to the mountain of
Matout, which surrounds the land of Beth Huzaye, and there led a
solitary life in the company of anchorites. He then went to the
monastery of Rabban Shabur. He studied the holy books with such
great diligence that he became blind as a result of his assiduous
reading and his abstinence. Isaac was very well versed in divine
mysteries; he wrote texts on the monks’ spiritual life. He composed
three propositions that were widely rejected. Daniel bar Toubanita,
bishop of Beth Garmai, rose up against him because of these
propositions. Isaac passed away at a very ripe age and his body was
placed in the monastery of Shabur. He was from Beth Qatraya and
jealousy probably turned the monks against him, as it did for
Joseph Hazzaya, John of Apamea and John of Dalyatha before
him.”15
As Chabot already noted,16 the detailed account of the
illustrious ascetic writer given in that note challenges the blatantly
inaccurate biography17 placed by a Monophysite author at the head
of the Arabic version of Isaac of Nineveh’s works. That author
tells us that Isaac lived six millennia after the creation of the world,
i.e. in the early 6th century AD; Ishoʿdnah claims that Isaac lived in
the late 7th century; Patriarch George (660–680) appointed him
bishop. Instead of the Nestorian monastery of Beth ʿAbe, where
Isaac was monk, the author of the Arabic biography designates the
15 Cf. a similar note in IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI, Studia

syriaca, chap. VIII, n. 1.
16 Notes sur la littérature syriaque in the Revue sémitique, 1896, p. 254.
17 Edited by ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 445.
Jacobite monastery of Mar Mattai. Similarly, instead of the

mountain of Matout and the monastery of Rabban Shabur, he
designates the Scetis desert of Egypt and the Jacobite monastery of
Our Lady of the Syrians as Isaac’s retreat. Isaac of Nineveh was a
Nestorian. The three controversial propositions that Ishoʿdnah
describes most likely conformed to Henana of Adiabene’s doctrine,
which was close to Catholicism. The works commonly attributed to
that ascetic form a catalogue; according to ʿAbdishoʿ, they are made
up of seven volumes.18 The Arabic version of these works is
divided into four volumes; from it derives the Ethiopic version.
ʿAbdishoʿ teaches us19 that Daniel Bar Toubanita, whom
Ishoʿdnah claims to have been an ardent opponent of the doctrine
of Isaac of Nineveh, wrote a work entitled Solution to the Questions
Concerning the Fifth Volume of the Works of Isaac of Nineveh. The said
Daniel was bishop of Tahal in the Beth Garmai, but we do not
know in when he lived. Among the other works of Daniel Bar
Toubanita, ʿAbdishoʿ cites eulogies, metric homilies, answers to
biblical questions, enigmas and a Book of Flowers, which appears to
be a poetic anthology.
Aba Joseph Hazzaya, also known as ʿAbdishoʿ. Joseph Hazzaya
lived in the early 7th century and was of Persian origin. He was
made prisoner under Caliph Omar by the troops that had been sent
against the town of Nimrud, and was sold as slave to an Arab of
18 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 104; five volumes, according to the

note of the Studia syriaca mentioned previously, in note 15. For a list of
these texts, see ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 446–460; Chabot’s list is more
complete and enumerates the MSS in which they appear, De S. Isaaci
Ninivitæ vita, scriptis et doctrina, Leuven, 1892, 27–53. At the end of that
book Chabot published three discourses of Isaac of Nineveh together with a
Latin translation. Zingerle has edited two other discourses in Monumenta
syriaca, Innsbruck, 1869, I, p. 97–101. The chrestomathy entitled The Little
Book of Crumbs, Ourmia, 1898, reproduces p. 155–167, under Isaac of
Nineveh’s name, the homily on Isaac of Antioch’s passion for studies;
and, p. 251, a homily on penitence which differs from that of Isaac of
Antioch published by BICKELL.
Sinjar. He then passed into the hands of a Christian named

Quryaqos, who converted him before setting him free, was made
monk and eventually became the director first of the monastery of
Mar Basima in the land of Kardu and later of the monastery of
Rabban Bokhtishoʿ near the town of Zinai. Ishoʿdnah adds that
“he was constantly writing books. He had a brother named
ʿAbdishoʿ. He was from the town of Nimrud and became a monk
after having been baptised. From then on, Joseph wrote all his
books under the name of his brother ʿAbdishoʿ. Since four of the
treatises he composed were condemned by the doctors of the
Church, Mar Timothy held a synod and anathematised him in year
170 of the reign of Hischam’s sons. What had inspired Joseph
Hazzaya’s doctrine? The answer lies in his biography, written by
Mar Nestorius, bishop of Beth Nuhadra. I believe the patriarch
acted thus out of jealousy; but only God can know.” That note by
Ishoʿdnah refers to the schism provoked by Henana of Adiabene
within the Nestorian Church, for he had preached a new doctrine
close to Catholicism. Joseph Hazzaya had declared his support for
Henana, hence Mar Babai fought him in his treatise De unione and
in the letters he addressed to him.20 Ishoʿdnah seems to date the
synod of Patriarch Timothy, which took place in 790 and
condemned Henana’s partisans, to the time of Joseph. Owing to
that confusion, he places Joseph Hazzaya after Isaac of Nineveh.
Numerous treatises are attributed to Joseph Hazzaya. These
include the Book of Treasures, devoted to obscure questions; books
on misfortunes and punishments, on the Causes of the main Church
festivals; the Orientals’ Paradise (see above, p. 125); commentaries on
the book of the Merchant (Isaiah from the Scetis desert), on pseudo-
Dionysius the Areopagite, on the Capita scientiæ of Evagrius; and
epistles on monastic life.
20 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 95 and 97; HOFFMANN, Auszüge

aus syr. Akten, p. 116–117; WRIGHT, Syriac literature, 2nd ed., 124–129.
Ishoʿdnah’s note explains how ʿAbdishoʿ’s name was given to Joseph
Hazzaya and discredits the hypothesis according to which the latter was a
bishop.
Mar John, who founded a monastery in the land of Kardu and dwelt in
the mountain of Beth Dalyatha.21 “He was from the land of Beth
Nuhadre and read all the Scriptures in the schools. He became a
monk in the monastery of Mar Yozadak and grew close to the
blessed Stephen, disciple of Mar Jacob Hazzaya. John had two
brothers, Sergius and Theodore, also monks. He left the monastery
to go live in the mountain of Beth Dalyatha, where he fed himself
on grapes of vine arbours rather than on bread. He composed
many books on monastic life… the catholicos Timothy
disapproved of these books to such an extent that he held a synod
and anathematised him for having said that Our Lord’s humanity is
united with his divinity.”
Time and again, John of Dalyatha has been confused with
John Saba, known simply as Saba (“the elder”) to distinguish him
from his brother John, who had also embraced monastic life.22
John Saba (9th century) lived in the monastery of Dalyatha, whose
founder was John of Dalyatha. This explains why these monks are
often mistaken for one another. That confusion ceased in 1899
following the publication of the catalogue of MSS held in Berlin, in
which it was revealed that John Saba was not John of Dalyatha but
John bar Penkaye, thus named because his parents were from the
town of Penek on the Upper Tigris, north of Mosul.23
21 Such is the exact pronunciation of that word, meaning the land of vine
arbours, as we shall see later. The Studia syriaca of RAHMANI, chap. VIII,
n. 2, contain a note that differs slightly from the following one. That note
speaks of the visit paid by Bishop Solomon of Haditha (760–780) to John
of Dalyatha. From this we know that John lived in the second half of the
8th century, as Rahmani points out, ibid., p. 65, Adnotatio in cap. VIII.
22 Cf. ASSEMANI, B. O., I, p. 433 ff. In the Cambridge MS, Add.
1999, f. 131 b, p. 469 of the WRIGHT and COOK catalogue, we read:

“End of the book… of John of Dalyatha, known as Saba.”
23 SACHAU, Verzeichniss der syr. Handschriften, Berlin, 1899, p. 554–555.
In 1904 IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI printed the extract

published therein following another somewhat different MS, Studia syriaca,
chap. VIII, n. 3; cf. another extract chap. IX, n. 2, and adnotatio in
cap. VIII–IX, p. 65–66.
According to the passage published in Sachau and Rahmani

and mentioned in the previous note, the works of John Saba or
John bar Penkaye comprised: a book on the life of the perfect
monk, anchorite and ascetic, with a preface by John Saba’s
brother;24 five tomes on religious life; two tomes of complements; two
volumes against the theories; a volume on singing;25 a volume on
the education of children; a volume of seven homilies on (spiritual)
trade; a great number of metric homilies and letters; a Book of
̈
Archæology, ‫ ;ܟܬܒܐܳܕܪܝܫܳܡܐܠ‬a treatise on lax morals; another on the
perfection of the divine life of monks.26
24 Printed in chap. IX, n. 1, of the Studia syr.

25 Read ‫ܕܙܡܪܐ‬, lesson from the Berlin MS.
26 According to the Catalogue of ʿAbdishoʿ in ASSEMANI, B. O., III,
part I, p. 103, the treatises on monastic life were divided into two
volumes. Most of the works listed above are in Syriac MSS in Europe and
the Orient; the former are attributed to John Saba, the latter to John bar
Penkaye. For John Saba, see ASSEMANI, B. O., I, p. 433 ff.; WRIGHT,
Catalogue of the Syr. MSS held in the British Museum, General index,
under John Saba; WRIGHT and COOK, Catalogue of the Syr. MSS in
Cambridge, p. 445; Catalogue Zotenberg, n. 202, MS Karshuni. ZINGERLE
has published a passage taken from a homily by John Saba in Monumenta
syriaca, I, 102. Are attributed to John bar Penkaye: several books or ascetic
̈
poems, and especially The book of archæology, ‫ܟܬܒܐܳܕܪܝܫܳܡܐܠ‬ , entitled in full
Book of archæology or History of the ephemeral world. It is divided into two tomes
made up of nine and six chapters respectively. It ends in year 686 AD. Cf.
ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 189; ADDAI SCHER, Notice sur les ms.
syr. du couvent de Notre-Dame des Semences, in the Journal asiatique, May-June
1906; the chrestomathy entitled The Little Book of Crumbs, Ourmia, 1898,
which gives an extract, p. 204; GISMONDI, Linguæ syr. Grammatica, 2nd
ed., Beyrouth, 1900, which gives another extract in the chrestomathy, p.
148; BAUMSTARK, Römische Quartalschrift, t. XV, and Actes du XIIe congrès
des Orientalistes, Rome, 1899, III, 1st part, p. 117. A poem by John bar
Penkaye is in the Directorium spirituale of ELIAS MILLOS, Rome, 1868; a
passage taken from another poem in the Liber Thesauri of F. CARDAHI,
p. 35. ADDAI SCHER, Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1906, p. 23, connects John
bar Penkaye with year 686.
Sahdona, Bishop of Mahoze of Arewan, whose name is Martyrius and

who is also known by the name Barsahde. Ishoʿdnah’s extensive note
about that bishop, made famous by his conversion to Catholicism,
contains several new pieces of information. That note teaches us
that after his conversion Sahdona was named bishop of Edessa by
order of Heraclius. Yet Sahdona spent little time in that town, for
its emperor soon had him expelled. Gabriel Taureta, abbot of the
monastery of Beth ʿAbe, went to Edessa to converse with the
renegade: that abbot writes that “after Sahdona had been driven
out of the Church, I, Gabriel, driven by an ardent zeal, set out to
Edessa, where I debated with him and proved him wrong.27” Apart
from the biography and eulogy of Rabban Jacob (see above, p.
183), Sahdona also wrote a treatise on ascetism published by Jacob
following a manuscript dating to the 7th or 8th century.28 The
treatise is divided into two parts: the first comprises twenty-two
chapters, of which the first sixteen were deleted, for Ishoʿyahb did
not wish to see the volume published. Those removed chapters
contained the author’s profession of Catholic faith concerning the
dogma of Incarnation. The second part is made up of fourteen
chapters. After this treatise we find five epistles addressed by
Sahdona to monks, as well as short religious rulings.
To these notes from the Book of Chastity should be added:
Dadishoʿ of Qatar (late 7th century), whom ʿAbdishoʿ’s
catalogue claims translated the Paradise of Western Monks (above,
p. 122) and the Book of Isaiah the Ascetic, wrote a book on monastic
27 Comp. with HEINRICH GOUSSEN, Martyrius-Sahdona’s Leben und

Werke, Leipzig, 1897. In that opus, GOUSSEN establishes that the name
of Sahdona, mistakenly written Mar Touris, should be read Martyrius, and
that the bishop had converted to Catholicism rather than to
Monophysitism. Martyrius is the translation of Syriac bar shade “son of the
martyrs”; compare with Abbot CHABOT, Revue critique, July 18, 1898,
p. 43.
28 PAULUS BEDJAN, S. Martyrii, qui et Sahdona, quæ supersunt omnia,
Paris and Leipzig, 1902.

life, treatises on the sanctification of the cell, eulogies, letters, and

questions on the peace of body and mind.29
Simeon of Taibuteh, who, besides the monastic rules (see
above, p. 147), composed an Exposition of the Cell’s Mysteries (Catal.
of ʿAbdishoʿ, ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 181). It is probably
the book on the monastic institution which was attributed by Bar
Hebraeus to Simeon and which we are told earned its author the
epithet of Taibuteh, “His Grace” (Chron. eccl., II, p. 139).
Beh Ishoʿ or Berkishoʿ, monk of the monastery of Kamul and
a contemporary of Patriarch Timothy (late 8th century), author of a
book on monastic life.30
A manuscript from the monastery of Our Lady of the Seeds
contains, under the title of “Warnings for monks,” fifty-five
treatises or letters on ascetic subjects by Abdmeshiha, an author
who lived after the 10th century, see ADDAI SCHER, Notice sur les
ms. syr. du couvent de Notre-Dame des Semences in the Journal asiatique,
Jul.–Aug. 1906.
In 1279, Bar Hebræus wrote to Maraga the Book of Ethics,
‫ܟܬܒܐܳܕܐܝܬܝܩܘܢ‬, divided into four parts. It treats of the spiritual and
bodily exercises of the religious man. Assemani analysed it in his
Bibl. Orient., II, 303 ff. The Book of the Dove, ‫ܟܬܒܐܳܕܝܰܘܢܐ‬, by the same
author, is a similar work for use by ascetics and hermits; it is also
divided into four parts. There are Arabic versions of both these
works.31
29 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 99. The commentary on Isaiah of

Scetis is cited in the Book of the Bee, ed. BUDGE, chap. XLIII. It is the
only work of Dadishoʿ of Qatar that has survived; it is divided into fifteen
treatises in a MS from Siirt, see ADDAI SCHER, Notice sur la vie et les
œuvres de Dadischo Qatraya, in the Journal asiatique, Jan.-Feb. 1906, p. 103;
and Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1906, p. 25.
31 F. BEDJAN has published the Syriac text of these two books,
Ethicon seu Moralia Gregorii Barhebræi, Paris and Leipzig, 1898. An appendix
at the end of the volume reproduces a short composition by Bar Hebræus
in rhyming prose entitled The mind’s youth, ‫ܳܕܗܘܢܐ‬ܰ ‫ ܰܛܠ ܽܝܘܬܶ̈ܗ‬, which is of the
same type. F. CARDAHI has also published also the Book of the dove under
For the other writings on monastic life, see chapters IX, §4;
XII, §2.
the title Abulfaragii Gregorii Bar-Hebræi Kithâbhâ Dhijaunâ seu Liber columbæ,
Rome, 1898. The mind’s youth is also included in that edition.
XIV. PHILOSOPHY
§1. — SYRIAC PHILOSOPHY

After the Syriac version of the Bible, the most ancient Syriac text is
a dialogue on destiny between Bardaisan and his disciples.
Bardaisan was born of rich and noble parents in Edessa on
July 11, 154.1 Bar Hebræus tells us that Bardaisan’s father was
called Nuhama and his mother Nahshiram.2 According to St
Epiphanius, he was the childhood friend of Abgar, prince of
Edessa and son of Manu, who reigned for thirty-five years from
179 to 214. He probably played a part in the prince’s conversion to
Christianity around 206. According to the historian Bar Hebræus,
Bardaisan died in 202 at the age of sixty-eight. He adds that “a
priest of Mabbug had brought him up to be a pagan, but he was
later baptised and raised following the doctrine of the Church of
Edessa.3 He composed treatises against heresy and eventually
embraced the theories of Marcion and Valentinus. He denied the
resurrection; he considered carnal union to be an act of purity and
1 This date appears in the Chronicle of Edessa and is confirmed by the

Ecclesiastical Chronicle of BAR HEBRÆUS, I, 47.
2 Chron. eccl., I, 47. On these names, see HOFFMANN, Auszüge aus syr.
Akten, p. 137, note 1162.

3 We are told that his master in the study of occult sciences was a
certain Scuthinos, precursor of Mani and author of four books

(EPIPHANIUS, THEODORET, etc.; comp. also with PAUL DE
LAGARDE, Prætermissorum libri duo, Gœttingen, 1879, p. 96, l. ult.). Jesu
bar Nun, appointed catholicos in 824, is the author of the most ancient
note which attributes the invention of a mystical alphabet to Bardaisan;
KHAYYATH, Syri orientales, Rome, 1870, p. 176, note 2.
203
claimed that “every month, the moon — mother of life — emits

light and enters the sun — father of life — and thereby receives
from it the instinct of self-preservation, which it then spreads
throughout the entire universe.”4 That note is similar to
Epiphanius’s account. According to Eusebius, however, Bardaisan
was a supporter of Valentinus but towards the end of his life
returned to orthodoxy, although he never fully expiated his past
heresy. This last hypothesis, also defended by pseudo-Moses of
Chorene, is further supported by a passage from the Book of Destiny,
in which Bardaisan opposes astrology, a practice in which he claims
to have previously been engaged.
All in all, we know little of the life and writings of this
renowned gnostic. In an attempt to fill the gaps in our knowledge,
Pseudo-Moses describes Bardaisan as a fervent apostle who sought
to evangelise Armenia and wrote the history of that land, as well as
another book — which one might call a historical work or a
memoir — on India, based on the information which he had
obtained from the ambassadors of India to Emperor Heliogabalus.5
St Ephrem portrays Bardaisan as a mundane individual who
indulged in luxury, in stark contrast with Marcion the ascetic, who
was always poorly dressed. He mentions the one hundred and fifty
hymns which the gnostic wrote in order to spread his doctrine
among the people.6 These hymns are unfortunately now lost, as are
the treatises or dialogues against heresies mentioned in Eusebius,
the Philosophoumena and Bar Hebræus, and the astronomical treatise
in which Bardaisan established, on the basis of his calculation of
the length of planets’ revolutions, that the world would come to an
4 Bar Hebræus took this information from the Chronicle of Michael the
Syrian, which gives further legendary details on the life of Bardaisan, ed.
CHABOT, p. 110 (transl., I, p. 183).
5 RENAN, in his Marc Aurèle, Paris, 1882, p. 433, note 3, thought that
the author of these works was another Bardaisan, originally from

Babylonia. RENAN, ibid., p. 436–439, has drawn a delightful picture of
Bardaisan of Edessa.
6 See above, p. 10.
PHILOSOPHY 205
end after 6000 years of existence.7 The Kitáb al-Fihrist (ed. Fluegel,
Leipzig, 1871, p. 339) gives the title of other works by Bardaisan
but we cannot rely on that author’s account since he lived in a
much later time. For the study of this Syrian’s philosophical system
we have at our disposal no more than the Book of Destiny and
several scattered notes in St Ephrem’s collection of hymns against
the heretics, for instance in hymns 53–55.8 Yet even these hymns
should be used with great caution.9 To reconstruct the doctrine of
Bardaisan on the basis of the theories of Valentinus and other
gnostics, as attempted by Hahn, Merx and Hilgenfeld, is to rely on
mere speculation.10
The book on destiny entitled Book of the Laws from Various
Countries first surfaced in the form of two long extracts which
Eusebius inserted in the Præparatio evangelica, VI, 9. A modified
version of the second extract is also included in the 9th book of the
Recognitions of pseudo-Clement. It is, however, absent from the
Syriac version of the Recognitions published by Paul de Lagarde. The
second dialogue attributed to Caesarius, the brother of St Gregory
of Nazianzus, also contains a large part of that extract devoted to
the laws enforced in various regions.
Cureton recovered the Syriac original of the book on destiny
in a manuscript held in the British Museum and dated to the 6th or
7th century. He published it, together with an English translation,
in his Spicilegium syriacum, London, 1855. In his edition he also
reproduced the references to that book found in Eusebius, the
Recognitions and Caesarius.11
7 According to George, bishop of the Arabs; see CURETON,

Spicilegium syriacum, London, 1855, p. 21; WRIGHT, The homelies of
Aphraates, London, 1869, p. 27, l. 11; LAGARDE, Analecta syriaca, Leipzig,
1856, p. 114, l. 18.
8 In the Roman edition of St Ephrem, t. II, p. 553 ff.
9 See NAU, Une biographie inédite de Bardesane l’astrologue, Paris, 1897.
10 See HORT, article Bardesanes in the Dictionary of christian biography.
11 German translation by MERX, Bardesanes von Edessa, Halle, 1863.
New edition by NAU, Bardesane l’astrologue. Le livre des lois des pays, Syriac
text and French translation with an introduction and numerous notes,
The book on destiny is written as a dialogue between

Bardaisan and his disciples, in imitation of the Socratic dialogues.
Philip, one of the disciples of that master, wrote it down and
introduced it with a text in the first person singular. There is no
doubt that the Syriac text is an original. Not only are the proper
names, such as Shamshegeram and Avida, Syriac but they also
correspond to the ancient names of Edessa, which we already
know from other documents. Several notes point to a
Mesopotamian origin. One such note concerns Abgar’s decree
forbidding the castration of the priests of the goddess Targata, a
decree which led to the disappearance of that rite in Edessa.
Another one relates the conquest of Arabia as if it were a recent
event (“that took place yesterday,” says the text). It most likely
refers to the conquest of Arabia by Septimus Severus in 195–196.
Bardaisan demonstrates that man has free will and is
responsible for his actions. For that reason he studied the
organisation of heaven and earth, but it would be a mistake to look
for gnostic theories in his work, as has previously been attempted.
He professes the existence of God, creator of the universe, unique
and indivisible, non-created. The other beings (itye) or elements
(estoukse = στοιχεῖα) were created in a specific way and are
subordinate; as such, they are necessarily subject to fixed laws and
are not responsible for their actions. Yet some of these beings, man
for instance, though constrained by necessities inherent to their
nature, dispose of a freedom of action by which they can decide to
do good or to do evil. Thus they are answerable for their actions.
Bardaisan rejects the fatalistic system of the Chaldeans or
astrologers as firmly as he does the opposite system defended by
certain philosophers according to which man is entirely his own
master, and affliction and disease are either mere accidents or
divine retribution. According to Bardaisan, man is under the
influence of three agents: nature, destiny and will. Destiny is the
Paris, 1899; in appendix, a translation of two extracts relative to Bardaisan

written by George, bishop of the Arabs, and Moses bar Kepha
respectively.
PHILOSOPHY 207
God-given power of celestial bodies to alter the conditions of our

existence following the pace and direction divinely imparted on
them. Destiny influences one’s life at the time of one’s birth, when
the intellectual soul descends into the vegetative soul, which in turn
descends into the body. It is then that one’s fortune and
misfortune, good health and poor health are decided, depending on
the position of the celestial bodies in relation to the elements.
Bardaisan’s philosophy makes no mention of the πλήρωμα, of
the plurality of male and female principles, of the syzygies, of the
eons and of other gnostic ideas. In the book on destiny, Bardaisan
appears as genuine an orthodox Christian as were later Syrians such
as Aphrahat. It is true that he believed in celestial spirits, yet Bar
Hebræus (13th century) still accepted the influence which celestial
bodies had on earth. It is therefore impossible to assertain what
constituted Bardaisan’s heresy. However, the unanimous testimony
of past Church Fathers and the publication of numerous
refutations of Bardaisan’s work suggest that he did indeed hold
heretical views.12
Two anonymous Greek dialogues written in the last years of
Constantine were directed against Marcion, Valentinus and
Bardaisan. The main protagonist in the first of these dialogues is
Adamantius, whom we initially mistook for Origen. In the second,
a certain Macrinus represents the doctrine of Bardaisan.
Bardaisan’s supporters formed an important sect in Edessa
and were members of a class of wealthy and learned individuals. In
spite of St Ephrem’s best efforts, that sect endured until the reign
12 NAU, Une biographie inédite de Bardesane l’astrologue, sees in Bardaisan

an astronomer whose cosmographic system was misinterpreted or
misrepresented by St Ephrem, who goes as far as to call him a gnostic.
Nau adds (p. 12) that the other authors who spoke of Bardaisan borrowed
their ideas from St Ephrem. He develops this view in two other memoirs:
Bardesane l’astrologue, in the Journal asiatique, Jul.-Aug. 1899, p. 12–19; and
Bardesane l’astrologue. Le livre des lois des pays, texte syriaque et traduction française,
Paris, 1899.
of Rabbula († 435), who led those who had strayed back into the
Orthodox Church.13
Cureton’s Spicilegium syriacum contains, besides the treatise on
destiny, a letter addressed by philosopher Mara, son of Serapion, to
his young son Serapion. That philosopher was a Stoic;14 he advises
his son to govern his passions, to remain indifferent to the
ephemeral riches and honours of this world and to stay calm when
faced with life’s vicissitudes. Wisdom alone is worthy of being
sought and cultivated. Mara writes his letter from the prison where
the Romans are holding him captive. If the Romans were to free
him and return him to his country, then they will have proven to be
just. If not, he calmly awaits his death. As the following passage
suggests, he was originally from Samosata: “You have learnt that
our companions complained and were distressed when they left
Samosata: they said ‘We are far from our families and we shall
never return to our town to see our parents and adore our gods…’
When we received the news of our old companions’ departure for
Seleucia, we secretly set out to meet them and wed our misfortune
to theirs…” That passage is too vague for the identification of the
calamity described or the time period in which it took place.
Ewald15 points to the Romans’ conquest of Samosata in 72
(Josephus, De bello judaico, VII, VII, 1–3). Schulthess argues
convincingly against that interpretation; it should also be noted that
the letter mentions the “dispersion of the Jews,” which occurred at
a later date, after Titus’s victory over Jerusalem. On the other hand,
we cannot reasonably date that document any later than the 4th
century, when paganism was still alive in Samosata. That text
therefore belongs to the most ancient period of Syriac literature.16
13 See that bishop’s biography in OVERBECK, S. Ephræmi syri… opera

selecta, Oxford, 1865, 192.
14 Schulthess brought to light the Stoic doctrine of the author of that
fine letter in the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., t. LI, p. 365 ff., in which
he gives a German translation and an analysis of the text.
15 Götting. Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1856, p. 661.
16 It is clearly an original text rather than a Greek translation, as Renan
believed, Journal asiatique, 4th series, t. XIX, p. 32.

PHILOSOPHY 209
Even Mara, who believed in a unique God, was not a

Christian. Indeed, his writings on Jesus Christ can leave no doubt
as to the nature of his beliefs: “How did the Athenians benefit
from the murder of Socrates, who was avenged by the famine and
plague that befell them? How too did the people of Samos benefit
from the death of Pythagoras, their country being covered in sand
an hour only after he had passed away? Or the Jews from the loss
of their wise king, for thenceforth power escaped them? It is quite
clear that God avenged these three wise men, by the famine and
death of the Athenians, by a sandstorm sent against Samos and by
the devastation and exile of the Jews. Plato was in no way
responsible for the death of Socrates, nor was the statue of Junon17
responsible for that of Pythagoras or the promulgation of new laws
for the wise king’s demise.”
A note added to that letter is a further witness to the Stoic
nature of Mara’s philosophy. One of his friends, shackled by his
side, asked him: “By your life, I beseech you to tell me the cause of
your laughter!” To which Mara responded: “It is time that causes
me to laugh, for it requites evil which I had never handed over to
it.”
Jacob, bishop of Edessa, is the author of a treatise entitled The
First, Creative, Eternal, Omnipotent and Non-created Cause that is God,
Who Preserves All Things. This we know from a note by George,
bishop of the Arabs, who completed the Hexameron of Jacob of
Edessa.18 That treatise, which was followed by the Hexameron, is
now lost. We thought we had recovered it in a Syriac work entitled
Causa causarum or in full the Book of Knowledge of the Truth or the Cause
of All Causes.19 Yet Kayser’s publication20 of this text has shown
17 Confusion with the sculptor Pythagoras, as Schulthess points out

following Wilamowitz.
18 See RYSSEL, Georg’s des Araberbischofs Gedichte und Briefe aus dem
Syrischen uebersetzt, Leipzig, 1891, p. 137 and 227. We follow the

conventional spelling of Hexameron, although Hexaemeron would be more
logical.
19 ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 461 ff.; POHLMANN, Zeitschr. der deut.
morgenl. Gesell., XV, 648 ff.

that it was composed long after Jacob’s time: it cannot be dated any
earlier than the 11th or 12th century.21 On p. 8 the author presents
himself as bishop of Edessa who occupied the episcopal seat for
thirty years before renouncing his position, made unbearable by the
obstacles placed before him by his own clergy. He adopted a life of
solitude, his sole companions being two or three ascetics, and there
wrote his book for the good of mankind. If these lines were
directed at Jacob, the famous bishop of Edessa, their goal was to
place under his authority, by means of a lie, a book which claimed
to bring to fruition a truly disappointing utopia.
The author’s ambition was to bring together all men divided
by their different dogmas, i.e. Christians, Jews and Muslims, into a
single religious community. His work treats of divinity, its essence
and attributes, but it omits the articles of faith that would not
readily be accepted by all parties; although he does include a
discussion of the Holy Trinity, it is deliberately vague and
inoffensive to both Jews and Muslims. To him, as to the authors of
the Hexamerons, Genesis is the basis for his reflections on the
universe. These focus on heaven and earth, fauna, flora and
minerals, and as such can be viewed as a genuine encyclopaedia of
medieval sciences. At the beginning of the work we find a table of
contents which enumerates the subject matter of each of the nine
book’s chapters. However, the surviving manuscripts only preserve
this list up to the middle of the second chapter of book VII. The
author was aware of the mystical philosophy of the Arabs, for
which he showed a certain predilection; his style is correct and clear
yet is undermined by its excessive prolixity.
Several manuscripts further contain, at the end of this book, a
short poetic composition organised in seven-syllable lines devoted
to elements and their union, following the description in the Causa
causarum, after Aristotle, in chapter V of book IV.
20 Das Buch von der Erkenntniss der Wahrheit oder der Ursache aller Ursachen,
Leipzig, 1889. SIEGFRIED published under the same title KAYSER’s
German translation after his death in Strasburg, 1893.
21 NŒLDEKE, Literar. Centralblatt, 1889, n. 30.
PHILOSOPHY 211
Moses bar Kepha is the author of a treatise on predestination

and free will divided into four books. As does a similar chapter in
Bar Hebræus’s Lamp of the Sanctuaries, that treatise, preserved in the
British Museum MS Add. 14731, has a dogmatic and theological
character. It is of far lesser interest than the dialogue on destiny
attributed to Bardaisan.
Although it was written in Arabic, we should also mention the
dogmatic treatise of Elias bar Shinaya, metropolitan of Nisibis,
entitled Book Demonstrating the Truth that Lies in Faith, which follows
the viewpoint of the Nestorian doctrine. Assemani wrote of it that
it was an anonymous work.22 Horst has published a German
translation of it.23
Bar Hebræus’s book Lamp of the Sanctuaries, ‫ܕܫܐ‬ ̈ܶ ‫ܬܳܩ ̈ܘ‬
ܽ ‫ܡܢ ܰܪ‬, is a
similar work, in which the Monophysite doctrine is exposed. It is
divided into twelve bases or principles on which the Church is
founded. These bases are: science in general, the nature of the
universe, theology, Incarnation, knowledge of celestial substances
(angels), the clergy, demons, the intellectual soul, free will and
fatality, resurrection, the Last Judgment, and paradise.24 Bar
Hebræus also composed a Book of Rays, ‫ܠܓܐ‬
̈ܶ̈ ‫ܐܳܕܙ‬
ܰ ‫ܟܬܒ‬, divided into
ten sections; that work can be viewed as an abridged version of the
previous one.25
In 1298, ʿAbdishoʿ of Nisibis wrote a book of philosophy and
Nestorian theology entitled The Pearl, ‫ ܰܡܪܓ ܺܢܝܬܐ‬, and divided into
five sections on God, Creation, Christian life, Church sacraments
22 B. O., III, part I, 303–306.

23 Des Metropoliten Elias von Nisibis Buch vom Beweis der Wahrheit des
Glaubens, Colmar, 1886.
24 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 284. MSS containing that work are in the
collections of libraries in Rome, Paris, Berlin and Cambridge. There is also

an Arabic version of the text. GOTTHEIL has published passages from
the Berlin MS, Coll. Sachau, n. 81, under the title A synopsis of greek philosophy
by Bar Ebraya, in Hebraica, III, 249–254. Its preface was published by
MANNA, Morceaux choisis de la littérature araméenne, t. II, p. 358.
25 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 297; manuscripts in Rome, Paris, London,
Oxford, Cambridge and Berlin.

and signs of the future world. Assemani gave an analysis of it in his

Bibliotheca orientalis, vol. III, 1st part, 355–360, and Card. Mai made
an edition of it together with a Latin translation in tome X of his
Scriptorum veterum nova collectio.26 In 1312 ʿAbdishoʿ himself translated
his work into Arabic, as Amr tells us in the Book of the Tower, where
important passages are cited.27
§2. — ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY

The Syrians’ works that are concerned with logic and metaphysics
have caught the attention of eminent scholars. Their interest does
not, however, reside in the originality they display, for they merely
consist of translations or commentaries of Aristotle. Rather, it lies
in the Syrians’ scientific knowledge, which they taught the Arabs,
who then promptly overtook their masters and spread their
philosophical ideas throughout medieval Europe.
It was in the School of Persians, that illustrious institution in
Edessa, that Syrians began to teach Aristotelian philosophy in the
5th century AD. The Isagoge of Porphyry28 has been translated into
Syriac at least three times from the mid-5th to the mid-7th century.
The ancient commentaries on the Isagoge are distinct from the
Greek commentary of Ammonius; they belong to the first
26 Badger gave an English translation of it in The Nestorians and their

rituals, London, 1852, vol. II, p. 380 ff.
27 That translation may be the Arabic text entitled The king’s pearl,
which ʿAbdishoʿ mentions in the list of his works, ASSEMANI, B. O., III,
part I, 360.
28 This paragraph follows A. BAUMSTARK, Aristoteles bei den Syrern
vom V–VIII Iahrhundert, Leipzig, 1900. This volume, first in a series

devoted to the Aristotelian literature of the Syrians, contains: a study of
the Syriac and Arabic biographies of Aristotle; a study of the Syriac
commentaries of the Isagoge, and the Syriac texts with a German
translation of: (1) the Life of Aristotle; (2) the commentary of Isagoge by
Probus; (3) the fragments of the commentary of the Isagoge after John
Philoponus; (4) the fragments of the commentary of Stephen of
Alexandria from the Dialogues of Severus bar Shakko; (5) the fragments of
the Book of Definitions by Bazoud.
PHILOSOPHY 213
flowering of Graeco-Syriac studies, which came to an end with the

Nestorian school of Edessa. Then followed a time when literal
translations from Greek predominated. Studies of the Isagoge are
based on the Greek commentaries of Ammonius; the Syrian
Monophysites, Sergius of Reshʿayna, and the monks of the
monastery of Qenneshre, associate themselves with John
Philoponus and the later Neoplatonic Aristotlism. A third period
began in the second half of the 7th century; it marked the decline
of Graeco-Syriac studies; the Arabic civilisation set in motion the
brilliant work of the translators of the 9th and 10th century;
extracts and compilations flourished over the course of this period.
Ibas, Koumi and Probus lived in the first period. All three,
according to ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue,29 translated from Greek into
Syriac the books of the Interpreter (Theodore of Mopsuestia) and
the work of Aristotle. No translation of Aristotle by Ibas († 457) or
by Koumi has of yet been recovered. To Ibas can be attributed the
most ancient translation of the Isagoge.30 Probus lived in the middle
of the 5th century; on one occasion he is referred to as “presbyter,
archdeacon and archiater” of Antioch. Of that author we have: (1)
the second part, paraphrased in a later extract, of a commentary on
the Isagoge;31 (2) a commentary of the Περὶ ἑρμηνείας;32 a
commentary on the First Analytics.33
Sergius of Reshʿayna († 536) returned to and completed the
works on logic of the School of Edessa. In spite of being a
Monophysite, the distinguished physician was equally famed among

30 See BAUMSTARK, op. cit., p. 139–140.
31 Edited by BAUMSTARK, op. cit., text, p. 9; transl., p. 148.
32 Edited by G. HOFFMANN, De hermeneuticis apud Syros Aristoteleis, p.
62, Latin transl., p. 90. Ibid., p. 22–62, HOFFMANN edited the Syriac
translation of the περὶ ἑρμηνείας with a fragment of the Arabic
translation.
33 Edited with a French translation by A. VAN HOONACKER, Le
traité du philosophe syrien Probus sur les Premiers analytiques d’Aristote in the
Journal asiatique, July-August 1900, p. 70.
Western and Eastern Syrians.34 What remains of these

philosophical works is virtually exclusively contained in the British
Museum MS Add. 14658, which dates to the 7th century. That
manuscipt contains the translation of the Isagoge by Porphyry along
with the so-called Table of Porphyry,35 the Categories of Aristotle,36 the
Περὶ κόσμου πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον, and a treatise on the soul, divided into
five sections and completely different from the Περὶ ψυχῆς. It also
holds an original treatise on logic by Sergius, made up of seven
(incomplete) books and addressed to Theodore of Merv; a treatise
on negation and affirmation; another on the Causes of the Universe
According to Aristotle’s Principles; a fourth on gender, species and the
individual.37 MS Add. 14660, also from the British Museum,
contains an ancient note by Sergius on the word σχῆμα, while in
Berlin MS n. 88, fol. 83 b–104 a, we find a treatise on the Categories
by Sergius addressed to Philotheus.38
34 In his Catalogue ʿAbdishoʿ places him among the Nestorian authors

and mentions his commentaries on logic and dialectic, ASSEMANI, B. O.,
III, part I, 87.
35 That table also appears in Berlin MS n. 90 (Sachau 116);
GOTTHEIL reproduced it in Hebraica, IV, p. 207.

36 WRIGHT, Syriac literature, 2nd ed., p. 91, note 2, points out that, in
the Vatican Syr. MS 158, this version is wrongly attributed to Jacob of

Edessa, who was no more than a child when the British Museum MS was
produced. Besides, it does not correspond to that author’s style. The Paris
MS n. 248 repeats the same mistake. In the catalogue of the MSS of the
Laurentian, Evodio Assemani mistakenly writes that Hunayn prepared
that translation, RENAN, De philosophia peripatetica apud Syros, Paris, 1852,
p. 34, note 3. SALOMON SCHUELER published the Syriac translation
of the Categories, made after the Paris MS and the Berlin MS (Sachau 226)
in Die Uebersetzung der Categorien des Aristoteles von Jacob von Edessa, Berlin,
1897 (the editor further attributes the Syriac translation to Jacob of
Edessa); as did GOTTHEIL in The syriac versions of the Categories of Aristotle
in Hebraica, IX, p. 166.
37 RENAN, l. c., p. 25–28; WRIGHT, Syr. literature, 2nd ed., p. 90–92.
38 The same MS, fol. 80 a, 83 b, contains an ancient note by
philosopher Eusebius of Alexandria on the Categories. Cf. BAUMSTARK,

op. cit., p. 137–138, on the Syriac MSS which include treatises of
PHILOSOPHY 215
Paul de Lagarde published the version of the Περὶ κόσμου39 in

the Analecta syriaca, p. 134 ff. A detailed study of the text, complete
with all the variants in the Greek version, has been produced by
Victor Ryssel.40 Ryssel notes that Sergius’s translation belongs to a
category of rare Syriac translations that are literal yet faithfully
express the author’s thoughts. It is a masterpiece of translation, for
Sergius was able to preserve the meaning and content of the Greek
text in a clear and accurate version which closely kept to the
original. It is far superior to the Latin version of Apuleius of
Madaura, whose translation is excessively free. On comparing it
with the different Greek manuscripts, one comes to the conclusion
that the Syriac text does not correspond to a specific manuscript;
rather, it reproduces lessons from a variety of manuscripts. We can
surmise that Sergius, like Apulee, had access to an original which
differed from, and was more ancient than, the known Greek
manuscripts.
Theodore, bishop of Merv, to whom Sergius dedicated a
number of his treatises, devoted himself to the study of Aristotelian
philosophy. From his works ʿAbdishoʿ mentions Solutions to Ten
Questions of Sergius.41
The British Museum MS 14660, which contains the ancient
note by Sergius on the word σχῆμα, preserves the treatise on logic
by Paul the Persian addressed to King Khosro Anoshirwan. Paul
the Persian lived in the middle of the 6th century.42 Bar Hebræus
Aristotelian philosophy; in particular p. 172–173 on the Vatican Syr. MS

158.
39 That treatise has been attributed to Aristotle but it was most likely
composed by a later philosopher.

40 Ueber den textkritischen Werth der syr. Uebersetzungen griechischer Klassiker,
Leipzig, 1st part, 1880; 2nd part, 1881.

41 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 147; RENAN, De philosophia
peripatetica, p. 29.
42 Cf. LABOURT, Le christianisme dans l’empire perse, Paris, 1904, p. 166.
Paul the Persian is probably also the author of the Instituta regularia divinæ
legis edited by KIHN, see LABOURT, ibid., p. 167. Bedjan is in possession
of a Syr. MS that contains a commentary on the περὶ ἑρμηνείας
writes43 that he excelled both in the fields of ecclesiastical sciences

and secular philosophy, and adds that he composed an admirable
introduction to logic. He had hoped to be appointed metropolitan
of Persia but instead converted to the religion of the magi
following his failure to gather his countrymen’s vote. His book is
entitled Treatise on the Logic of the Philosopher Aristotle Addressed to King
Khosro. A critical edition of the text, with a Latin translation, has
been published by Land.44
The philosophy of Aristotle is probably also the subject
matter of the Book of Greek Questions, which the periodeutic
physician Buhd (whom we know for his translation of the tales of
Kalila and Dimna) composed around the same time. That book
bore the unusual title of Aleph Migin.45
Ahoudemmeh, Jacobite metropolitan of Tagrit (559), is the
author of several philosophical works: the Book of Definitions of All
Subjects of Logic; a treatise on free will, on the soul and on man
regarded as a microcosm; a treatise on the composition of man’s
body and soul.46
composed by Paul the Persian and translated from Persian into Syriac by
Severus Sebokht, bishop of Qenneshre, see A. VAN HOONACKER in
the Journal asiatique, July–August 1900, p. 73, 4°.
43 Chron. eccl., II, p. 97.
44 Anecdota syriaca, t. IV, text, p. 1–32; translation, p. 1–30; notes,
p. 90–113. Renan edited and translated the first part of the Introduction,
Journal asiatique, 4th series, t. XIX, 1852, p. 312–319; De philosophia
peripatetica, p. 19–22.
45 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 219. Several explanations for that
title have been put forward; Steinschneider sees in it a corruption of

Greek τὸ ἄλφα μέγαν, i.e. book A of Aristotle’s Metaphysics.
46 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 192–193. Part of the last work is in
the British Museum MS Add. 14620, WRIGHT, Catal., p. 802; NAU

published it in the Patrologia orientalis, t. III, fasc. I, Histoires d’Ahoudemmeh et
de Marouta suivies du traité d’Ahoudemmeh sur l’homme, Paris, 1906. In that
treatise Ahoudemmeh mentions his previous work on the microcosm man.
Another treatise on man regarded as a microcosm is attributed to Michael
the interpreter in a MS from the monastery of Our Lady of Seeds, north
PHILOSOPHY 217
In the early 7th century the monastery of Qenneshre, on the

left bank of the Euphrates,47 became famous for its Greek
instruction. In that monastery, around 640, Bishop Severus
Sebokht devoted himself to the study of philosophy, mathematics
and theology. The British Museum MSS Add. 14660 and 17156
contain several of his philosophical works: a treatise on the
syllogisms of Aristotle’s Analecta priora, a letter to the priest Aitilaha
on different terms of the Περὶ ἑρμηνείας; fragments of a
commentary on the Περὶ ἑρμηνείας; and a letter to the periodeut
Jonah in which are explained several points of Aristotle’s Rhetoric.48
Jacob of Edessa and Athanasius of Balad, two disciples of
Severus Sebokht, pursued their master’s tradition in the
philosophical sciences.
Jacob of Edessa is the author of an Enchiridion, or treatise on
the terminology of philosophy, preserved in the British Museum
MS Add. 12154. Wright49 thought that two metric compositions on
philosophical subjects could be attributed to that author. These
have survived in two MSS from the Vatican, n. 36 and 95, which
give Jacob of Serug as the author. It was believed for some time
that Jacob of Edessa had translated the Categories and the Περὶ
ἑρμηνείας of Aristotle. Wright has established that the translation of
the Categories was the work of Sergius of Reshʿayna (see above, p.
214, note 36); as for the translation of the Περὶ ἑρμηνείας,
Hoffmann has demonstrated that it was by another author.50
Athanasius of Balad, who was named patriarch of the
Jacobites in 684, retired to the monastery of Beth Malka in Tur
Abdin, after having studied under Severus Sebokht in the
of Mosul, see the Notice of ADDAI SCHER in the Journal asiatique, May-
June, 1906, p. 499.
47 The monastery of Kennesrin or Qenneshre was located opposite
Europus (Djerabis of the Arabs) and had been founded by John bar
Aphtonia, comp. with HOFFMANN, Auszüge, p. 162, note 1260.
48 RENAN, De philos. peripat., p. 29–30; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 1160–
1163.
49 Syriac literature, 2nd ed., p. 150.
50 De hermeneuticis apud Syros Aristoteleis, p. 17.
monastery of Qenneshre.51 There he translated in 645 the Isagoge of

Porphyry. His translation is preserved in the Vatican MS 158 and in
MSS held in the libraries of Florence, Paris and Berlin, all of which
are copies of the Vatican MS.52 The British Museum MS Add.
14660 contains a translation, done by the same Athanasius, of
another Isagoge written by an anonymous Greek author.
According to Baumstark (op. cit., p. 223 ff.), the commentary
of the Vatican Anonymous (cod. 158, f. 107a–129a), whose author
may be a Jacobite monk of the monastery of Qenneshre, belongs
to the second half of the 7th century or the first half of the 8th.
That commentary is a compilation of extracts of ancient
commentaries on the Isagoge. Baumstark published it with a
translation, comparing it to the version of the Isagoge made by
Athanasius of Balad for the passages which that version provided
to the commentary of the Anonymous.
George, a disciple of Athanasius who was named bishop of
the Arabs in 686, is known from several works, the most important
of which being the version of Aristotle’s Organon. The British
Museum MS Add. 14659 has preserved part of that version: the
Categories, the Περὶ ἑρμηνείας and the first book of the Analytics
divided into two parts; each book is preceded by an introduction
and followed by a commentary.53 Hoffmann published several
extracts in his work entitled De hermeneuticis apud Syros Aristoteleis, p.
22. Renan54 writes that “its significance and the excactitude of its
methodology are unparalleled among the whole corpus of Syriac
commentaries; if some part of the Syrians’ philosophy were to be
printed, scholars would do well to choose this text over any other.”

52 RENAN, De philosophia peripatetica, p. 30; ARON FREIMANN, Die
Isagoge des Porphyrius in den syrischen Uebersetzungen, Berlin, 1897. Freimann
has published in his work the Syriac text of the Isagoge.
53 RENAN, De phil. peripat., p. 33; HOFFMANN, De hermeneuticis apud
Syros Aristoteleis, p. 148–151.

54 L. c., p. 33–34.
PHILOSOPHY 219
Bar Hebræus55 cites a commentary of Moses bar Kepha on

Aristotle’s Rhetoric.
The works on definitions and logical divisions, drawn from
the commentary of John Philoponus on the Isagoge and inaugurated
by Ahoudemmeh (see above, p. 216), entered the Nestorian
monasteries. In the middle of the 7th century, ʿEnanishoʿ
composed a lengthy commentary on the definitions and divisions,
which he dedicated to his brother Ishoʿyahb.56
Abzoud, in the second half of the 9th century, wrote a poem
in seven-syllable lines on philosophical divisions, addressed to his
friend Qurta; it is preserved in the Berlin MS n. 92, fol. 120b to
124a.57
ʿAbdishoʿ further mentions in his catalogue:
A commentary on the Analytics by Patriarch Henanishoʿ I,
who was elected in 686, B. O., III, part I, 154.
A commentary on the entire dialectic of Aba of Kashkar (Mar
Aba II, elected patriarch in 741?), B. O., III, part I, 154 and 157.58
An introduction to logic by Ishoʿdnah, bishop of Basra in the
late 8th century, B. O., III, part I, 195.59
A commentary on dialectic by Denha, also called Ibas, who
lived around 850, B. O., III, part I, 175.
55 Chron. eccl., II, 215.

56 Cf. ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 144; Thomas of Maga, Historia
monastica, ed. BUDGE, II, 11 (transl., I, 79); BAUMSTARK, op. cit.,
p. 212. Baumstark has published fragments of the Isagoge of John
Philoponus taken from the Vatican MS n. 158.
57 Cf. ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 189; BAUMSTARK, op. cit.,
p. 212.
58 In the first of these passages, Mar Aba is referred to by the name
Aba of Kashkar, while in the second the name Aba ber Berik-Sebyaneh is
used. Comp. with WRIGHT, Syriac literature, 2nd ed., p. 187. ADDAI
SCHER, Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1906, p. 9, n. IX, places Aba of Kashkar
in the 6th century.
59 Contra Assemani, we consider that ʿAbdishoʿ’s note on Patriarch
Sourin, B. O., III, part I, 169, does not prove that this patriarch wrote
about Aristotle’s logic, comp. with RENAN, De philos. peripat., p. 37.
A manuscript from the monastery of Our Lady of Seeds,

north of Mosul, contains The Ten Categories by Ishoʿbokht,
metropolitan of Persia circa 800 AD.60
The Arabs derived their knowledge of Greek philosophy and
of the other sciences from the Nestorians, and especially from the
famous physicians who lived in Baghdad under the Abbasid caliphs
of the 9th and 10th centuries. Hunayn, his son Ishaq and his
nephew Hobeish prepared new Syriac and Arabic translations that
included all Aristotelian philosophy rather than just the Organon,61
as previous Syrian works had done. Zachariah of Merv, or Abu
Yahya al-Marwazi, wrote on logic.62
Bazoud presumably composed his large Book of Definitions,
preserved in a MS from Berlin, around the middle of the
10th century. We should not mistake (as Hoffmann did) Bazoud
for Abzoud, mentioned earlier. Nor should he be identified as
Michael the Interpreter, to whom (as Hoffmann noted)63 is
attributed the Book of Definitions in a MS held in the India Office of
London. Bazoud’s book itself of little value: its interest lies in the
lost works which it partly preserves. That opinion is shared by
Baumstark, who published fragments of the commentary, a
compilation made up of extracts of ancient commentaries of the
60 See the Notice of ADDAI SCHER in the Journal asiatique, May–June

1906, p. 499, cod. 52.
61 RENAN, De philos. peripat., p. 62. According to Bar Hebræus,
Hunayn translated Nicolas’s book — an outline of Aristotle’s

philosophical compendium — from Greek into Syriac; ASSEMANI, B.
O., II, 270–272.
62 Kitâb al-Fihrist, ed. FLUEGEL, Leipzig, 1871, p. 263; Ibn Abi
Ouseibia, ed. MUELLER, Kœnigsberg, 1884, I, 234–235.

63 G. HOFFMANN, De hermeneuticis apud Syros Aristoteleis, p. 151;
Opuscula nestoriana, p. XXI ff.; BAUMSTARK, op. cit., p. 213. The Book of
definitions of Michael the Interpreter can be found in a MS from the
monastery of the Chaldeans of Our Lady of Seeds, see the Notice of
ADDAI SCHER in the Journal asiatique, May-June 1906, p. 499; and in
Revue de l’Or. chr., 1906, p. 16, in which Michael is said to have lived in the
late 6th century.
PHILOSOPHY 221
Isagoge, together with a translation. While editing the text,

Baumstark checked passages of the commentary against Athanasius
of Balad’s version of the Isagoge, from which they are taken.
In 1148 Dionysius bar Salibi wrote a commentary on the
Isagoge of Porphyry and on the Categories, as well as on the Περὶ
ἑρμηνείας and Aristotle’s Analytics.64
The second book of the Dialogues of Jacob bar Shakko, who
took the name Severus on being appointed bishop († 1241),
focuses on philosophical questions. The first dialogue is devoted to
logic, as summarised in fifty-two questions. The second dialogue is
divided into five sections organised as follows: (1) definitions and
divisions of philosophy; (2) ethics; (3) physics and physiology;
(4) mathematics; (5) metaphysics and theology.65 Jacob Severus bar
Shakko appeared at the end of the period of scientific decline and,
as Bar Hebræus before him, sought to maintain past science in the
Christian schools through the use of compilations. Severus did not
directly borrow from Stephen of Alexandria’s commentary of the
Isagoge; however, he did employ a Syriac compendium which had
used that commentary.66
Bar Hebræus is the last of a series of Syrian Jacobites who
wrote on the philosophy of Aristotle. He embraced all of this
philosophy through the works of the Arabs.67 His Book of the Pupils
̈
of the Eye, ‫ܟܬܒܐ ܳܕܒ ܰܒܘܬܐ‬, comprises an introduction on the
usefulness of logic and seven chapters devoted to the Isagoge of
Porphyry, to the Categories, to the Περὶ ἑρμηνείας, to the Analytica
priora, to the Tropics, to the Analytica posteriora and to the Sophistics.
64 A MS in Cambridge, Catal. of WRIGHT and COOK, p. 1009, I; cf.

ASSEMANI, B. O., II, p. 210.
65 Manuscripts held in the British Museum, the Bodleian, Berlin and
Gœttingen.
66 Cf. BAUMSTARK, op. cit., p. 182 ff. Baumstark published and
translated several extracts of the Dialogues, including one from book II,
section 4, already edited by RUSKA, see next chapter, §5, Mathematics.
These extracts reproduce fragments found in the Dialogues of Stephen of
Alexandria’s commentary.
67 RENAN, De philosophia peripat., p. 64 ff.
ܺ
The Book of Conversation of Wisdom, ‫ܕܳܣܘܦ ܰܝܐ‬ ܽ ‫ܐܳܕܣܘ‬ ܰ ‫ܟܬܒ‬, is an abridged
version of the dialectic, physics and metaphysics or theology. The
book entitled The Finest Science,68 ‫ܬܳܚܟܡܬܐ‬ ̈ܶ ‫ ܶ̈ܚ ܰܘ‬, is a vast encyclopedia
containing all Aristotelian philosophy. Renan tells us that nowadays
the Syrians use it as a summary of philosophy. It is divided into three
parts, the first of which is made up of nine books: the Isagoge, the
Categories, the Περὶ ἑρμηνείας, the Analytica priora, the Analytica
posteriora, the dialectic, the sophistic, the rhetoric and the poetic.
The second part holds eight treatises on physics, the sky and the
universe, meteors, the generation and the corruption, minerals,
plants, animals and the soul. The third part is devoted to
metaphysics and theology, ethics, economy and politics. An
abridged
̈ܶ ܰ version
̈ܶ of that great work is entitled The Trade of Trades,
‫ܓܪܬܳܬܓܪܬܐ‬ ‫ܬ‬. Here as in most of his other scientific treatises, Bar
Hebræus advances no new or original ideas; it is the work of an
erudite that read extensively and amassed knowledge which he then
methodically put in writing. According to Wright, such is also the
case of his rhyming poem on The Soul as Viewed by the Aristotelians,
in which the letter shin forms the rhyme, as well as his Syriac
translation of the Theorems and Warnings of Avicenna and The Finest
of Secrets of his contemporary Athir ad-Din Mofaddal.69 We must
also add, as Renan points out,70 another rhyming poem by Bar
Hebraeus on the judgment of Socrates: “Law is good but
philosophy is better.” The rhyme is based on the σιν ending on
Greek words.
Among the Nestorians, philosophical studies end after
ʿAbdishoʿ, who gives a list of his own works at the end of his
catalogue. These works include a book on the mysteries of Greek
68 In ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 270, that work is known by the title Book
of the Science of Sciences.
69 WRIGHT, Syriac literature, 2nd ed., p. 270; comp. with ASSEMANI,
B. O., II, 268. The philosophical works of Bar Hebræus are in manuscripts
kept in the main libraries of Europe. Bar Hebræus also wrote in Arabic a
treatise on the soul, which F. CHEIKHO edited in Al-Mahriq, Beyrouth,
1898, n. 16 ff.
70 De philosophia peripatetica, p. 67.
PHILOSOPHY 223
philosophers and twelve treatises on all sciences,71 which have not

yet been recovered.
§3. — OTHER SYRIAC VERSIONS OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY

In the previous section we considered the Syriac versions of
Aristotle’s works. Syrians had in their possession translations of
other works of Greek philosophy, most of which have survived in
manuscripts now held in the British Museum. For an edition of
these texts, see Land, Anecdota syriaca, I, p. 64 ff.; Paul de Lagarde,
Analecta syriaca, and Sachau, Inedita syriaca.72
Gnomic literature was particularly appreciated among the
Syrians, who gathered in various collections moral and
philosophical precepts attributed to Pythagoras, Plato, Theano,
Menander, Pope Sixtus, etc. Lagarde edited the precepts of
Pythagoras, Anal. syr., p. 195–201; title: Traité de Pythagore; sentences
que le philosophe Pythagore prononça sur la vertu et qui, par leur valeur, ont la
beauté de l’or. Gildemeister has recognised that the Syriac collection
of these precepts derives from the same composition as the Greek
collection of Demophilius; he researched and reproduced the
Greek equivalents to the Syriac precepts.73
The writings attributed to Plato comprise three short passages
(Sachau, Inedita syriaca, p. 66–70). The first contains platonic
definitions derived to a large extent from the Ὅροι, but in a
different collation; these definitions are also linked to the Definitions
of Secundus and of Epictitus in Orelli, Opuscula veterum Græcorum
moralia et sententiosa, I, 227, 230.74 The second passage is entitled
71 B. O., III, part I, p. 360.

72 Renan was the first to bring attention to these translatons in his
Lettre à M. Reinaud sur quelques ms. syr. du Musée britannique published in the
Journal asiatique, 4th series, 1852, t. XIX, p. 293 ff. In that letter Renan also
indicated the Syriac versions of Aristotelian philosophy, which he
examined again in his Latin thesis De philosophia peripatetica apud Syros.
73 Comp. with RENAN, Lettre à M. Reinaud, p. 303;
GILDEMEISTER, Hermes, 1869, t. IV, p. 81; WRIGHT, Journal of the royal
asiatic society, New series, vol. VII, part I, 1874, Appendix, p. 5.
74 SACHAU, Inedita syriaca, p. IV; RENAN, Lettre à M. Reinaud, p. 307.
Precepts of Plato to his Disciple; it is written as a dialogue and is

brimming with Christian ideas.75 The third one, of the same type,
gives definitions of faith, God, charity, justice and virtue. Cowper
has translated The Precepts of Plato into English (Syriac Miscellanies,
London, 1861). Sachau hypothesised that Sergius of Reshʿayna is
the author of a Syriac version of these texts;76 a critical edition,
which remains to be produced, will establish whether that version
truly follows the translations made by Sergius.
Sachau has edited the short collection entitled Theano’s Advice,
Pythagorean Philosophy (Inedita syr., p. 70). Only one of the precepts
attributed to that female philosopher was included in the Greek
writings published under Theano’s name.
In Sachau’s edition, that collection is followed by the
Philosophers’ precepts regarding the soul,77 the Philosophers’ advice and the
Life of philosopher Secundus. The Life of Secundus is incomplete in the
Syriac version; it ends after the definition of death; it is a collation
that differs from the known Greek text.
Lewis published in Studia Sinaitica, n. 1, London, 1894:
Philosophers’ discourses on the soul, p. 19–26, and Philosophers’ precepts,
p. 26–38, which, as V. Ryssel observed,78 both come from the λόγος
περὶ ψυχῆς of Gregory Thaumaturgus (Patrol. gr., X, 1140).
A manuscript held in the library of New College, Oxford, also
contains maxims of Psellus, Theocritus, Anaxagoras, Protagoras,
Theano and Timachus, several of which are in the Precepts Regarding
75 RENAN, Lettre à M. Reinaud, p. 308. RENAN adds: “The Vatican

Syriac manuscript 159 also contains apocryphal precepts of Plato to his
disciple, in Karshuni, that are different from these ones.”
76 Hermes, 1870, t. IV, p. 78.
77 Comp. with Hermes, 1869, t. IV, p. 72 and 78. These precepts have
been translated into English by COWPER, Syriac Miscellanies, p. 43 ff., and

into German by RYSSEL, Rheinisches Museum f. Philologie, neue Folge, 1895,
LI, p. 532; cf. MAX IHM, ibid., LII, p. 143.
78 Rheinisches Museum f. Philologie, neue Folge, LI, p. 318; Theol.
Litteraturzeitung, 1896, p. 60. RYSSEL has translated it into German,

Rheinisches Museum, LI, p. 4 and p. 532.
PHILOSOPHY 225
the Soul.79 A manuscript of the Dublin library contains precepts of

several Greek philosophers.80
The precepts of Menander are preserved in two British
Museum MSS. These are the famous MS Add. 14658 (7th century),
which contains much of Syriac logic and philosophy, and MS
Add. 14614 (8th century). In the former are recorded one hundred
and fifty-three maxims, which Land has published together with a
Latin translation in a critical edition.81 The latter contains only
eighteen, all but the first two of which also appear in the first
collection. Short published that short collection in Inedita syriaca, p.
80. Baumstark, who studied the two collections published by Land
and Sachau and who translated the Syriac text into German,82 is of
the opinion that the Land compilation was modified and extended
by an inexpert author who lived prior to the compiler of MS Add.
14658. These interpolations would originate from the document
which supplied the Sachau collection. The first critics who dealt
with that collection believed that it held extracts from Menander’s
comedies, which are for the most part lost. Baumstark concedes
that, as early as the middle of the 4th century, two collections of
the precepts of Menander were in circulation. However, he does
not indicate whether these collections were translations of Greek
originals or whether they were taken from fables of a new comedy
by Menander entirely translated into Syriac (!). But Frankenberg,
who studied these precepts in Zeitschr. für die alttest. Wissenschaft,
1895, XV, p. 226, sees in them a product of Jewish literature. His
thesis is based on the comparison of a number of these maxims
with those contained in the Book of Sirach and the Book of
Proverbs.
79 Published by SACHAU, Inedita syr., p. V–VIII, and translated into

German by RYSSEL, Rheinisches Museum f. Philologie, n. Folge, LI, p. 549.
80 WRIGHT, The book of Kalilah and Dimnah, Oxford, 1884, Preface,
p. IX.
81 Anecdota syriaca, t. I, text, p. 64; translation, p. 158; notes, p. 198.
82 Lucubrationes syro-græce, Leipzig, 1894, in Supplement XXI of the
Annales philosophiques, p. 257–524.

The maxims attributed to Pope Sixtus correspond to the

maxims of the philosopher Sextus, the Greek original of which A.
Elter discovered and published in 1892. They were translated into
Syriac in two distinct versions, gathered in a single compilation and
divided into two collections, to which was added a third collection
of maxims. Paul de Lagarde (Analecta syriaca, p. 2–31) has published
the compilation, entitled Chosen Sayings of Mar Xysius, Bishop of Rome,
while Gildemeister and Ryssel83 have translated it into German.
Romanus, a physician and a monk of the monastery of
Kartemin, who took the name Theodosius on being appointed
patriarch in 887, is the author of a collection of one hundred and
twelve pythagorean maxims. He translated most of these from
Greek into Syriac and then added short explanations in Syriac and
Arabic. Zotenberg has produced a good scholarly edition of these
texts together with a French translation in the Journal asiatique, 1876,
seventh series, t. VIII, p. 425 ff. The editor notes that “a literal
translation of several of the Σύμβολα Πυθαγορικά, brought to our
attention by the Greek authors, can be found in our Syriac text. A
number of these maxims passed into Arabic from Syriac and are
included in Scaliger, Erpenius and Freytag’s collections, as well as
in The History of Physicians by Ibn Abi Ouseibia.”84
A small collection of maxims attributed to Greek
philosophers is preserved in the Vatican Syr. MS 135. It bears the
title “The discourse of philosophers for he who wishes to be
patient.”85
In a way, the apology belongs to the body of gnomic
literature. The Syriac version of a collation of Aesop’s fables, which
Wright places between the 9th and 11th centuries, should also be
83 GILDEMEISTER, Sexti sententiarum recensiones latinam, græcam,

syriacam, conjunctim exhibuit…, Bonn, 1873; V. RYSSEL, Zeitschr. für
wissenschaft, Theologie, 1895–1897; Rhein. Museum für Philologie, neue Folge, LI,
1895. The previous works on that subject are cited in Ryssel’s articles.
84 ZOTENBERG, op. cit., p. 433–434.
85 Edited by GUIDI, Rendiconti della R. Academia dei Lincei, June 1886,
p. 554–556. Cf. Cambridge MS Add. 2012, Catal. Wright and Cook, p. 536,
n. IX.
PHILOSOPHY 227
mentioned here.86 Landsberger has edited a text of that version, as

reworked by a Jewish author, under the title Die Fabeln des Sophos,
syrisches Original der griechischen Fabeln des Syntipas, Posen, 1859. The
editor saw in that text a Greek original, but Geiger has established
that the word Sophos was an alteration of Esophos, Aesop.87 Other
manuscripts give Josiphos, “Joseph,” which is another corruption of
the same name. Samson Hochfeld published a second, superior
edition together with a critical introduction: Beiträge zur syrischen
Fabellitteratur, Halle, 1893. Hochfeld dates the collation edited by
Landsberger88 to the 7th century.
The eight fables published by Rœdiger in his Chrestomathia
syriaca, 2nd ed., Halle, 1868, p. 97, after a Berlin MS in which they
are inserted in The Story of Joseph and king Nebuchadnezzar; and the
three fables that Wright printed,89 are of a similar type to the work
of Aesop mentioned in the previous paragraph. ܽ
The Book of Amusing Tales, ‫ܳܡܓ ̈ܚܟܢܶ̈ܐ‬ ܰ ‫ܟܬܒܐ ܳܕܬ ̈ܘܢ ܝܶ̈ܐ‬, by Bar
Hebræus, should also be mentioned, though that work does not
derive from Greek and cannot claim to be a work of philosophy.
The first chapters contain the precepts of Greek, Persian, Indian
and Jewish philosophers, as well as of Christian and Muslim
ascetics. Chapter X gives a selection of animal fables and it is
followed by tales, several of which are particularly obscene for a
bishop: the author apologises for including them but writes that he
wanted his work to be complete. A collection of philosophers’
descriptions of physionomical traits makes up the twentieth and
final chapter. Morales has published extracts of that work, together
with a German translation, in the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl.

87 In the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesellschaft, 1850, t. XIV, p. 586 ff.
88 Cf. also GISMONDI, Linguæ syriacæ Grammatica, Beyrouth, 1900,
Chrestom., p. 7–18.
89 WRIGHT, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1874, vol. VII, part I,
Appendix, p. 4; The Book of Kalilah and Dimnah, Preface, p. IX–X; comp. with
HOCHFELD, Beiträge zur syrischen Fabelliteratur, Halle, 1893; SACHAU,
Verzeichniss der syr. Handschriften, Berlin, 1899, p. 266, 439, 725; WRIGHT
and COOK, Catal. des ms. de Cambridge, Add. 2020, p. 585 and 586.
Gesellschaft, 1886, t. XL, p. 410 ff..90 Budge (London, 1897)

produced a complete edition of the text with an English
translation.91 The editor added several poems by Bar Hebræus on
morals and an elegy on the death of Patriarch John bar Madani,
one of the most beautiful pieces of late Syriac literature.
An Arabic book entitled Distancing from concern has been
mistakenly attributed to Bar Hebræus.92
As for the Syriac translations of Greek philosophy, we
encounter: a dialogue on the soul between Socrates and
Erostrophos (Analecta syr., p. 158); a treatise on the soul (Studia
Sinaitica, I, p. 19); a speech by Isocrates addressed to Demonicus
(Anal. syr., p. 167–177); a treatise entitled Περὶ ἀσκήσεως or De
exercitatione, attributed to Plutarch (Anal. syr., p. 177–186); Plutarch’s
treatise against anger, Περὶ ἀοργησίας (Anal. syr., p. 186–195);
Lucian’s treatise against calumny, Περὶ τοῦ μὴ ῥᾳδίως πιστεύειν
διαβολῇ (edited by Sachau, Inedita syriaca, p. 1–16); a treatise by
Themistius, Περὶ ἀρετῆς, which has not come down to us in Greek
(Ined. syr., p. 17–47); the treatise of Themistius entitled Περὶ φιλίας
(Ined. syr., p. 48–65).
The dialogue between Socrates and Erostrophos does not
correspond to any known dialogue of Plato, but Renan argues that
it quite obviously belongs to the family of alleged dialogues, which
includes such texts as the Eryxias, the Axiochus, the Minos and the
Hipparque.93
90 Several specimens can be found in the Chrestomathia syriaca by

KIRCH and BERNSTEIN, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1836, p. 1–4. ASSEMANI
had already published the title of each chapter, B. O., II, p. 306.
91 The laughable stories collected by Mar Gregory John barHebræus.
92 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, p. 268 and 272. A MS in Berlin, Catal. Sachau,
n. 195, p. 631, and in Paris, syr. 274; that text is the work of Elias of
Nisibis, not of Bar Hebræus; it has nothing in common with The book of
amusing tales. It is a book of morals consisting of twelve chapters; it teaches
how to acquire peace of mind.
93 Lettre à M. Reinaud, p. 299. RYSSEL translated it into German in the
Rheinsiches Museum f. Philologie, neue Folge, XLVIII. 185; cf. ibid., LI, 4.
PHILOSOPHY 229
Ryssel94 notes that the translations of Isocrates’s speech

addressed to Demonicus and of Lucian’s treatise on calumny are
free, not literal. Ryssel95 adds that “the many omissions (compared
with the Greek MSS) in the translation of the speech of Isocrates
are strong intimation that the Greek version, the authenticity of
which has already been brought into question by several scholars,
may be the result of a later collation. If so, this late collation differs
from the discourses of Isocrates whose authenticity has been
established, since the reviewer unashamedly disregarded the
author’s style in a number of passages. Following that hypothesis,
proof of which lies in the omission of unimportant and
unnecessary sentences, the Syriac version would be a translation of
an archaic form of the original text. Likewise, the translation of
Lucian’s treatise is not literal: it paraphrases the original, omits
words and sentences deemed unclear, and adds passages in order to
preserve the meaning of sentences as a whole rather than of
specific words. Such is also the case of the Syriac version of the
Περὶ φιλίας, which is shorter than the Greek.”96
To the category of versions that are reworkings rather than
literal translations of a Greek original also belong: the treatise of
Plutarch entitled Περὶ ἀοργησίας and probably the treatise entitled
Περὶ ἀσκήσεως, also attributed to Plutarch but which has not
survived in its Greek form.97 The translator usually takes Plutarch’s
thoughts as his starting point and then constructs a new work
based on them; therefore, these versions are only marginally useful
for the critique of the Greek text.
94 Ueber den textkritischen Werth der syr. Uebersetzungen, Leipzig, 1880–

1881, I, p. 47.
95 Ibid., II, p. 44.
96 The Syriac text ends on p. 279 of the edition by PETAVIUS and on
p. 328, l. 12, of the edition by W. DINDORF.

97 RYSSEL, Ueber den textkritischen Werth, etc., I, p. 4; II, p. 5. Comp.
with GILDEMEISTER, Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, neue Folge,

t. XXVII, p. 520 ff. Gildemeister and Buecheler published in that volume
a German translation of a Syriac text of the Περὶ ἀσκήσεως and of the Περὶ
ἀοργησίας.
Baumstark, who examined these versions after Gildemeister

and Ryssel, comes to somewhat different conclusions.98 He sees in
them the idiosyncratic translation style of Sergius of Reshʿayna, and
therefore attributes them to that illustrious interpreter.99 To explain
the differences between these versions and the mistakes and
lacunae they contain, Baumstark allows for later revisions: shortly
after the death of Sergius a first reviewer would have reworked the
speech which Isocrates addressed to Demonicus; a second would
have reworked the versions of Lucian and Themistius; a third
would be responsible for the profound modifications observed in
the Syriac version of Plutarch’s treatises. The critical apparatus on
which this hypothesis is based seems sound, but in such cases one
can hardly provide conclusive evidence.
The version of Plutarch’s treatise on the advantages to be
derived from one’s enemies (De capienda ex inimicis utilitate) belongs
to the same category of Syriac translations. It appears with the
versions of the Περὶ ἀσκήσεως and of the Περὶ ἀοργησίας in the Sinai
MS which provided Rendel Harris with the Syriac text of the
Apology of Aristides (see above, p. 133). Nestle published it with an
English translation in the Studia Sinaitica, n. IV, under the title A
tract of Plutarch on the advantage to be derived from ones enemies, London,
1894. Nestle suggests that it was produced by the same person who
also translated the Περὶ ἀοργησίας and the Περὶ ἀρετῆς. Ryssel, who
translated that version into German, does not see in it the style of
Sergius’s translations, Rhein. Museum, neue Folge, LI, 1896, p. 1 ff.
Comp. With NŒLDEKE, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., XLIX, p.
324; FRANZ CUMONT, Revue de Philologie, 1895, p. 81.
Gottheil published fragments of a Syriac version by
Apollonius of Tyana, Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., 1892, XLVI,
p. 466.
98 Lucubrationes syro-græcæ, Leipzig, 1894, in supplement XXI of the

Annales philologiques, p. 405 ff.
99 Sachau, Hermes, 1870, vol. IV, p. 78, had already come to the same
conclusion for most of the versions mentioned above.

XV. THE SCIENCES OF THE SYRIANS
§1. — MEDICINE
Medicine was particularly studied by the Syrians, and their
knowledge in that science soon acquired a great reputation across
the Orient. In his Syriac chronicle Bar Hebræus1 relates that, when
Shabur founded the town of Gondeshabur, he had Greek
physicians brought in and these introduced the medicine of
Hippocrates into the Orient.2 He adds that “a number of Syrian
physicians also became famous, such as Sergius of Reshʿayna,
Atanos (?) of Amid,3 Philagrius, Simeon of Taibuteh, Bishop
Gregory, Patriarch Theodosius, the illustrious Hunayn, son of
Ishaq, and many more. They were all Syrian, with the exception of
priest Aaron, whose book was translated from Greek into Syriac by
Gosius of Alexandria.”
1 Ed. BRUNS and KIRSCH, p. 62; ed. BEDJAN, p. 57.

2 Following Tabari (NŒLDEKE, Geschichte der Perser… Tabari, Leiden,
1872, p. 67), Shabur had a physician brought in from India and
established in Susiana, at Karka of Beth Lapat (or Gondeshabur). He adds
that the Susians derived their medical knowledge from that physician.
3 ‫ܐܛܢܘܣ ܳܐܡܝܕܝܐ‬, that spelling does not lend itself to the reading
Athanasius of Amid. Athanasius, who was made Maphrian of Amid by

Patriarch Theodosius in 887, is not known to have been a physician.
Besides, the place that Bar Hebræus assigns to ‫ ܐܛܢܘܣ‬in his enumeration
suggests that he was not a contemporary of Theodosius. Nor do we have
any information on the physicians Philagrius and Gregory mention in the
notice. Because of his position, Bishop Gregory cannot refer to Bar
Hebræus, who was one of the physicians of the sultan in Aleppo in 1263,
Chron. eccl., I, 747.
231
Sergius, the chief physician of Reshʿayna, translated several of

Galen’s works. The British Museum MS Add. 14661 contains
books VI–VIII of the Treatise on Simple Remedies, Περὶ κράσεών τε καὶ
δυνάμεων τῶν ἁπλῶν φαρμάκων. Each book is preceded by a short
introduction by Sergius, addressed to priest Theodore, and by a list
of the names of the plants under consideration, with their Syriac
equivalent. If the manuscript truly dates to the 6th or 7th century,
as Wright believed,4 the explanatory notes in Arabic which it
contains must have been added at a later date. Merx has published
extracts of that version in the Zeitschrift der deut. morg. Gesellschaft,
1885, t. XXXIX, p. 237 ff. MS Add. 17156 contains fragments of
Galen’s The Art of Medicine and Properties of food;5 Sachau has edited
these fragments, Inedita syriaca, p. 88–97. The translations of Sergius
were revised by Hunayn ibn Ishaq6 in the 9th century. That
revision has not survived, but Bar Bahlul’s lexicon, which Sergius
cites, includes several of Hunayn’s new explanations.7
The Gosius, which, according to the notice of Bar Hebræus,
claims to be the Syriac translation of the medical Syntagma of the
priest and physician Aaron of Alexandria, has been identified as
Gesius Petæ, a contemporary of Emperor Zeno.8 In another
passage (A Compendious History of Dynasties, ed. Pocock, p. 158; ed.
Salhani, p. 157), Bar Hebræus adds that Aaron’s collection was
made up of thirty books, to which Sergius added two more books.
Steinschneider considers that claim to be incorrect; the author of
4 Catal., p. 1187.
5 WRIGHT, Catal., p. 1188.
6 See IBN ABI OUSEIBIA, I, 204.
7 IMMANUEL LŒW, Aramæische Pflanzennamen, Leipzig, 1881, p. 18.
GOTTHEIL has published and translated into English a short collection

of remedies derived from Galen: Contributions to syriac Folk-medicine in the
Journal of the American Oriental Society, XX, 1899, p. 145.
8 See BAUMSTARK, Lucubrationes syro-græcæ, note 60; but LECLERC,
Histoire de la médecine arabe, Paris, 1876, I, p. 42, believes that Gesius lived a
century before Gosius and therefore that the two individuals should not
be confused.
THE SCIENCES OF THE SYRIANS 233
the two additional books is the Arabic translator Massardjawihi or

Masardjis.9
Pognon published and translated into French an anonymous
Syriac version of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates (Leipzig, 1903).
Apart from ascetic works, Simeon of Taibuteh, who wrote in
the late 7th century, also composed a book on medicine.10 That
book is cited in Bar Bahlul’s Syriac lexicon but it has unfortunately
not survived.
Nor has the medical collection of Romanus, who later was
appointed patriarch and took the name Theodosius. Bar Hebræus
informs us that this work was highly esteemed in its time.11
The long series of illustrious Nestorian physicians of Baghdad
began with George Bokhtishoʿ. That scholar, who had already
earned a reputation in GondeShabur, was summoned to the capital
by caliph al-Mansur, the founder of Baghdad. The Bokhtishoʿ
family distinguished itself under several successive generations of
caliphs. Gabriel Bar Bokhtishoʿ, George’s grandson, is the author
of an Arabic Compendium of the works of Dioscorides, Galen and
Paul of Aegina, often cited in the lexicon of Bar Bahlul. The
transcription of Greek words, into Arabic via Syriac, mutilated the
plants’ names. Bar Bahlul committed these disfigured words to
writing, recording them either as novel terms or as synonyms of the
correct names.12 Mistakenly interpreting a passage from ʿAbdishoʿ’s
catalogue,13 Assemani believed that Gabriel had composed a
lexicon; he translates: “Bar Bahlul composuit lexicon ex multis
collectum libris et Jesu Bar Ali medicus et Mazuraeus et Gabriel.”
Yet what is meant is: “Bar Bahlul conscripsit lexicon, cujus magna
9 STEINSCHNEIDER, Al-Farabi in Mémoires de l’Académie des Sciences

de Saint-Pétersbourg, 7th series, t. XIII, n. 4, p. 66; LECLERC, Histoire de la
médecine arabe, I, p. 79–80.
10 Catal. ʿAbdishoʿ, B. O., III, part I, 184; BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl.,
II, 139.
11 Chron. eccl., I, 391.
12 See IMMANUEL LŒW, Aramæische Pflanzennamen, p. 12–13.
13 B. O., III, part I, p. 257–258.
pars composita fuit e libris Jesu Bar Ali medici et Mazuræi et

Gabrielis.”
John bar Maswai, or Yahya ben Masawaih († 857), was the
director of the most popular school of Baghdad. He wrote several
books on medicine, either in Syriac or in Arabic, and his
translations of Greek works also led to his reputation as a writer.
The Book on Fever, which some Hebrew and Latin translations
attribute to John bar Maswai, is an epitome of the medical
knowledge of both Syrians and Arabs. Pagel has partly edited and
analysed a MS held in Paris which contains the so-called ‘surgery’
of John bar Maswai.14 We are not yet able to make a catalogue of
the works of that physician.15
After having studied in Baghdad, Hunayn († 87316), son of
Ishaq and disciple of John bar Maswai, went to learn Greek in the
West (at Alexandria). Once he had returned to Baghdad, he became
known for his Syriac and Arabic translations of the works of
Dioscorides, Hippocrates,17 Galen and Paul of Aegina, and for his
collations of ancient versions made by Sergius of Reshʿayna. The
explanatory notes of Dioscorides on plants, which Bar Bahlul
borrowed from Hunayn, are far more accurate than those cited
after Gabriel Bokhtishoʿ.18 Apart from his translations, Bar
Hebræus also attributes to Hunayn twenty-five volumes of
14 Die angelbliche Chirurgie des Joh. Masuë, Berlin, 1893.

15 STEINSCHNEIDER, Zeitsch. Der deut. morg. Gesell., 1893, t. XLVII,
351–354.
16 On Safar 28 of year 260 of the Hijra and on Kanun 1 of year 1185
of the Greeks, according to the Kitab al-Fihrist, 294; mistakenly thought to

be Safar 23 of year 264 of the Arabs and Kanoun 1 of year 1188 of the
Greeks following Ibn Abi Ouseibia, I, 190. Bar Hebræus (Chron. syr., ed.
BRUNS, 170: ed. BEDJAN, 162) confused the two dates by giving the
synchronism 1188 of the Greeks and 260 of the Arabs; comp. with
17 STEINSCHNEIDER, op. laud., 350, mentions the treatise of
Hippocrates on severe diseases, together with Galen’s commentary which

Hunayn translated (Paris MS, Arabic text in Hebrew characters).
18 IMMANUEL LŒW, Aram. Pflanzennamen, p. 13.
personal works.19 He adds that “Hunayn had two sons, one of

whom — Isaac — made numerous translations. He also had a
nephew named Hobeish, who followed in his footsteps by
becoming a distinguished translator of medical books, though most
of his work is now remembered as being Hunayn’s rather than his
own.” Indeed, a great many Arabic treatises on medicine20 were in
circulation under the name of Hunayn.
Steinschneider21 writes that “the most famous and widespread
work of that author is an Introduction to medical science that comes
after Galen’s Ars parva, even though it is simply made up of a series
of questions and answers. Hunayn’s project remained unfinished
until his nephew Hobeisch resumed work on it.”
John, son of Serapion, or Serapion the elder (late 9th or early
10th century), composed two collections or Pandectes in Syriac: the
first one consisted of twelve books; the second, more widespread,
was made up of seven books, the final one being a treatise on
antidotes. Several authors (Mousa ben Ibrahim al-Hadith, Ibn
Bahlul and perhaps Abu Bishr Mattai) have translated the second
collection into Arabic. Two Latin translations have also been made:
one by Gerard of Cremona, entitled Practiva sive Breviarium, and
another by Abraham of Tortose.22
Other Syrians wrote on medicine, but in Arabic,23 hence they
are not relevant for the present study. We shall therefore disregard
them and focus instead on Bar Hebraeus.
19 Chron. syr., ed. BRUNS, 170; ed. BEDJAN, 163.

20 IBN ABI OUSEIBIA, I, 184, 200; Kitab al-Fihrist, 294; comp. with
KLAMROTH, Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., 1886, t. L, 195 ff., 201, 621 ff.
21 Die hebräischen Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters, Berlin, 1893, p. 709,
§ 457.
22 See IBN ABI OUSEIBIA, I, 109; D r LECLERC, Histoire de la
médecine arabe, Paris, 1876, I, 113–117; STEINSCHNEIDER, Die

hebräischen Uebersetzungen, p. 736, § 474.
23 Apart from those of the physician Gabriel, from the 13th century,
who composed in Syriac at Edessa numerous books on medicine and

philosophy, according to BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. syr., ed. BRUNS, p.
485; ed. BEDJAN, p. 457.
Bar Hebræus, who was also a distinguished physician,

composed several works on medicine: a version and an epitome of
the Treatise on Simple Remedies by Dioscorides entitled Book of
Dioscorides; a commentary in Arabic on the Aphorisms of
Hippocrates; a commentary in Syriac on the Medical Questions of
Hunayn, with a partial translation of these questions.24 These works
do not appear to have survived the test of time. Gottheil has
published the chapter of the Lamp of the Sanctuaries (see p. 211)
containing a summary of the medical plants of Dioscorides.25
§2. — NATURAL HISTORY

There are several Syriac collations of the history of animals entitled
Physologius. Tychsen26 published the shorter composition, which
consists of thirty-two small chapters. Land27 edited a longer text
made up of eighty-one chapters, each one followed by a theory (or
commentary) based on the Bible and on Christian dogmas; many
passages taken from the homilies of St Basil on the hexameron.
Land established a table of concordance of various Greek, Latin,
Syriac (etc.) versions of that work. Apart from the usual sources,
the author of a third collation, brought to our attention by
Ahrens,28 also used Arabic documents. The book’s one hundred
and twenty-five chapters are devoted to animals but also to trees
and stones; geographical notes make up a separate section (chap.
80–89). That composition does not contain the theories of the Land
edition. It is of Nestorian origin. It is the source of the Physiologus
extracts found in Bar Bahlul’s lexicon.
Syrians knew the fabulous stories on animals from Alexander’s
Letter to Aristotle, written by pseudo-Callisthenes.29 Rœdiger
24BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, p. 479; ASSEMANI, B.O., II, 268.
25A list of plants and their properties (for private circulation), Berlin, 1886.
26 Physiologus syrus seu Historia animalium, Rostock, 1795.
27 Anecdota syriaca, IV, text, 1–99; Latin translation, 31–98;
commentary, 115–176.
28 Das Buch der Naturgegenstände, Kiel, 1892.
29 On the Syriac version of the Alexander romance, see below, Ch.
XVII, § 2 (p. 276).

published that letter separately in the Syriac chrestomathy, 2nd ed.,

p. 112–120.
Dionysius bar Salibi composed a treatise on the structure of
the human body, two short fragments of which are kept in the
Bodleian Library.30 An incomplete treatise — the beginning is
missing — in seven-syllable verses, contained in MS 116 of the
Sachau Collection in Berlin, is of a similar type. It was published by
Gottheil in Hebraica, IV, 206–215.
Agriculture is treated in the Syriac language in a version of the
Greek geoponics, contained in a British Museum MS of the 8th or
9th century published by Paul de Lagarde.31 The manuscript, the
beginning and end of which are incomplete, bears neither its title
nor the name of its author; it contains a distinctly ancient text
which brings to mind the literal translations of the early centuries
AD, such as those of Sergius of Reshʿayna. The Syriac geoponics
are rightly attributed to him by Baumstark, who points out that the
manuscript edited by Lagarde gives an epitome that was unskilfully
abridged by a later Syrian.32 The Arabic version, mistakenly
attributed to Qusta ibn Luqa and preserved in a MS now held in
Leiden, presents a more accurate picture of the work of Sergius.
The Syriac text’s main interest is lexicographical; it records a great
number of words, including names of plants here given a very
precise meaning. The original, which the translator put into Syriac,
was the book of Anatolius Vindanius of Beyrouth (in Photius, cod.
163) or Ἀνατόλιος Οἰϊνδανιώνιος Βηρύτιος (in the Greek geoponics).
That Greek work is preserved only in the compilation of Cassianus
30 Catal. Payne Smith, col. 529.

31 Geoponicon in sermonem syriacum versorum quæ supersunt, Leipzig, 1860;
compare with De Geoponicon versione syriaca scripsit A. P. de Lagarde, Berlin,
1855, reprinted in the Gesammelte Abhandlungen of LAGARDE, Leipzig,
1866; and LAGARDE, Mittheilungen, I, 192. In his Litt. Centralblatt, 1876,
p. 145, NŒLDEKE recognised a Syriac fragment of the Geoponics
printed by LAND in his Anecdota syriaca, IV, 100,
32 Lucubrationes syro-græcæ, p. 390. Hadji Khalfa cites among the
translators of the Book of agriculture a certain Sergius, son of Elias, who may
correspond to Sergius of Reshʿayna, see BAUMSTARK, ibid., p. 379.
Bassus,33 but fortunately it is there found to be virtually complete.

Bar Bahlul’s lexicon cites the Syriac geoponics under the title Book
of Agriculture by Iaunios; Ibn al-Awam writes the name of the author
in Arabic as Iounios; that name represents the final part of
[Οἰϊνδαν]ιώνιος.34 We know from Photius that the Georgian
eclogues of Anatolius Vindanius or Vindanionius comprised twelve
books; the Syriac version was made up of at least two more books,
for in the manuscript the lacuna starts after chapter IV of book
XIV. The translator took those passages he added from various
sources, particularly from the Hippatrics of Anatolius; the geoponics
of Cassianus Bassus35 must also have provided material for his
work.
§3. — ASTRONOMY, COSMOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY

Syriac astronomy appears to have disentangled itself from astrology
at a very early date. Bardaisan, who in his youth had applied himself
to the study of Chaldean astrology, later recognised the inanity of
that science. That famous gnostic composed a treatise on
astronomy which only survives in the form of extracts in the works
of subsequent authors.36
Sergius of Reshʿayna was taught in the Greek school. His
book on The Influence of the moon, addressed to Theodore, expands
and explains the Περὶ κρισίμων ἡμερῶν of Galen. It is followed by an
appendix entitled The Movement of the Sun, edited by Sachau, Inedita
33 Four editions have been made, the last one by HENRI BECKH,
Geoponica sive Cassiani Bassi… eclogæ, Leipzig, 1895, in Teubner’s collection.
Beckh consulted the Syriac version but he would have benefited from
using it even more thoroughly for the study of the Greek text.
34 See IMMANUEL LÖW, after ROSE, Aramæische Pflanzennamen,
p. 19.
35 BAUMSTARK, op. cit., p. 396–400; comp. with J. SPRENGER,
Geoponica, Leipzig, 1889.

36 George, bishop of the Arabs, presumably owes to that treatise the
citation of Bardaisan contained in his letter on Aphrahat, CURETON,

Spicilegium, p. 21; LAGARDE, Analecta syriaca, p. 114, l. 18; WRIGHT, The
homilies of Aphraates, p. 27, l. 11.
syriaca, p. 101–126. It is doubtful that Sergius translated into Syriac

the Μεγάλη σύνταξις of Ptolemy, of which an Arabic version exists
in the Leiden MS 1034 (Warner 680).37
Severus Sebokht composed a book entitled The Signs of the
Zodiac, of which several chapters preserved in the British Museum
MS Add. 14538 have been edited in Sachau, Inedita syr., p. 127–134.
These chapters are concerned with habitable and inhabitable lands,
with the measurement of the sky and the earth, and finally with the
movement of the sky and the earth. A MS in Berlin, n. 186, Catal.
Sachau, p. 606, contains the following works of the same author: (1)
a treatise on the astrolab, which is of some importance for the
history of science in the East; published with a French translation
by Nau;38 (2) and a letter on the 14th moon of the month of Nisan
of year 976 of the Greeks (665 AD), addressed to the priest and
periodeutic physician Basil of Cyprus.
Patriarch Timothy I is the author of a treatise on astronomy
entitled Book of Stars.39
The Syrians, inspired by the homilies of the Fathers of the
Greek Church on the six days of Creation, also exposed their
scientific knowledge in hexamerons. In the final years of his life,
Jacob of Edessa composed one such work. He left it incomplete
and the task of finishing it fell upon his friend George, bishop of
the Arabs. The book is divided into seven treatises and begins with
a dialogue between the author and one of his disciples, named
Constantine; it is preserved in two manuscripts, one held in Leiden,
the other in Lyon;40 Abbot F. Martin has analysed it and published
37 In favour of that opinion, V. BAUMSTARK, Lucubrationes syro-græcæ,

p. 380; contra, WRIGHT, Syriac literature, 2nd ed., p. 93, note 7.
38 Le traité sur l’astrolabe plan de Sévère Sabokt in the Journal asiatique,
January–February 1899, p. 56, and March–April 1899, p. 238.

40 The Paris MS, syr. n. 240, is a partial copy of a MS in Leiden made
by Gabriel Sionita, Catal. Zotenberg, p. 197. Another copy, which appears to

have been used for the Paris MS, is kept in Glasgow, see WEIR, Journal
asiatique, November-December 1898, p. 550.
several passages from it;41 Hjelt has edited with a Latin translation
the third treatise, which is devoted to geography.42 The geography
of Jacob is in no way original, as Abbot F. Martin believed, but it is
in fact taken from Ptolemy.43
It is believed44 that David of Beth Rabban is the author of a
treatise on geography entitled The Limits of Climates or Lands, and the
Variations of Days and Nights. Assemani thought he recognised that
work in poems dated by Wright to a much later period. F.
Cardahi45 published one of these poems and Gottheil 46 reprinted it
together with an English translation.
Moses Bar Kepha also composed a hexameron consisting of
five books, preserved in a MS from the Bibliothèque nationale, syr.
241. In it there is a geographical figure in the shape of a sphere on
which are inscribed the names of Libya, the Adriatic Sea and
Europe.47
The hexameron of Emmanuel Bar Shahhare is a long poem of
twenty-eight hymns composed of lines of either seven or twelve
syllables. That work is preserved in the Vatican, MS syr. 182; in the
British Museum, Orient. 1300; in Berlin, n. 61 and 62, Catal. Sachau,
p. 211 and 217; in Cambridge, Add. 1994; and in the Orient.48
41 Journal asiatique, 1888, 8th series, t. XI, p. 155–219 and 401–490.

42 Etudes sur l’Hexaméron de Jacob d’Edesse, Helsinki, 1892. V. RYSSEL
has translated George’s part into German, Georg’s des Araberbischofs Gedichte
und Briefe, Leipzig, 1891.
43 NŒLDEKE, Litterar. Centralblatt, 1888, p. 1743; JAMES
DARMESTETER, Revue des études grecques, 1889, p. 180–188; HJELT, op.

laud., p. 30.
45 Liber thesauri de arte poetica Syrorum, Rome, 1875, 41–46.
46 Hebraica, vol. VIII, p. 65–78.
47 NAU translated a passage of the hexameron of Moses bar Kepha in
Bardesane l’astrologue. Le livre des lois des pays, Paris, 1899, p. 59.
48 An extract in the Liber thesauri of F. CARDAHI, p. 68–71; another
extract in the Chrestomathy of Urmia entitled The Little Look of Crumbs, p.

168; longer extracts in MANNA, Morceaux choisis de littérature araméenne,
Mosul, 1900, II, p. 144–207.
None of the manuscripts which have so far been recovered

preserve the second hymn; besides, the Vatican MS contains a
homily on baptism also included in MS K. VI, 5, of the Borgia
Museum (now in the Vatican).
Apart from the treatises on the hexameron, several works
were devoted to cosmography. ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue teaches us
that Ishoʿbokht, metropolitan of Persia around 800, wrote a book
on the universe and another book on the signs of the air;49 and that
Solomon of Basra is the author of a treatise on the configuration of
the sky and the earth.50
The Book of treasures, composed by Jacob or Severus Bar
Shakko in 1231, is a theological compilation divided into four parts;
for an analysis, see Assemani, B. O., II, p. 237.51 Nau studied the
fourth part, concerned with cosmography and geography, and
acknowledged its value for the study of the history of Syrian
sciences.52 The fourth section of the second book of the Dialogues,
by that same author, contains definitions of astronomy.53
The second part of the anonymous book Causa causarum (see
above, p. 209), chap. IV–VII, is a sort of scientific encyclopaedia in
which the author gathered, with several original and personal
notions, the knowledge taught in Syria around the 12th century.
Several figures are inserted to shed light on the text. A circle
divided into five parts represents the earth: (1) the northern
extremity, containing the regions that remain always in the dark; (2)
below, the inhabitable land with the seven climates; the eastern and

50 ASSEMANI, ibid., 309.
51 MSS of that work are held in: the Vatican, n. 159, Catal., III, 307;
the Borgia Museum, K series, VII, vol. 16 (now in the Vatican),

CERSOY, Zeitschr. für Assyriologie, t. IX, p. 377; the British Museum, Add.
7193, Catal. Rosen, p. 84; Cambridge, Add. 1997, Catal. Wright and Cook, p.
425; the Bibliothèque nationale, n. 316 (new acquisitions).
52 Journal asiatique, 1896, 9th series, t. VII, p. 286–331.
53 See below, section §5 of this chapter, and above, p. 221. A treatise
on cosmography attributed to pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is in the

British Museum MS Add. 7192, Catal. Rosen, p. 84, n. 51.
western extremities are impenetrable; the eastern because of the

trees, the western because of the sea; (3) the center, uninhabitable
because of the heat; (4) below, unknown and inaccessible land;
(5) the southern extremity, regions that remain always in the dark.
The Lamp of the Sanctuaries and the Book of Rays of Bar
Hebræus (see above, p. 211) also contain a geographical section. It
has been edited by Gottheil,54 who had previously published the
map included in the first of these books.55
Maps were also drawn at the end of certain manuscripts to fill
the pages that had been left blank. Such is the case of a manuscript
of Bar Ali’s lexicon now held in the Bibliothèque nationale, n. 299.
Chabot drew from it two geographical maps 56 and Nau a map of
the mansions of the moon and of the main constellations.57
Yet the special work that treats cosmography ex professo is the
book composed by Bar Hebræus in 1279 and entitled The Ascent of
ܰ ‫ ܽܣܘܠܩ‬. Gottheil has published the first chapter of
the Mind, ‫ܐܳܗܘܢ ܢ ܝܐ‬
the second part,58 and Abbot Nau59 has produced a complete
edition of it. Bar Hebræus also made astronomical tables for
students.
§4. — CHEMISTRY
The practical mind of the Syrians, which the astrologers’ fatalism
had discouraged, also distanced itself from the mysticism of ancient
alchemy. In that respect the Christian religion had a beneficial
influence, more so even than the Greek culture imported in the
Orient, since the Muslims, who were taught at the same school,
54 Hebraica, t. VIII, p. 39–55.

55 Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, May 1888, p. 16 ff. That
map, taken from the Berlin MS, can also be found in the Cambridge and
Paris MSS, see GOTTHEIL, Hebraica, t. VII, p. 39, note 2, and Abbot
NAU, Journal asiatique, 9th series, t. VIII, p. 155.
56 Bulletin de géographie historique et descriptive, 1897 and 1898.
57 Journal asiatique, 9th series, t. VIII, p. 155 ff.
58 Mittheilungen des Akad. Orient. Vereins zu Berlin, 1890, n. 3.
59 Le livre de l’ascension de l’esprit… cours d’astronomie… par Grégoire
Aboulfarag, dit Bar Hebræus…, Paris, (text) 1899, (French translation) 1900.
developed a great taste for astrology and alchemy. Arabs in general

and the caliphs in particular often had a blind faith in the influence
of celestial bodies on their destiny. On the other hand, the Arabs’
treatises of chemistry differ greatly from those of the Syrians. We
find a striking testimony to that divergence in Berthelot’s La chimie
au moyen âge.60 The second volume of that work contains a series of
texts on Syriac chemistry, of Greek origin, but reworked following
the experimental method; they are true guides to metalworking in
which are described alloys, the colour of metals and the
transformation of bodies. By contrast, the chemistry of the Muslim
Arabs, which is the subject of the third volume, only offers
digressions that are mystical, intentionally obscure and presented as
the legacy of the ancient occult sciences.
§5. — MATHEMATICS
The ancient Syrians appear to have neglected the exact sciences.
The few Syriac writings of that discipline which have come down
to us were produced after the Hijra and are the product of Arabic
culture as much as they are of Greek culture. The Dialogues of Jacob
or Severus Bar Shakko have a section (fourth section of the second
book) devoted to mathematics in which we find discussions of
arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy. Julius Ruska61 has
edited that section together with a German translation. Ruska
points out that the author had not set out to write a manual of
mathematics but rather wished to reach theology, i.e. the highest
level of philosophical reflection, through the study of abstract
mathematical ideas. The introduction and the first two questions
bring to mind the Εἱσαγωγὴ ἀριθμητική of Nicomachus, which was
60 Paris, 1893, vol. I–III.

61 Das Quadrivium aus Severus bar Schakku’s Buch der Dialoge, Leipzig,
1896. Among the Greeks, the union of these four sciences, known by the
name Quadrivium, was brought about by Iamblichus, comp. with MERX,
Historia artis grammaticæ apud Syros, p. 209. See also JULIUS RUSKA,
Studien zu Severus bar Schakku’s “Buch der Dialoge” in the Zeitschr. für
Assyriologie, XII, 1897, p. 8 and 145.
probably known to the Syrians or the Arabs from an extract of a

neopythagorean author. The fourth question and part of the third
derive from the Προλεγόμενα σὺν θεῷ τῆς φιλοσοφίας of an
anonymous pythagorean of which Bar Shakko owned a Syriac
version. However, the definitions and dissertations on arithmetic,
music, geometry and astronomy coincide with those of the Arabic
authors.
Bar Hebræus, whose studies embraced all of human
knowledge, taught Euclidian mathematics at Maragha in 126862 but
did not leave us any writings on that subject.

XVI. GRAMMAR, LEXICOGRAPHY,
RHETORIC AND POETICS
§1. — GRAMMAR
The Syrians also owe their first notions of grammar to the Greeks.
In chapter VI we brought to the reader’s attention the ancient
works of orthoepy applied to the texts read in schools. The system
of points or accents, used to separate the clauses of a sentence and
to note the syntactic value of each clause, was an integral part of
Syriac grammar. The logic of Aristotle was at its heart: as pointed
out by an anonymous Syriac author,1 five of these accents
correspond to Aristotles’s five categories. The rules concerning
phonetics and morphology came later and were established
following the model of Greek grammar of Dionysius of Thrace and
the canons of Theodosius. This legacy was brought to light by
Merx, who published with a Latin translation the Syriac version of
the grammar written by Dionysius.2
1 See PHILIPPS, A letter of Mar Jacob of Edessa on syriac orthography,

London, 1869, Appendix, p. 68.
2 Historia artis grammaticæ apud Syros, Leipzig, 1889, in the Abhandlungen
für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, IX, 2. The Syriac version is in the British
Museum MSS Add. 14620 and (in an incomplete form) Add. 14658, as
well as in the Berlin MS, Coll. Sachau, 226. In the latter MS, the work is
attributed to Joseph of Ahwaz. ʿAbdishoʿ, B. O., III, part I, 103,
corroborates that attribution for he claims that Joseph of Ahwaz is the
author of an interpretation of Denys. It is anonymous in the Borgia Museum
MSS, but since MS 14658 contains the works of Sergius of Reshʿayna,
Wright believed that the version in question could also be attributed to
him; that conjecture is unfounded, as MERX has demonstrated, op. cit., p.
245
The studies on Syriac accentuation particularly flourished

among the Nestorians from the 6th to the 8th century.
Of all the ancient Jacobite grammarians, Ahoudemmeh, who
was appointed to the seat of Tagrit by Jacob Baradaeus in 559, is
most worthy of being mentioned here. From a passage cited in Bar
Zobi we can surmise that his grammar followed the principles of
Greek grammar.3 Yet it is Jacob of Edessa who wrote the first
systematic treatise on Syriac grammar, a text long regarded in Syria
as the authoritative work on the matter. Bar Hebræus borrowed
important passages from it for his grammar, and these passages
serve as sole testimony to the scope of a text of which virtually
nothing suvives. Only very few fragments have come down to us,
preserved in the Oxford Bodleian Library and the British Museum
of London.4 In the first of these fragments, Jacob brings attention
to the flaws of the Syriac writing system, which indicates
consonants but not vowels. When Paul of Antioch asked him to
perfect this faulty system, his response read as follows: “I believe
we could establish rules for the orthography of this language
(Syriac), outside additional vowels for the vowels that are missing
from the alphabet. Through the use of additional vowels we could
show the object of these rules and the correct spelling of words
and verbs attached to them. Torn between demand on one side
and the fear of losing ancient books on the other, fear that had
affected my predecessors, here is what I suggest: for intelligence
and the confirmation of those rules exclusively, letters would be
added that indicate the modifications and exact pronunciation of
vowels, but the object of that addition would not be to complete or
7–8. Choerobocsus and the Etymologicum magnum cite a Sergius grammaticum,

but that Sergius postdates Sergius of Reshʿayna, see BAUMSTARK,
Lucubrationes syro-græcæ, p. 369.
3 MERX, Historia art. gramm., p. 33.
4 WRIGHT published the London fragments, MS Add. 17217 and
14665, in Catal., p. 1168–1173. Both WRIGHT and MERX reprinted

them, together with the Oxford fragments, respectively in Fragments of the
syriac Grammar of Jacob of Edessa, London, 1871, and Historia art. gramm., p.
73 of the Syriac texts.
GRAMMAR, LEXICOGRAPHY, RHETORIC AND POETIC 247
correct the alphabet itself.5” Jacob distinguished eight vowels; he

created seven letter-vowels in imitation of Greek vowels: the olaf
represented the long a and the seven new letters the seven other
vowels. He introduced these letter-vowels in words, but only in the
words used as examples to explain the grammatical rules. However,
that invention did not outlive its author. After Jacob of Edessa, the
Jacobites adopted only five vowels represented by signs similar to
Greek vowels. The Nestorians recognised seven vowels,
represented by single or double dots,6 whose value depended on
their position above or under the line.
According to tradition, Theophilus of Edessa († 785) was the
first to employ Jacobite vowels in his translation of Homer’s Iliad.
The credit of inventing these vowels nonetheless belongs to the
Qarqaphian masoretes, whom Bar Hebræus believes brought the
number of Syriac vowels down to five.7 As for the Nestorians’
seven dot-vowels, they may have appeared no earlier than the
second half of the 8th century.8
The growth of grammatical studies brought about by Jacob
closely followed the Arabic conquest of Syria. The Syriac language,
which was threatened by the conquerors’ vernacular, was from that
time onwards somewhat stereotyped. Moreover, in his grammar,
Jacob made full use of his ingenuity to meticulously fix the
5 Compare with BAR HEBRÆUS, Œuvres grammaticales, ed. Abbot F.

MARTIN, Paris, 1872, I, p. 196, l. 16–22.
6 These details are worth mentioning, since it has long been wrongly
believed that the Nestorians’ vowel-dots existed at the time of Jacob of

Edessa and that he was responsible for inventing the Jacobites’ vowels in
order to simplify an overly complex system, WRIGHT, Catal., p. 1168;
Fragm. of the syriac grammar of Jacob of Edessa, Preface; Syriac literature, 2nd ed.,
p. 151 and 152; for a different view, see Abbot F. MARTIN, Jacques
d’Edesse et les voyelles syriennes, in the Journ. asiat., 1869, p. 456 ff.; La massore
chez les syriens, ibid., 1875, p. 132; R. DUVAL, Traité de grammaire syriaque,
p. 71; MERX, Historia art. gramm., p. 49–50.
7 BAR HEBRÆUS, Œuvres gramm., I, p. 3, l. 13.
8 Abbot F. MARTIN, La massore chez les Syriens, p. 149, comp. with
p. 177 and 190.

pronunciation of letters and syllables and the accentuation of

sentences following the Greek method, as also later did the
Masoretes in their annotations of sacred texts.9 He introduced new
diacritic dots and completed the system of accents, which rose to a
total of thirty-six.10
Prior to these changes the number of accents had been far less
great. Joseph of Ahwaz, for instance, only used nine11 (see above,
p. 47); later, twenty-four were admitted, and these are enumerated
in the list of Deacon Thomas, probably Thomas of Harkel, author
of the Harqlean version. That list and several short treatises on
grammar and accents are preserved in manuscripts of the Jacobite
Masoretic Text, cited above p. 51. We owe to Abbot F. Martin and
Philipps the edition of these short grammatical texts.12 The first is a
letter of Jacob of Edessa addressed to George, bishop of Serug, on
the spelling of various Syriac words and of Greek words
transcribed into Syriac. That letter is followed by a treatise also by
Jacob and divided into five chapters: on person, gender, tense, the
form of words and accents. The list of Deacon Thomas forms no.
9 Comp. with MERX, Historia art. gramm., p. 50 ff.

10 MERX, ibid., p. 89–101.
11 Or rather ten if we count the pasoqa or final dot; MERX, Historia
artis. gramm., p. 99.

12 F. MARTIN, after the Vatican MS, the Barberini MS and the Paris
MS, Jacobi Edesseni epistola ad Georgium episcopum Sarugensem de orthographia

syriaca, Paris, 1869; PHILIPPS, after the London MSS, Add. 12178 and
7183, A letter of Mar Jacob of Edessa on syriac orthography, London, 1869.
III of the Martin edition,13 p. 13, and appendix II of the Philipps

edition,14 p. 83.
The manuscript of the Nestorian Masoretic Text, Add. 12138,
also contains four short treatises written for school pupils.15
To the list of grammarians ʿAbdishoʿ further adds John the
Stylite, probably the monk of the monastery of Litarba with whom
Jacob of Edessa was corresponding.16 All that survives of his
grammar is an extract cited in John bar Zobi.17
Hunayn († 873) wrote a grammatical opus entitled the Book of
̈ ܽ ‫ܟܬܒܐ‬, of which passages are quoted in both Bar
Dots, ‫ܳܕܢ ܘܩܙܶ̈ ܐ‬
Hebræus and Elias of Tirhan. According to Elias, Hunayn there
discusses predicates, as well as protases and apodoses, i.e. the
elements of syntax which ancient grammarians had omitted.18
Hunayn’s grammar has not survived but we do have that of
Elias of Nisibis in manuscripts now held in Rome, Florence,
13 In that edition the list is followed by a commentary divided into

several sections and comprising more accents than announced at the
beginning. That commentary postdates Thomas. Abbot Martin added:
(1) an extract of the great grammar of Bar Hebræus corresponding, in the
edition of the Œuvres grammaticales de Bar Hebræus, to p. 244 of t. I; (2) part
of homily LXXXII of Severus of Antioch according to the translation of
Jacob of Edessa; and (3) a specimen of the letter-vowels of Jacob of
Edessa.
14 Philipps presented (p. 90) the arguments in favour of the
identification of Deacon Thomas and Thomas of Harkel. The short

treatise he published as appendix I, p. 68–83, does not date to the 7th
century, as he thought, but to the 8th, see R. DUVAL, Traité de grammaire
syriaque, p. 144, § 168. Philipps added the chapter on accents from the
great grammar of Bar Hebræus.
15 MERX, Historia artis gramm., p. 31. G. DIETTRICH edited an
abridged version of one of these treatises, Die Massorah der östlichen und
westichen Syrer, London, 1899, Append. I, p. 98.
16 See SCHRŒTER, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., t. XXIV, p. 262.
18 See Syrische Grammatik des Mar Elias von Tirhan, ed. BAETHGEN,
Leipzig, 1880, chap. XVIII, p. 24, l. ult.; comp. with MERX, Historia artis
gramm., p. 108.
London, Cambridge and Berlin. The sheer number of these

manuscripts bears witness to its popularity in Syria. It was the most
widespread manual of the time, and in it students could find
summaries of the works of previous grammarians, including those
of Jacob of Edessa, the scope of which would otherwise have been
too great for beginners.19
In the second half of the 8th century, Paul’s son David
composed a grammatical work of which several fragments survive
in Syr. MS 9 of the India Office in London.20
Gottheil has published a short treatise on Syriac conjunctions
taken from the grammar of Dionysius of Thrace in Hebraica, t. IV,
p. 167, after a MS from Berlin, Coll. Sachau, n. 306, 1. That opus is
also preserved in MSS held in the Vatican, at the Bibliothèque
nationale and at the British Museum. It is difficult to date that
composition; the British Museum MS is from the 9th or 10th
century.
It is also worth mentioning John bar Khamis, bishop of
Thamanon and author of a grammar that is now lost.21
The Book of Punctuation, which ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue attributes
to Andrew, not to be confused with Andrew of Samosata,22 was
probably written in the late 10th century.
Elias of Tirhan, who became patriarch of the Nestorians in
1028 and passed away in 1049, was the first to introduce the Arabic
19 GOTTHEIL has published the grammar of Elias of Nisibis,

A treatise on syriac grammar by Mar Elias of Sobha, Berlin, 1887. MERX
analysed it in Historia artis gramm., p. 112 ff.
20 Published by GOTTHEIL, Proceedings of the American Or. Society, May
1891; cf. Hebraica, VIII, 65; and IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI,

Studia syriaca, Mount Lebanon, 1904, X, n. 3.
21 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 256, places that author in the 12th
century; further on, p. 708, he rectifies that dating and makes him the
contemporary of Hunayn. That John bar Khamis should not be confused
with Khamis bar Kardahe, the author of poems much appreciated by the
Syrians.
22 Cf. ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 202; WRIGHT, Syriac literature,
2nd ed., p. 232.

method into Syriac grammar. In his youth, before being appointed

bishop of Tirhan, he composed a grammar in which he
unsatisfactorally applied the new method.23 Because he was unable
to remove himself completely from the Syriac system, Merx has
argued,24 he composed a work that was incomplete and confused.
Elias is also the author of a treatise on accents which Bar Zobi
inserted in his great grammar.25
John bar Zobi, a monk and Nestorian doctor who lived in the
late 12th and early 13th century, did not follow in the footsteps of
Elias of Nisibis; rather, he adopted the Syriac system in both his
grammars. In his great grammar he gathered part of the works of
his predecessors and added notions of Greek logic taken from the
commentaries of Severus Sebokht and Rabban Denha.26 His short
grammar, made up seven-syllable lines, is an epitome for young
students. Syrians thought very highly of these two works.
The Net of Points of Ishoʿyahb bar Malkon, bishop of Mardin,
often coincides literally with the grammar of Elias. Joseph Bar
Malkon seems to be the bishop of Nisibis who was consecrated in
1190 under the name Ishoʿyahb.27 The Net of Points treats the
numerous dots used in the Syriac writings of that time to express
vowels, indicate the exact pronunciation of consonants and mark
23 BAETHGEN published that grammar, together with a German

translation, after a MS held in Berlin, Syrische Grammatik des Elias von
Tirhan, Leipzig, 1880.
24 Historia artis. gramm., p. 155.
25 PHILIPPS analysed that treatise in appendix III, p. 85, of his opus,
A letter of Mar Jacob, bishop of Edessa on Syriac orthography. It was printed p.

19, l. 13 and following, in the edition of Bar Zobi’s treatise made by
Abbot F. MARTIN after the British Museum MS Add. 25876 and the
Vatican MS 450, Traité sur l’accentuation chez les Syriens occidentaux, Paris,
1877; and in G. DIETTRICH, Die Massorah der östl. und westl. Syrer,
London, 1899, Append. II, p. 114.
26 MERX, Historia artis gramm., p. 167; see p. 158 ff. for MERX’s
analysis of these two grammars. Abbot F. Martin published the part

concerned with the section on accents; see previous footnote.
27 WRIGHT, Syriac literature, 2nd ed., p. 256.
the accentuation of sentences. Made up of lines of twelve syllables

each, this work was to be committed to memory by students. In
manuscripts it comes after the grammar of Elias of Nisibis and
John bar Zobi.28
The first book of the Dialogues of Jacob or Severus Bar
Shakko, disciple of Bar Zobi, begins with a grammatical discussion;
follows a dissertation on accents based on Jacob of Edessa’s
system. Merx edited that second part in his Historia artis grammaticæ
apud Syros, following MSS held in Oxford, Gœttingen, Berlin and
London.29 Jacob Bar Shakko also composed a metrical
ܰ grammar in
ܰ ܺ ܽ
twelve-syllable lines entitled Harmony, ‫ܐܪܡܘܢ ܝܐ‬. From that work
Merx published, after the dialogue on grammar, the fragments
concerning questions left untreated in the dialogue.30 According to
the knowledgeable editor,31 that grammarian makes good use of the
books of Greek philosophers and Syrian school masters but does
not follow his own master Bar Zobi, whose name he does not even
pronounce.
We conclude this historical overview of Syriac grammar with
Bar Hebræus. In his grammatical works, as in most of his other
writings, Bar Hebræus proved himself to be a learned, critical
populariser. As noted above, we owe to him our understanding of
the importance of Jacob of Edessa’s grammar. Bar Hebræus
adapted the Arabic method to Jacob’s writings, a task which he
undertook more skilfully than Elias of Tirhan had done before
28 See the Vatican MS 194 and the British Museum MS Add. 25876.
Merx analysed that work and published extracts from it in his Historia artis
gramm., p. 111 ff. Severus bar Shakko held Bar Malkon’s versification work
in low esteem. Cf. PAULIN MARTIN, De la métrique chez les syriens,
Leipzig, 1879, Appendix, p. 68–71; MERX, op. cit., p. 46, l. 15 of the text.
29 Abbot F. Martin published several passages from it in the Journal
asiatique, April–May 1872.

30 In appendix to his opus De la métrique chez les Syriens, Leipzig, 1879,
p. 68–71, Abbot F. MARTIN published with a French translation an

extract relating to the MERX edition, p. 45, l. 15.
31 Historia artis grammaticæ, p. 215.
him.32 His great grammar, entitled Book of Splendor, ‫ܟܬܒܐܳܕܨܶ̈ ̈ܡ ܶ̈ܚܐ‬, is

the most complete work of that type; in it he explains the
particulars of the two Syrian dialects, the Western and the Eastern;
he also reproduces the linguistic observations of the Jacobite and
Nestorian Masoretes, as well as the orthoepic minutiae invented by
grammarians in order to distinguish between similar forms of
nouns and verbs. Bar Hebræus also wrote a short metric grammar,
the Book of Grammar, ‫ܟܬܒܐܳܕܓܪܡܛܝܩܝ‬, followed by a treatise on
ambiguous words with a commentary.33 He never completed
another short grammatical treatise, the Book of the Spark, ܳ ‫ܟܬܒܐ‬
‫ܕܒܠܨܘܨܝܬܐ‬.34
We omit from consideration the grammars of Maronites
whose science they owe to Europe, as is the case of Amira,
Abraham Ecchellensis, Isaac Sciadrensis and Joseph Acurensis.
Merx discusses these in his Historia artis grammaticæ apud Syros, p.
272–273.
§2. — LEXICOGRAPHY
The treatises on ambiguous words, or Libri canonum de æquilitteris,
belong to the fields of exegesis and grammar as much as they do to
the field of lexicography. Nonetheless, it is worth discussing them
here since they are the earliest vocabularies, on which later Syriac
lexica were based. These treatises, composed following the Greek
model, are easily distinguishable; besides, Syrians did not borrow
32 Compare with MERX, op. cit., p. 231 ff.

33 Abbot F. Martin edited these two grammars after a MS held in
Paris, Œuvres grammaticales d’Aboul-Faradj dit Barhebræus, Paris, 1872. Merx
analysed the great grammar in his Historia artis grammaticæ, p. 229 ff. In
1843 Bertheau edited the metric grammar in Gœttingen, excluding the
commentary and treatise on ambiguous words, Gregorii Barhebræi qui et
Abulfarag grammatica linguæ syriacæ in metro Ephræmo. In 1869, Philipps
printed and translated into English the chapter on accents from the great
grammar, A letter of Mar Jacob bishop of Edessa on syriac orthography, p. 34, text,
p. 25.
34 See ASSEMANI, B. O., II, p. 272, n. 27.
explanatory notes for their lexica from the Greek lexica of Cyril of
Alexandria, Hesychius and Suidas, as Larsow believed.35
As long as Syriac was in use, there was no need for
dictionaries. That being said, the faulty writing system of the
ancient Syrians did not represent vowels, thereby increasing the
number of cases in which words with a different meaning bore the
same form. The professors who taught sacred texts in school had
to differentiate between these words using various dots. These
were then gathered and organised with their distinctive signs in
short collections to be used by students. Joseph Ahwaz wrote one
such collection, thus creating the first system of dots; others were
produced by Ishoʿ bar Nun, Hunayn, and Abdochos or Eudochus.
Bar Hebræus, as he himself tells us, used these works to write the
analogous treatise which he included in his grammatical studies.36
To these names should also be added that of Henanishoʿ, famous
for his version of the Paradise of Palladius. His Liber canonum de
æquilitteris is preserved, with the similar work by Hunayn, in a
collection published by Hoffmann (Opuscula nestoriana, Kiel, 1880,
p. 2–49) after a manuscript of the India Office in London. That MS
contains an abridged collation; part of a more developed collation,
which Gottheil published following his edition of the grammar of
Elias of Nisibis, can be found in the Sachau MS 72 in Berlin. A MS
of the Union Theological Seminary of New York, similar to the one
held in Berlin, contains several of Hunayn’s explanatory notes that
Elias of Tirhan inserted in his grammar but that are absent from
Hoffmann’s edition. Noeldeke’s conjecture, according to which
35 De dialectorum reliquiis, Berlin, 1841.

36 Abbot F. MARTIN, Œuvres grammaticales d’Aboul-Faradj, II, p. 77.
The treatise of Ishoʿ bar Nun, which does not appear to have come down
to us, is also cited in the explanatory notes of Bar Bahlul’s lexicon. As for
the treatise of Abdochos, it is preserved in MSS now held in Rome, St-
Peter in Montorio (ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 308); Paris, the
Bibliothèque nationale; Berlin and Cambridge.
these explanatory notes belonged to the original work, is therefore

confirmed.37
An anonymous author reworked and extended Hunayn’s
book. The Berlin MS suggests that Bar Zobi completed the work
done by Hunayn, and Wright thought that Bar Zobi was the
anonymous author in question.38
The Opuscula nestoriana of Hoffmann also contain, p. 49–84, a
metric treatise of ʿAbdishoʿ of Gazarta, who became patriarch of
the Nestorians in 1552. That text, consisting of seven-syllable lines,
is followed by a commentary; it is devoted to “those words that are
written identically but whose meanings differ.”39
One should not confuse the Liber canonum de æquilitteris of
ʿEnanishoʿ with a compilation of that author on the exact
pronunciation of difficult words found in the Fathers’ writings.40
The Syriac lexica came soon after the revival of Greek studies
among the Nestorians of Baghdad, where schools thrived in the
time of the Abbasid caliphs. These lexica, written in alphabetical
order, as were the collections of ambiguous words, were designed
to explain difficult or unused terms, which constantly grew in
37 NŒLDEKE, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., XXXV, p. 94. On that

subject, see GOTTHEIL, Hebraica, VI, p. 215 ff., in which that scholar
gives variants of Hoffmann’s edition as found in the New York MS.
38 WRIGHT, Syriac literature, 2nd ed., p. 259. There exists a further
anonymous treatise in MSS 194 and 450 syr. of the Vatican library and a
dissertation on homonyms that lacks the author’s name and is incomplete,
in MS 419 syr. of that same library, see HOFFMANN, Opuscula nestoriana,
p. XVIII; comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 308, IX; another
treatise in Berlin (Sachau 180).
39 Beside the MS held in the India Office, that work can also be found
in the Vatican MS 419 syr. (see HOFFMANN, op. cit., p. XIX) and in the
MS belonging to the Union Theological Seminary, see Proceedings of the
American Oriental Society, XII, 134. The treatise of ʿAbdishoʿ of Gazarta is
also in the Chrestomathy of Ourmia entitled The Little Book of Crumbs, p.
347. One of the author’s poems is in that same chrestomathy, p. 222, and
another in the Liber thesauri of F. CARDAHI, p. 80.
number since Arabic had become the popular vernacular, and to

give definitions of technical Greek expressions preserved in the
Syriac versions. They cannot be regarded as true dictionaries of the
language. Rather, they were compilations, of varying scope,
recording Syriac explanatory notes, sometimes with an explanation
in Arabic.
The illustrious Hunayn, who translated a great many Greek
books, composed the first Syriac lexicon. That work was praised
for its exactitude and methodology; only when it passed into later
compilations did it lose its unique character.
̈ܶ
41 Its title, Explanation of
̈ܶ ܽ ̈ܶ ̈ ܰ ̈ ܽ
Greek Words in Syriac, ‫ܦܘܫܩܳܫܡܗܐܳܝ ܘܢ ܝܐܳܒܣܘܪܝ ܝܐ‬, indicates that
42
the main focus of Hunayn’s work was Greek words; he had already
treated Syriac words in his De æquilitteris, discussed earlier.
We noted above, p. 233–234, that a lexicon had been wrongly
attributed to Gabriel Bokhtishoʿ.
Zachariah of Merv,43 who lived in the late 9th century,
completed Hunayn’s lexicographical work by adding many new
elements, which are frequently cited by Bar Bahlul. These additions
were apparently badly arranged and often contradicted Hunayn’s
notes. In order to solve that problem and at the request of Deacon
Abraham, the physician Jesu Bar Ali, a disciple of Hunayn,
composed a new lexicon using the explanatory notes of Hunayn
and Zachariah of Merv. In the preface to his glossary, he confesses
that his book is still imperfect and asks that Abraham, or any other
reader for that matter, fill whatever lacuna he may encounter.
Abraham respected his wish; among the many manuscripts of Bar
Ali held in European libraries, several include, after the preface, a
41 In the preface to his lexicon, Bar Bahlul warns the reader that the
explanatory notes, which he inserted without giving the author’s name, are
taken from Hunayn’s lexicon.
42 See IMMANUEL LŒW, Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., XL, p. 764,
and Aramæische Pflanzennamen, Leipzig, 1881, 17, note 2.

43 Probably corresponds to Abu Yahya al-Marwazi, an eminent
physician of Baghdad who wrote in Syriac on logic and other subjects,

WRIGHT, Syriac literature, 2nd ed., p. 215; comp. with above, p. 220. Bar
Bahlul gives Zachariah’s name in the preface to his lexicon.
note entitled πληροφορία and devoted to these additions; others,

however, do not contain such a note and present a text more
faithful to the original. The manuscript of Gotha, the first part of
which Hoffmann published, belongs to the latter category.44 One
hopes that the edition will eventually be completed.
Henanishoʿ bar Seroshway, bishop of Hira around 900, is the
author of a fourth Syriac lexicon. Bar Bahlul, who gives explanatory
notes from that lexicon on every page of his compilation, judges it
to be very exact and refers to it as the complement of Hunayn.
The lengthiest compilation of that sort is Bar Bahlul’s
lexicon,45 a text of encyclopaedic proportions in which the author
brought together the various works of lexicography, with
numerous notes taken from Syriac studies on natural sciences,
philosophy, theology and biblical exegesis. Bar Bahlul’s main merit
is to have faithfully cited these authorities. It is true that his work
has come down to us in a much interpolated form: in it we even
occasionally encounter mentions of authors who belong to a much
later period, such as Bar Hebræus (13th century). Bar Bahlul, in
Arabic Abu al-Hasan ibn al-Bahlul,46 was from Awana, in the
diocese of Tirhan.47 He lived in the mid-10th century; in 963, he
acted in favour of the election of ʿAbdishoʿ I, patriarch of the
44 Syrisch-arabische Glossen, Kiel, 1874.

45 Edited by R. DUVAL, Lexicon syriacum, auctore Hassano Bar Bahlule,
Paris, 1888–1896.
46 The name of Isa or Jesu, which he is sometimes wrongly given
(ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 257), derives from the confusion between
the names Bar Bahlul and Bar Ali in the MSS in which the lexica of these
two authors appear; but Bar Bahlul does not bear the name Jesu in the
Oxford and Cambridge MSS, as GESENIUS remarks, Sacra Pentecostalia,
Leipzig, 1834, p. 26, note 46. The name Bahlul, which means buffoon, is
not uncommon among the Arabs; such was also the name of the buffoon
of Harun al-Rashid. Nowadays it designates in popular tales from
Kurdistan a type of Asmodai, capable of good as well as evil.
47 See Ibn Abi Usaibia, ed. A. MUELLER, Kœnigsberg, 1884, t. I,
p. 109, where we should read al-Tirhâni, not al-Tabrehâni.

Nestorians.48 Several manuscripts stipulate that this author

composed his lexicon in Baghdad, a city whose schools he taught
ܺ ‫ ܶ̈ܣܦܪ‬.
in;49 he was given the epithet of “able doctor,” ‫ܐܳܡܗܝܪ ܐ‬
Elias of Nisibis brings to a close the series of lexicographers50
with his Book of the Interpreter, which contrasts with the previous
lexica both by its form and by the conciseness of its explanatory
notes. It is an Arabo-Syriac vocabulary organized thematically and
into chapters.51
§3. — RHETORIC AND POETICS

The ancient Syrians regarded rhetoric and poetics as part of
Aristotelian philosophy, and it is as such that these disciplines were
taught in schools. Therefore, the writings devoted to them are of
little interest for the study of Syriac literature per se.
Hunayn translated (probably into Syriac) Aristotle’s text on
rhetoric and poetics, which is mentioned in the works of several
Arabic authors, and Abu Zacharia and Abu Bishr appear to have
used that version as the basis for their Arabic translation.52
In the 9th century, Anthony of Tagrit composed an extensive
treatise on rhetoric. This text was highly valued by the Syrians. It is
divided into five books, the first of which is made up of thirty
48 Mari, ed. GISMONDI, pars I, p. 101.

49 See GESENIUS, Sacra Pentecostalia, p. 27; PAYNE SMITH,
Catalogue, col. 604.
50 The modern lexica of the Maronites, such as that of Karmsedinoyo,
will not be adressed here.

51 PAUL DE LAGARDE published it at the beginning of his book
Prætermissorum libri duo, Gœttingen, 1879. It provided THOMAS A

NOVARIA with the materials for his Thesaurus arabico-syro-latinus, Rome,
1636.
52 See D. MARGOLIOUTH, Analecta orientalia ad poeticam Aristoteleam,
London, 1887, p. 3 ff. In that work, Margoliouth edited the version of

Abu Bishr’s poetics as well as Avicenna’s book on poetics.
chapters; it survives virtually complete in a MS now held in

Mosul.53
Severus Bar Shakko discoursed on the subject of rhetoric and
poetics in the first book of his Dialogues, following his discussion of
grammar. The dialogue on poetics warrants a special mention. In it
we find a fragment of the Syriac version of Aristotle’s poetics —
where he gives his definition of tragedy — thanks to which we can
verify the accuracy of part of Abu Bishr’s Arabic version.54 In
addition, that dialogue contains a unique treatise on Syriac
versification.55 Unfortunately, the rules there recorded are based on
the declining poetry of the late period and teaches us nothing of
the principles that governed ancient Syriac poetry.
Bar Hebræus was not aiming to be original when he wrote his
book The Finest Science: as we noted on p. 222, in it he included all
Aristotelian philosophy, and rhetoric and poetics form the two
final chapters of the first part. Margoliouth edited the poetics in his
Analecta orientalia ad poeticam Aristoteleam, London, 1887, p. 114–139.
53 It will shortly be published by CHABOT in his Corpus scriptorum

christianorum orientalium. Several extracts have already been given by
MANNA, Morceaux choisis de la littérature araméenne, II, p. 95, Mosul, 1902.
The British Museum MS Add. 17208 has fragments of the first chapter of
book I. Cf. Orientalische Studien Theodor Nœldeke, Giessen, 1906, p. 479.
54 MARGOLIOUTH, op. cit., p. 6. That version comes after the
version made by Abu Bishr.

55 For extracts and a French translation, see Abbot
F. MARTIN, De la métrique chez les Syriens, in vol. VII, fasc. 2, of the
Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Leipzig, 1879. Severus bar
Shakko literally reproduces passages of the Rhetoric of Anthony of Tagrit,
as suggests the Mosul MS, which will be edited shortly.
XVII. SYRIAC TRANSLATIONS
Owing to the diversity of Syriac writings on theology, an entire

chapter will not be devoted here to that discipline. Several of these
writings have been mentioned in previous chapters; the rest, which
are in greater number, will be discussed in the footnotes to the
second part, which examine their authors in chronological order.
Their character and subject matter will there perhaps receive the
attention they deserve. We shall nonetheless briefly consider here
the translations of those works of the Greek fathers that do not
belong to the literary genres treated above. These translations
testify to the influence of Greek theology on Syriac theology. That
will be the object of the first section of this final chapter of part I;
in the second section mention will be made of the translations of
secular works.
The first Syriac translations were born out of the scientific
movement that emerged in Mesopotamia in the 5th and
6th centuries AD and whose center was initially at Edessa
(compare with above, chapter XIV, § 2). These first translations are
literal and down to earth; they clash with the literary genius of the
Syrians and mistreat their language.
The re-emergence of sciences in Mesopotamia, which began
in the 9th century and was encouraged by the caliphs of Baghdad,
marked the beginning of an era of progress: the translators set out
to render both the spirit and the meaning of the translated works;
they were familiar with the technical language and their style is of
very high quality.
261
§1. — TRANSLATIONS OF WORKS

BY THE GREEK FATHERS
The most important works of the Greek Fathers were translated
into Syriac.1 Several versions are very ancient, and they were
sometimes produced only shortly after the original Greek texts
which they were making available to the Syrians. Such is, for
instance, the case of the version of Cyril’s treatise De recta fide, made
by Rabbula, bishop of Edessa, after a copy sent to him by the
author himself. Most of these versions are held in European
libraries. Despite their value, few have been edited so far. We shall
keep the present discussion succinct and refer the reader to La
littérature grecque of Batiffol (4th ed.) for further information.
Part I of ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue2 contains a list of the books of
Greek patrology that have been translated into Syriac. That list is
valuable, since it reveals the title of Greek works that are otherwise
unknown, but here is not the place to reproduce it.
Robert Kennett published the two epistles of St Clement of
Rome to the Corinthians, contained in Syr. MS Add. 1700 of
Cambridge, following the death of Bensly, who had prepared the
edition.3 While there is no doubt as to the authenticity of the first
epistle, the second is apocryphal.
In 1856 Beelen gave a new edition of the two epistles on
virginity, which are attributed to St Clement of Rome.4
1 On translations of the biblical commentaries of the Greek Fathers,

see above p. 66.
2 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 13 ff.
3 The Epistles of S. Clement to the Corinthians in Syriac by the late Bensly,
Cambridge, 1899. In the 4th vol. of the Analecta sacra of Card. Pitra,
Abbot Paulin Martin had already published a fragment of the second
(apocryphal) letter of S. Clement.
4 S. Patris nostri Clementis Romani Epistolæ binæ de virginitate, Leuven,
1856. Beelen still argues that both epistles are authentic. The Syriac text
and the Latin translation are an improved reproduction of the editio
princeps, which Wetstein had published in Leiden in 1752. Galland had
reedited the translation in the first volume of his Bibliotheca veterum Patrum.
In a first appendix, Beelen reprinted Wetstein’s Latin translation and
SYRIAC TRANSLATIONS 263
In 1845 Cureton edited the ancient Syriac translation of the

three Epistles of St Ignatius, to Polycarp, the Ephesians and the
Romans respectively.5 Cureton believed that it was faithful to the
original epistles, as opposed to the known Greek recension, in
which we find alterations and interpolated passages — in his
opinion, the other Greek epistles were apocryphal. That thesis
caused a controversy which led to a new publication by the famous
English Orientalist (Vindiciæ Ignatianæ, London, 1846), who later
produced a second edition, complete with new texts, under the title
Corpus Ignatianum (London, 1849). Cureton’s conclusions have since
been definitively rejected: the Syriac version only represents one
extract of a collection of the epistles, reworked and extended by a
forger.6
In the first volume of the Monumenta syriaca (Innsbruck, 1869,
p. 1), F. Zingerle published a Syriac extract of Polycarp’s letter,
containing chapter VII and the end of chapter XII, which we do
not have in Greek. Cureton printed several words of chapter XII in
his Corpus Ignatianum, p. 212, l. 3, after a MS from the 6th century
that contains the treatise of Timothy Aelurus of Alexandria against
the Council of Chalcedon. Cureton has added (ibid., p. 204, l. 6)
chapters IX and XIII from the Syriac version of the Ecclesiastical
History of Eusebius and (p. 214, l. 25 and 27) citations from chapter
V borrowed from Severus of Antioch. F. Zingerle has translated
these various fragments into Latin.7
In the fourth volume of the Analecta sacra of Card. Pitra,
Abbot Paulin Martin published: a fragment of the treatise on
Zingerle’s German translation (Die zwei Briefe des h. Klemens von Rom an die
Jungfrauen, Vienna, 1827); a second appendix contains Fragmenta nonnulla
exegetici argumenti anecdota. Cf. FUNK, Theol. Quartalschr., LIX, 2;
HILGENFELD, Zeitschr. f. wissenschaft. Theologie, XX, 4; LAND, Syrische
Bijdragen to de Patristik, Leiden, 1857.
5 The ancient syriac version of the epistles of S. Ignatius, London, 1845.
6 F. BATIFFOL, La littérature grecque, p. 14.
7 Op. cit., I, p. 2–5; comp. with F. BATIFFOL, La littérature grecque,
p. 17. Abbot Paulin Martin gave a fragment of Polycarp’s letter in the

4th vol. of the Analecta sacra of Card. Pitra.
orthodox faith, wrongly attributed to St Justin;8 the known

fragments of the Syriac and Armenian versions of St Irenaeus;9 a
fragment of the (apocryphal) book of Clement of Alexandria
against heresies.
Of more importance, however, are the texts that represent the
work of St Hippolytus in the publication of Abbot F. Martin. After
the biblical commentaries (see above, p. 64) come: (1) fragments on
Easter, which Lagarde had already published in his Analecta syriaca,
p. 88 and 89; (2) a fragment of the homily on the Epiphany;
(3) fragments of the discourse on resurrection addressed to
Empress Mamaea, extracts from which had been published by
Lagarde, Anal. syr., p. 87.10 In the British Museum Syr. MS Rich
7185, which contains part of the commentary of Bar Salibi on the
NT, Gwynn found five fragments of the Capita Hippolyti adversus
Caium, in which Hippolytus’s refutation of Caius follows a short
index of the objections formulated by Caius against passages of the
Apocalypse.11
From the works of Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, Abbot
F. Martin has edited the following Syiac fragments: (1) from the
letter to Novatius; (2) from the letter to Dionysius and Stephen; (3)
from the letter to Stephen of Rome; (4) from the letter to Pope
Sixtus (Sixte); (5) from the tenth refutation of Paul of Samosata; (6)
from the letter to Paul of Samosata.12
8 MŒSINGER published another fragment in Monumenta syr., II, p. 7.

9 MŒSINGER, l. c., p. 8–9, had published three of these fragments
after MSS from the Vatican; one was printed under the name of Melito, in
the Spicilegium syriacum of CURETON, p. 32, and in the Spicilegium
Solesmense of Card. PITRA, II, p. LIX; it also appears, in Arabic, under the
name Hierotheus in the Spicileg. Rom. of Card. MAI, III, p. 704.
10 Cf. BONWETSCH and ACHELIS, Hippolytus in Die gr. christl.
Schriftsteller, Leipzig, 1897; BATIFFOL, Hippolyte in the Revue biblique, 1898,

p. 115–119.
11 GWYNN, Hippolytus and his heads against Caius, in Hermathena, VI,
p. 397–418, Dublin, 1888.

12 Comp. with F. BATIFFOL, La littérature grecque, p. 131.
The works of Peter, bishop of Alexandria, appear in the same

publication in the form of fragments of homilies on divinity,
resurrection, and the non pre-existence of the soul.13
From the works of Alexander, Peter’s successor on the seat of
Alexandria, Abbot F. Martin gathered fragments of the encyclical
letter and of several homilies.14
The works of Apollinarius, the Greek originals of which are
now lost because they were considered heretical, are in part
preserved in translations of the Monophysite Syrians, who
attributed them to Orthodox Fathers: Gregory Thaumaturgus,
Julius and Felix of Rome, and Athanasius. It is a well-known fact
that has become the object of new research by Lietzmann and
Flemming. The two scholars have produced a new critical edition
of the following Syriac texts15: the κατὰ μέρος πίστις of Gregory
Thaumaturgus;16 most of the treatises of Julius of Rome;17 two
Confessions of Athanasius; the Letter to Jovien and the Confession of the
Fathers of Nicaea against Paul of Samosata;18 a fragment of Julius19 and
a citation of Felix,20 with several new texts taken from the British
Museum MSS.
13 Comp. with F. BATIFFOL, ibid., p. 127. On the letter of Peter

concerning renegades, see above, p. 140.
14 Comp. with S. Alexandri… sermo in MAI, Nova Patrum Bibl., II, 531.
15 HANS LIETZMANN, Apollinaris von Laodicea und seine Schule,
Tübingen, 1904. JOHANNES FLEMMING and HANS LIETZMANN,

Apollinarische Schriften, Berlin, 1904, Cf. HUGO GRESSMANN, Zeitschr.
der deut. morgenl. Gesell., LIX, 1905, p. 674.
16 Published by LAGARDE, Analecta syriaca, p. 31–67, and by
F. MARTIN, Analecta sacra of Card. Pitra, IV. F. Lequien was the first to
recognise that Apollinarius had written that treatise.
17 Edited by LAGARDE, op. cit., p. 67–79, and MŒSINGER,
Monumenta syriaca, II, p. 1–5.

18 CASPARI, Alte und neue Quellen zur Geschichte des Taufsymbols,
Christiana, 1866.
19 In MŒSINGER, see above, note 17.
20 ZINGERLE, Monumenta syriaca, I, p. 1.
Apart from the treatise entitled κατὰ μέρος πίστις, Lagarde

published, in his Analecta syriaca, other works of Gregory
Thaumaturgus, the authenticity of which has been brought into
question: the speech pronounced before Theopompus on the
passibility and impassibility of God; extracts from the treatise on
resurrection and from the twelve chapters on faith. Abbot F.
Martin reprinted these texts in the Analecta sacra of Card. Pitra, t.
IV, as well as: the Revelation of St Gregory; the Discourse on the
Annunciation of the Virgin; the Homily on the Baptism of Our Lord; and
various pseudepigraphic fragments.
F. Bedjan published in Syriac the Life of Gregory of
Neocaesarea, also known as Gregory Thaumaturgus, in Acta mart. et
sanctorum, VI, 83–106. It has been translated into German by
Ryssel.21
The 4th vol. of the Analecta sacra, published by Abbot F.
Martin, also contains Syriac fragments of writings by Methodius,
Eustathius of Antioch, Serapion of Thmuis and pseudo-Dionysius
the Areopagite.
In 624, in Cyprus, where he had taken refuge from the Persian
armies that had invaded Mesopotamia, Abbot Paul published a
Syriac translation in two tomes of the works of Gregory of
Nazianzus.22 Athanasius of Balad translated parts of the homilies,23
as well as the Συναγωγὴ καὶ ἑξήγησις ἱστοριῶν; the latter has come
down to us in a MS held in the British Museum.24 As for the
Nestorians, they had in their possession a version of the
Theologian’s writings.25 Bar Hebræus cites Jacob of Edessa as
being one of the translators of these writings.26 Shortly after his
21 Theol. Zeitschr. aus der Schweiz, 1894, p. 228. Cf. VICTOR RYSSEL,
Georgius Thaumaturgus sein Leben und seine Schriften, Leipzig, 1880.
22 ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 71; III, part I, 23. His version is preserved in
the British Museum; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 423–435.

25 WRIGHT, Catal, p. 436–437.
26 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 307; III, part I, 23. Wright believed the
assertion of Bar Hebræus to be incorrect; in Syriac literature, 2nd ed., p.

death, F. Bollig edited the MS of the Vatican Syr. 105, which

contains a translation of the iambic poems; his edition was
completed by F. Gismondi.27 That ancient manuscript, which dates
to the 5th or 6th century, does not contain the entire series of
Gregory’s poems; the order differs from that of the Greek editions.
Several poems are brought together into one text; by contrast,
others are divided into several smaller units. F. Gismondi filled the
lacunae thanks to MSS held in the British Museum; he even
reproduced two different collations of the poem on virginity;
another MS of the same museum contains a third one. One of
these recensions comes from the Nestorian version, and another is
borrowed from the translation of Abbot Paul. However, we do not
know which version of Gregory’s poem the Vatican MS n. 105 and
certain British Museum MSS represent. If the Vatican manuscript
does indeed date to the 5th or 6th century, as Assemani claims, it
can neither be the translation that Januaris Candidatus of Amid28
made in 665 nor the one which Theodosius29 produced in 805. It
119, he writes: “in our opinion, Jacob of Edessa simply reworked the
version made by Abbot Paul, to which he probably added notes and
explanatory extracts from Severus, as well as the recension of the
Συναγωγὴ καὶ ἑξήγησις ἱστοριῶν by Athanasius, placed in appendix to the
homily In sancta lumina” (Catalog. Wright, p. 423–427).
27 S. Gregorii Theologi liber carminum iambicorum versio syriaca, Pars prima,
edidit P. J. BOLLIG, Pars altera, edidit II. GISMONDI, Beyrouth, 1895 and
1896.
28 Called Senorinus Chididatus by ASSEMANI, B. O., II, CXLIX, 502;
III, part I, 23, note. On the exact name of that author, see GUIDI, Actes
du Xe Congrès des Orientalistes de Genève, 1894, 3rd part, p. 75. The version by
Candidatus consisted of seventeen chapters, according to a note in the
Vatican MS 96, which is followed by a fragment of that version, lines 1–
82 of the poem περὶ τῶν καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν; GUIDI edited that fragment, which is
perhaps unique, in l. c., p. 87.
29 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 363; ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 345.
The British Museum MSS Add. 14547 and 18821 may contain the
translation made by Candidatus or the one by Theodosius; WRIGHT,
Catal., p. 433. Theodosius is also the author of a version of the homily of
cannot either be the Nestorian version of Rabban Gabriel, which

had just been completed when Patriarch Timothy I (780–823) had
a copy of it sent to Sergius.30 Rather, it presumably gives the
ancient Nestorian version mentioned by Assemani.31 Patriarchs
Mar Aba II32 and Timothy I33 commented on the Nestorian
version; Denha or Ibas (around 850) and an anonymous author,
whose work is preserved in the British Museum MS Add. 17197,
commented on the Jacobite version of Abbot Paul; Wright34
believes that the author could be Elias, bishop of Sinjar around 750
(comp. with Assemani, B. O., II, 339). George, bishop of the Arabs,
composed a collection of scolia on Gregory’s homilies which
contains a great number of lessons; that compilation is preserved in
the British Museum MS Add. 14725.35
In the ancient School of Persians in Edessa the version of the
Theophania of Eusebius was produced which has come down to us
only in Greek fragments. It has been edited by Samuel Lee36 after
Gregory of Nazianzus on the miracles of the prophet Elijah, preserved in

Syr. MS 96 of the Vatican, Catal. Vat., II, 521.
30 See Abbot CHABOT, Journal asiatique, May-June 1898, p. 544.
31 B. O., III, part I, 24, note 1. That version might also be that of the
British Museum MS Add. 18815 (9th century), Catal. Wright, p. 436.

33 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, 179.
34 WRIGHT, Syriac lit., 2nd ed., p. 157, note 2. Mari, ed. GISMONDI,
part I, p. 21, cites Jesu bar Nun and Elias of Kashkar among the
translators of Gregory of Nazianzus.
35 Several partial commentaries have also been produced. These will
be mentioned in the second part under the name of their respective

authors.
36 Eusebius on the Theophania, London, 1842, transl., Cambridge, 1843;
comp. with F. BATIFFOL, La litt. Grecque, p. 209; HUGO

GRESSMANN, Studien zu Eusebius’ Theophanie, in Texte und Untersuchungen,
neue Folge, VIII, 3; XII, 154; Eusebius’ Werke, III Bd., 2 Hälfte, Die Theophanie
die griech. Bruchstücke und Uebersetz. der syr. Ueberlieferung, Leipzig, 1904. On
the versions of the Ecclesiastical History and the Chronicle of Eusebius, see
above, p. 166ff. See also Eusebius of Cæsarea, on the star, ed. Wright, Journ. of
sacred Lit., London, 1866; MAI, Nova patrum Bibl., IV, 281.
the famous British Museum MS Add. 12150, dated to 411, which

also contains the Recognitions of Clement, the history of the martyrs
of Eusebius37 and the Syriac version of the treatise against the
Manicheans of Titus, bishop of Bostra († 375), made up of four
books, of which only the first two and part of the third survive in
Greek.38
Only fragments of the Syriac version of the Περὶ διαφονίας
εὐαγγελίων of Eusebius have come down to us.39
The Syriac MSS contain translations of the works of John the
monk, or John of Lycopolis, the Clairvoyant from the Thebaid
region, whom Assemani had confused with John of Apamea. John
the monk prospered in the second half of the 4th century.40
The British Museum MS Add. 14569 contains a collection of
the first twenty Festal Letters of Athanasius of Alexandria; fragments
are all that survive in Greek of the following series. In the Greek
copy which the Syriac translator consulted, letters XV and XVI
were missing, as we are told at the end of letter XIV. The
introduction provides an analysis of all festal letters. Every one of
them bears the date of the Easter holiday, on which occasion
Athanasius wrote one of his letters every year. Cureton edited that
manuscript as he found it, that is, without rearranging the order of
the inverted pages; he added extracts of letters XXVII, XXIX and
XLIV borrowed from the book of Severus of Antioch against John
Grammaticus of Caesarea (preserved only in Syriac), and an extract
of letter XXXIX on the canonical books of the OT and NT.41
Card. Mai restored the correct order in a new edition, accompanied
37 See above, p. 121.

38 That version has been edited by PAUL DE LAGARDE, Titi
Bostrensis contra Manichæos libri IV syriace, Berlin, 1859; comp. with F.
BATIFFOL, La litt. Grecque, p. 288.
39 See BAUMSTARK, Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 378.
40 See CURETON, Corpus Ignatianum, Berlin, 1849, p. 351–352; cf.
WRIGHT, Catal., p. 451, note.

41 CURETON, The festal letters of Athanasius, London, 1848; comp. with
F. BATIFFOL, La litt. grecque, p. 272.

by a Latin translation, Script. vet. Nova collectio, t. VI. Larsow has

translated it into German and Pusey into English.42
The canons attributed to Athanasius, written in Greek, have
come down to us in a fragmentary form in a Coptic version, and
complete in an Arabic version which Michael, bishop of Tinnis,
made after the Coptic text around 1050. RIEDEL and CRUM
published these two versions in the Text and Translation Society,
London, 1904. These rules form a treatise on the clergy of Egypt,
divided by the translator into 107 canons, each one preceded by a
title announcing its subject matter. Riedel proved Renaudot wrong
by showing that the attribution of the work to Athanasius is very
solid.43
Paul de Lagarde44 published the Syriac version of the treatise
of St Epiphanius Περὶ μέτρων καὶ σταθμῶν, the Greek text of which
is incomplete. On the Lives of the Prophets wrongly attributed to
Epiphanius, see above, p. 71.
The Analecta syriaca of Lagarde contain, p. 91–100, a passage
consisting of extracts from the writings of Diodore of Tarsus on
the dual nature of Christ. The following passage, taken from the
book of Theodore of Mopsuestia on the Incarnation, is of similar
composition; title: “[Extracts] of the book on Incarnation, of the
treatise that begins with these words: “Since many have
misunderstood in a number of ways the meaning of the word
incarnation, of chapter XI, etc.” They are extracts of chapters XI,
XXXIII, XXXV–XXXVIII, L, LI, LVI, LIX, LX, LXIII, LXVI,
42 SCHWARTZ, Zur Geschichte des Athanasius, Gœttingen, 1905, and

the previous citation, p. 65.
43 CASPARI published the Syriac text of the (apocryphal) Περὶ τῆς
σαρκώσεως, Alte und neue Quellen zur Geschichte des Taufsymbols, Christiana,
1866. In that book is edited what remains in Syriac of the works of John,
bishop of Jerusalem.
44 Veteris Testamenti ab Origene recensiti fragmenta apud Syros servata quinque.
Præmittitur Epiphanii de mensuris et ponderibus liber nune primum integer et ipse

syriacus, Gœttingen, 1880.
LXXIII and LXXIV,45 as well as an extract of the treatise on faith.

In the 5th century at Edessa, Ibas and his disciples translated into
Syriac the greater part of the works of Diodore and Theodore.46 As
for Theodore’s homily on virtue,47 it was translated by Abraham,
bishop of Basra, who lived around 990.
Three homilies by Proclus, bishop of Constantinople (434–
446), on the Incarnation, the Nativity of Our Lord and Clement of
Alexandria respectively, are preserved in Syriac in a MS held in the
Vatican. They have been translated into Latin by Mai in the
Spicilegium Romanum, t. IV, p. LXXXVIII–XCXVIII; Chabot has
published the Syriac text in the proceedings of the Reale Accademia
dei Lincei, vol. V, 1896.
The ἀντηρρικός and the exegetic homilies of Andrew of
Samosata (mid-5th century), which have not survived in Greek, are
mentioned in Syriac in ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue (ASSEMANI, B. O.,
III, part I, 202). Only fragments of Rabbula’s letter were known to
us, from OVERBECK (S. Ephraemi syri… opera selecta, p. 223).
Baumstark found a complete version of that letter in a MS
originally held in the Borgia Museum and now in the collections of
the Vatican, K. VI, 4 (see Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 179).
The composition of the writings of pseudo-Dionysius the
Areopagite can quite securely be dated between 482 and 500.48
45 SACHAU, Theodori Mopsuesteni fragmenta syriaca, Leipzig, 1869, edited

other fragments of the book of Incarnation with a translation of these
fragments and of those of Lagarde. He added the morning hymn.
46 See above, p. 60 and below, p. 296. BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I,
55, attributes to Mana, whom he calls Magna, Narsai, and Acacius, the
translation of these commentaries of Theodore. In one of his letters
(published by Abbot F. MARTIN, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesellschaft,
XXX, 220), Jacob of Serug claims to have studied in his youth in Edessa
(around 470) the books of Diodore, which were in the process of being
translated at the School of Persians.
48 See J. STIGLMAYR, Das Aufkommen der Pseudo-Dionysischen Schriften,
Feldkrich, 1895, p. 63; comp. with F. BATIFFOL, La littérature grecque,

p. 321.
Shortly after they appeared, Sergius of Reshʿayna († 536) translated

them from Greek into Syriac and they spread throughout the whole
of Syria, where they were read and analysed by the Monophysites.
At the beginning of his translation, Sergius wrote an introduction
which testifies to the high esteem in which he held the mystical,
pantheist doctrine. That introduction is preserved, along with the
commentary of Theodore Bar Zaraudi, a writer of the Late Period,
in the British Museum MS Add. 22370.49 The version by Sergius is
in MS Add. 12151, dated to 809, with the introduction and the
scolia of Phocas bar Sergius of Edessa, who lived in the
8th century.50 The scolia of Phocas are largely translations of the
Παραθέσεις of John the Scholastic of Scythopolis. To these Phocas
added two long extracts of the prefaces of John of Scythopolis and
of George, also from Scythopolis, written in defence of the
authenticity of those books attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite,
the Greek text of which figures under the name of Maximus in the
Patrologia græca of Migne, IV, 15–21.51 The version made by Sergius
brings together all the known works of pseudo-Dionysius, and
there is no intimation that they were later extended or
transformed.52 The letter of Dionysius to Timothy, in which he
writes of the deaths of the apostles Peter and Paul, has already been
mentioned (see above, p. 79). In the early 9th century, John of
Dara wrote a commentary on the two books of pseudo-Dionysius,
the Celestial Hierarchy and the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy.53 The Book of

50 WRIGHT, Syriac literature, 2nd ed., p. 93, against ASSEMANI who
mistakenly placed that author before Jacob of Edessa, B. O., I, 468.
Several MSS held in the Vatican also contain the version of Sergius, Cat.
Vat., III, 56, n. 107, and 542, n. 254. Extracts in the first book of the
Chronique de Michel le Syrien, ed. Chabot, I, p. 3 and 4 (transl., p. 6 and 8).
51 WRIGHT, Catal., p. 500; comp. with Abbot F. MARTIN, Analecta
sacra of PITRA, IV, Proleg. XXIII; STIGLMAYR, op. cit., p. 52–53.

52 See STIGLMAYR, op. cit., p. 88–90.
53 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 120–121; the Vatican manuscripts 100, 363
and 411, Catal. Vat., II, 539, and MAI, Script. vet. Nova collectio, V; Bodleian
MS n. 264. FROTHINGHAM, Stephen bar Sudaili, Leiden, 1886, p. 4,
Hierotheus, which bears the name of the supposed master of

Dionysius, appears to be a Syriac original rather than a translation;
we shall consider this work in Part II in the note devoted to
Stephen Bar Sudaili, its alleged author.
The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (ed. CHABOT, p. 203; transl.,
t. II, p. 69) gives a summary of the Syriac translation of the
Τμήματα of John Philoponus, a theological work which is now lost
and was directed against the Council of Chalcedon.
The works of Severus of Antioch, most of which have not
been preserved in their Greek form, have survived in Syriac
through Jacobite translations. In 528 in Edessa, where he had
settled after retiring from his episcopal seat, Paul, bishop of
Callinice, translated54 the following: the correspondence of Severus
and Julian of Halicarnassus on the incorruptibility of Christ’s body,
along with a speech by Severus against Julian;55 the treatise against
the Additions or Appendices of Julian,56 and against his final
mistakenly cites Joseph of Ahwaz among the commentators of pseudo-

Dionysius; the note in ʿAbdishoʿ’s Catalogue on which he bases that claim
agrees with the grammar of Dionysius of Thrace; BÆTHGEN, Theol.
Litteraturzeit., XII, 222, comp. with above, p. 245, note 2.
54 WRIGHT, Syriac lit, 2nd ed., p. 94, note 1, notes that Paul should
not be confused with Paul, bishop of Edessa, who was exiled to Euchaita
in 522, was re-appointed to his seat in 526, a year before he finally passed
away.
55 The Vatican Syr. MS 140, Cat. Vat., III, p. 232; ASSEMANI, B. O.,
II, p. 46; the British Museum MS Add. 17200 from the 7th century,
WRIGHT, Catal., p. 554. The correspondence between Severus of
Antioch and Julian of Halicarnassus is inserted in the Syriac compilation
of the History of Zachariah, book IX, chap. XIII (LAND, Anecd. syr., III,
p. 363). According to BROOKS, The Syriac Chronicle of Zachariah of Mitylene,
p. 234, note 1, the text is independent from the translation of Paul of
Callinice. The letter of Severus to Justinian against Julian can be found in
Zachariah, book IX, chap. 16 (LAND, Anecd. syr., III, p. 279); other
letters, book IX, chap. 20 (LAND, ibid., p. 290).
56 The Vatican Syr. MS 140; MS Add. 12158, dated to 588, WRIGHT,
Catal., p. 556. A Latin translation of the beginning of the treatise against

apology;57 the treatise against the Manicheans and the Philalethes.58

Wright59 adds that “he was presumably also the author of: the
ancient version of the Homiliæ cathedrales;60 the version of the
correspondence of Sergius Grammaticus and of Severus on the
dogma of the dual nature of Jesus Christ;61 and perhaps also the
version of the treatise of John Grammaticus of Caesarea 62 and
several other versions that are known to us solely from their being
mentioned in a number of works. ̈ܶ̈ ܰ Theseܰ translations earned him
the title of Interpreter of Books (‫ܐܳܕܟܬܒܐ‬ ‫ )ܡܦܫܩܢ‬among the Jacobites.”
During his stay in Cyprus around 624, Abbot Paul translated,
besides the works of Gregory of Nazianzus (above, p. 266), the
Octoechus of Severus, and a collection of hymns for the annual
holidays. His version has come down to us, along with the version
of the hymns of John bar Aphtonia, John Psaltes and several other
authors, in the British Museum MS Add. 17134, where it was
revised by Jacob Philoponus (Jacob of Edessa) in 675.63 In a note
to that manuscript,64 Jacob informs us that he took great care in
checking the Syriac translation against the Greek MSS and that he
marked the additions which Paul made so that his poetic lines
would be of the same length as in Greek. He explains that he wrote
Julian and of the homily of Timothy of Alexandria is printed in the

Spicilegium Romanum of MAI, t. X.
57 MS Add. 12158.
58 The Vatican MS 140.
60 MS Add. 14599, dated to 569; the Vatican MS 142, dated to 576;
143, dated to 563; and 256, not dated.

61 MS Add. 17154.
62 MSS Add. 12157, 17210, 17211.
63 WRIGHT, Catal., p. 330. In the manuscript, Abbot Paul is wrongly
given the title of bishop. WRIGHT believed the reviewer to have been
Jacob of Edessa and saw in the MS a text written by the hand of that
famous bishop. Nau, Journal asiatique, September-October 1898, p. 346,
was of the opinion that he should be distinguished from Jacob
Philoponus.
64 Published by WRIGHT, Catal., p. 330, and translated in part by
MERX, Historia artis grammaticae apud Syros, p. 38.

the Greek words in black and those that had been added in red;
above the line he indicated his new interpretations. Jacob of Edessa
inserted in that collection a hymn on the Holy Chrism and the
Gloria in excelsis Deo. Merx published the Syriac text of the Gloria in
excelsis, revised by Jacob, opposite the Greek text.65
Jacob of Edessa produced a new translation of the Homiliæ
cathedrales, which was completed in 701; it survives in the Vatican
MS 141 and the British Museum MS Add. 12159 (dated to 868).
The latter manuscript counts one hundred and twenty-five
homilies, divided into three tomes.66 Notes in the margin indicate
that Jacob had some knowledge of Hebrew.67
When he was still only a priest in Nisibis in 669, i.e. before
being appointed patriarch of Antioch in 684, Athanasius translated
into Syriac selected letters by Severus of Antioch, several of which
have survived. He did so at the request of Matthew, bishop of
Aleppo, and of Daniel, bishop of Edessa.68
65 Historia artis gramm., p. 39. Another version of the Octoechus is

preserved in the Vatican Syr. MS 94, written between 1010 and 1033, and
in a more ancient but incomplete MS in the Bibliothèque nationale; cf.
ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 487.
66 The edition of the version of Jacob of Edessa was begun in the
Patrologia orientalis of GRAFFIN and NAU, including one fasc., Paris,

1906. That fascicule contains six homilies (LII–LVIII), with a French
translation by R. Duval. Homily LII on the Maccabees, as found in the
versions of Paul of Callinice and Jacob of Edessa, has appeared in The
fourth book of Maccabees by BENSLY and BARNES, Cambridge, 1895.
KUGENER published another homily in the Revue de l’Orient chrétien,
1898, p. 435; and, in Oriens christianus, 1902, p. 265, he printed with a
French translation Severus’s address pronounced after his installation on
the patriarchal throne of Antioch. Cf. PAULIN MARTIN, above p. 249,
note 13; NESTLE, Grammatica syriaca, Karlsruhe and Leipzig, 1881, p. 79–
83. MAI translated four homilies in Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, IX, p.
725, and another in MAI, Spicilegium Romanum, X, p. 202.
67 WRIGHT, The Journal of sacred literature, 1867, 4th series, p. 430;
NESTLE, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., XXIV, p. 290–291.

68 WRIGHT, Catal., p. 558 and 565, MSS Add. 12181 and 14600 of the
British Museum, which contain book VI of these letters. E. W. BROOKS

Our discussion of the translations of works of the Greek

fathers ends here, leaving aside those of the works of St Basil,
Gregory of Nyssa, St John Chrysostom, Evagrius Ponticus, etc.,
which have so far neither been edited nor studied. The list of these
texts is in the catalogues of the public libraries of Europe.69 The
vast majority of these versions are anonymous; those that are not
will be mentioned in part II.
§2. — TRANSLATIONS OF SECULAR WORKS

The Syrians showed only little interest in foreign literature that was
neither religious nor scientific. Semites did not have a taste for the
myths of India or Greece, as they contradicted their monotheistic
ideas. The Iliad and the Odyssey were introduced into Syria but had a
limited impact. By contrast, the Alexander romance was very well
received in the Orient; the Orientals saw in it the true story of the
hero on whom was impressed the seal of God. As for the tales of
Kalila and Dimna, and of Sindban, they regarded them as books of
morality.
The fabulous story of Alexander the Great, attributed to
Callisthenes, spread from its birthplace in Egypt to the other
published and translated that book into English in The sixth book of the
selected Letters of Severus patriarch of Antioch in the syriac version of Athanasius of
Nisibis, vol. I, part 1 and 2 (text); vol. II, part 1 and 2 (translation), London,
1902–1904.
69 The History of Joseph, son of Jacob, which is preserved in Syriac in a
Berlin MS (Sachau 9), has been attributed to St Basil. MAGNUS

WEINBERG and SAMUEL WOLF LINK published a German
translation of that History in Die Geschichte Josefs angeblich von Basilius dem
Grossen, Berlin, 1893 and 1895. The beginning of the Explanation of the
dominical prayer of Gregory of Nyssa is edited in the Monumenta syriaca of
ZINGERLE, I, p. 111; and so is a homily by St John Chrysostom, ibid., p.
117. BÆTHGEN translated into German part of the great treatise of
Evagrius, Ἀντιρρητικός or De octo vitiosis cogitationibus following the Berlin
MS (Sachau 302), see: Biblische und kirchenhistorische Studien von Boeckler, IV
Heft, Munich, 1893, — Anhang II, Evagrius grössere von den acht
Lastergedanken…
countries that had fallen to the Macedonian conqueror. The ancient

Syriac version of the romance of pseudo-Callisthenes70 does not
directly derive from Greek; as Nœldeke demonstrated,71 it came via
a Pahlavi intermediary and cannot be dated any later than the 7th
century. The Greek recension of pseudo-Callisthenes on which it is
based clearly dates further back. The two legends that were grafted
onto the original romance — the legend of the source of life and
the legend of the bronze door on the border between Gog and
Magog — are not included in the Syriac text; rather, they are added
at the end of the book and form a separate tale. It seems odd that
they would have been inserted in certain Greek recensions,72 since
the romance is pagan, whereas in both legends Alexander is
portrayed as a Jewish or Christian king guided by God. The
Ethiopic version merged all these distinct traditions; in it, the king
of Macedonia speaks from beginning to end as a Christian king but
also as a theologian well versed in matters of dogma.73 These
legends date back to the beginning of the Christian era; Joseph and
St Jerome knew the tale of Gog and Magog. Yet the Syriac version
of these two legends points to a later date: Gog and Magog are
there identified with the Huns, who invaded Syria in year 826 of
the Seleucids (514–515 AD). The part on the Arabs reads as
follows: “After 940 years, another king will come…”; that other
70 Published by A. WALLIS BUDGE, The history of Alexander the Great,

Cambridge, 1889, with an introduction and an English translation;
German translation by RYSSEL, Archiv f. neuere Sprachen, XC, 1893.
71 Beiträge zur Geschichte des Alexanderromans, Vienna, 1890, in
vol. XXXVIII of the Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of Vienna.

72 In the Greek edition of pseudo-Callisthenes printed by MÜLLER
after the history of Arrian in the Didot collection (Arriani Anabasis et

Indica, Paris, 1877), the legend of the source of life is in book II, chap. 37–
39, but only according to C: it is absent from A and B; the legend of the
bronze door, book III, chap. 26 and 29, follows B and C; but is not
included in A.
73 See A. WALLIS BUDGE, The life and exploits of Alexander the Great
being a series of ethiopic texts, London, 1896.

king appears to be no other than Muhammad, since year 940 of the

Seleucids corresponds to 628–629 AD.74
These two legends form the canvas of a short poem on
Alexander the Great, composed in all likelihood by Jacob of
Serug.75 The manuscripts in which we find it attribute the poem to
that prolific writer,76 and nothing contradicts that claim. It is true
that it is not one of Jacob’s best poetic compositions, but one
should bear in mind that he was an old man when he wrote it. He
speaks of the Huns’ invasion as if it were a recent event; the
invasion took place in 514–515 according to the prose-legend; at
that time Jacob had already reached the age of sixty-three. Besides,
that poem was reworked at a later date, as were the various metric
homilies of the bishop of Serug, and these changes far from
improved the text. The author probably used a version of the
legends that is very close to the one which Budge has published,
with the exception of the passage concerning the Arabs and
Muhammad.
Paul de Lagarde has edited (Analecta syriaca, p. 205–208) the
Syriac version of a short biography of Alexander taken from
pseudo-Callisthenes. The Greek romance also provided Alexander’s
letter to Aristotle, discussed earlier, p. 236–237.
74 NŒLDEKE, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Alexanderromans, does not

believe that the text refers to the Muslim Arabs but rather to the previous
Arabs, who had fought in the Persian and Roman armies. Following that
view, the author would simply have guessed the date of 940. That is most
unlikely.
75 Published after a MS in Paris by KNÖS in his Chrestomathia syr.,
Gœttingen, 1807, p. 66. BUDGE gave a better, albeit still imperfect,

edition based on the Paris MS and a MS held in London, Zeitschr. für
Assyriologie, VI, 359–404; English translation by BUDGE in The history of
Alexander the Great, Cambridge, 1889; German translation by A. WEBER,
Des Mar Yakûb Gedicht über den gläubigen König Alexandrus, Berlin, 1852; by
ZINGERLE, Ein altes syrisches Alexanderlied, Brünn, 1882; RYSSEL, Archiv
f. neuere Sprachen, XC, 1893, p. 83.
76 KNÖS, op. cit., wrongly translates the title ‫ ܣܝܡܳܠܡܪܝܳܝܥܩܘܒ‬by metro
Jacobitico instead of composed by Mar Jacob.

The Sanskrit Pantschatantra is the source of a collection of tales

in which the characters are animals. It is known by the title Kalila
and Dimna. That collection passed from Pahlavi into Syriac with the
title Kalilag and Damnag,77 and into Arabic with the more modern
title Kalilah and Dimnah.78 ʿAbdishoʿ’s catalogue79 brought attention
to the author of the ancient Syriac version: he is the periodeut
Buhd, who lived in the 6th century and whose Book of Greek
Questions was considered earlier (see above, p. 216). The Arabic
version, which Abdallah ibn al-Muqaffa wrote in the 8th century
following the Pahlavi text, gave birth to later versions in Syriac,
Greek, Hebrew and Spanish.80 Wright discovered the Syriac version
in a manuscript in Dublin, which he published.81 Wright sees in it
the work of a Syrian priest of the 10th or 11th century.
Wright assigns to the same period the version of the book of
Sindbân or Sindibâdh, in Syriac, the Story of Sindbân and the
77 Bickell edited and translated into German the Syriac version, as

found in a copy of a MS from the monastery of Zaʿfaran at Mardin, with
an excellent introduction by Benfey, Das Buch von Kalilag und Damnag, alte
syrische Uebersetzung, von Gust. Bickell mit einer Einleitung von Theod. Benfey,
Leipzig, 1876. Blumenthal published corrections to the Syriac text after
other copies acquired by Sachau, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., XLIV, p.
267–320.
78 SILVESTRE DE SACY has edited the Arabic version, Calila et
Dimna, Paris, 1816; new contributions by GUIDI, Studii sul testo Arabo del
libro di Calila e Dimna, Rome, 1873, and by NŒLDEKE, Die Erzählung vom
Mäusekönig, Gœttingen, 1879, in the 25th vol. of the Memoirs of the
Academy of Gœttingen. New edition by F. CHEIKHO, Beyrouth, 1905;
cf. NŒLDEKE, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., LIX, 1905, p. 794.
80 These various translations are important for the reconstruction of
the Arabic version, a critical edition of which remains to be published;

comp. with J. DERENBOURG, Directorium vitæ humanæ, Paris, 1887,
Foreword; KEITH FALCONER, Kalilah and Dimnah or the fables of Bidpai,
London, 1885, Introduction.
81 The Book of Kalilah and Dimnah translated from Arabic into Syriac,
Oxford, 1884; English translation by KEITH FALCONER, op. cit., see

previous note.
Philosophers Who were With Him.82 The Syriac text derives from the
Arabic version made by Mousa after the Pahlavi in the second half
of the 8th century; he reproduced the shorter of the two collations
known to us from the Arabic version.83 Michael Andropoulos then
translated the Syriac composition into Greek for Gabriel (1086–
1100), prince of Malatya. In that version it bears the title Συντίπας.
At the same period Simeon Seth produced, at the request of
Emperor Alexios Komnenos, a Greek translation of the book of
Kalila and Dimna.84
On the Syriac version of the fables of Aesop, see above,
p. 226.
It would have been amusing to find the Iliad or the Odyssey
hidden under the Syriac disguise which Bar Hebræus tells us
Theophilus of Edessa († 785) had given them.85 Theophilus’s
translation is lost but Severus Bar Shakko preserved several lines of
it.86
82 Text edited after a Berlin MS and translated into German by

BÆTHGEN, Sindban oder die sieben Weisen syrisch und deutsch von Fried.
Bæthgen, Leipzig, 1879. English translation by GOLLANCZ, Folklore, June
1897, p. 99. Rœdiger had printed a specimen of it in his Chestomathia syr.,
2nd ed., Halle, 1868, p. 100.
83 NŒLDEKE, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., XXXIII, 521.
84 COMPARETTI, Ricerche intorno al libro di Sindibâd, Milan, 1869;
WRIGHT, Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 241.

85 A Compendious History of Dynasties, 40 and 228 (transl., 26 and 148),
ed. POCOCK; p. 41 and 220, ed. SALHANI.

86 LAGARDE has brought together and published these lines, The
Academy, 1st October 1871, p. 467; comp. with MERX, Historia artis
gramm., p. 211, l. 2 and 10. F. CARDAHI cited another line in his Liber
thesauri de arte poetica, p. 40.
The biographical notes on the Syriac writers complete our study of
literature. Owing to the number of pages remaining, these notes
will have to be brief; they cannot constitute a history of Syriac
literature, since that would require an entire volume. Besides, the
time is perhaps not yet ripe for the writing of a comprehensive
history of that literature; we should wait for new publications that
will fill the many remaining lacunae. Syriac authors can be divided
into three periods of varying length: the first covers the period
during which the Church Fathers consolidated the Christian faith
and fought the gnostic doctrines — it ends in the 5th century; the
second, from the 5th to the 7th century, is marked by the
propagation of new heresies in Syria: Nestorianism in the East and
Monophysitism in the West; the third begins with the Arabic
conquest.
283
I. WRITERS UP UNTIL THE 5TH CENTURY
What has already been said of Bardaisan (p. 207), Aphrahat (pp.
187–191), Simeon bar Sabbaʿe (p. 105), and Miles (p. 107) will not
be repeated here. Instead we come immediately to St Ephrem.
The biography of that illustrious Father was written shortly
after his death on June 9, 373,1 since Gregory of Nyssa and
Palladius already knew of it. We do not have the original
composition, only later recensions in which were added a great
number of miraculous anecdotes.2 St Ephrem lived in seclusion,
which explains the paucity of historical data in his biography.
An exceptionally prolific writer, Ephrem gave the poetic
genre, created by Bardaisan, the character that was to define it for
centuries thereafter. His hymns and metric homilies served as a
model for later authors; they even became famous in the West,
where they were translated into Greek at an early date. Some of
1 On that date, see LAMY, Ephræmi syri hymni et sermones, Malines,

1882–1902, II, Proleg., p. VIII.
2 There are two recensions derived from a single original and these
contain important variations: the first in a MS from the Vatican which has
largely been published in G.-S. ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 26 ff., and in extenso
by EVODIO ASSEMANI, S. Ephræmi opera syr.; the second, which is in
generally of a higher standard, in a MS held in Paris and brought to our
attention by BICKELL in Conspectus rei Syrorum litterariæ, p. 26, and Zeitschr.
der deut. morg. Gesell., XXVII, 600–604; published by LAMY, S. Ephræmi
syri hymni et sermones, II, 5–90; reprinted by BEDJAN, Acta martyr. et sanct.,
III, 621. Two short summaries of the Life of St. Ephrem: one in the
Vatican, B. O., I, 25, and the other in Berlin, LAMY, op. cit., II, Prolegomena,
VIII. In the Greek part of his edition, EVODIO ASSEMANI published
S. Ephræmi opera græce et latine, I, XIX–XLIV, the texts of Greek authors
concerning the Life of St Ephrem. Cf. also LAMY, S. Ephræmi syri hymni et
sermones, IV, p. XL.
285
these poems were composed in order to oppose the various gnostic

systems that had grown popular in Syria and in Mesopotamia. We
can learn little from these texts, however, of the history of that
period. Indeed, the poetical form does not lend itself to
controversy, and St Ephrem was an ardent polemicist, not an
impartial critic. Narrow-minded yet perfectly rigorous, he strove to
instil a deeper faith in the minds of believers without ever
acknowledging the qualities of his detractors. He composed other
hymns and homilies in view of the main annual holidays, as well as
for the virgin choruses who took part in the office celebrations
under his supervision.3
As to his physical appearance, St Ephrem was not an
attractive man: his autobiography relates4 that “from the moment
the holy orders were conferred upon him until he died, he only ate
barley bread and dried vegetables, occasionally fresh vegetables. He
drank nothing but water; he was but shrivelled flesh on bone, so
that he could be likened to a clay shard. His garb was a composite
of various manure-coloured articles. He was short and his face was
always severe; never did he laugh; he was bald and beardless.”5 He
was often praised for his great charity, a moving example of which
he demonstrated during a famine in Edessa.
St Ephrem was born in Nisibis in the early 4th century, the
son of a priest of the idol known as Abnil (var. Abizal). From birth,
he believed himself predestined to serve the cult of the true God.
He became a disciple of St Jacob, bishop of Nisibis, but it seems
unlikely that he would have accompanied that bishop to the synod
of Nicaea. He claims that his miracles forced Shabur in 338 to
suspend the siege of Nisibis.6 When the town was handed over to
3 See above, p. 12–13.

4 In the recension of the Paris MS, see note 2 on the previous page.
5 The artist responsible for the portrait of St Ephrem carved at the
beginning of the Roman edition did not draw his inspiration from that
description; indeed, he depicted a tall character with a long beard and
dressed in a long, immaculate gown.
6 THEODORET, Hist. eccl., II, 26; BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. syr., ed.
BRUNS, p. 66; ed. Bedjan, p. 61.

WRITERS UP TO THE 5TH CENTURY 287
the Persian king in 363, St Ephrem and the leading citizens

departed; he retired to Edessa, after having been to Beth Garbaia
and Amid; to the best of our knowledge he was then fifty-seven
years of age.7 During his stay in Nisibis, Ephrem became known
for his hymns on the sieges of the town and on its administrators
Jacob, Babu and Vologese. These hymns are preserved in a
collection entitled “Tome of the hymns of Nisibis composed by
the Blessed Mar Ephrem.” The title is somewhat inexact, since only
the first twenty-one hymns of the volume’s seventy-seven were
written in Nisibis, while the others were written in Edessa.8
Ephrem composed most of his writings over the course of the
ten years he spent in Edessa. The first works he wrote in the capital
of the Osrhoene appear to have been biblical commentaries (see
above, p. 53–54), which earned him a chair at the School of
Persians, where he had many disciples, some of whom are now
famous. The founders of the illustrious school of Edessa may in
fact have been St Ephrem and the doctors who left Nisibis with
him. The name by which that school is known (School of the
Persians) supports that conjecture, for the Western Syrians referred
to their fellow clergymen from the Sassanian Empire as Persians.
Besides biblical exegesis, his teaching included the explanation of
dogmas. It is through his teaching that he first made available his
hymns against heretics and sceptics.9
In spite of the breadth and depth of St Ephrem’s intellectual
activity, his works amply suffice to fill the ten years during which
that prolific author lived in Edessa. His travels to Egypt, where he
is said to have spent eight years, and to Caesarea of Cappadocia,
7 The anecdote on St Ephrem arriving in Edessa and of the

washerwomen on the bank of the Daican was in the early version of the
Acts. Gregory of Nyssa, Sozomen and Metaphrastes copied it after these
Acts.
8 An excellent edition of the collection has been made by BICKELL,
S. Ephræmi syri carmina Nisibena, Leipzig, 1866. Hymns 22–24 are missing.
9 A collection of fifty-six hymns against heretics in the second volume
of the Roman ed., p. 437–559; and eighty-seven hymns against heretics at

the beginning of the third volume.
where he allegedly paid a visit to St Basil, should be regarded as

mere fabrications. The legend of his preaching against Arians in
Egypt may be a result of his being confused with Ephrem the
Egyptian; as for the visit to St Basil, the explanation may lie in the
passages from that Greek Father’s writings in which the Syrian is
mentioned.10
The note in the Acts on Ephrem’s account of the Hun
invasion,11 which took place in July of 396, twenty-three years after
the death of that Father, is also incorrect. As is the attribution to
Ephrem of a poem on the persecutions of Valens and the exile of
Barses, bishop of Edessa: that exile occurred three months after
Ephrem passed away.12 St Ephrem’s panegyric of St Basil is also
apocryphal; his death preceded that of the bishop of Caesarea.13
St Ephrem seldom composed in prose: there are several
exegetical discourses,14 apart from his biblical commentaries. His
poems, however, are numerous and cover several different genres.
10 The passage of the Acts which is concerned with Doxology is in the

De Spiritu sancto of Basil, XXXIX, 74; for Genesis, I, 2, where St Basil
allegedly learnt from a Syrian to replace the word hovered by brooded, see the
second homily of Basil’s Hexameron. Gregory of Nyssa, Sozomen and
Metaphrastes recount Ephrem’s journey to Ceasarea.
11 The homily attributed to Ephrem on the end of time, and in which
mention is made of the Huns, is published in the LAMY ed., III, 187;
NŒLDEKE, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Alexanderromans, p. 31, has shown
that the composition of that homily postdates the Arabic conquest.
12 Ephrem wrote hymns on the persecutions of Valens and of the
Arians prior to the exile of Barses. These hymns have survived in the
collection of the Carmena Nisibena, edited by BICKELL. On the tale which
the poem refers to, see SOCRATES, IV, 18; SOZOMENE, VI, 18;
THEODORET, IV, 14 and 15. Under the influence of the Novel of Julian
the Apostate (see above, p. 155–156), the Vatican MS links the persecution
to Julian rather than to Valens, and the poem is there cited along with
numerous variants.
13 That panegyric can be found in Greek, Roman ed., Op. græce et latine,
II, 289.
14 Published in the Rom. ed., t. II, following various metric homilies.
We outlined their main traits earlier (p. 12 ff).15 Yet not all homilies
and hymns attributed to that famous author should be, for some
could be the work of Isaac of Antioch and Narsai.
15 The works of St Ephrem cannot here be cited in detail; they were

published at different times, and this footnote will only serve to point the
reader to the relevant publications. The great edition of Rome, Ephræmus
syrus, opera omnia, 1737–1743, consists of six volumes in which are printed
the texts preserved in MSS held in the Vatican; three volumes are devoted
to the Syriac texts, while the remaining three contain the texts translated
into Greek. It was begun by PIERRE MOBARAK or BENEDICTUS
and was completed by STEFANO EVODIO ASSEMANI of the Society
of Jesus. In 1865, OVERBECK edited new texts in Oxford after MSS
held in the British Museum, S. Ephræmi syri… opera selecta, Oxford, 1865.
In 1866, BICKELL published the collection entitled Carmina Nisibena,
mentioned above. LAMY completed the previous editions using the
London, Oxford and Paris MSS, S. Ephræmi syri hymni et sermones, t. I–IV,
Malines, 1882–1902, comp. with NŒLDEKE, Göttingische Gelehrte
Anzeigen, 1882, n. 48; 1887, n. 3; Wiener Zeitschrift, 1891, p. 245. Several
hymns and homilies were edited or reedited in the chrestomathy of
HAHN and SIEFERT, in the chrestomathy of UHLEMANN, in tomes I
and II of the Monumenta syriaca of F. ZINGERLE. Also by ZINGERLE,
S. Ephræmi syri duo carmina, Brixen, 1867; Ephræmi syri sermones duo, Brixen,
1871; extracts in his Chrestomathy, Rome, 1871. Cf. also BEDJAN, S.
Martyrii, qui et Sahdona, quæ supersunt omnia, Paris, 1902, p. 866–868.
BEDJAN printed the collection of homilies for Rogation days at the end
of the first volume of his Breviarium Chaldaicum, Paris, 1886–1887;
reprinted in the third volume of the LAMY ed. and the Bessarione, ser. II,
vol. 4, by IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI, who also published
several extracts of poetry under the name Ephrem in his Studia syriaca,
Mount Lebanon, 1904. Two poems in the Directorium spirituale of ELIAS
MILLOS, Rome, 1868. A homily in the Journ. of theol. Studies, V, 546,
published by DUNCAN JONES. HAFFNER reedited in 1896 the homily
on exile, that is, about life on earth, in the Sitzungsberichte of the Academy
of Sciences of Vienna, t. XXXV, n. IX, Die Homilie des heiligen Ephräm von
Syrien über das Pilgerleben; it had already been printed in the 3rd vol. of the
Roman ed. Special translations of several poems have been produced but
there would be little point in listing them here.
The poem on Joseph, son of Jacob, most likely belongs to the

School of Edessa rather than to St Ephrem himself.16
Much has been written about the authenticity of St Ephrem’s
Testament. The critical edition edition made by the present author
(Journal asiatique, September-October 1901, p. 234 ff.) established
that the Testament, although largely the work of that illustrious
Father, has come down to us in a much interpolated form. We
refer the reader to that edition for a list of the previous studies on
the Testament of Ephrem.
The disciples of St Ephrem did not shine as brightly as their
illustrious master. Of Mar Aba’s works should be cited biblical
commentaries (see above, p. 54) and exhortations in lines of five
syllables;17 of Zenobius, who was deacon of the church of Edessa,
treatises against Marcion and Pamphylus, epistles and a life of
Ephrem;18 of Paulonas or Paulinus, who is called a heretic in the
Testament of St Ephrem, hymns and various writings against Marcion
and the sceptics.19
16 SOLOMON OF BASRA, in his book of The Bee, ed. BUDGE, p.

47, attributes that poem to St Ephrem. A MS in the British Museum dated
to the 6th century, which contains hymns I and VIII, edited by
OVERBECK, S. Ephræmi… op. sel., p. 270–330, gives the name of Balai as
author. That epic, one of the best compositions of its kind, comprises
twelve hymns; it is followed by a homily on the transfer of Joseph’s relics
to Constantinople, which was written by a certain Bani. For an edition, see
BEDJAN, Histoire complète de Joseph, Paris, 1891. In 1887, BEDJAN had
already produced a first edition based on another MS that only contained
the first ten hymns; LAMY reprinted and translated these ten hymns, S.
Ephræmi syri hymni et sermones, t. III.
17 See LAMY, S. Ephræmi syri hymni et sermones, IV, p. 87.
18 ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 163. It used to be believed that Zenobius was
from Gazarta, since the epithet ‫ܓܙܝܪܝ ܐ‬ ܺ is attached to his name in the
Testament of S. Ephrem. In reality, the Syriac word means “valiant” rather
than “from Gazarta”.
Balai,20 who appears to have been chorepiscopus of the

diocese of Aleppo, lived at the end of the 4th century. His hymns,
written in the pentasyllabic metre, perpetuated his name.21
The life of Cyrillona is as little known as that of Balai, his
contemporary. Cyrillona is the author of a poem on the calamities
that occurred in his lifetime: the plague of locusts and the Hun
invasion. In a passage from that poem we read: “One year has not
yet gone by since the Huns ravaged Syria.” As the Syriac chronicles
inform us, the heathen invasion took place in July 396 (not 395),
hence that work was composed in 397. Several other poems by
Cyrillona have survived. These poems, of varying metres, are
concerned with crucifixion, Easter and wheat. Bickell published
them in the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesellschaft, XXVII, 566.22
Bickell identifies Cyrillona as Absamya, St Ephrem’s nephew,
whom we know, from the Chronicle of Edessa and the Eccl. chron. of
Bar Hebræus,23 composed hymns and homilies on the Hun
invasion. A plausible hypothesis would be that Absamya took the
name Cyrillona on joining the clergy.24
20 Comp. with a passage from BAR HEBRÆUS, B. O., I, 166, where

Balai is placed after St Ephrem and before the synod of Ephesus.
21 ZETTERSTEIN has edited what survives, Beiträge zur Kenniniss der
reliogiösen Dichtung Balai’s, Leipzig, 1902; previous editions: OVERBECK,

S. Ephræmi… op. sel., p. 251–336; WENIG, Schola syriaca, chrestomathia,
Innsbruck, 1866, p. 160–162; CARDAHI, Liber thesauri de arte poetica, p. 25.
In his Conspectus rei litt., p. 46, note 5, BICKELL gave a translation of a
hymn on the martyrdom of St Faustina, the text of which he published in
the Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., XXVII, p. 599, n. III.
22 See also WRIGHT, Catal., p. 670–671; OVERBECK, op. cit., 379–
381; Cardahi, Liber thesauri di arte poetica, 27–29. BICKELL translated it

into German in the Bibliothek der Kirchenväter of TALLHOFER.
23 Cf. Chronicle by Michael the Syrian, ed. CHABOT, II, p. 169 (transl.,
p. 9).
24 WRIGHT, Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 42, objects to that theory, noting
that the Syriac chronicles that mention Absamya do not refer to him by
the name Cyrillona. Cf. ADDAI SCHER, Revue de l’Orient chrét., 1906,
p. 3–4.
Monk Gregory left the Orient (Palestine?) for Cyprus, where

he came into contact with Saint Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis, and
a monk named Theodore. To these two individuals are addressed
several of his epistles; his main work is a treatise on ascetic life.25
25 ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 170–174, and III, part I, 191, published

several letters and fragments from that treatise; compare with above, p.
192.
II. WRITERS UP UNTIL THE 7TH CENTURY
That period of the literary history of the Syrians is the most

remarkable; it counts numerous authors who made notable
contributions in a variety of different genres. At first, the Syrians,
though divided by the frontiers of the Roman and Persian Empires,
still formed one great religious family. Antioch, Edessa, Nisibis and
Seleucia on the Tigris were its main intellectual centers and formed
a network of contact for its different members until schisms broke
it into two branches.
§1. — THE ORTHODOX

The poems of Isaac of Antioch or Isaac the Great (5th century)
form a lengthy collection. In the 11th century, John bar Shushan
had begun to bring them together in one work. The compiler’s
death brought his labour to a sudden halt in 1073.1 These poems
are not all the work of one author: several suggest the approach of
an orthodox, others that of a Monophysite. In a note first
published by F. Martin, Jacob of Edessa was able to distinguish
three Isaacs who had previously proven difficult to differentiate: (1)
Isaac of Amid, disciple of St Ephrem, who went to Rome in order
to visit the Capitol; he was an Orthodox; (2) Isaac of Edessa, who
prospered in the time of Zeno (late 5th century) and settled in
Antioch; he was a Monophysite; and (3) Isaac, also from Edessa,
who was a Monophysite in the days of Bishop Paul (512) and later
converted to orthodoxy under Bishop Asclepius (522).
Isaac of Amid appears to be the author of poems on secular
games (404) and on the capture of Rome (410). Isaac of Antioch
1 See BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 447.
293
may have composed a homily on the Antioch earthquake (459), as

well as the long poem on the parrot that sang the Trisagion.
On the other hand, Isaac of Antioch has repeatedly been
mistaken for Isaac of Nineveh. The latter is in all likelihood
responsible for the prose writings on ascetism attributed to the
former.
What information we have on the life of Isaac of Antioch is
very vague. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that Isaac composed
most of the homilies that are attributed to him: his great celebrity
has caused us to forget his namesakes.2
Dâdâ, a monk of Amid and a contemporary of Isaac, was
appointed by his fellow townsmen to be their envoy to
Constantinople, charged with the mission of requesting that taxes
be lowered owing to the terrible losses caused by famine and war.
Although none of that author’s works have survived, three
hundred treatises on various subjects, and a number of hymns, are
attributed to him.3
2 This short note was taken from the Foreword of F. BEDJAN, Homiliæ
S. Isaaci syri Antiocheni, t. I, Paris and Leipzig, 1903; we refer the reader to
that foreword for sources relative to Isaac. In tome I, Bedjan edited sixty-
seven homilies, of which only twenty-four had previously been published.
BICKELL printed thirty-seven homilies in two volumes: Isaaci Antiocheni
opera omnia, Giessen, I, 1873; II, 1877. Isaac’s homilies attributed to St
Ephrem are in LAMY, S. Ephræmi syri hymni et sermones. Two homilies have
been printed in the Chrestomathy of Ourmia (The Little Book of Crumbs),
Ourmia, 1898; others in IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI, Studia
syriaca, chap. V, cf. NŒLDEKE, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., LVIII, p.
494. MARIUS BESSON published a collection of sentences attributed to
Isaac in Oriens Christianus, I, p. 46–60; 228–298. For the partial editions
prior to Bickell’s edition, see ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 207; ZINGERLE,
Monumenta syriaca, I, p. 13; CARDAHI, Liber thesauri, p. 21; OVERBECK,
S. Ephræmi… opera selecta, p. 379. German translations of various homilies
by ZINGERLE, Theol. Quartalschrift, 1870; and BICKELL, Bibliothek der
Kirchenväter, 44° issue, p. 111 and 191.
3 WRIGHT, Syriac lit., 2nd ed., p. 54; comp. with LAND, Anecd. syr.,
III, p. 84.
WRITERS UP UNTIL THE 7TH CENTURY 295
Rabbula, named bishop of Edessa in 412, is known as much

for his ardent faith and tackling of heresies as he is for his literary
works.4 He was born at Qenneshre (Chalcis), near Aleppo; his
father, a Pagan priest, is said to have made a sacrifice in honour of
Julian the Apostate during the expedition against the Persians; his
mother, however, was a Christian. Rabbula was converted and
baptised by Eusebius, bishop of Qenneshre, and Acacius, bishop
of Aleppo. The proselyte devoted himself entirely to the religion
which he had only just embraced; he sold his belongings and
donated the money thus collected to the poor. First he retired to
the monastery of Abraham and later to a more isolated location, so
as to lead an ascetic life. Acacius fetched him there and placed him
on the episcopal seat of Edessa, left vacant following the death of
Diogenes. Now a bishop, Rabbula set out to uproot those ancient
heresies, which, despite St Ephrem’s active resistance, still counted
followers in Edessa. At first he appears to have hesitated on
whether he should reject the doctrine of Theodore of Mopsuestia,
of which Nestorius had just become the champion. His hesitation
was, however, short-lived. Rabbula soon declared himself a partisan
of Cyril of Alexandria, whom he then befriended and whose
treatise De recta fide he eventually translated;5 he attacked Nestorius
in Constantinople, where he delivered a lengthy speech before
Theodosius II. His biographer, who translated the speech into
Syriac,6 puts emphasis on the courage showed by the bishop of
Edessa on that occasion, for the bishop of Constantinople was in
the emperor’s good graces. The controversy continued in writing;
the same biographer mentions “forty-six letters of Rabbula
addressed to priests, emperors, important figures and monks,
which we shall set out to translate, God willing, from Greek into
4 The document mentioned above, p. 127, tells his story.

5 See the letter of Cyril to Rabbula, OVERBECK, op. cit., p. 228.
Rabbula’s version can be found in the British Museum: F. BEDJAN
edited it in tome V of the Acta martyrum et sanctorum, p. 628–696.
6 OVERBECK has published what survives of that version, op. cit.,
p. 239 ff.
Syriac, so that those who read them can learn of the ardent flame
of his divine zeal.”7
During his episcopate, Rabbula’s way of life served as a model
of humility and privations for his clergy. By way of a combination
of canons and warnings8 he sought to make the clergy conform to
ascetic practices. His charity was praised and testimonies of his
devotion to the poor and the sick abound. Yet his tyrannical
severity inspired fear rather than love to those around him. The
saintly bishop died on August 7, 435.9 Overbeck has published
what remains of his works in his book S. Ephræmi, etc., opera selecta,
p. 210 ff., while Bickell translated it in the Bibliothek der Kirchenväter
of Tallhofer, n. 103–104. An as yet unpublished discourse on the
alms for the souls of the dead and on the defense of holidays on
the occasion of funerary commemorations should also be
mentioned; that discourse is in a MS held in the collections of the
Laurentian in Florence.10
§2. — THE NESTORIANS

The war declared on Nestorianism by Rabbula came to a sudden
halt at Edessa following the death of that bishop. Ibas, who taught
at the School of Persians and was a known partisan of Nestorius,
succeeded Rabbula. As noted earlier,11 the Syrians owe their first
translations of the works of Diodore of Tarsus and of Theodore of
7 Several of these letters translated into Syriac have survived to this

day, either in full or in part, and have been published in OVERBECK,
S. Ephræmi, etc., opera selecta, after MSS held in the British Museum. Some
belong to the extensive correspondence between Rabbula and St Cyril.
GUIDI published, after the Vatican Syr. MS 107, a letter of St Cyril to
Rabbula, which is not part of the Overbeck collection, Rendiconti della
R. Academia dei Lincei, May-June 1886, 416–546.
9 Date provided by the Biography; as indicated by the Chronicle of Edessa,
the funeral tok place on August 8, 435.

10 EV. ASSEMANI, Cat. cod. ms. Orient. Bibl. Palat. Medic., p. 107. On
the version of the NT by Rabbula, see above, p. 32–33.

Mopsuestia to that doctor and his disciples. Rabbula had

condemned these works, even ordering some copies to be burnt.12
Once Ibas had been appointed bishop, Nestorianism was free to
spread across Mesopotamia. The famous letter which the new
bishop addressed to the Persian Mari only further encouraged its
propagation among the Oriental Syrians. Prosecuted because of
that letter at the synods of Tyre and Beyrouth, Ibas was acquitted.
However, in 449, at the second synod of Ephesus, he and his
nephew Daniel, bishop of Harran, were condemned, along with
Flavian of Constantinople, Domnus of Antioch, Irenaeus of Tyre,
Eusebius of Dorylaeum, Sophronius of Tella and Theodoret of
Cyrus. Ibas was forced into exile and replaced in Edessa by
Nonnus.13 His exile lasted no more than two years; after the
Council of Chalcedon, which was mainly directed against Eutyches
and the Monophysites, Ibas returned to his episcopal seat where he
lived peacefully until his death on October 28, 457. The Catalogue
of ʿAbdishoʿ attributes to Ibas: a commentary on Proverbs (see
above, p. 57), homilies, hymns and a controversy with a heretic.14
The death of Bishop Ibas led to the expulsion from Edessa of
his followers, who taught or studied at the School of Persians. The
school did, however, survive until 489, when Emperor Zeno
ordered its destruction. The names of the exiles, together with the
nicknames they had been given at the School, have come down to
us in a letter by the Monophysite bishop Simeon of Beth Arsham,
written around 510, and hence the most ancient document on the
propagation of Nestorianism in Persia.15 Simeon was partial and
unjust towards his adversaries. He was, however, well informed.
Among the inhabitants of Edessa who retired to the Persian
territory, where they won the favours of King Peroz, he cites:
Acacius, Bar Sauma, Mana, Abshuta, John the Garameen, Mika,
12 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 86; part II, 73.

13 Of that bishop’s works we have a letter addressed to Emperor Leo
on the Council of Chalcedon, ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 257 and 403.
15 Published by ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 436, and reprinted in the
Chrestomathy of Michaelis.
Paul son of Qaqi, Abraham the Mede, Narsai, and Ezalia. Virtually
all of them were elevated to the rank of bishop in Persia; several
came to be famous writers.
Acacius was elected patriarch of Seleucia in 48416 and died in
496.17 Bar Hebræus mentions being charged by Peroz to remain by
Emperor Zeno’s side.18 He composed homilies on fasting and
faith, as well as treatises on the Monophysites. For King Kavadh he
translated into Persian the treatise on the faith of Elisha or Hosea,
successor of Bar Sauma on the seat of Nisibis.19 Patriarch Acacius
should be distinguished from Acacius, bishop of Amid, whose
epistles were commented by Mari of Beth Ardashir, one of the first
apostles of Nestorianism in Persia. It is reported that Acacius of
Amid sold (around 419) the sacred vases of the bishopric in order
to buy back the individuals taken captive by the Romans in the
Beth Arabaya.20
According to Simeon of Beth Arsham, before becoming
professor at the School of Persians, Bar Sauma had been the slave
of Mara of Beth Kardu (near Gazarta). He was one of the exiles of
year 457, and indeed it is from that time onwards that he became
famous for his despotism as bishop of Nisibis.21 He instituted the
first statutes of the School of Nisibis22 and established the marriage
of priests with the patriarch’s consent. Following the catalogue of

17 AMR, ed. GISMONDI, p. 35.
19 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 69, 378 and 634; the Maronite
scholar sought in vain to exonerate Acacius from the heresy of Nestorius;

comp. with WRIGHT, Syriac lit., 2nd ed., p. 60. On the synod of Acacius,
see above, p. 142. See also ADDAI SCHER, Rev. de l’Or. chrét., 1906, p. 5.
20 Comp. with MARI, ed. GISMONDI, part I, p. 31.
21 His permanent departure from Edessa therefore did not occur
under Rabbula, as ASSEMANI claims, B. O., III; part II, 78, nor did it
occur in 489, comp. with BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., t. II, p. 55, note 1.
22 These statutes have not survived, but we do have those of his
successor Elisha or Hosea, published in 496, GUIDI, Gli Statuti della scuola
di Nisibi, Rome, 1890.
ʿAbdishoʿ, his writings include exhortations, eulogies, hymns,

letters and a liturgy.23
Narsai accompanied Bar Sauma to Nisibis, where he founded
a school that was to become one of the most famous centers of
instruction among the Oriental Syrians. Originally from Maalta, to
the northeast of Mosul, he came to study under Ibas at the School
of Persians. He spent all but several years of the second part of his
life as director of the School of Nisibis, where he retired among the
Kurds following an argument with Bar Sauma. According to Bar
Hebræus, Narsai lived for another fifty years after leaving Edessa,
where he had spent twenty years; his departure having taken place
in 457, which would place the time of his death in 507.24 The
Monophysites referred to him as “the Leper.” By contrast, the
Nestorians called him “The Harp of the Holy Spirit,” for they were
very fond of his poetry.
Only one part has survived.25 It is said that Narsai had a liking
for the ten-syllable metre, yet his poems that have been published
23 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 66. On the letters of Acacius, see

above, p. 142. A hymn in the British Museum, Catal. Wright, p. 130; comp.
with MACLEAN, East Syrian Daily Offices, London, 1894, p. 236.
24 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, p. 77. Bar Hebræus confuses the
date of the exile (457) with that of the destruction of the School of
Persians (489). ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 402 and 407, note 2, mistakenly
dates the exile to the time of Rabbula, around 431. The argument brought
forward by BICKELL, Conspectus rei Syrorum litt., p. 37, and subsequently
by FELDMANN, Syrische Wechsellieder von Narses, p. 3, according to which
Narsai died in 496, rests on no solid evidence; according to Amr, that is
the year of Acacius’s death. Following Barhadbshabba in MINGANA,
Narsai, Mosul, 1905, Narsai spent forty-five years of his life at Nisibis and
passed away in 502.
25 Manuscripts held in European collections: in the Vatican (previously
K. VI, 5 of the Borgia Museum); in Berlin; in Cambridge; in the Orient: at

the Orthodox patriarchate of Jersualem; at the Mosul patriarchate; at
Ourmia; at the monastery of Hormizd, north of Mosul. The Vatican MS
and Berlin MS 57 are identical to the Hormid MS, of which they are
copies. The main edition of the works of Narsai is that of MINGANA,
Narsai, homiliæ et carmina, vol. I–II; Mosul, 1905; it comprises forty-seven
thus far all exhibit metres of either seven or twelve syllables. The
ʿAbdishoʿ Catalogue further attributes to Narsai: commentaries (see
above, p. 60); a liturgy; explanations on the eucharistic communion
and on baptism; and a book entitled On the corruption of morals.
According to Barhadbshabba, Elisha bar Quzbaye wrote,
besides his commentary on the OT (see above, p. 61), numerous
treatises against the magi and heretics, see MINGANA, Narsai, t. I,
p. 56.
Mari of Beth Ardashir is chiefly known from the letter
addressed to him by Ibas. In addition to his commentary on Daniel
(see above, p. 61) and his book on the epistles of Acacius of Amid
(above, p. 298), he also composed a controversial treatise against
the magi of Nisibis.26
In Edessa, Mana translated a number of works by Theodore
of Mopsuestia. According to Simeon of Beth Arsham, he and the
Nestorians of the School of Persians were forced into exile at the
death of Ibas in 457. He retired to Persia, was appointed
metropolitan of Persia and eventually patriarch of the Oriental
homilies and ten canticles taken from the editor’s MS, which he collated
using the MSS held in Mosul and Ourmia; he did not include the homilies
of a distinctly heretic character. Previous partial editions: HANEBERG,
Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesellschaft, III, 325; CARDAHI, Liber thesauri, p. 47;
BEDJAN, Breviarium chaldaicum, Paris, 1886, I, p. 468; GISMONDI,
Linguæ syriacæ grammatica, Beyrouth, 1900, p. 108; FR. MARTIN, Journal
asiatique, 1899–1900; SACHAU and FELDMANN, see above, p. 14, note
7; KHAYYAT, Syllabaire chaldaïque, Mosul, 1869, and Les prairies délicieuses
̈
(‫ܡܪܓܐܳܡܦܝܓܢܐ‬ ), Mosul, 1901; the Ourmia chestomathy (The Little Book of
Crumbs), p. 98 and 235. Part of the poem of Joseph, son of Jacob, which
has been attributed to Narsai and is different from the poem attributed to
S. Ephrem (see above, p. 290), has been edited in GRABOWSKI, Die
Geshichte Josephs von Mar Narsai, Berlin, 1889; as for the second hymn, it
has been edited by MAX WEYL in Das 2 Joseph Gedicte von Mar Narses,
Berlin, 1901; BEDJAN printed the entire poem, Liber superiorum, Paris and
Leipzig, 1901, p. 521; MEIER ENGEL has published an anonymous
poem on Joseph, Die Geschichte Josephs, I Teil, Belin, 1895. Comp. also with
MACLEAN, East Syrian Daily Offices, p. 161–168.
Christians. He cannot therefore have succeeded Yaballa I in the last

of these positions in 420 AD.27 We attribute to Mana Pahlavi
versions of Syriac books, which he is believed to have produced
once he had settled in Persia.
Following his expulsion from Edessa, Mika was made bishop
of Lashom. He must not be confused with Mika the physician
(7th century), who composed a commentary on the Book of Kings
(see above, p. 61); a panegyric of his predecessor Sabrishoʿ and of a
certain Qantropos (?); a treatise on the Five Causes for Sessions and a
chronicle; see ADDAI SCHER, Rev. de l’Or. chrét., 1906, p. 21–22.
It is not known in which period lived Ara, who composed a
treatise against magi and another against the disciples of Bardaisan.
By the 5th century the propagandistic endeavour had yielded
significant results: the vast majority of Christians in Persia now
followed the dogma of the duality of nature and person. We shall
only briefly touch on the Nestorian writers of that period, of which
some already appeared in the first part of the present work and the
others are little known. At Nisibis, the school founded by Narsai
prospered under his successors: Abraham, John and Joseph of
Ahwaz. The teachings of these masters gave birth to various works:
Abraham and John published biblical commentaries (above, p. 61)
and hymns.28 Joseph of Ahwaz is the first Syriac grammarian
(above, p. 47 and 248).29
ʿAbdishoʿ attributes to a disciple of Abraham of Nisibis
named Abraham Bar Kardahe, or Abraham “son of the
blacksmiths,” homilies, consolatory discourses about the deceased,
sermons and a letter against a certain Shisban, probably a magus.
27 See J.-B. CHABOT, Synodicon orientale, Paris, 1902, p. 300, note 4;

ADDA SCHER, Revue de l’Orient chrétien, 1906, p. 7.
28 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 72; comp. with p. 631 and 708.
One of Abraham’s hymns is in the Nestorian Psalms, comp. with

WRIGHT, Syr. lit., 2nd ed., p. 114, note 4; MACLEAN, East Syrian Daily
Offices, p. 99. Barhadbshabba, in MINGANA, Narsai, I, 36, also attributes
to John a treatise against Jews and a refutation of Eutyches.
29 See Part I for other authors: Patriarch Mar Aba I, p. 184; Abraham
of Kashkar, Mar Babai, etc., p. 183; and the ascetics, p. 187 ff.
Another Abraham, Abraham Qatina (“the subtle”), who lived in

the late 6th century, wrote maxims and questions.30
Paul, a disciple of Patriarch Mar Aba I who became bishop of
Nisibis, composed a commentary on the Holy Scriptures (above, p.
62); letters; and a controversy most likely addressed to Justinian.31
Thomas of Edessa was probably also a disciple of Mar Aba.
He is the author of: a treatise on the Nativity; a treatise on the
Epiphany; a letter on Church hymns; an astrological problem;
several homilies; and discussions against heretics.32
According to ʿAbdishoʿ,33 Theodore, appointed bishop of
Merv in 540, composed a commentary on Psalms (above, p. 62),
solutions to philosophical questions (above, p. 215), a poem on St
Eugene, the alleged founder of monasticism in Mesopotamia, and
his companions, and finally a book of miscellania.34
Gabriel, bishop of Hormizd Ardashir and the brother of
Theodore, wrote books of controversy against the Manicheans and
30 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 223 and 225.

32 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 86. The two treatises on Nativity
and Epiphany are preserved in a MS from the monastery of St Jacob the

Recluse of the diocese of Siirt, a copy of which is held in the monastery of
the Mother of God at Alqosh. SIMON JOSEPH CARR published the
first treatise, Thomæ Edesseni tractatus de Nativitate D. N. Christi, Rome, 1898.
BAUMSTARK, Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 320, analysed these two
treatises, which are part of the Collection on the Causes of Festivities, written
for the School of Nisibis. Cyrus, a student of Thomas (middle of the 6th
century) whose treatises appear in the same MS, continued that collection
with other treatises by Henana of Adiabene (see following p.); by Isaiah,
priest and professor at the School of Seleucia (treatises on martyrs and
their confessors); by an anonymous author (on the Virgin Mary); by
professor Posi (on the Lent fast); treatises that are important for the study
of dogmas among the Nestorians. Cf. on a hymn attributed to Thomas of
Edessa, MACLEAN, East Syrian Daily Offices, p. 98.
34 The poem attributed to Theodore appears to postdate the time of
that author; G. HOFFMANN, Auszüge aus syr. Akten, p. 167, sees in it a

composition of Gerwargis Warda (13th century).
Chaldeans as well as approximately three hundred chapters on

difficulties encountered in the Scriptures.35
Joseph, who was elected patriarch in 552 and whose synodal
canons we discussed (p. 142), first made use of his medical skills at
Nisibis. Having been fortunate enough to heal Khosro
Anoshirwan, he owed to that king his appointment to the
patriarchal seat. According to Bar Hebræus,36 he showed himself
hard and cruel towards his bishops, who obtained his deposition
only three years after he had taken up that office. After his
deposition, Joseph wrote a history of the Nestorian partriachs, his
predecessors. Bar Hebræus accuses him of having fabricated
consolatory letters addressed to Papa, which circulated under the
name of Jacob of Nisibis and St Ephrem.37
Henana of Adiabene, the successor of Joseph of Ahwaz at the
School of Nisibis, attracted numerous — 800, it is said — disciples
to his side.38 He was responsible for a schism that shook the
Nestorian Church for some time (see above, p. 196). His works
include commentaries (above, p. 61), explanations on the Creed, the
liturgy, Palm Sunday, Golden Friday (the first Friday after Pentecost),
Rogation days, and the Finding of the Cross; and various treatises
in which he followed the commentaries of St John Chrysostom and
distanced himself from those of Theodore of Mopsuestia.39
Henana revised the statutes of the School of Nisibis and published

36 Chron. eccl., II, 95–97; comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I,
432.
37 Chron. eccl., II, p. 31; compare with above, p. 107–108. On the
contemporary figures Paul the Persian and the periodeut Buhd, see above,
p. 216 and 279.
39 These treatises belong to the Causes of Festivities, which we discussed
p. 302, note 32. BAUMSTARK, Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 330–331, has

analysed the Cause of the Golden Friday and the Cause of Prayer, which are in
the MS cited in the aforementioned note.
his revision in 590.40 Joseph Hazzaya was one of his partisans. The
Book of Chastity contains a note, analysed on p. 195–196, on that
individual.
Ishoʿyahb I, patriarch of the Nestorians (582–595), owed his
appointment to the episcopal seat to Hormizd IV, whose good
graces he could depend on. He was originally from the Beth
Arabaya (modern Tur Abdin); he studied at the School of Nisibis;
at the time of his election to the office of patriarch, he was the
bishop of Arzun. He died at the monastery of Hind at Hira during
a visit to Numan ibn al-Mundhir, king of the Arabs and a recent
convert to Christianity (comp. with above, p. 181). In his
Catalogue,41 ʿAbdishoʿ cites the following works of Ishoʿyahb: a
treatise against Eunomius; another against a Monophysite bishop
with whom had been in a controversy over a matter of dogma;
twenty-two questions on the Sacraments;42 canons and synodal
letters (above, p. 142); and an apology (above, p. 135).
Ishoʿ Zeka, or Zekaishoʿ, or even Meshihazeka,43 was a monk
in the monastery of Mount Izla; he left the monastery in the
company of monks whom Babi had driven out of it, and then
retired to the diocese of Dasen, where he founded the monastery
of Beth Rabban Zeka Ishoʿ or Beth Rabban in short; he is cited as
the author of an ecclesiastical history (above, p. 175–176).44
§3. — THE MONOPHYSITES

Nestorian literature is known to us only in its broad outline and it
is difficult to to pass judgment on it based on the works it
produced, since so few of them have survived. We can,
nonetheless, establish that it did not shine as brightly as
40 See GUIDI, Gli statuti della Scuola di Nisibi, Rome, 1890; Abbot
CHABOT, Journal asiatique, July-August 1896, p. 62. On a hymn by
Henana, see MACLEAN, East Syrian Daily Offices, p. 226.
42 There is a copy in the Vatican MS 150.
43 That is Jesus or Christ has triumphed.
44 On Abraham, abbot of the monastery of Mount Izla, see above, p.
145; on his successor Dadishoʿ, also see p. 145.

Monophysite literature and its writers never equalled such talented

authors as Jacob of Serug, Philoxenus of Mabbug, Sergius of
Reshʿayna or John of Asia.
Just as Nestorianism spread across Persia, encouraged by the
Sassanian kings, Monophysitism gradually grew among the Western
Syrians, under the disguise of Zeno’s Henotikon. Archimandrite Bar
Sauma, whose piety led him to be venerated as a saint, grew to
become the main proponent of the heresy of Eutyches in Syria. He
had attended the second synod of Ephesus; he was found guilty of
heresy by the Council of Chalcedon; he died in 458.45
We have every right not to view Simeon the Stylite
(† September 2, 459) as a Syriac author. The Monophysites
consider him to be one of their saints, a claim substantiated by the
three letters written under his name, with the Precepts and Warnings
addressed to the Brothers.46 Yet the question is whether these
writings were authentic, for Simeon was illiterate; he presumably
dictated his letters to one of his disciples.47 On that saint’s Syriac
Acts, see above, p. 126.
As has been demonstrated by the publication of the
correpondence exchanged between Jacob of Serug and the monks
of the monastery of Mar Bassus near Apamea,48 that bishop
undoubtedly belonged to the Monophysite confession. In that
45 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 161–165, 179, 181; ASSEMANI,

B. O., II, 2–9. His Life, as written by his disciple Samuel, has survived in
several British Museum MSS, WRIGHT, Catal., p. 1123; comp. with B. O.,
II, 296. One should not confuse that Monophysite with his Nestorian
contemporary, Bar Sauma of Nisibis, whom we discussed in the previous
section.
46 In the British Museum, Catal. of Wright, p. 951, n. 29; p. 986, n. 33;
p. 1153, col. 1; in Cambridge, Catal. of Wright and Cook, p. 849. 4.

47 See NŒLDEKE, Orientalische Skizzen, Berlin, 1892, p. 233.
TORREY published the three letters with an English translation, The

Letters of Simeon the Stylite in the Journal of the American or. Society, vol. XX,
1899, p. 252. Torrey recognises that the letters are apocryphal.
48 Edited with a French translation by Abbot F. MARTIN, Zeitschr. der
deut. morg. Gesell., XXX, p. 217 ff.

correspondence, Jacob, although still a youth, already shows

himself to be hostile to the dyophysite doctrine taught at Edessa,
where the future bishop of Serug was a student. In it we also learn
that he first rallied Zeno’s Henotikon before embracing the
Monophysite faith. Jacob was among the bishops who consecrated
John of Tella, a fervent Monophysite, under Justin.49 We possess
three biographies of that illustrious Syrian: one written by Jacob of
Edessa;50 the second by an anonymous author; as for the third, it is
a long versified panegyric attributed to one of his disciples named
George.51
Jacob was born in Kurtam on the Euphrates, probably in the
district of Serug. He became chorepiscopus of Haura, in the same
district. It is there that he wrote consolation letters to the
Christians of Najran and the inhabitants of the town of Edessa,
which was under threat from the Persians,52 and presumably also
the dogmatic letters addressed to the monks of the monastery of
Mar Bassus.53 In 519 he was appointed bishop of Batnan, the most
important town of the district of Serug; he was then sixty-eight
years of age and died two years later, in 521. He devoted his life to
studying, far from the christological polemics that agitated the
Orient in his time. Hence, as opposed to Severus of Antioch,
49 See KLEYN, Het Leven van Joh. van Tella, Leiden, 1882, VII and 31;
ZINGERLE, Zeitschr. für Kathol. Theol., XI, 92–108; GUIDI, La lettera di
Simeone vescovo di Beth-Arscham, Preface.
50 See Abbot F. MARTIN, l. c., p. 217, note 3. ASSEMANI has
published the text of that biography in B. O., I, 286.

51 ABBELOOS edited all three biographies, De vita et scriptis S. Jacobi.
F. CARDAHI printed extracts of the panegyric in his Liber thesauri, p. 37.

BICKELL, Bibliothek der Kirchenväter, n. 58, provides convincing arguments
against attributing that panegyric to a disciple of Jacob: he argues that it
should in fact be attributed to George of Serug, an author of the
8th century.
52 WRIGHT, Catal., p. 520, n. 15 and 16; and above, p. 120.
53 Abbot F. MARTIN, l. c., p. 224, note 3, dates the correspondence
between these monks and Jacob to the years 514 to 518, i.e. when he was
chorepiscopus.
Philoxenus of Mabbug and Paul of Edessa, he was not troubled by

the persecution of Monophysites decreed by Justin I following the
abolition of Zeno’s Henotikon. The condolence letter which Jacob
addressed to Paul of Edessa54 refers to Paul’s ill treatment in
November 519, when he was taken captive and brought to Seleucia
on the Orontes.55
The numerous letters of Jacob of Serug are mostly contained
in the British Museum MSS Add. 14587 and 17163. We have just
discussed his letters to the monks of the monastery of Mar Bassus,
to the Christians of Najran, to the inhabitants of Edessa and to
Paul of Edessa.56 Another letter to Stephen Bar Sudaili should also
be mentioned in the note devoted to him. His prose works include:
a liturgy;57 an order for baptism;58 six festal homilies;59 sermons on
sins, on the Friday of the third week of Lent and on Easter;
eulogies and a Life of Mar Hanina.60 Bar Hebræus attributes to that
author a commentary of the Six centuries of Evagrius, which he
allegedly wrote at the request of George, bishop of the Tribes, his
disciple.61 As Wright notes,62 however, that epithet, which
designates George of the Arabs, who lived in the 7th century, must
be incorrect. It is primarily thanks to his poems that Jacob of Serug
came to be admired by the Syrians, who gave him the title of “Flute
of the Holy Spirit and Harp of the Orthodox Church.” He
54 Published by Abbot F. MARTIN, l. c., p. 265.

55 The final condemnation and Paul of Edessa’s exile took place on
July 27, 522, by which point Jacob of Edessa had already passed away.
56 F. BEDJAN edited a dogmatic letter addressed to the inhabitants of
Arzen in S. Martyrii, qui et Sahdona, quæ supersunt omnia, Paris and Leipzig,
1902, p. 605.
57 Translated by RENAUDOT, Liturg. orient. collectio, II, 356.
58 Edited by J. ALOYSIUS ASSEMANI, Cod. liturg. eccl. univers., Rome,
1749–1766, II, 309; III, 184.

59 Translated into German by ZINGERLE, Sechs Homilien des h. Jacob
von Serug, Bonn, 1867. ZINGERLE edited one in the Monumenta syr., I, 91.
60 See WRIGHT, Catal., p. 364, 826, 844, 1113 and 1126.
61 BAR HEB., Chron. eccl., I, 191.
composed, as Bar Hebræus informs us,63 seven hundred and sixty

metric homilies, which seventy scribes then copied. They were
widely read and often reworked, to judge from the widely differing
texts given for the same poem by its different MSS. Not even half
of these homilies have survived. The first one of Jacob’s poetic
compositions which caught the attention of connoisseurs was,
according to Bar Hebræus,64 the homily on Ezechiel’s chariot, in
which the author predicted the conquest of Amid. We cannot give
an exhaustive list of his works here.65
Jacob of Serug, whose metric homilies met with resounding
success, was often imitated in Syria. Simeon Koukaya, a humble
potter from the village of Geshir, near the monastery of Mar
Bassus, composed religious hymns while still practicing his main
profession. The rumour of Simeon’s achievements having reached
Jacob, he decided to pay him a visit and took with him several of
his own hymns, in the hope that they might be published.66 Nine of
63 Chron. eccl., I, p. 191.

64 Chron. eccl., I, p. 190.
65 Comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 305–339; ABBELOOS, De vita et
scriptis S. Jacobi, p. 106–113. The main edition is that of the seventy

homilies published by F. BEDJAN, Homiliæ selectæ Mar Jacobi Sarugensis, I–
II, Paris and Leipzig, 1905 and 1906. Prior to it, several editions of various
homilies had been made by: F. BEDJAN in Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum, I,
III, V and VI, and in S. Martyrii, qui et Sahdona, quæ supersunt omnia, see the
Foreword of the Homiliæ selectæ, I, p. VIII; ZINGERLE, Zeitschr. der deut.
morgenl. Gesell., t. XII, XIII, XIV, XV and XX; Chrestomathia syriaca, Rome,
1871, p. 360–386; Monumenta syriaca, I, p. 21: Sermo de Thamar, Innsbruck,
1871; MŒSINGER, Monumenta syriaca, II, p. 52 and 76; WENIG, Schola
syriaca, Innsbruck, 1866; OVERBECK, S. Ephræmi syri… opera selecta, p.
382; Abbeloos, De vita et scriptis S. Jacobi, p. 203–301; PAULIN MARTIN,
Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesellschaft, XXIX, 107; CURETON, Ancient syriac
documents, p. 107; see also above, p. 159 ff. German translations of several
homilies by ZINGERLE, Sechs Homilien des heil. Jacob von Sarug, Bonn,
1867; and by BICKELL in the Bibliothek der Kirchenväter of Tallhofer.
66 JACOB OF EDESSA in the Catal. of Wright, p. 602; BAR
HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 191; ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 121, II, 322. Catal.
Wright, p. 363.
his poems on the Nativity of Our Lord are preserved in the British
Museum MS Add. 14520.
Philoxenus, Aksenâyâ in Syriac, a contemporary of Jacob of
Serug who outlived him by only two years, was born in Persia, at
Tahal in the Beth Garmai. He studied at Edessa under Ibas, but,
like Jacob, he rejected the dyophysite doctrine that he had learnt
from the bishop of Edessa and became one of the most ardent
apostles of the Monophysite confession. It is even allegedly at his
instigation that Bishop Cyrus appealed to Zeno to destroy the
School of Persians in 489.67 Appointed bishop of Mabbug
(Manbidj in Arabic, near the Euphrates) in 485 by Peter the Fuller,
patriarch of Antioch, Philoxenus, after the death of Zeno, sought
to make the most of the Monophysites being in the good graces of
Anastasius. He journeyed to Constantinople in 499 and in 506. In
512, after having succeeded, with the help of Soterichus, bishop of
Caesarea of Cappadocia, in sending Flavian into exile, he presided
over a synod in the course of which Severus was named bishop of
Antioch. With Justin, the clergy underwent a sea change: the
Monophysite bishops were driven out of their seats and replaced
by Orthodox figures. Among the exiles was Philoxenus, who was
first sent to Philippopolis of Thrace and from there to Gangres in
the Paphlagonia. There he died by asphyxiation, circa 523 AD,
having been locked up in a room filled with smoke.
Such was the sad conclusion to the life of the spirited bishop,
who spent his days fighting the Orthodox, whom he called the
Nestorian heretics.68 His fighting ardour did not affect his literary
genius; Syrians regarded him as one of their greatest writers.
Philoxenus only rarely wrote poetry; the hymn on the Nativity of
our Lord is his only known work of poetry and we are probably
mistaken in attributing that text to him. His prose compositions are
67 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, 56; Cf. VASCHALDE, Three letters
of Philoxenus, Rome, 1902, p. 3 ff.; NAU, Notice inéditre sur Philoxène de
Mabboug, in the Revue de l’Orient chrétien, VIII, 630.
68 See the letter that he addressed in 512 to the monks of the
monastery of Senun near Edessa, in ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 15.

important; in the first part of this book we mentioned the biblical

version that bears his name; his commentary on the Gospels;
thirteen homilies which he wrote on religious life;69 apart from
these, he also wrote: three liturgies (two of which have been
translated by Renaudot, Liturg. orient. collectio, II, 300–309); an order
for baptism; eucharistic prayers; a demonstration on the parable of
ten talents; treatises on the Trinity and on Incarnation;70 a treatise
on various heresies followed by a profession of faith; twelve
chapters against the Orthodox; twenty chapters against the
Nestorians; seven further chapters against them; a variety of
writings of the same type and several professions of faith;
declarations and responses to adversaries; a parenetic discourse; a
eulogy; prayers and monastic rules; numerous letters. These works
are contained in MSS now held in libraries in Rome, Paris, London,
Oxford and Cambridge.71
69 See above, p. 43, 54 and 191.

70 These treatises will shortly be published by VASCHALDE in the
Corpus scriptorum christianorum orientalium.
71 See BUDGE, The Discourses of Philoxenus, II, p. XLVIII ff. Beside the
homilies which Budge has edited, only several of the letters written by
Philoxenus have so far been published: ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 30–46,
edited some extracts; Abbot F. MARTIN, the letter to Abu Nafir of Hira,
Grammatica… linguæ syriacæ, Paris, 1874, p. 71 (on that letter, which may be
apocryphal, see TIXERONT, Revue de l’Orient chrétien, VIII, 623;
VASCHALDE, in the work cited below, p. 30); GUIDI, the letter to the
monks of Telada, La lettera di Filosseno ai Monaci di Tell Adda, 1886, in the
proceedings of the Accademia dei Lincei; FROTHINGHAM, the letter to
the priests of Edessa, Abraham and Orestes, Stephen bar Sudaili, p. 28; A.
VASCHALDE, Three letters of Philoxenus bishop of Mabbog, being the letter to the
monks, the first letter to the monks of Beth-Gaugal and the letter to the emperor Zeno,
Rone, 1902. In the Introduction to the second volumes of The Discourses of
Philoxenus, BUDGE printed the following writings of Philoxenus: (1) an
answer to the question: How should we believe?; (2) a profession of faith; (3)
an article against those who divide Our Lord; (4) twelve chapters against those
who believe that Christ is two natures and one person; (5) a treatise against the
Nestorians; (6) another one against Nestorius; (7) a refutation of the
The pantheist Stephen Bar Sudaili, whose doctrine was

refuted in two letters by his contemporaries Jacob of Serug and
Philoxenus of Mabbug, was originally a Monophysite. That heretic,
a perfectly pious monk, was born in Edessa in the second half of
the 5th century. In his youth he spent some time in Egypt, where
he was the disciple of a man named John, who appears to have
taught him the pantheistic ideas he would later profess in Edessa.
He initially denied the eternity of hell’s torments and claimed that
the damned, after having been purified by fire, returned to God “so
that God may be all in all” (I Cor., XV, 28). Jacob of Serug and
Philoxenus of Mabbug criticised this opinion in their letters.72
Driven out of Edessa on account of being a heterodox, Bar Sudaili
retired to Jerusalem, where were gathered Origenist monks who
shared his views. From there he remained in touch with his
disciples in Edessa. His writings, comprising letters, treatises,
mystical commentaries on the Bible, including on the Psalms, are
known to us exclusively from their mention in the letter which
Philoxenus addressed to Abraham and Orestes of Edessa. The
Book of Hierotheus has also been attributed to Bar Sudaili, written
under the name of Hierotheus, the alleged master of Dionysius the
Areopagite.73 That book, which had become so rare that Bar
Hebræus found it extremely difficult to acquire a copy of it,
survives in one manuscript only: the very one which Bar Hebraeus
acquired. The MS contains, beside the text, a commentary by
Theodosius.74 It had a considerable influence on pseudo-Dyonisiac
literature in Syria, but it was not, as Frothingham believed, the first
heresies of Mani and of others. On a letter to Patricius of Edessa, see J.-B.

CHABOT, De S. Isaaci Ninivitæ vita, Paris, 1892, p. 14.
72 Published by FROTHINGHAM in Stephen bar Sudaili, Leiden, 1886:
Jacob’s letter to Bar Sudaili, p. 1; and the letter of Philoxenus to Abraham

and Orestes, p. 28.
73 RYSSEL, Zeitschr. f. Kirchengeschichte, X, 156, brings into question that
attribution proposed by Frothingham.

74 British Museum, Add. 7189, Catal. Rosen et Forshall, p. 74; comp. with
Catal. Wright, III, suppl.

product of that literature, which was Greek in origin.75 Patriarch

Theodosius (887–896) and Bar Hebræus commented on the Book of
Hierotheus. Theodosius’s commentary is very detailed; it first
reproduces every chapter of the text, and appropriate passages are
then quoted again within the commentary proper; the work is
preceded by a general introduction, and a specific introduction
comes before each book. Bar Hebræus’s commentary is usually
nothing more than a summary of the one made by Theodosius, to
which are added extracts of the text, which are misused and
distorted.76
Simeon, bishop of Beth Arsham, a town near Seleucia on the
Tigris,77 brings us back to the subject of Persia. This fervent
Monophysite was a skilful dialectician who was given the epithet
ܰ ܽ
“Persian sophist,” ‫ܕܪܘܫܐ ܳܦܪܣܝܐ‬. With the zeal of an apostle he
fought various heresies, particularly Nestorianism, which had swept
across Babylonia.78 The Life of Simeon was composed by John of
Asia and was included in his History of the Blessed Orientals.79 He was
elevated to the episcopal seat under Patriarch Babai (498–503).
Simon died in Constantinople, where he was paying a visit to the
Empress Theodora. He is known as a writer from his letters on the
Yemenite Christian martyrs and on the propagation of
Nestorianism throughout Persia (above, p. 117–120 and 297); he is
also the author of a liturgy.80
75 See above, p. 276. On Bar Sudaili, comp. with BAR HEBRÆUS,

Chron. eccl., I, 221; ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 303, and II, 30; ABBELOOS, De
vita et scriptis S. Jacobi, Leuven, 1867, and mainly FROTHINGHAM,
Stephen bar Sudaili, Leiden, 1886.
76 See FROTHINGHAM, Stephen bar Sudaili, 86–88. MSS containing
the commentary of Bar Hebræus are held in the Bibliothèque nationale,

Catal. Zotenberg, p. 175–176; at the British Museum, Catal. Wright, p. 893–
895; and in Berlin, Catal. Sachau, n. 211, p. 680.
78 BAR HEBRÆUS, ibid., I, 189; II, 85; ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 341; II,
409; III, part I, 403.

79 Comp. with above, p. 129.
80 ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 345.
John bar Cursus, bishop of Tella or Constantine, sought, even

before Jacob Baradaeus, to convert Syria to Monophysitism. We
have two biographies of that bishop.81 Born in Callinice into an
aristocratic family, he joined the army but later left it to devote
himself to God. Made bishop of Tella in 519, John was driven out
of his seat in 521. On returning from a journey to Constantinople
two years later, he was arrested and sent to prison. He died in
Antioch in 538, at the age of fifty-five. His canons and Questions
have already been mentioned, p. 145–146; the profession of faith
which he addressed to the monasteries of his diocese is in the
British Museum MS Add. 14549. He is also the author of a
commentary on the hymn of the Trisagion.82
John bar Aphtonia and Mara of Amid, who declared
themselves in favour of the Monophysites against the orthodox,
were also persecuted by Justin. The former, driven out of the
monastery of St Thomas (at Seleucia on the Orontes) of which he
was the abbot, proceeded to found, on the left bank of the
Euphrates opposite Europus the monastery of Qenneshre, which
was to become famous for its school. He died in 538; his life,
which was written by one of his disciples, is contained in the
British Museum MS Add. 12174. John bar Aphtonia composed
hymns in Greek.83
Mara, bishop of Amid, was driven out of his seat in 519 and
sent into exile with Isidore, bishop of Qenneshre, to Petra of
Arabia, where he remained for seven years. After Justin’s death and
at Theodora’s request, Justinian sent his bishops to Alexandria in
Egypt, where they spent their last days. Mara wrote little; Assemani
attributes to him a commentary on the Gospels, see above, p. 55,
note 10.

82 Cod. Vat. 159 in Rome; Cod. Marsh 101 at the Bodleian.
83 Cf. above, p. 274. John bar Aphtonia should be distinguished from
John, superior at the monastery of Beth Aphtonia and the author of the
Life of Severus, above, p. 131.
Paul, bishop of Callinice, also fell victim to the Orthodox and

was ousted from his seat in 519. Paul retired to Edessa and devoted
his free time to translating the works of Severus of Antioch into
Syriac (see above, p. 273).
Jacob Baradaeus,84 the founder of the Jacobite Church,85
devoted his life to rebuilding the Monophysite party, which had
been deeply harmed under Justin and had become the target of
persecution by the orthodox patriarchs of Antioch, Euphrasius and
Ephrem.86 Jacob was born in Tella, the son of one of the town’s
priests, Theophilus bar Manu. In time he became a monk at the
monastery of Phesilta on Mount Izla. Around 528 he journeyed to
Constantinople, in the company of a monk of Tella named Sergius,
for he knew he would find in Empress Theodora a powerful ally of
the Monophysite cause. He remained in that town for the following
fifteen years. In 543 a lucky coincidence brought his efforts to
fruition: the king of the Ghassanid Arabs, Harith ibn Jabalah,
appealed to Theodora to send bishops to the provinces under his
control. At the request of the empress, Theodosius, the patriarch
sent into exile in Alexandria, appointed Theodore bishop of Bostra,
with Arabia and Palestine within his jurisdiction, and Jacob of
Baradaeus bishop of Edessa, with Syria and Asia Minor within his
jurisdiction. Jacob did not exercise his functions at Edessa proper,
which at that point had an Orthodox bishop, Amazonius; he
preached in Syria, Mesopotamia, Cilicia, Capadoccia, Isauria and
84 The nickname Baradaeus, ‫ ܽܒܘܪܕܥ ܢܐ‬in Syriac, derives from the coarse
felt fabric his clothes were made of, a material more commonly used in
saddle blankets.
85 The name Jacobite, Ἰακωβίτης, is Greek in origin; that is how the
partisans of Jacob were dubbed by his adversaries; the Jacobites referred

to themselves as The Orthodox.
86 KLEYN wrote the Life of Jacob Baradaeus, Jacobus Baradænus, de
Stichter der syrische Monophysietische Kerk, Leiden, 1882, after the Eccl. History
of John of Asia, ed. CURETON, and the Lives of the Blessed Orientals by the
same author, Anecd. syr. of LAND, t. II; comp. with above, p. 128–129.
ASSEMANI provided all the information he was able to collect on that
figure in B. O. II, 62–69, 326 and 331.
the neighbouring regions. In order to carry out the administration

of his Church in these provinces he appointed in Alexandria new
bishops of his confession; among these we find John, the famous
historian and bishop of Ephesus. The election of his old friend
Sergius to the patriarchal seat of Antioch further fulfilled his
wishes. Jacob did not, however, achieve his mission without a few
glitches: he had to excommunicate Conon and Eugenius, whom he
had appointed bishops, for being tritheists. Sergius passed away
three years after his installation at Antioch. Paul, an Alexandrian
abbot, took up the patriarchal seat after it had remained vacant for
three years. Dissent soon arose among the victorious
Monophysites. In 578 Jacob journeyed to Alexandria to discuss the
excommunication of Paul with Damien, but died en route at the
monastery of Mar Romanus or Casion. His corpse was stolen by
the emissaries of Zachee, bishop of Tella, but was eventually
returned to the monastery of Phesilta in 622.87 Only several of his
works have survived: a liturgy (translated in Renaudot, Lit. orient.
collectio, II, 333); letters (written in Greek and preserved in a Syriac
translation);88 a profession of faith (preservd in Arabic and
Ethiopic);89 a homily for the Annunciation holiday (preserved in
Arabic at the Bodleian).
87 The tale of that event, related by Mar Quryaqos in Syriac, was

published with a French translation by A. KUGENER, Comment le corps de
Jacques Baradée fut enlevé du couvent de Casion par les moines de Phesilta, in the
Bibliothèque hagiographique Orientale, Paris, 1902, p. 1–26; cf. Revue de l’Orient
chrétien, VII, p. 196–217.
88 British Museum MS Add. 14602, Catal. Wright, p. 701; KLEYN,
Jacobus Baradæus, p. 164–194.

89 KLEYN published the Arabic text, op. cit., p. 121; CORNILL the
Ethiopic text, Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., XXX, p. 417; comp. with
WRIGHT, Syriac liter., 2nd ed., 88; BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 217.
On a profession of faith of the monks who supported Jacob Baradaeus,
see LAMY, Actes du XIe Congrès des Orientalistes, Paris, 1897, p. 117 of the
Semitic section; cf. NŒLDEKE, Zeitschr. der deut. morgenl. Gesell., XXIX, p.
419.
John of Asia, one of the militant bishops of Jacob Baradaeus’s

party, is the authoritative historian of those troubled times. We
shall not here return to his Ecclesiastical History, the last part of
which contains a very interesting autobiography of sorts (above, p.
156–158), nor shall we return to the collection of the Lives of the
Blessed Orientals (above, p. 128–129). John was born at Amid in the
early 6th century. He was named deacon of the monastery of St
John in 529 but had to flee his home town to escape the
persecutions which Ephrem, patriarch of Antioch (529–544), and
Abraham bar Kili, bishop of Amid, had decreed against the
Monophysites. In 535 he was in Constantinople and there met up
with Jacob Baradaeus. Justinian greeted him warmly and appointed
him administrator of the goods of the Monophysite congregation.
Soon thereafter John left the capital city of the Greek empire and
journeyed with his friend Deuterius to Asia Minor in order to
convert the pagans there, as requested by the emperor. Once his
work was deemed successful, John was called back to
Constantinople to fight idolatry, which was still practised in and
around that town. The good fortune of this ardent bishop vanished
once his protector had passed away. Following the death of
Justinian, John’s life became an uninterrupted series of tribulations,
escapes and emprisonments, all of which he describes in his
History.90 For an analysis of the literary works of John of Asia, see
the above analysis of his Ecclesiastical History.91
In Part I we discussed the scientific work of Sergius of
Reshʿayna, which is virtually exclusively made up of translations of
Greek books.92 That distinguished bishop, who became chief
physician (ἀρχίατρος) at Reshʿayna, was a Monophysite priest who
grappled with matters of dogma. His questioning brought him

91 See above, p. 157. Abbot Duchesne painted a brilliant, albeit slightly
flattering, picture of that bishop, Mémoire lu à l’Académie des
Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, October 25, 1892.
92 See above, p. 213–215, 217, 224, 230–232, 238–239, 245–246, 272.
The historical collection of Zachariah attributes to Sergius a treatise on

faith, see LAND, Anecdota syriaca, III, p. 289, l. 12.
closer to the Orthodox, and the Nestorians saw him as one of their
own (ʿAbdishoʿ’s Catalogue). He had as disciple Theodore, the
Nestorian bishop of Merv, to whom he dedicated several of his
books. The Monophysites held him in low esteem as an individual
and in the Syriac collection of Zachariah he is censored for his
cupidity and depraved morals.93 The date and place of his birth is
unknown, but we do know that he studied at Alexandria, where he
learnt Greek. In 535 Sergius left Reshʿayna for Antioch, where he
was received by the Orthodox patriarch Ephrem, to whom he
complained about the ill treatment endured by his bishop Asylus.94
Ephrem was won over by his diplomatic approach and sent him on
a mission to Pope Agapetus. The scheming physician, accompanied
by a young architect named Eustathius, sailed off to Rome. He
returned to Constantinople with Agapetus and with his help the
pope obtained that all Monophysites be expulsed from that town.
Severus of Antioch and Theodosius of Alexandria, who were both
in exile, had retired there to be with Anthimus. Both he, and later
Severus, were forced into exile. Sergius died in Constantinople in
536,95 only a few days before Agapetus. The compiler of Zachariah,
who relates these events, sees in this double demise a miraculous
event.
Ahoudemmeh,96 whom ʿAbdishoʿ mistakenly labels as a
Nestorian writer, was first bishop of the Beth Arabaya (or Tur-
Abdin).97 His promotion to the metropolitan seat of Tagrit by
Jacob Baradaeus in 559 leaves no doubt as to his Monophysite
confession. That bishop converted a great many Persians, most
93 LAND, Anecdota syr., III, 289; BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl. I, 207;
on Sergius compare also with: ASSEMANI, B. O., II, p. 323; WRIGHT,
Syriac lit., 2nd ed., p. 88; BAUMSTARK, Lucubrationes syro-græcæ, p. 358 ff.
94 Not Ascolius, see KLEYN, Het Leven van Johannes van Tella, p. 59.
95 On that date, see BAUMSTARK, Lucubrationes syro-græcæ, p. 365.
96 That name means “he who resembles his mother”. NAU published
his Life in the Patrologia Orientalis, t. III, fasc. 1: Histoires d’Ahoudemmeh et de

Maroula, Paris, 1906.
97 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, 99; comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O.,
II, 414; III, part I, 192.

notably a young prince of the royal family whom he christened

George. Khosro Anoshirwan, made furious by these conversions,
put Ahoudemmeh in prison. There he passed away in 575.98 On his
philosophical and grammatical writings, see above, p. 216.
Moses of Aggel is known for his translation of the Story of
Joseph and Aseneth (above, p. 70) and his version of the Glaphyra of
Cyril of Alexandria, which he undertook at the request of the monk
Paphnutius. We still have both his letter and Moses of Aggel’s
reply, since they were placed at the head of the Glaphyra version,
as well as several fragments of that version in the Vatican Syr. MS
107; a short fragment in the Vatican MS 96; and other fragments in
the British Museum, Add. 14555.99 From the letter of Paphnutius
we learn that the treatise of Cyril on the On Adoration in Spirit and in
Truth had previously been translated into Syriac.100 We also know
(see above, p. 295) that Rabbula translated the treatise De recta fide
in Cyril’s lifetime. A passage from Moses of Aggel’s reply101
suggests that he was writing after the death of Philoxenus and
Polykarp, for he cites the Philoxenian version of the OT and NT
(see above, p. 43). Nothing is known of the life of Moses, which
Wright102 dates to the beginning of the second half of the 6th
century, between 550 and 570: “He cannot have lived much later,
he adds, for his translation of the Story of Joseph and Aseneth found its
way into the collection of Zachariah the Scholastic.”
98 He was not decapitated, as Bar Hebraeus claims; see NŒLDEKE,

Litter. Centralblatt, 1890, n. 35, p. 1216; NAU, op. cit.
99 GUIDI published the letters of Paphnutius and of Moses, after the
Vatican manuscript fragments, in the proceedings of the Academia dei

Lincei, May-June 1886, p. 399 ff. Guidi has shown, following the
description in Wright’s Catal., that the fragments in London and Rome are
but disjecta membra of a single manuscipt.
100 The Syriac version is in the British Museum MS Add. 12166 of 553
AD; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 491.

101 That passage had already been printed in ASSEMANI, B. O., II,
82–83.
102 Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 112–113.
We conclude this chapter with Peter of Callinice or Petrus

junior, who was appointed patriarch of Antioch in 578 and died in
591.103 That patriarch was famed for his Christological
controversies with Damien, patriarch of Alexandria. The treatise
which he composed against his adversary is divided into four
books, each made up of twenty-five chapters, of which manuscripts
are held in the Vatican, the British Museum and Berlin. Peter is also
the author of a liturgy, a treatise against the Tritheists, several
letters and a metric homily on Crucifixion.104
103 See ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 69 and 332; comp. with BAR
HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 250.
104 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 77 ff.; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 671, 951 and
1314; SACHAU, Catal., p. 2, col. 2.

III. WRITERS UNDER THE ARABS
§1. — THE 7TH CENTURY

The 7th century marked the start of a new era in Syriac literature.
Following the Muslim conquest, the Sassanian Empire collapsed
and vanished from the face of the earth. At the same time, the
Roman domination over Syria and Mesopotamia came to an end,
and its sphere of influence became restricted to Asia Minor alone.
In 636 the battles of Yarmouk and Qadisiya secured Arabic control
over Syria and Babylonia; the strongholds which had resisted
opened their gates the following year.
The early years of the century had not been favourable to
studies. The accession of Phocas in 602 had sparked renewed
hostility between Persians and Romans. For more than twenty
years Khosro II laid waste to Western Asia. Edessa fell in 609, and
as a result a great number of its inhabitants were deported to the
Segestan and Chorasan.1 The capture of Damascus in 613, and of
Jerusalem the following year, led to the Persian occupation of
Egypt and Asia Minor. Only in 622 was Heraclius free to strike
again. He went from victory to victory until he reached the heart of
the Persian Empire, thus forcing the enemy to relinquish Roman
territory. These successes did not bring peace to those ill-fated
Syrians. Heraclius took advantage of being in the Orient to drive
out the Jacobite bishops and monks and hand over to the
Orthodox clergy their churches and monasteries.
Once the Arab conquest had ended, peace was restored under
the Umayyads. The great religious clashes ceased as the Christians
1 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 264; comp. with R. DUVAL, Histoire

d’Edesse, Paris, 1892 (Extract from the Journal asiatique, 1891), p. 223 ff.
321
put aside their dissensions and united to defend their faith and
property against their new masters. Didactic books replaced
dogmatic treatises: the exegesis of the Holy Scriptures lost the high
view point it had gained from the study of dogma; its focus shifted
towards the correct form and pronunciation of the biblical text,
that is, towards grammar and philology. Because Arabic, the official
language, was soon to acquire the status of vernacular tongue, and
literary Syriac was exclusively taught in schools, this new method of
instruction became very widespread.
Nestorian writers outnumbered their Jacobite counterparts
during that century. Many among them, completing the work of
their predecessors, published the Lives of their Church’s saints,
monastic histories and ascetic treatises. Brief notes were provided
in Part I on the life and work of several of these authors.
Theodore bar Koni, bishop of Kashkar, probably lived in the
early 7th century.2 ʿAbdishoʿ’s Catalogue3 attributes to this author: a
book of scholia, an ecclesiastical history, instructions and sermons.
The Book of Scholia has survived in two manuscripts in the Orient
— one in Urmia, the other in Alqosh — as well as in several copies
held in Europe.4 The work is divided into eleven books that
contain: books I–VIII, scholia on the OT and NT; book IX, a
treatise against the Monophysites and the Orthodox and another
against the Arians; book X, a discussion between a pagan and a
Christian; and book XI, a treatise against heresies.5
2 Or Bar Kéwâni (son of Saturninus?) according to SACHAU; cf.,

MARTIN LEWIN, Die Scholien des Theodor bar Kôni, Berlin, 1905, p. XIV–
XVI.
4 In Berlin, as well as on several fragments in Cambridge.
5 Cf. BAUMSTARK, Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 173–178; SACHAU,
Γενεθλίακον, 1899, p. 63. MARTIN LEWIS published several scholia

from book I; and POGNON edited extracts from book XI, Inscriptions
mandaïtes des coupes de Kouabir, Paris, 1899, Append. II. Further extracts can
be found in the Chrestomathy of Ourmia (The Little Book of Crumbs),
Ourmia, 1898.
WRITERS UNDER THE ARABS 323
Ishoʿyahb II, originally from Gedala (near Mosul), taught at

the school of Nisibis; from bishop of Balad he was promoted to
the patriarchal seat in 628, following the death of Khosro II. In
630, Boran, the daughter of Khosro, instructed him to hand over
to Emperor Heraclius the wood from the Cross, taken by the
Persians after the conquest of Jerusalem. When the Muslims
invaded Babylonia, Ishoʿyahb was skilful enough to obtain from
them a decree issued in favour of the Christians of his province.
According to ʿAbdishoʿ,6 the patriarch’s writings include a
commentary on the Psalms (above, p. 62), letters, histories and
homilies. Of these writings we only have a hymn inserted in the
Nestorian Psalms, British Museum MS Add. 14675, and a dogmatic
letter in the Borgia Museum, K. VI, 4 (now held in the Vatican), p.
592.
Ishoʿyahb of Gedala was accompanied on his diplomatic
expedition to Heraclius by the famous Sahdona7 and by Ishoʿyahb
of Adiabene, who became patriarch under the name Ishoʿyahb III
following the death of Maremmeh in 650. Ishoʿyahb III was born
at Adiabene into a wealthy family; he studied at Nisibis; before
being appointed patriarch he was bishop of Mosul and later
metropolitan of Erbil and Mosul. During his episcopate he
developed a tense relationship with the Jacobites, who wished to
build a church in Mosul, and was the adversary of Sahdona. As
patriarch he found in Simeon, metropolitan of Rev Ardashir, a
strong opponent. Indeed, Simeon, with whom Ishoʿyahb
corresponded at length, would not pay obedience to him. His
works mentioned in ʿAbdishoʿ’s Catalogue include: A Refutation of
(Heretic) Opinions; controversial treatises; eulogies; discourses or
6 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 105. Amr, ed. GISMONDI, part II,
p. 53, attributes to Ishoʿyahb of Gedala: a treatise against the schismatics;
a book on ambiguous words; and a book on the Sacraments divided into
twenty-two questions and answers.
7 On this character, see above, p. 178 and 199.
homilies; hymns;8 an exhortation to novices; several liturgical

compositions; letters; and the history of Ishoʿsabran published by
Chabot (see above, p. 116). Ishoʿyahb also worked on a revision of
the Hudra or Nestorian Breviary.9 His Letters, most of which have
survived, are a mine of information on the religious history of his
time.10
Ishoʿyahb of Adiabene’s fellow students at the School of
Nisibis had been ʿEnanishoʿ and his brother, also named
Ishoʿyahb, who were originally from Adiabene as well. The two
brothers were ordained monk and entered the Great Monastery of
Mount Izla; ʿEnanishoʿ, who longed to visit the Holy Sites, then
left for Jerusalem and from there proceeded to the Scetis desert of
Egypt, the great centre of ascetic and monastic life. On returning to
Mesopotamia, the pious monk retired to the monastery of Beth
ʿAbe, where he worked with Ishoʿyahb III on the Breviary revision.
He later undertook, at the request of Patriarch George, the Syriac
version of the Lausiac History of Palladius. He is also credited with
the writing of a book of philosophy and treatises of lexicography;
these works have been discussed above, p. 122–124, 219, 255.
John of Beth Garmai, or John the elder, was abbot of the
monastery of Beth ʿAbe but eventually left that institution and
retired to a hill near Dakuka in the province of Beth Garmai. He
spent his final days in the monastery built by Ezechiel on that
location. Apart from the Chronicle and Lives of monks mentioned
earlier (p. 178 and 184), ʿAbdishoʿ11 attributes to him a collection of
scientific essays and maxims, as well as rules for beginners.
8 As WRIGHT notes in Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 173, note 7, the poem
attributed to him in the Liber thesauri of F. CARDHI, p. 124–125, belongs
to a much later period; comp. with above, p. 15, note 9.
9 An edition of the Nestorian Breviary, reworked for the Chaldean
catholics, was published by F. BEDJAN in Paris, 1886–1887, Breviarium

Chaldaicum, I–III.
10 They were published with a Latin translation by RUBENS DUVAL,
Isoyahb patriarche III liber epistularum, in the Corpus scriptorum christianorum

orientalium, Paris, 1904–1905.
George, the successor of Ishoʿyahb III on the patriarchal seat

of Seleucia (660–680), was born into a wealthy family in Kaphra in
the Beth Garmai. He entered the monastery of Beth ʿAbe as amonk
and was appointed metropolitan of Adiabene by Ishoʿyahb III.12
Of his works have survived synodal canons and a dogmatic letter
(above, p. 142); he also composed homilies, hymns and prayers.
George of Nisibis, whom Patriarch Ishoʿyahb III named
metropolitan of Perat of Maisan (or Basra), was a contemporary of
the aforementioned George. He is the author of a hymn for the
Church inscription.13
Elias, the bishop of Merv who took part in the election of
Patriarch George, wrote, besides commentaries and an
ecclesiastical history (above, p. 62 and 176), letters and other works
which have not survived.
Henanishoʿ I was appointed patriarch in 686 and died in
701.14 John of Dasen, bishop of Nisibis known to some as “the
Leper,” vehemently opposed him and succeeded in gaining the
support of caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Henanishoʿ was
deposed, thrown into prison, and later led up a mountain and
pushed into a ravine, where he very nearly expired. He was rescued
by shepherds but the fall left him with a limp which earned him the
nickname “the Cripple.” He remained at the monastery of Yaunan
near Mosul until the death of his enemy, at which point he
reclaimed the patriarchal seat. His works comprise homilies,
discourses, letters; a Life of his contemporary Sergius Dewada; a
treatise On the Dual Role of the School as a place devoted to the
12 THOMAS OF MARGA, Histoire monastique, book II, chap. XII.

13 THOMAS OF MARGA, l. c.; ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, p. 456.
That hymn is edited in the Liber thesauri of F. CARDAHI, p. 71. It was
translated into English by MACLEAN, East Syrian Daily Offices, London,
1894, p. 158.
14 According to Elias of Nisibis in the Fragmente syrischer und arabischer
Historiker of BÆTHGEN, p. 38 and 120; comp. with WRIGHT, Syriac

liter., 2nd ed., p. 182.
instruction of morals and religion as well as of literature; a

commentary of the Analytics, mentioned above, p. 219.15
The works of the Jacobites of the 7th century, although fewer
in number, are better known to us. On p. 44–45 we mentioned
Paul of Tella’s version of the OT and Thomas of Harkel’s version
of the NT. Thomas of Harkel is also the author of a liturgy.16
Several years later there appeared versions by Abbot Paul (above,
p. 274) of the books of Gregory of Nazianzus and the Octoechus of
Severus.
After Ahoudemmeh, discussed at the end of the previous
chapter, the best-known Jacobite metropolitan of Tagrit is
Marutha. He does not appear to have born the title of maphrian,17
i.e. of propagator of the Monophysite confession in Persia. The
number of Jacobites increased greatly in Iraq since the Sassanian
kings deported into their empire the captives from Syria and
Western Mesopotamia. Marutha was born in the Persian Empire at
Beth Nuhadre; he led a monastic life in the monasteries of
Zacchaeus at Callinicum and of Mar Mattai near Mosul, and
studied for some time in Edessa. Thanks to the physician Gabriel,
Marutha then resided at the Persian court, where the Monophysite
party was well thought of. Following Gabriel’s death he retired to
Akula (the Arabs’ al-Kufah); he was named metropolitan of Tagrit
in 640 and expired in 649. His life was recorded by his successor
15 On this patriarch and his writings, see BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl.,
II, 133 ff.; ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 422; III, part I, 615; WRIGHT, Syriac
lit., 2nd ed., 181; Amr, ed. GISMONDI, II, 58.
16 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 92. Are also attributed to him versions of
several Greek liturgies.

17 According to IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI, that title
seems to date to after the time of Marutha of Tagrit, Studia Syriaca, Mount
Lebanon, 1904, p. 62; and F. NAU, Histoires d’Ahoudemmeh et de Marouta, p.
12, note 3, in the Patrologia orientalis, t. III, fasc. 1, Paris, 1906. It was
probably given to Denha, the successor of Marutha on the metropolitan
seat of Tagrit. Marutha of Tagrit should not be mistaken for Marutha of
Maipherkat, who preceded him by more than two centuries (see above, p.
104).
Denha.18 Apart from his commentary on the Gospels (above, p.

55), Marutha composed a liturgy,19 hymns and sedras (rhythmical
prayers for the sacrifice of mass); a refutation of a Nestorian
lampoon.20
Severus Sebokht is known for his scientific works (above, p.
239). His theological writings are made up of: a treatise on the
weeks in Daniel; a liturgy; a letter to the periodeut Basil of Cyprus;
and other letters to Sergius of Sinjar on two discourses by Gregory
of Nazianzus.21
John I († 648), patriarch of Antioch in 631, composed
numerous sedras or liturgical prayers, which owed him the name
“John of the Sedre”; he is also the author of a liturgy.22
We now come to the second half of the century, during which
period the eminent Jacob of Edessa towered above all other
authors by the breadth and variety of his scientific knowledge and
by the superiority of his literary talent. The bishop was born in 633
in the village of ʿEn Deba in the diocese of Antioch. He studied the
Scriptures and Greek at the monastery of Qenneshre under Severus
Sebokht and completed his education in Greek at Alexandria.
Appointed bishop of Edessa by Patriarch Athanasius, his former
schoolmate, Jacob did not succeed in imposing discipline on the
monasteries of his diocese (see above, p. 146). Following this
failure, he abandoned his episcopal seat and retired to the
monastery of St Jacob at Kaisum; Habib, a placid old man, replaced
him in Edessa. His stay in Edessa lasted four years. If, as seems
probable, his appointment as bishop was announced in 684, the
year that saw Athanasius become patriarch, he must certainly have
18 Published by F. NAU, op. cit., see note 2 on previous p.

19 Translated by RENAUDOT, Lit. orient., II, 261; cf. F. NAU, op. cit.,
p. 55, note 4.
20 Cf. F. NAU, op. cit., p. 55. On a homily for the New Sunday
attributed to Marutha, see above, p. 104, note 18.

21 WRIGHT, Catal., p. 432 and 988; ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 463.
22 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 275; ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 335.
According to Bar Hebræus, he translated the Gospels into Arabic at the

instruction of the emir Amr ibn Saad; that note cannot be accurate.
left Edessa in 688. Soon thereafter he was made professor at the

monastery of Eusebona, in the diocese of Antioch, where he taught
the Scriptures based on the Greek version during eleven years; he
renewed and perfected the monastery’s teaching of Greek. Owing
to difficulties encountered with the other monks there, Jacob then
moved to the monastery of Telada; his works on the OT kept him
there for nine years (see above, p. 46). At the death of Habib he
returned to his prior episcopal seat but occupied it for no more
than four months. Having returned to the monastery of Telada in
order to recover his books, Jacob died there on June 5, 708.23
Jacob was a distinguished polygraph: as a theologian,
philosopher, historian, exegete and grammarian he renewed Syriac
studies within the sciences. We have already discussed the most
important of his prose works (see above, p. 48, 55, 73, 146–147,
163, 209, 217, 239, 246, 266, 275); here should also be mentioned
several liturgical writings: a liturgy and a revision of the liturgy of St
James, brother of Our Lord; the Book of Treasures, which contains
the orders for baptism, the consecration of water and wedding
celebrations; a translation of Severus’ order for baptism; a
Horologium containing the services for the hours of the week and a
calendar of the year’s holidays.24 The illustrious bishop is also the
author of prose homilies, only several of which have come down to
us are known to us: homilies on the sacrifice at mass, on the use of
unleavened bread, against the Dyophysites, and against those who
transgress the Church canons.25 There are only few metric
homilies: one of them is devoted to the Trinity and Incarnation;
another, on faith, is attributed to Jacob of Edessa but is the work
23 According to Michael the Syrian, ed. CHABOT, 445 (transl. II,

471); BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., p. 293; and ELIAS OF NISIBIS in
BÆTHGEN, Fragmente, etc., p. 40 and 121. According to Michael, Jacob
lived in Edessa before his appointment as bishop of that town, cf. loc. cit.
and ibid., p. 444 (transl., 468).
24 These works survive in several manuscripts held in European
libraries. The various parts of the Book of Treasures are reproduced

separately by WRIGHT, Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 145; Catal., p. 984 and 996
25 WRIGHT, Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 146; Catal., p. 984 and 996.
of Jacob of Serug.26 Jacob frequently corresponded with members

of the clergy of his time. Several of his letters have already been
considered: those to Paul of Antioch on the writing reform (p.
246); and to George of Serug on orthography (p. 248). Others were
addressed to priest Addai, on baptism and on the consecration of
water;27 to deacon Barhadbshabba, against the Council of
Chalcedon; to John the Stylite of the monastery of Litarba near
Aleppo; to Eustathius of Dara; to Kyrisona of Dara; to the priest
Abraham; to the deacon George; and to the sculptor Thomas.28
Athanasius of Balad, to whom Jacob of Edessa owed his
nomination to the bishopric of that town, had studied with him at
the monastery of Qenneshre, then under the direction of Severus
Sebokht. He spent some time at the monastery of Beth Malka, then
served as priest at Nisibis and finally was elected patriarch of the
Jacobites in 684; he died in 686 AD. Athanasius published several
works of philosophy (above, p. 217–218) and translations of
Gregory of Nazianzus and Severus of Antioch (above, p. 266 and
273). Further writings of this author include an encyclical letter on
26 F. CARDAHI printed extracts from it in the Thesaurus de acta poetica,

p. 18–21; the complete text with a Latin translation by UGOLINI in the
vol. Al sommo Pontifico Leone XIII, Ommagio Giubilare della Biblioteca Vaticana,
Rome, 1888. It was published under Jacob of Serug’s name by
ASSIBILANI, Beyrouth, 1900; cf. Le Machriq, IV, 228. MANNA,
Morceaux choisis de littérature araméenne, Mosul, 1901, t. II, p. 25, edited a
poem on the Darkness which is outside under the name of Jacob of Edessa.
27 Comp. with above, p. 146.
28 These letters are preserved in the British Museum MS Add. 12172.
WRIGHT published two of these in the Journal of sacred liter., 4th series, X,
430; SCHRŒTER gave another, Zeitschr. der deut. morg. Gesell., XXIV, 261;
a fragment in the Grammatica syr. of NESTLE. 1st ed., p. 83, on the Wise
Men; three letters by NAU in the Revue de l’Orient chrétien, V, p. 581; VI, p.
115; IX, p. 512.
the relations between Christians and Muslims, as well as several

liturgical prayers.29
George, a friend of Jacob of Edessa, was appointed bishop of
the Arabic Monophysite tribes in 686, and his episcopal seat was at
Akoula. The most important book by George is his translation of
Aristotle’s Organon (above, p. 218); he composed scolia on the
Scriptures (above, p. 56); he compiled scholia on the homilies of
Gregory of Nazianzus (above, p. 268) and completed the
Hexameron of Jacob of Edessa (p. 209). George is also the author of
a commentary on the Sacraments of the Church,30 a metric homily
on the Holy Chrism,31 another homily on hermits, and a treatise in
twelve-syllable lines on the calendar.32 His correspondence with
such figures as John the Stylite of Litarba and priests Jacob and
Ishoʿ is preserved in part in MS Add. 12154, written from 714 to
718. One of the most interesting letters is addressed to priest Ishoʿ
(above, p. 190); on his canons, see p. 147. George passed away in
724.33
We shall dwell neither on George, bishop of Maipherkat or
Martyropolis and author of several epistles, nor on his two disciples
29 ZOTENBERG, Catal. p. 28 and 47; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 218. On

Januarius Candidatus of Amid, a contemporary of Athanasius, see above,
p. 267.
31 Catal. Vat., III, 162; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 848. Extracts in the Liber
thesauri of F. CARDAHI, p. 30.

32 Catal. Vat., III, 532; ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 495.
33 RYSSEL edited both metric homilies in the Atti Della R. Accademia
dei Lincei, 1891, vol. IX, parte II, p. 46 ff.; and he gave a German
translation of the text in Georgs des Araberbischofs Gedichte und Briefe, Leipzig,
1891, p. 1–14; follows: the translation of the commentary on the
sacraments of the Church, the letters of George, the end of the Hexameron
of Jacob of Edessa and various citations. RYSSEL edited the letters
addressed to John the Stylite on astronomy in the Zeitschr. f. Assyriologie,
VIII, p. 1–55. In these letters George mentions his Chronicon (now lost).
RYSSEL wrote a biography of George in the work cited above, Georgs des
Araberbischofs Gedichte, p. XV.
Constantine and Leo, who both were bishops of Harran.

Constantine, who believed in the dual nature of Christ, wrote
treatises of controversy against the Monophysites. Of Leo’s work
we only know a letter addressed to the Jacobite patriarch Elias.34
In this letter Leo asked Elias the reasons for his conversion.
Elias had, it is true, belonged to the Dyophysite party but had then
rallied the Monophysite doctrine after reading the works of Severus
of Antioch. He had been a monk at the monastery of Gubba
Barraya, then bishop of Apamee, and was finally elected patriarch
of Antioch in 709; he died in 724. The apology which he wrote in
response to Leo’s letter has come down to us.35
John Maron, patriarch of the Maronites, also belongs to that
century. To him are attributed: a presentation of faith and two
short treatises, one directed at the Jacobites and another at the
Nestorians. The attribution of these works to John Maron has been
contested, but it is defended by Nau, who published the Syriac
texts with a translation, as an authography, after the Paris MS syr.
203.36

The 8th century was brilliant neither for the eastern nor the
western Syrians; in truth it marked the beginning of the decline of
Syriac literature.
According to the history of Thomas of Marga, Babai of
Gebilta, who lived under the Nestorian patriarch Salib-zacha (714–
34 ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 465 ff.; WRIGHT, Syriac lit., 2nd ed., p. 160.
ASSEMANI placed George of Maipherkat around 580; WRIGHT argues
in favour of the following century.
35 In two incomplete MSS, one in the Vatican, Cod. Vat. 145, the other
in the British Museum, Add. 17187; see WRIGHT, Syriac lit., 2nd ed.,
p. 161.
36 NAU, Opuscules Maronites, Paris, 1899. That publication contains a
dissertation on the Maronites and their orthodoxy. AL. ASSEMANI (cod.

liturg., t. V) also edited under John Maron’s name a Presentation of liturgy,
but LABOURT (Dionysius bar Salibi; Exposito liturgiæ) has shown that it is a
reworking of the text by Bar Salibi.
728), devoted his time to reforming the music of the Nestorian

Church. He founded several schools in the dioceses of Adiabene
and of Marga, including at Kephar-Uzzel and Bashoush, for the
teaching of his new method. At first he established his residence at
Kephar-Uzzel, but he later left to spend his final days at Gebilta, in
the diocese of Tirhan, where he was born. Babai composed
eulogies, canticles, homilies, hymns and letters.37
Assemani dates Barsahde of the town of Karka of Beth Slok,
author of an ecclesiastical history38 and a treatise against the
religion of Zoroaster, to the time of Patriarch Pethion (731–740).
Abraham bar Dashandad taught at the school of Bashoush,
which, as noted earlier, had been founded by Babai de Gebilta. In
spite of his puny nature, which owed him the nickname of
“cripple,” Babai is said to have predicted to his mother early in life
that he was destined to a brilliant future.39 In the preface to his
lexicon, Bar Bahloul cites him as one of his authorities. ʿAbdishoʿ’s
catalogue attributes to him the following works:40 a book of
exhortations; homilies on penitence (var. on cupidity); letters; the
Book of the King’s Way; a controversy with the Jews; and a
commentary on the treatises of Mark the monk.
Mar Aba II, or simply Aba (?), was named patriarch of the
Nestorians in 741 and died in 751. He had previously been bishop
of Kashkar, his birthplace. Bar Hebræus cites the following work as
having been composed by that author: a commentary on the works
37 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 117 ff. Several of these hymns are
preserved in MSS held in the libraries of London, Paris and Munich, see
WRIGHT, Syriac lit., 2nd ed., p. 185. A hymn has been translated into
English by MACLEAN, East Syrian Daily Offices, p. 157. That Babai has
been mistaken for Babai bar Nasibnaya, the author of hymns and ascetic
books (end of VI˚ 1). See ADDAI SCHER, Rev. de l’Or. chrét., 1906, p. 18.
38 Comp. with above, p. 175. That Barsahde and Sahdona, who was
also known as Barsahde, are not the same person, see above, p. 199.
39 See the Monastic History of THOMAS OF MARGA, book III,
chap. III.
of Gregory of Nazianzus.41 ʿAbdishoʿ cites as that author’s work:

demonstrations; letters; a commentary on Aristotle’s Rhetoric; and
the Book of Strategists.42
Simeon of Kashkar or Simeon bar Tabbahe (“son of the
butchers”), to whom ʿAbdishoʿ attributes an ecclesiastical history
(above, p. 176), also lived during the 8th century.
Surin was bishop first of Nisibis then of Houlvan or Halah.
His troubled life was plagued by multiple intrigues. Named
patriarch in 754 by the Arab emir of Al-Madain (Seleucia on the
Tigris), he was immediately deposed, at the request of the bishops,
by Caliph Abdallah. Sent in the capacity of bishop to Basra, Sourin
was driven away by the town’s inhabitants and spent his final days
in prison. He is cited as the author of a treatise against the heretics;
demonstations and questions; and an Arabic translation of part of
the Book of Elements, which is attributed to Aristotle.43
Cyprian, who was bishop of Nisibis in 741, built in 767 the
first Nestorian church in Tagrit, seat of the Jacobite metropolitan
of the East; several years earlier, in 758–759, he had erected a
sumptuous church in Nisibis; he died in 767. He composed a
commentary on the theological homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus
and a treatise on ordination.44
Abu-Nuh of Anbar was the secretary of the Muslim governor
of Mosul and a contemporary of Patriarch Timothy I, who speaks
very highly of him in his encyclical letters of 790 and 805.45 He is
41 Chron. eccl., II, p. 153; comp. with above, p. 268, and MARI, I, 66.
42 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, 154 and 157, comp. with above, p. 219.
Chabot published and translated one of his letters in the Actes du Congrès
des Orientalistes de Paris, 1897, Sect. sémitique, p. 295 ff.
43 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 169. Contra: ADDAI SCHER, l. c.,
p. 22.
44 Catal. d’Ebedjésu in ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 111–123. Wright
(Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 191, note 1) writes that “when referring to the
theological homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus, ʿAbdishoʿ probably means
the homilies entitled Theologica Prima, etc.; see, for instance, WRIGHT,
Catal., p. 425, n. 22–25.”
45 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 82 and 164.
the author of: a refutation of the Quran; a refutation of heretics;

and a Life of John of Daylam.46
Apart from the synod which bears his name (above, p. 142),
Patriarch Henanishoʿ II (775–779) is the author of letters, hymns
for the dead, five tomes of metric homilies and ten questions.47
Patriarch Timothy I,48 the successor of Henanisho II, had
Abraham bar Dashandad as a teacher at the school of Baschousch.
Prior to being elected patriarch, he had been bishop of Beth
Bagash. His election, which was the result of intrigues, was vividly
contested by several bishops; although appointed in 779, he was
not installed before May of 780. Numerous Nestorian missions
across central Asia were testimony to the zeal of his administration.
He died on January 9, 823.49 Timothy was one of the most prolific
writers of the century; his works include:50 the Book of Stars (239); a
volume of questions; legal canons (above, p. 150); synodal canons
(above, p. 142–143); homilies for all the annual dominical holidays;
a commentary on the works of Gregory of Nazianzus (above, p.
268); around two hundred letters split into two tomes;51 one of
these letters contains a long apology of the Christian religion, as
pronounced by Timothy before Caliph Al-Mahdi.

48 On Timothy, see O. BRAUN, Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 138:
J. LABOURT, De Thimotheo I nestoriorum patriarcha, Paris, 1904. Labourt

doubts that Abraham, Timothy’s master, was the same person as
Abraham bar Dashandad.
49 On that date see ʿAbdishoʿ in LAGARDE, Prætermissorum libri duo,
p. 93, l. 1; comp. with Amr, ed. GISMONDI, p. 66.

50 See BRAUN, Oriens Christianus, 1901, p. 146–149; LABOURT, De
Timotheo I, p. XIII–XV.
51 Fifty-nine of these letters are contained in the Vatican MS (old
Borgia K. VI, 2). Several have been published in part or in full by:
BRAUN, Oriens Christianus, 1901, p. 300; 1902, p. 1; 1903, p. 1;
POGNON, Une version syriaque des Aphorismes d’Hippocrate, Leipzig, 1903, p.
XII; MANNA, Morceaux choisis de littérature araméenne, Mosul, 1902, II, p.
32–53.
On Ishoʿdnah and his works, see above, p. 177.

The Western Syrians had little to do with the literary
production of that period. It is as if their intellect had been
shrouded in fog for the first three quarters of the 8th century.
Lazarus of Beth Qandasa is known exclusively from the
commentary that he compiled on the NT.52 He lived around 775,
as suggests a chronological list placed at the end of the third part of
the Pauline epistles, which ends in that year with the name of
Caliph Al-Mahdi.53
Daniel, the son of Moses the Jacobite, is cited by Elias of
Nisibis as the author of a chronicle 54 and may have been a
contemporary of Al-Mahdi.
Theophilus of Edessa, son of Thomas, was remarkably
famous among the Western Syrians of his time. The distinguished
astronomer, who was held in high esteem by Caliph Al-Mahdi and
belonged to the Maronite confession, died in 785. Besides treatises
on astronomy, Theophilus’s works, which are now lost, included a
history and a Syriac version of the Iliad and Odyssey; attributed to
him is the invention of the vowel signs used by the Jacobites.55
George was elected patriarch of Antioch in 758 during a
synod held at Mabbug. As for the minority opposition, it chose the
Antipatriarch John of Callinice. John urged Caliph Al-Mansur to
take action against George, who remained in prison for nine years.
That patriarch died in 790 at the monastery of Bar Sauma near
Malatya during an episcopal tour. Apart from a commentary on the
Gospel of St Matthew (above, p. 56), George also wrote while in
prison a number of treatises and metric homilies. These have
unfortunately not survived.
Quryaqos, the second successor of George on the seat of
Antioch, was elected in 793 and died in 817. Both the liturgical
52 See above, p. 56. The British Museum MS Add. 18295 also contains
a scolion of Lazarus on a passage by pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite.
53 WRIGHT, Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 162.
55 See above, p. 248, 280.
reforms he intended to implement and the pact which he signed

with Gabriel, patriarch of the Julianist Armenians, fell through due
to the opposition of his adversaries. His late life was bitter and full
of worries.56 The canons composed by Quryaqos at the synod
which he had convened, to organise the reform of liturgy, at Beth
Botin, a town of the Harran diocese, are preserved in several
manuscripts.57 Besides these, that patriarch also wrote: a liturgy;58 a
homily on the vine parable;59 a synodal epistle on the Trinity and
Incarnation addressed to Marc, patriarch of Alexandria, and which
exists in Arabic.60
In the second half of the 8th century lived David of Beit-
Rabban, son of Paul, a Jacobite abbot born in Beth Shehak, in the
region of Nineveh.61 The following works have been attributed to
this author: a grammatical work (above, p. 250); letters;62 a
commentary on chap. X of Genesis;63 a Dialogue between a Melkite
and a Jacobite on the addition of qui crucifixus es pro nobis to the
Trisagion.64 He is also credited with having written texts which
56 See BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 329 ff. The union act, signed by
Quryaqos, Gabriel and several bishops, can be found in the British
Museum MS Add. 17145, WRIGHT, Syriac liter., p. 166.
57 Above, p. 147; comp. with BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 331.
58 WRIGHT, Catal., p. 206 and 210.
60 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 117. Michael the Syrian, ed. CHABOT, III,
p. 498 (transl., p. 35), attributes to Quryaqos: “a volume of his doctrine

and another of remarkable letters”.
61 Cf. IGNATIUS EPHRÆM II RAHMANI, Studia syriaca, Mount
Lebanon, 1904, Adnotatio in cap. X, p. 67. In his Storehouse of mysteries, Bar

Hebræus gives him sometimes the title of monk, sometimes that of
bishop.
62 Published by RAHMANI, opere cit., chap. X.
63 Published by LAGARDE, Prætermissorum libri duo, Gœttingen, 1879,
p. 244.
64 Vatican MS syr. 146 and 208; at the Bibl. nationale, Catal. Zotenberg,
p. 154; at the Bodleian (in Arabic), Catal. Payne Smith, col. 449 and 459; on
the addition in question, see ASSEMANI, B. O., I, 518 ff.; II, 305 ff., and
appear to belong to a later period: a metric homily on climates

(above, p. 240); twenty-two oddly-structured poems on the love of
wisdom;65 a poem on the Syriac alphabet which brings to mind the
alphabetical midrashim of the Jews,66 a note on the letters that
permutate,67 which probably belongs to his grammatical work; a
poem on morals in twelve-syllable lines;68 another poem on
atonement.69

The 9th century saw a resurgence of scientific and historical studies
among the Syrians. Foremost among the Nestorian writers of that
time were those physicians who were in the Abbasid caliphs’ good
graces: Gabriel Bokhtishoʿ, John bar Maswai, Hunayn, John son of
Serapion (see above, p. 233–235).
Gabriel Bokhtishoʿ was a physician at the court in Baghdad
under Haroun al-Raschid, Amin and al-Ma’mun; he died in 828. He
had been, along with John bar Maswai, one of Hunayn’s masters.70
On his scientific work, see above, p. 233.
John bar Maswai was born in the late 8th century in a village
near Nineveh. He studied at Baghdad under the supervision of
Ishoʿ bar Nun, who became patriarch following the death of
Timothy I. John was the director of the most thriving school in the
capital of the caliphs; he died in 857.71
the dissertation by BAR SHAKKO in his Book of Treasures, 2nd part, chap.
14.
65 Printed by ELIAS MILLOS, Directorium spirituale, Rome, 1868,
p. 172–214. Several stanzas in CARDAHI, Liber thesauri, p. 138.

66 Vatican MS 207; 197 and 215 of the Bibl. nationale. It has been
edited by R. GOTTHEIL in Zeitschr. f. Assyriologie, VIII, 86–99.

67 MS 276 of the Bibl. nationale.
68 Vatican MS 96.
69 In an Arabic version, Vatican MS 58.
70 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. syriacum, ed. BRUNS, 139 and 170; ed.
BEDJAN, 134 and 162.

71 IBN ABI OUSEIBIA, I, 175; the Kitâb al-Fihrist, 295; ASSEMANI,
B. O., III, part I, 501. Comp. with above, p. 234.

Hunayn, Abu Zayd Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi in Arabic, was

equally famous among Christians and Muslims for his Syriac and
Arabic translations of Greek books. In part I72 we saw
that, as a historian, philosopher, physician, grammarian and
lexicographer, he worked on a wealth of different scientific
subjects. ʿAbdishoʿ also attributes to him a Book on the Fear of God,
which he wrote when he was a deacon.73 He wrote many of his
works in Arabic, but these fall outside the scope of the present
study. That eminent physician was born at Hira and belonged to
the Nestorian community of the Ibâd.74 He first attended John bar
Maswai’s classes in Baghdad; however, having displeased his
master, he settled in the West and studied Greek there. When he
returned to Baghdad, his medical knowledge impressed Gabriel
Bokhtishoʿ, who reconciled him with his former master. He was
appointed physician to Caliph al-Mutawakkil and died in 873.75
John, son of Serapion, lived around the end of the century.
His father, originally from the Beth Garmai, was a physician. His
two sons, John and David, also embarked on medical careers.76
Nothing certain is known of the life of Zachariah of Merv,
author of a Syriac lexicon, and who should probably be identified
with the physician Abu Yahya al-Marzawi, to whom are attributed
writings on logic (see above, p. 220 and 256). That author probably
lived in the second half of the 9th century.
Ishoʿ bar Ali, a disciple of Hunayn and the author of another
Syriac lexicon (above, p. 256), was a contemporary of Zachariah.
A treatise on lexicography is attributed to Ishoʿ bar Nun
(above, p. 254), but the Nestorian patriarch is mostly remembered
for his theological writings. Ishoʿ bar Nun had Abraham bar
Dashandad as a teacher and Timothy as fellow student. He
72 Above, p. 176, 220, 234, 249, 254–256.

74 Ibn Abi Ouseibia pronounces it Abâd but the form Ibâd is favoured
by the other authors, see NŒLDEKE, Tabari, p. 24, note 4; AUGUST

MUELLER, Lesarten, p. 24, at the beginning of Ibn Ouseibia’s edition.
75 Comp. with above, p. 234, note 16.
76 See above, p. 235, note 22.
succeeded the latter on the patriarchal seat. During his stay in the
Great Monastery of Mount Izla, he set out to refute the doctrine of
Timothy on the dogma of Incarnation. Subsequently, he directed a
school in Baghdad, where he counted John bar Maswai among his
students. Ishoʿ bar Nun had been at the monastery of Mar Elias in
Mosul for about thirty years when he was named patriarch on June
18, 823.77 He died four years later at the age of eighty-four.
According to ʿAbdishoʿ,78 he wrote: a theological treatise; questions
on the Scriptures (above, p. 63); ecclesiastical canons and legal
rulings (above, p. 149); eulogies;79 letters;80 a treatise on the division
of Church services;81 interpretations; and a treatise on the efficiency
of the hymns and antiphons.82
The exact dates of the life of Denha or Ibas are unknown, but
Wright places him in the 9th century. According to ʿAbdishoʿ,83 he
is the author of sermons, dissertations on ecclesiastical laws,
commentaries on the Psalms, on the works of Gregory of
Nazianzus as found in the version of Abbot Paul, and on
Aristotle’s Rhetoric (compare with above, p. 63, 219 and 268).
F. Cardahi mistakenly places in that century priest Saliba al-
Mansuri, son of David, who lived in the 16th century. That priest
composed several poems and hymns.84
77 On that date, see ʿAbdishoʿ in LAGARDE, Prætermissorum libri duo,

p. 93, l. 3; Amr, ed. GISMONDI, p. 67, gives year 824.
79 Preserved in part in the British Museum MS Add. 17217, WRIGHT,
Catal., p. 613.
80 GISMONDI published one of these letters after the Borgia
Museum MS K., VI, 4 (now held in the Vatican), Linguæ syriacæ grammatica,
2nd ed., Beyrouth, 1900, Chrestom., p. 58.
81 According to Assemani, the Answers to the Questions of Monk Macarius
were part of that treatise, see Catal. ms. Vat., II, 483; III, 281 and 405.
82 Mari, ed. GISMONDI, I, 20, attributes to the patriarch a version of
the homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus; comp. with B. O., III, part I, 279.
83 ASSEMANI, B. O., part I, 175; WRIGHT, Syriac lit., 2nd ed., p. 218.
84 Liber thesauri, p. 59. An extract from one of his poems on penitence,
ibid., p. 57. See ADDAI SCHER, Rev. de l’Or. Chrét., 1906, p. 30.
We shall not here return to Thomas of Marga, whom we

considered earlier (p. 177–178), nor to Ishoʿdad of Merv, bishop of
Haditha, known solely for his commentary of the Bible (above,
p. 63).85
Dionysius of Tel Mahre, the author of a history that was held
in high regard by the Syrians but is now lost,86 is the first of a long
series of Jacobite writers who lived in that century. Dionysius was
born at Tel Mahre, on the Balikh (a tributary of the Euphrates),
near Callinice. He studied at the monastery of Qenneshre but left
after it was destroyed by a fire in 815. He then passed by the
monastery of Mar Yacoub at Kaisoum, and while there was elected
patriarch of the Jacobites by the synod of bishops held at Callinice
in 818 following the death of Patriarch Quryaqos. From then
onwards his existence became as troubled as had been that of his
predecessor; it is not worth dwelling here on the constant battles he
fought against his adversaries and the Muslim governors, or on the
continuous travels which took up all his energy. Michael the Syrian
has provided us with a comprehensive biography of that
unfortunate patriarch, who died on August 22, 845.87
Theodosius, the brother of Dionysius of Tel Mahre and the
bishop of Edessa, translated iambic poems by Gregory of
Nazianzus, as well as the Father’s homily on the miracles of the
prophet Elijah (above, p. 267). That bishop fell victim to attacks
from the governor of Edessa. Indeed, Muhammad ibn Tahir
brought down the churches that had been rebuilt under the
previous governor, his brother Abdallah ibn Tahir. Theodosius and
Patriarch Dionysius went to Egypt, where Abdallah had been sent,
85 Kindi, who is cited by ʿAbdishoʿ in ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I,

213, presumably corresponds to the Arabic author Abd al-Masih ibn
Ishaq al-Kindi, as argued by WRIGHT, Syriac lit., p. 221.
87 Michael the Syrian, ed. CHABOT, book XII, ch. X and following;
and Bar Hebræus, Chron. eccl., t. I, p. 343–386; WRIGHT, Syriac liter.,

2nd ed., p. 196; J.-B. CHABOT, Chronique de Denys de Tellmahré, Paris,
1895, Introduction, §1.
to implore his assistance. Their move proved successful, and

Muhammad became more conciliatory.
Antony the Rhetor, whose treatise on rhetoric was mentioned
above (p. 258–259), was a monk at the monastery of Tagrit and a
contemporary of Patriarch Dionysius of Tel Mahre.88 He is the
author of: a book in four parts on divine providence; panegyrics;
letters of consolation; hymns and metric prayers.89
Lazarus bar Sobto, the bishop of Baghdad who was deposed
by Tel Mahre in 829 AD,90 composed a liturgy and an order for
baptism.91
John, bishop of Dara, was another contemporary of
Dionysius of Tel Mahre. In fact, Dionysius even dedicated his
History to him. That bishop is the author of treatises on theology: a
treatise in four books on the clergy; another one, also in four
books, on the resurrection of bodies; and an important work on
the soul.92 As we saw (p. 272), John of Dara wrote a commentary
88 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 363.

89 His works are preserved in part in the British Museum MSS Add.
14276 and 17208. Rœdiger printed part of his hymn against calumny in
the second edition of his Chrestomathia syriaca, p. 110. Antony was one of
the first to use rhymes, see above, p. 15, note 10.
90 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl. I, 365. He also received, as bishop, the
names Philoxenus and Basil, see ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 123.

91 RENAUDOT translated the liturgy into Latin, Liturgiæ orient., II,
399. The order for baptism is in the Vatican, Cod. 147.

92 The treatise on the clergy survives in several manuscripts.
ZINGERLE published an extract of book II in Monumenta syriaca, I,

p. 105–110 (comp. with Theol. Quartalschrift, 1867, p. 183; 1868, p. 267).
OVERBECK brought to our attention a passage from book IV on the
marriage of priests, as found in a Bodleian MS, S. Ephræmi syri… opera
selecta, p. 409–413. The treatise on resurrection is a work of high interest
which displays great knowledge, says FROTHINGHAM in Stephen bar
Sudaili, Leiden, 1886, p. 66; it is contained in the Vatican MSS 100 and
363. Extracts from MS 100 are printed in GISMONDI, Linguæ syriacæ
grammatica, Beyrouth, 1900, p. 60–66 of the Chrestom.; cf. an extract in
book II of the Chronicle of Michael, ed. CHABOT, I, p. 7 (transl., p. 14).
The Vatican MS 147 contains extracts from the treatise on the soul.
on some of the works of pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite; he is

also the author of a liturgy.93
The works of Nonnus, archdeacon of Nisibis, are contained in
the British Museum MS Add. 14594. This single most important
work of that author is a treatise on controversy against Thomas of
Marga. Nonnus wrote it in prison, where he had been sent by the
governor of Nisibis.94 His other writings consist of letters on
matters of dogma.
Above we discussed the main works of the physician
Romanus. First a monk at the monastery of Kartemin, he was
elected patriarch of the Jacobites in 887 under the name
Theodosius, and died in 896. As previously mentioned, that author
wrote: a collection of maxims (p. 226); a medical collection
(p. 233); and a commentary on the Book of Hierotheus (p. 311).
Added to that list should be: a synodal letter95 and a homily on
Lent,96 both preserved in Arabic.
However, the most prolific Jacobite writer of that century was
Moses bar Kepha, whose Life was written by an anonymous Syriac
author.97 Moses was born at Balad around 813 and died on
February 12, 90398 at the age of ninety. After having entered a
monastery, he was named bishop of the towns of Beth Ramman,
Beth Kiyonaya and Mosul, and took the name Severus. He later
was made periodeut or visitor of the diocese of Tagrit and served
in that position for ten years. Moses authored numerous works; we
93 ASSEMANI, B. O., I.
94 WRIGHT, Catal., p. 618. According to Bar Hebræus, Chron. eccl., I,
363, Nonnus was one of those who had accused Philoxenus and thus
caused his downfall, as noted above. Nonnus must therefore have lived in
the first half of the 9th century. Cf. Michael the Syrian, ed. CHABOT, p.
496 (transl., t. III, p. 33, note 2).
96 British Museum, MS Add. 7206, Catal. Rosen, p. 103.
97 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 218 ff.; comp. with BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron.
eccl., I, 393; II, 217.

98 On that date, see ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 218; BAR HEBRÆUS,
Chron. eccl., I, 394, note 1.

have already discussed his biblical commentaries (p. 56–57), his

treatise on predestination (p. 211); his commentary on Aristotle’s
Rhetoric (p. 219) and his Hexameron (p. 240). But he also wrote: a
work on paradise, divided into three parts and dedicated to his
friend Ignatius;99 a treatise on the soul in forty chapters with an
additional chapter on the value of offerings made to the dead;100
Controversies Against Heresies;101 treatises on the sacraments;
homilies;102 discourses on various subjects;103 liturgical writings,
including two liturgies.104 His commentary on the works of
Gregory of Nazianzus is now lost, as is the ecclesiastical history
mentioned by his biographer.

There were few writers during the 10th century. Among the
Nestorians, the first (chronologically) appears to be Henanishoʿ bar
Seroshway bishop of Hira, who composed questions on the
Scriptures and a Syriac lexicon (see above, p. 63 and 257). His
99 This work is known to us only from the Latin translation which

Masius published in 1569, De paradiso commentarius, Anvers (Plantin);
comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 128, n. 2; that translation was reprinted
in MIGNE, Patrol. græca, CXI, p. 481.
100 That treatise is preserved in the Vatican Syr. MS 147. Extracts in
GISMONDI, Linguæ syriacæ grammatica, 2nd ed., Beyrouth, 1900, Chrestom.,

p. 68–72. O. BRAUN gave a German translation of it in Moses bar Kepha
und sein Buch von der Seele, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1891, with a biography of
Moses bar Kepha.
101 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 57; probably identical to the Book on the sects
cited in ASSEMANI, ibid., p. 131.

102 Preserved in MSS now in the British Museum, Cambridge, the
Bibliothèque nationale and the Vatican. According to BAUMSTARK,

Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 320, the treatises on the sacraments are linked to
the collection on the Causes for Festivities, discussed above, p. 303, note 39,
in relation to Thomas of Edessa. ARENDZEN published in the Journal of
Theol. Studies, II, 1901, p. 401–416 extracts of the Cambridge MS.
103 In the British Museum MSS Add. 17188 and 21210.
104 RENAUDOT translated one of these liturgies, Lit. Orient., II, 391.
works have not survived and we know nothing of his life. Bar
Bahlul’s compilation somewhat compensates for the loss of his
lexicon, since it is there reproduced virtually in full.105
Elias, bishop of Perozshabur or Anbar, lived around 922.106
He composed: a Book of Centuries; a treatise written in seven-syllable
lines and in three volumes;107 an apology; letters and homilies.
George, metropolitan of Erbil around 945, died in 987. He
left us a description of the annual church services divided into
seven sections, of which Assemani has given an analysis.108 Of his
writings have also survived several hymns 109 and a collection of
canons (above, p. 148).
To that century belong the two brothers ʿAbdishoʿ bar
Shahhare and Emmanuel bar Schahhare, who died in 971 and 980
respectively.110 ʿAbdishoʿ’s poems were less highly regarded than
those of his brother. F. Cardahi printed a passage of that author’s
poem on Michael, the disciple of St Eugene, as found in the
Vatican MS n. 184.111 Emmanuel was a professor at the school of
Mar Gabriel in the Superior Monastery at Mosul. He composed a
verse Hexameron (above, p. 240) and several treatises of liturgical
explanations.
Andrew, the author of a treatise on punctuation, which
Wright dates to the late 10th century (see above, p. 250), was the
105 For further information on Bahlul, see p. 257.

106 Elias of Nisibis in BÆTHGEN, Fragmente, p. 84; ASSEMANI, B.
O., III, part I, 258.
107 Preserved in the Vatican Syr. MS 183; also in Berlin and
Cambridge. Extracts in CARDAHI, Liber thesauri, 72–76. MANNA,

Morceaux choisis, p. 113–142; The Little Book of Crumbs (Chrestomathy of
Ourmia), p. 258 and 336.
108 B. O., III, part I, 518–540. Extracts in The Little Book of Crumbs of
Ourmia, p. 40, 187 and 274; and another in GISMONDI, Linguæ syr.
gramm., Chrestom., p. 72. Cf. BAUMSTARK, Oriens christianus, 1901, p. 320.
109 Vat. MS 90 and 91.
110 According to CARDAHI, Liber thesauri, p. 71 and 138.
111 The subject of this poem appears to have been borrowed from the
Acts of St Eugene, which were allegedly written by Michael.

last Nestorian writer of that

ܽ time. He composed several hymns,
known as tourgame, ‫ܬܘܪܓ ܶ̈ܡܐ‬.
Among the Jacobites, Syriac literature seems to have been
virtually entirely eclipsed: their works were mostly written in
Arabic. The chronicle of Deacon Simeon, on whose life very little
is known, has already been mentioned (p. 175).

The 11th century was just as dry as the previous one, and only
rarely do we see signs of literary merit in what was otherwise a
period of great decline. There were long stretches of time without a
learned scholar of some significance, and when one emerged to
reignite the fading flame of erudition, it would usually benefit
Arabic rather than Syriac science.
Both quantitatively and qualitatively, the works written by
Nestorian authors still come first in this period.
Foremost among them was Elias I, who was elected patriarch
in 1028 after having been bishop of Tirhan; he died in 1049. As
bishop he devoted himself to works of grammar (above, p. 250); as
patriarch he is said to have written a collection of Nestorian synods
and treatises of civil law (above, p. 141 and 143). Amr ibn Matta112
attributes to him a Compilation in Twenty-two Chapters on the Principles
of Religion, which may be identical, as Wright believes, to his legal
treatises; as well as the composition of a liturgy.113
Another Elias, a contemporary of the patriarch Elias bar
Shinaya, metropolitan of Nisibis, is the most remarkable writer of
the century. He was a monk first at the monastery of Michael in
Mosul and then at the monastery of Simeon on the Tigris; he was
appointed bishop of Beth Nuhadre in 1002 and metropolitan of
Nisibis in 1008. He outlived Patriarch Elias I114 and prepared a
112 See Maris, Amri et Slibæ… commentaria, ed. GISMONDI, II, 98;
113 Not “a form of consecration of the altar,” as WRIGHT translates,
Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 233.

114 CARDAHI, Liber thesauri, p. 84, places his death in 1056 AD.
collection of ecclesiastical rulings and a summary of the treatise of

Patriarch Elias on inheritance (above, p. 150). He is also the author
of: a chronicle (above, p. 172); a Syriac grammar (above, p. 249–
251); an Arabo-Syriac vocabulary (above, p. 258); hymns and
metric homilies, several of which are preserved in books of church
services;115 letters.116 Elias bar Shinaya also wrote in Arabic; we
mentioned earlier his Book Demonstrating the Truth that Lies in Faith
(p. 211) and his Distancing from Concern (p. 228, note 92). In his Bibl.
orientalis, t III, part I, 270–272, Assemani analysed six of his Arabic
dissertations.
Abu Zayd ʿAbdishoʿ bar Bahriz was abbot of the monastery
of Mar Elias in Mosul; he stood for the patriarchal seat in 1028 but
Elias I was chosen over him.117 He later became metropolitan of
Erbil and of Mosul. He composed a collection of laws and legal
rulings (above, p. 150) and an explanation of the Church services.
Of all the Jacobite writers, special mention should be made of
John of Maron, author of a commentary on the Book of Wisdom
(above, p. 57); he died ca. 1017. Having studied at Edessa under
Mar Mekim, he later was appointed professor first at the newly-
built monastery of Gubos — on the Euphrates, near Malatya —
and then at the monastery founded by the monk Elias bar Gagai
near Malatya. He spent the final days of his life at the monastery of
Aaron, near Edessa, where he had lived in his youth.118
Marcus bar Qiqi, archdeacon of the Jacobite church in Mosul,
was made maphrian in 991 under the name Ignatius. His deplorable
115 Vatican MS 90, 91 and 184; Berlin, Sachau 64, 10. CARDAHI has
published a homily with the single rhyme an and with no olaf, Liber thesauri,
p. 83, comp. with above, p. 18, note 18.
116 The Vat. Syr. MS 129 contains letters addressed to the bishops and
population of Baghdad in which he protests against the election of

Patriarch Ishoʿyahb bar Ezechiel.
117 Maris, Amri et Slibæ… commentaria, ed. GISMONDI, II, 98.
118 See BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 403–407. The editors of that
chronicle, p. 404, note 2, wonder whether Assemani did not in fact

mistake him for John Maron, to whom he devoted a long article in his
B.O., 496–520.
conduct lost him the respect of his peers; in 1016 he fled to

Baghdad, where he converted to Islam. Now the object of
universal contempt, he fell into poverty but eventually recovered
his senses119 and composed a poem on his downfall. Several lines
of it have come down to us in a copy made by Bar Hebræus.120
In 1058 Ishoʿ bar Shushan was elected patriarch of the
Jacobites by the party which had refused to recognise the election
of Athanasius Haye (Athanasius VI), and took the name John X.
Confronted with the slander of his enemies, he abdicated and
retired to a monastery. When Athanasius died in 1064, he was
appointed patriarch yet again and remained in that position until
his death in 1073.121 Ishoʿ bar Shushan composed: a liturgy;
ecclesiastical canons (above, p. 148); a treatise on the oil, yeast and
salt which the Jacobites added to their eucharistic bread;122 four
poems on the looting of Malatya by the Turks in 1058;123 several
letters, including several in Arabic.124 Bar Shushan set out to codify
the works of Isaac of Antioch, but that project never came to
fruition owing to his untimely death (see above, p. 293).
119 Cf. MICHAEL THE SYRIAN, Chron. book XIII, chap. V; BAR
HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, 257; 287–289; ELIAS OF NISIBIS, in
BÆTHGEN, Fragmente, 105 (transl., 158).
120 Chron. eccl., II, 289. F. CARDAHI reprinted them in his Liber
thesauri, p. 140; he dates the death of Marcus bar Qiqi to 1030 or 1040.
121 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 437–447.
122 It is contained in a MS held in the Bibliothèque nationale, Catal.
Zotenberg, p. 71; a fragment, ibid., p. 54. That treatise was composed in the
wake of a controversy opposing Bar Shushan and Christodoulos, patriarch
of Alexandria, cf. ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 141, 356.
123 On that event, see BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. syr., ed. BRUNS, p.
252; ed. BEDJAN, p. 238; ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 317.

124 Letter to the patriarch of Armenia, ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 211, 383;
Berlin, Sachau 60, 1; Arabic letters to Christodoulos, the patriarch of

Alexandria, on the oil and salt used in the eucharistic bread, ASSEMANI,
ibid., II, 508.
According to Bar Hebræus,125 Said bar Sabouni was a

distinguished scholar who wrote both in Greek and in Syriac.
Patriarch Athanasius VII placed him on the episcopal seat of
Malatya in 1094, for which he took the name John. He entered
Malatya on the very day that the city gates were closed to keep out
the Turkish besiegers. He was among those killed in July 1095 by
the commander Gabriel during the siege of that town.126 Bar
Sabouni is the author of several hymns.127

Most of the Nestorian works of that time were composed in
Arabic; only those authors who wrote in Syriac will be discussed
here.
Elias III, or Abu Halim, born in Maipherkat in 1108, held the
position of metropolitan of Nisibis before his appointment as
patriarch of the Nestorians in 1176. He died in 1190. The majority
of his works are in Arabic; in Syriac he wrote both prayers and
letters.128
Joseph bar Malkon, who took the name Ishoʿyahb when he
was elected metropolitan of Nisibis in 1190, died under Patriarch
Sabrishoʿ V (1226–1256). Of the works of that author have
125 Chron. eccl., I, 463.

126 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. syr., ed. BRUNS, p. 278; ed. BEDJAN,
p. 262.
127 An acrostic hymn for the service during which one is ordained
monk is preserved in MSS now held in the Vatican, the Bibliothèque
nationale, the British Museum and the Bodleian, WRIGHT, Syriac liter.,
2nd ed., p. 227. ASSEMANI, B. O., II, p. CLI, attributes to Said’s brother,
Abu Ghalib ibn Sabuni, three poems on the capture of Edessa by Zengi in
1144. However, since Abu Ghalib died in 1129, WRIGHT (Syriac liter.,
2nd ed., p. 244) believes that these poems must have been composed by
Basil bar Shumna (1143–1169), his successor on the episcopal seat of
Edessa.
128 MANNA edited three of these prayers, Morceaux choisis de littérature
araméenne, Mosul, 1901, II, 173–181. Cf. ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I,
291; SACHAU, Catal., p. 142 ff.
survived a grammatical treatise in Syriac verses entitled the Net of

Points (above, p. 251); his other works, which include a treatise on
faith, homilies and letters, were in Arabic.129
Monk Simeon of Shanklawa,130 the master of John bar Zobi,
for whom he wrote his Chronology (see above, p. 174), belongs to
the same period. Simeon also authored a poem in Syriac verses
which is written in an enigmatic style that could not be understood
without a commentary. ʿAbdishoʿ wrote a commentary of that
poem at the request of his disciple Abraham. F. Cardahi published
it in his Liber thesauri, p. 89. He did not, however, include
ʿAbdishoʿ’s explanations and its meaning therefore remains
obscure. Also attributed to him are questions on the Eucharist and
baptism, which he published under the name of the apostle St
Peter.131
John bar Zobi, a monk of the monastery of Sabrishoʿ at Beth
Quqa in Adiabene and a disciple of Simeon of Shanklawa, is best
known for his grammatical works (above, p. 251). He also
composed metric homilies on faith132 and a poem in seven-syllable
lines On the Four Problems of Philosophy.133
The Jacobites boasted several notable writers:
John, bishop of Harran, Mardin and several other towns of
Mesopotamia, had been appointed by Patriarch Athanasius VII in
1125; he died at the age of seventy after falling off a horse in 1165.
129 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, part I, 295–306.

130 Or: of Schanklabad. On that name, see G. HOFFMANN, Auszüge
syr. Märtyrer aus pers. Akten, p. 231 and note 1847.
131 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 502. Two homilies on faith and a
homily on the explanation of mysteries have been published, under the

name of Simeon of Shanklawa, in The Little Book of Crumbs (Chrestomathy
of Ourmia), p. 118–123 and 150–154. That Simeon is probably the author
of the Book of Fathers attributed to Simeon bar Sabbaʿe, see above, p. 105,
note 21.
132 The British Museum MS Orient. 2305; Berlin, Sachau 8. One of
these homilies has been translated by BADGER, The Nestorians, II, 151;
comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 309.
133 Berlin, Sachau, 72, 15.
John set out to restore the ruined churches and monasteries of his
diocese. He was a man of letters who set up a library and made
several copies of the Gospels in letters of gold and silver. A
number of captives taken away by Zengi after the capture of
Edessa (1144) owed him the payment of their ransom.134 The fall
of Edessa inspired him to write a poem in which he denied the role
of Providence, a heretic declaration which infuriated the other
bishops. He also left us a liturgy.135
Jacob bar Salibi was the most prolific Jacobite writer of that
century. He adopted the name Dionysius upon his appointment as
bishop of Marasch by Patriarch Athanasius VIII in 1154; the
following year, the patriarch also placed him in charge of the
diocese of Mabbug. In 1166, Michael the Great, the successor of
Athanasius, transferred him to Amid, where he died in 1171.136 His
works form a long list; Assemani reproduced the catalogue after
the Vatican Syr. MS 32.137 The single most important one of his
works was his commentary on the OT and NT (discussed above, p.
57); the others are: a commentary on the Centuries of Evagrius, with
a Syriac translation of the text;138 a commentary on the writings of
Doctors; commentaries on dialectic (above, p. 221); a book of
letters; an abridged version of the Stories about Church Fathers,
saints and martyrs; a collection of apostolic canons; several
theological treatises;139 liturgical writings;140 two liturgies; a treatise
134 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 501, 525–527, 531; ASSEMANI,

B. O., II, 216–226.
136 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 513–515 and 559; ASSEMANI,
B. O., II, 156–211.

137 B. O., II, 210; comp. with Catal. Bibl. Laur. Et Palat. Med., p. 79;
BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, p. 562, note.

138 It is preserved in a MS held in Berlin, Catal. Sachau, n. 186, p. 604.
139 Several of these treatises are contained in MSS now held in the
Vatican, the Bibliothèque nationale and the Bodleian.

140 J. LABOURT published the exposition of the liturgy in the Corpus
script. christ. orientalium: Dionysius bar Salibi, Expositio liturgiæ, Paris, 1903.
against heresies;141 a treatise on Providence against John, bishop of

Mardin;142 a panegyric of Michael the Great; a treatise on the
structure of the human body (above, p. 237); homilies; two poems
on the capture of Edessa in 1144;143 three elegies on the fall of
Marash to the Armenians in 1156;144 two poems on the attacks
against the maphrian accused of having married a Muslim to a
Christian in 1159.145
The main work by Michael the Great, or Michael the Syrian, is
his Chronicle (above, p. 169–171). Michael was the son of a priest
from Malatya named Elias; after having been abbot of the
monastery of Bar Sauma, he was elected patriarch in 1166 and
finally passed away in 1199.146 Apart from his Chronicle, his works
include: a revision of the pontificate and of the Jacobite ritual;147 a
liturgy;148 a treatise on the preparation for Communion, directed
against the Copts;149 ecclesiastical canons cited by Bar Hebræus in
his Nomocanon; a treatise on the sacerdotal institution, and a
141 Parts of that lengthy work are in the Vatican, the Bibliothèque
nationale and the Bodleian. The treatise against the Jews has only recently
been published by J. DE ZWAAN, The treatise of Dionysius bar Salibi against
the Jews, Leiden, 1906.
142 See the note on that bishop above, p. 349–350.
143 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. syr., ed. BRUNS, 328; ed. BEDJAN, 308.
144 The Armenians took Bar Salibi captive but he escaped and retired
to the monastery of Kalisoura; BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. syr., ed. BRUNS,

p. 346; ed. BEDJAN, p. 324.
146 The biography of that patriarch is in BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl.,
I, 535–605; comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 154 ff.

147 Vat. MS 51.
148 MSS in the Vatican, the Bibliothèque nationale and in Leiden;
translated by RENAUDOT, Lit. orient., II, 437.

profession of faith;150 a poem on the case brought against the

maphrian in 1159.151
The story of the life of Theodore bar Wahbun, a disciple of
Michael the Great, was closely tied to that of his master,152 whom
he eventually rose up against. He appears to have rejected the
Monophysite doctrine and grown closer to the orthodox;153 his
partisans, who had convened in Amid in 1180, elected him
patriarch under the name John. At that point, Michael occupied the
seat of Antioch. However, Bar Wahbun’s fortune was short-lived:
he was deposed and relegated to the monastery of Bar Sauma, from
which he was able to escape. Eventually he retired to Armenia,
where King Leo named him patriarch of the Jacobites who lived in
his territory. He died in 1193. Bar Hebræus154 praises his science;
Bar Wahboun, he writes, mastered four languages: Greek, Syriac,
Armenian and Arabic. That author composed a liturgy,155 an
explanation of mass and a book in Arabic directed against Patriarch
Michael.156

AND THE END OF SYRIAC LITERATURE
The 13th century still produced several worthy writers: among the
Nestorians we find Solomon, the metropolitan of Basra, along with
several poets and ʿAbdishoʿ, the metropolitan of Nisibis. As for the
150 These two compositions, in their Armenian version, were added to

the abridged edition of the Chronicle of Michael (Jerusalem, 1870–1871).
151 Comp. with the note on Bar Salibi, above, p. 350. In 1185 Michael
revised the Life of Abbai, bishop of Nicaea, cf. ASSEMANI, B. O., II,
505; WRIGHT, Catal., p. 1124; Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 251; BEDJAN, Acta
martyr. et sanct., VI, p. 615; that revision was published in BEDJAN, ibid.,
p. 557–614.
152 It is told by Bar Hebræus, with the story of the Life of Michael; see
Chron. eccl., I, 553–589.

153 See BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., I, 584, note 4.
154 Op. cit., I, p. 581.
155 Translated into Latin by RENAUDOT, Lit. Orient., II, 409.
Jacobites, they boast Jacob bar Shakko, Aaron bar Madani and Bar
Hebræus.
Little is known of the life of Solomon. He was a native of
Khalat or Ahlat, a town located on the western shore of Lake Van,
who became metropolitan bishop of Basra; it is in that capacity that
he attended the consecration of the Nestorian patriarch Sabrishoʿ
in 1222.157 Above (p. 70) we discussed his main work entitled the
Book of the Bee, a historical and theological collection in which were
included numerous legends. ʿAbdishoʿ’s Catalogue158 further
attributes to Solomon: a treatise on the configuration of heaven
and earth; several short homilies; and prayers.
Several Nestorians cultivated religious poetry with great
success.
George Warda of Erbil authored a series of hymns. These
were included in the services of the Nestorian Church and form a
collection known by the name Warda.159 The mention of calamities
that occurred in years 1224–1228 and 1235 gives an indication of
the date of their composition.
Khamis bar Kardahe, also originally from Erbil, wrote another
collection of hymns, on the life, parables and miracles of the
Saviour; others treat penitence. His collection was likewise
introduced into the Nestorian services and was known by the name
Khamis.160 He lived in the time of Daniel bar Khattab, a young
157 ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 453, n. 75.

159 The main edition is by HEINRICH HILGENFELD, Ausgewählte
Gesänge des Giwargis Warda von Arbel, Leipzig, 1904. It also contains a
German translation of the text. It gives (p. 8–10) an extensive list of
previous editions, which there is no point in repeating here. To that list
should, however, be added: MANNA, Morceaux choisis de littérature
araméenne, Mosul, 1901, II, p. 296–322 (three hymns); POGNON, Une
version syriaque des Aphorismes d’Hippocrate, 2nd part, Lepzig, 1903, p. V–X
(an extract).
160 Extracts in CARDAHI, Liber thesauri, p. 59; a hymn in the
Chrestomathy of Ourmia, The Little Book of Crumbs, p. 94; four more in

MANNA, Morceaux choisis de littérature araméenne, II, p. 324–330.
contemporary of Bar Hebræus to whom Khamis addressed several

lines.161
Masoud ibn al-Kass, a contemporary of Warda, composed
poems for the Epiphany holiday.162 He was a distinguished
physician of Caliph Mostasem in Baghdad. After the death of the
caliph he lived as a hermit;163 he passed away in 1280.164
We also have a long poem by Gabriel Kamsa, who was first a
monk at the monastery of Beth Quqa and later became
metropolitan of Mosul. It is in his capacity as metropolitan that he
attended the consecration of the Nestorian patriarch Yahbalaha III
in 1281. That poem treats Creation, Incarnation, etc., and ends
with a panegyric by Sabrishoʿ, the founder of the monastery of
Beth Quqa.165
John of Mosul, a monk at the monastery of St Michael,
located near to that town, composed an edifying collection of
̈ܶ ܽ ‫ܐܳܕܫ ܺܦ‬
poems entitled the Book of the Virtuous Man; ‫ܝܪܳܕܘܒܪ ܐ‬ ܰ ‫ܟܬܒ‬. It
was published, together with other Syriac poems,166 under the title
Directorium spirituale,167 by Elias Millos, the archbishop of Akra, in
161 These lines are preserved in a poem by Bar Hebræus, Catal. Vat.,
III, 358; Catal. Payne Smith, col. 377; comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., II,
308; III, part I, 566; WRIGHT, Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 281 and 284.
162 One of these poems is preserved in the Vat. MS 184.
F. CARDAHI printed passages from it in his Liber thesauri, p. 125.

163 BAR HEBRÆUS, Histoire des dynasties, ed. POCOCK, p. 522; ed.
SALHANI, p. 478; ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 561.

164 According to CARDAHI, Liber thesauri, p. 126.
165 That poem is preserved in the Vatican MS 180; comp. with
ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 566. F. CARDAHI published a long

extract from it in Liber thesauri, p. 107.
166 Among these we find twenty-two poems by David of Beth Rabban
(see above, p. 337, n. 65), three poems by ʿAbdishoʿ of Nisibis, two

poems by St Ephrem, one poem by John bar Penkaye. In the Cambridge
MS, Add. 2018, The Book of the Virtuous Man is entitled The Book of Fine
Works, ‫ܟܬܒܐܳܕܫܦܝܪܘܬܳܕܘܒܪܐ‬.
167 F. Cardahi printed a passage of a poem by John of Mosul in his
Liber thesauri, p. 119. It is unlikely that the author should be the Mosuli, a
grammarian whom Bar Shakko held in low esteem, see De la métrique chez
1868 in Rome. According to Millos, that book was written in 1245.

F. Cardahi168 places the death of John of Mosul in 1270.
We now come to ʿAbdishoʿ, the metropolitan of Nisibis and
the last Nestorian author worth mentioning. When he was elevated
to the rank of metropolitan of Nisibis and Armenia by Patriarch
Yahbalaha III ca. 1290, ʿAbdishoʿ bar Berika had already been
bishop of Sinjar and of Beth Arabaya (or Tur Abdin) for about five
years; he died in 1318.169 He himself listed his numerous works at
the end of his precious Catalogue. That bibliography has provided us
with the title of many Nestorian texts that have since been lost.170
The loss of several books by ʿAbdishoʿ is lamentable: his
commentary on the OT and NT (above, p. 63); the book on the
Life of Our Lord on earth; the book against heresies; the book on
the mysteries of the Greek philosophers and twelve treatises on all
sciences (above, p. 222–223); decisions and ecclesiastical canons.
Nonetheless, these have survived: his Nomocanon (above, p. 144);
his treatise on philosophy and theology entitled The Pearl (above, p.
211); his Paradise of Eden (above, p. 17); a collection of twenty-two
poems on the love of wisdom and science.171
les syriens by Abbot F. MARTIN, Appendice, p. 68 and 70. The poems of

John of Mosul are preserved in the British Museum Orient. MS 2450.
168 Op. cit., p. 120.
169 ASSEMANI, B. O., III, part I, 325 ff.
170 A first edition of that catalogue was made by Abraham Ecchellensis
in Rome in 1653, under the title HʿAbdishoʿ, tractatus continens catalogum, etc.;
Assemani gave a better edition of it in his Bibliotheca orientalis, t. III, part I;
a new translation, based on a new MS, was published by Badger in The
Nestorians, II, 361; Badger dates its composition to 1298 AD.
171 The Vatican MS 174 and MSS Marsh 201 and 361 of the Bodleian.
The Bibliothèque nationale holds a poem attributed to ʿAbdishoʿ which

gives an explanation of the calendar, Catal. Zotenberg, p. 128; in Berlin,
Catal. Sachau, p. 158, and in Cambridge, Catal. Wright and Cook, p. 290, n.
10, hymns for church services attributed to ʿAbdishoʿ; another collection
of hymns in Cambridge, Catal. Wright and Cook, p. 107, Add. 1977. On the
commentary of the enigmatic poem by Simeon of Shanklawa, see above,
Timothy II, who succeeded Yahbalaha III as patriarch of the

Nestorians in 1318, after having been metropolitan of Mosul and
Erbil, is the author of canons, which he composed during the
synod held the year of his election to the patriarchal seat, as well as
of a book on the sacraments.172
We conclude with the Jacobite authors.
Jacob bar Shakko,173 who took the name Severus upon being
appointed bishop, was first a monk at the monastery of Mar Mattai
near Mosul. He had studied grammar under Bar Zobi at the
monastery of Beth Quqa in the Adiabene; Kamal al-Din ibn Yunus,
a then-renowned Arabic philosopher of Mosul, had taught him
dialectic and philosophy. Bar Shakko died in 1241 during a visit to
Patriarch Ignatius II. After his death his many manuscripts were
moved to the library of the governor of Mosul.174 We have
repeatedly cited his Dialogues, an encyclopaedic work on the
sciences taught to the Syrians. We have also cited his Book of
Treasures, a theological compilation written in 1231 and which
contains interesting scientific notes (see above, p. 241). The British
Museum MS 7193 Rich contains two letters in seven-syllable lines
by that author: the first, in which every line begins and ends with
the letter fe, is addressed to Mark Fakhr ad-Daula, son of Thomas;
the second, which likewise displays an artificial writing style — the
only difference being that the initial and final letter is tav — is
p. 349. On a brief chronology composed by ʿAbdishoʿ, see above, p. 174;

comp. with p. 354, note 166.
172 ASSEMANI has described and analysed his works, B. O., III, part
I, 567–580.
173 Since the name is written with two kafs, we favour that
pronunciation over the one suggested by Schakko.

174 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, 409–411. Bar Hebræus writes:
“He owned many books, all of which were placed in the demosion of the
governor of Mosul.” In Syria the word δημόσιον referred to the “public
baths”, the “Treasury”, and to the “public archives”. The last of these
meanings was intended in this case.
addressed to his brother, Abu Tahir Zayd Taj ad-Daula.175 The

other writings of Bar Shakko are: a profession of faith on the
Trinity and Incarnation; an explanation of church services and
prayers (these two works are cited in his Book of Treasures); an
exhortation for the ordination of priests.176
Aaron bar Madani, who, upon being appointed bishop of
Mardin, had taken the name John, was elevated to the dignity of
Maphrian of the East by the Jacobite patriarch Ignatius II in 1232.
His unflattering complexion and glaring ineloquence were disliked
by the Christians of Mosul. After five years in that office he retired
to Baghdad, where he benefited from being in the good graces of
the three sons of Thomas, Shams ad-Daula, Fakhr ad-Daula and
Tad ad-Daula, who were influential physicians at the court of
Caliph Mostansir. In Baghdad, Bar Madani composed a panegyric
of Mar Aaron in lines of twelve syllables and perfected his
knowledge of Arabic literature. On returning to Mosul he was
treated with the same consideration as in the capital of the caliphs.
The death of Ignatius II in 1252 brought about a schism, which
was only one of many in these troubled times for the Jacobite
Church; several bishops elected as patriarch Aaron Angur, who
adopted the name Dionysius, while the partisans of the maphrian
chose Bar Madani. Harmony was restored only after Dionysius was
murdered in the monastery of Bar Sauma near Malatya in 1261. Bar
Madani governed the Jacobite Church unopposed until 1263.177
The works of that eminent prelate consist of a number of
175 The letter fe is the first letter in the name Fakhr; tav is the first letter
in the name Tadj. In the Catalogue Rosen on that MS, p. 84, Bar Shakko is
referred to as Jacob, bishop of Tagrit; in other manuscripts he is called
Jacob of Maipherkat; these epithets are incorrect; that bishop resided at
Mosul. On the sons of Thomas to whom these epistles were addressed,
see the following note.
176 That exhortation is preserved under the name of Jacob of
Maipherkat in MSS now held in the Vatican, the Laurentian and the
Bibliothèque nationale.
177 Bar Hebræus, Chron. eccl., II, 407–416; comp. with I, 695–743.
poems.178 The most remarkable ones include a poem on the soul

entitled The Bird;179 another one on the path to perfection;180 and
one on the capture of Edessa and the capture of other towns by
the Seljuq sultan Ala ad-Din Kaikobad in 1265. Bar Madani
produced a liturgy181 and homilies in Arabic for the annual
holidays.182
Bar Hebræus cites in year 1228 the physician Gabriel of
Edessa, who composed books of medicine and philosophy in
Syriac (above, p. 235, note 23).
It is a pleasure to conclude these notes with Bar Hebræus,
whose influence on Syriac literature cannot be overstated. His
numerous works cover all fields of the sciences; one might even
suggest that he sensed the imminent collapse of Syrian intellectual
life and that he attempted to erect a monument that would
summarise the past civilisation in its totality, rather than create new
paths for the future. That observation suffices to explain the
impersonal and unoriginal nature of his books. Bar Hebræus was
first and foremost a populariser, yet he was also a man of
encyclopaedic scholarship with a clear, precise methodology and an
acute critical mind. He should nonetheless be recognised as a truly
talented historian; his Syriac Chronicle and Ecclesiastical Chronicle no
doubt rank among his best work. His elegant poems offer a
welcome alternative to the laboured metre of his Nestorian
contemporaries, who transformed the poetic art in such a pitiful
178 The Bodleian MS, Hunt. I, contains sixty of them, Catal. Payne
Smith, col. 379–382; others, in the Berlin MS, Sachau 207, 3, and in a MS
of the Laurentian, Catal., p. 198.
179 The Vat. MS 204; Bodleian, Hunt. I and Poc. 200, Cat. Payne Smith,
col. 382 and 641; Berlin, Sachau 61, 8; Cambridge, Add. 2819, Catal. p. 669.
For an edition, see MANNA, Morceaux choisis de littérature araméenne, which
also contains another poem on the nobility of the soul and its downfall,
II, p. 332–345.
180 An extract in the Liber thesauri of F. CARDAHI, p. 66. It was
published in MANNA, op. cit., II, 346–356.

181 See RENAUDOT, Lit. Orient., II, 512.
182 Vat. MSS 97 and 220.
way. One may even wonder how a period of such poor literary
merit could have produced an author of the calibre of Bar
Hebræus.
Much is known of the life of Bar Hebræus from the
information provided in his chronicles.183 Gregory Abu al-Faraj
was his real name; he was named Gregory upon his consecration as
bishop; his Christian name was John; he was usually referred to by
the nickname Bar ʿEbroyo or Bar Hebræus, that is, the son of the
Hebrew, since his father Aaron, a distinguished physician of
Malatya, was a converted Jew. Bar Hebræus was born at Malatya in
1226; he spent his youth studying.184 When the Mongols attacked
Malatya in the summer of 1243, Aaron, held back by the harvest
season, was unable to escape into Syria; the following year he
treated and healed the Mongol general, who had fallen ill; he then
retired with his children to Antioch, which was still in the hands of
the Franks. His eldest son, Bar Hebræus, was ordained monk and
left for Tripoli, where he studied medicine and philosophy under a
Nestorian master called Jacob. In September 1246, Bar Hebræus,
now twenty years old, was appointed bishop of Goubos, near
Malatya, by the Jacobite patriarch Ignatius II; the following year he
was transferred to the episcopal seat of Lakabin, in the same
province. When Ignatius died in 1252, he sided with Dionysius
against Bar Madani (see previous note) and Dionysius moved him
to Aleppo; however, since that town was under the control of the
dissident faction of Bar Madani, Bar Hebræus was forced to join
his patriarch at the monastery of Bar Sauma; he did not return to
Aleppo before 1258. Six years later, in 1264, Bar Hebræus was
elevated to the dignity of Maphrian of the Orient by Patriarch
183 Chron. syr., ed. BRUNS, p. 503 ff.; ed. BEDJAN, p. 478; Hist. des
Dynast., ed. POCOCK, p. 486; ed. SALHANI, p. 482 ff.; Chron. eccl., II,
431 ff.; comp. with ASSEMANI, B. O., II, 244 ff.; ABBELOOS and
LAMY, Barhebræi chron. eccl., I, Preface; NŒLDEKE, Orientalische Skizzen,
Berlin, 1892, p. 253–273; WRIGHT, Syriac liter., 2nd ed., p. 265–281;
CHEIKHO, Barhebræus, l’homme et l’écrivain in Al-Machriq, 1898, n. 7 ff.
184 As demonstrated by NOELDEKE (l. c., p. 254), he studied neither
Greek not Greek literature, as had previously been claimed.

Ignatius III, an office he kept until his death in 1286. From the
moment the holy orders were conferred upon him until he died,
Bar Hebræus lived a troubled life, torn between the intrigues of
political and religious parties, the calamitous Mongol invasions and
incessant travels across East and West required of him by his
office. As a result of the high standard of his scientific work, as
well as of his conciliatory and humble nature, that dignified prelate
was esteemed and praised by all. His brother Bar Sauma, who
resumed his Ecclesiastical Chronicle, painted a touching picture of the
events that followed his death at Maraga: the entire clergy of the
East was in mourning, with Jacobites, Nestorians and Armenians
all equally affected by his passing. His body was later returned to
the monastery of Mar Mattai, near Mosul, where the maphrian
resided. To this day his tombstone is still visible there. Bar Sauma
wrote a catalogue of his brother’s works.185 Part I of the present
study contained a discussion of most of his works; here should also
be mentioned: a book on the interpretation of dreams, which dates
to the author’s youth; a liturgy, translated into Latin by Renaudot,
Liturgiæ orient., II, 456; and numerous poems which were highly
regarded by the Syrians.186
Here we come to our conclusion. The Tartars who came from
the East brought iron and fire, rather than light, into Mesopotamia
and Syria. The capture of Baghdad by Houlagou in 1258 led to the
collapse of the Abbasid dynasty. The Mongols left in their trail
185 BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, 475–481.

186 Many of which were edited by LENGERKE, Kœnigsberg, 1836–
1838 (mediocre edition); by the Maronite AUGUSTIN SCEBABI, Rome,
1877. In 1880, YOHANNA NOTAYN DARAUNI published in Rome
the poem on Divine wisdom. An extract in the Liber thesauri of
F. CARDAHI, p. 63. BUDGE also gave several passages in his edition of
the Book of Amusing Tales of BAR HEBRÆUS (above, p. 227). Other
extracts in MANNA, Morceaux choisis de littérature araméenne, II, p. 372–395.
J.-B. CHABOT published a poem in: Mélanges de Ch. de Harlez, Leiden,
1896; and a Lettre de Barhebræus au catholicos Denha I, in the Journ. asiatique,
9th series, t. XI, p. 75.
nothing but murder and devastation: a prolonged dark age was to

descend upon Asia.
INDEX OF NAMES
Aaron (historian) 175 ʿAbdishoʿ bar Brikha of Nisibis

Aaron Angur (Dionysius) 357, 16, 17–19, 46, 60, 63, 66,
359 105, 108, 125, 135, 138,
Aaron bar Madani 353, 357– 142–144, 145, 147, 148,
358, 359 149–150, 155, 163, 174, 175,
Aaron of Alexandria 231, 232 183, 192, 195, 198, 199,
Aaron, father of Bar Hebræus 211–212, 213, 214, 215, 219,
359 222, 233, 241, 245, 249, 250,
Aaron, Mar 357 262, 271, 273, 279, 297, 298,
Aba I, Mar, Nestorian patriarch 300, 301, 302, 304, 317, 322,
46, 54, 61–62, 150, 180, 301 323, 324, 332, 333, 334, 338,
Aba II, Mar 55, 61, 219, 268 339, 340, 349, 352, 353. 354,
Aba, Mar (disciple of St 355, 356
Ephrem) 54, 142, 290 ʿAbdishoʿ bar Schahhare 15,
Aba, Mar, of Kashkar 61 344
Aba, son of Zeora 99
ʿAbdishoʿ, Chaldean patriarch
Abba II, Mar 150, 332
16
Abbai of Nicaea, bishop 352
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, ʿAbdishoʿ, monk 178
caliph 325 Abdmeshiha 200
Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi Abdochos (Eudochus) 254
340 Abgar IX 82–83, 90
Abdalla ibn al-Muqaffa 279 Abgar V (Ukkama) 21, 24, 25,
Abdalla ibn-Tahir 340 81–85, 86, 87–89, 91, 93, 94,
Abdalla, caliph 333 206
Abdalmessih 115 Abgar VII 98
Abdel, archimandrite of Abgar VIII 203
Sandrun Mahoze 156 Abgar, Severus 90
Abgar, son of Zeora 99
ʿAbdishoʿ, brother of Joseph Abnil (Abizal) 286
Hazzaya 196
Abraham (Beth Garmai) 103
ʿAbdishoʿ bar Bahriz, Abraham (brother of Rabban
metropolitan of Erbil and Sabrishoʿ) 184
Mosul 150, 346 Abraham (of Kashkar), founder
ʿAbdishoʿ bar Moqli of Mosul of monastery at Izla 145,
172 183, 192, 301, 304
ʿAbdishoʿ of Gazarta 255 Abraham (priest of Edessa)
311, 329
363
Abraham bar Dashandand Acacius, bishop of Amid 298,

332, 334, 338 299
Abraham bar Kardahe 301 Acacius, patriarch 298
Abraham bar Kili, bishop of Adam of Akra 15, 179
Amid 316 Adam 69
Abraham Ecchellensis 253, 355 Adamantius 207
Abraham of Beth Abe 184 Adarparwa, martyr 102
Abraham of Nathpar 123–124, Adda, disciple of Addai 93
184, 192–193 Addai, apostle 21, 25, 81–84,
Abraham of Nisibis 183, 301 87–91, 93, 94
Abraham of Qatina 302 Addai, priest 146, 329
Abraham of Tortose 235 Aesop 226–227, 280
Abraham the Mede 298 Agapetus, pope 317
Abraham, biblical patriarch 91 Aggai 82, 89–90, 94
Abraham, bishop of Basra 271 Ahai, patriarch 105
Abraham, bishop of Erbil 109 Ahoudemmeh of Tagrit 216,
Abraham, deacon (9th c.) 256 219, 246, 317–318, 326
Abraham, Mar, patriarch of the Aitallah of Erbil 109, 113
Nestorians 178 Ala ad-Din Kaikobad 358
Abraham, priest and companion Alahazeka 175
of Simeon of Beth Arsham Albinus 91
117–119 Alexander of Alexandria 265
Abraham, syncellus of Narsai Alexander Severus 78
61, 301 Alexander the Great 70, 276–
Absamya see Cyrillona 277, 278
Abshuta 297 Alexios Komnenos 280
Abu al-Faraj ibn at-Tayyib 34, Al-Madjidi 16
143 Al-Mahdi, caliph 135, 334, 335
Abu al-Hasan ibn al-Bahlul see Al-Mansur, caliph 233, 335
Bar Bahlul Al-Mutawakkil, caliph338
Abu Bishr Mattai 235, 258, 259 Amarya, bishop of Beth Lapat
Abu Ghalib ibn Sabuni 348 107
Abu Ishaq, king of the Arabs Amazonius, bishop of Edessa
167 314
Abu Nafir of Hira 310 Ambrose, St. 148, 150
Abu Nuh of Anbar 333 Ambrosius, philosopher 135
Abu Tahir Zayd Taj ad-Daula Amira 253
357 Ammonius 212–213
Abu Yahya al-Marwazi see Amr ibn Matta al Tyrhani172–
Zachariah of Merv 173, 345
Abu Zacharia 258 Amr ibn Saad, emir 327
Abzoud 219, 220 Amr, Mar 46, 105, 108, 115,
Acacius, bishop of Aleppo 212, 299, 334
271, 295, 297 Ananias (Damascus) 76
INDEX OF NAMES 365
Anastasius I 153–154, 309 Athanasius I, patriarch of

Anatolius Vindanius Antioch 44, 275, 327
(Vindanionius) of Beyrouth Athanasius of Balad 217–218,
237, 238 221, 266, 267, 329
Anaxagoras 224 Athanasius VII, patriarch 348,
Andrew, grammarian 250, 344 349, 350
Andrew of Samosata 271 Athanasius, St. (of Alexandria)
Andrew, priest of Jerusalem 57 58, 65, 124, 140, 265, 269,
Anna, martyr 104 270
Anthime, patriarch 129 Athir ad-Din Mofaddal 222
Anthimus I of Constantinople Atitilaha, priest 217
317 Atken of Apnimaran 176, 184
Antiochus ? 126 Augustus Caesar 90
Antoninus (“Holy Father”) 140 Avicenne 222, 258
Antoninus Pius 133 Azad, eunuch 107
Antony of Tagrit (the Rhetor) Azazail, St 101
15, 258–259, 341 Baba, prophet of Harran 95
Antony, St 124 Babai bar Nasibnaya 193, 332
Aphnimaran 184 Babai of Gebilta 331–332
Aphrahat 11, 14, 25, 27–28, 34, Babai, Mar, abbot of Izla 62,
65, 187–191, 207, 238, 285 116, 178, 183, 192, 196, 301
Aploris/Apoplaris 156 Babai, Mar, scribe 193
Apollinarius 140, 265 Babai, martyr 98
Apollonius of Tyana 230 Babai, patriarch 312
Apuleius of Madaura 215 Babi 304
ʿAqebshma, bishop of Hnayta Baboy, patriarch 115
113 Babu of Nisibis 287
Aquiline of Byblos 139 Bacchus, martyr 121
Ara (composer of treatise contra Badma of Beth Lapat 113
magi and Bardaisan) 301 Bahira 185
Arcadius 104 Bahram V 105, 115
Aretas 119, 121 Bakru, abaya of Edessa 134
Arghun, king 182 Balai, Mar 12, 290, 291
Aristides 133 Bani 290
Aristotle 8, 210, 212–223, Baouth 15
258, 259, 330, 333, 339, 343 Bar ʿEdta (contemp. of
Arrian 277 Sahdona) 184
Artaban 93 Bar ʿEdta 179, 183, 185
Artaxerxes I (Sassanid) 78 Bar Ali 19, 58, 242, 257
Asa, priest 24 Bar Bahlul 17, 19, 50, 58, 63,
Asko al-Schabdani 16 176, 177, 232, 233, 234, 236,
Asylus, bishop 317 238, 254, 256, 257, 332, 344
Atanos (?) of Amid 231 Bar Hatar, son of ʿUdan 126
Athanasius Haye (VI) 347
Bar Hebræus 4, 13, 19, 24, 44, Beh Ishoʿ (Berkishoʿ) 200
47, 48, 52, 56, 57, 58, 78, 86, Bolida, bishop of Prat106
92, 94, 104, 105, 108, 110, Boran (daughter of Khosro) 323
115, 116, 138, 144, 146–147, Bosnaya, monk of Rabban
148, 149, 155, 167, 170–172, Hormizd 182
173, 176, 180, 181, 200, Brikishoʿ, martyr 102
203–204, 207, 211, 215–216, Buhd, physician 216, 279, 303
219, 220, 221–222, 227–228, Caesarius 205
231, 232, 233, 234, 235–236, Callisthenes (pseudo-) 70,
242, 244, 246, 247, 249, 252, 236, 277, 278
253, 257, 259, 266, 280, 291, Callisthenes 276
298, 299, 303, 307–308, 311, Cassianus Bassus 237–238
312, 318, 327, 332, 336, 340, Cecilius, bishop of Dispolis
342, 347, 348, 351, 352, 353, 139
354, 356, 357, 358–360 Cerialis, consul 98
Bar Salibi 264, 331, 352 Choeroboscus (George) 246
Bar Sauma (denouncer of Christodoulos of Alexandria,
Baboy) 115 patriarch 347
Bar Sauma of Nisibis 142, 172, Claudius, emperor 87
297, 298, 299, 305 Clement (pseudo-) 205, 264,
Bar Sauma, archimandrite 305 269
Bar Sauma, brother of Bar Clement of Rome 80, 262
Hebræus 360 Commodus, consul 98
Bar Zobi see John bar Zobi Conon 315
Barak, strategist 99 Constantine (“Holy Father”)
Barbaʿshmin, martyr 108 140
Bardaisan 3, 10–11, 12, 23, 78, Constantine, emperor 88, 138,
110, 203–207, 238, 285 148, 155, 156, 160, 167–168,
Barhadbshabba 61, 62, 175– 170, 174, 207
176, 299, 300, 301 Constantine, bishop of Harran
Barhadbshabba, deacon of Erbil 331
109, 329 Constantine, consul 99
Barlaam and Josaphat 133 Constantine, disciple of Jacob
Barlaha 65 of Edessa 239
Barsahde 175, 332 Constantine, metropolitan of
Barsamya, martyr 97–98, 100– Laodicea 141
101 Cosmas, priest127
Barses, bishop of Edessa 288 Cyprian of Nisibis175, 333
Basil bar Shumna 348 Cyprian 138–139
Basil of Cyprus 175, 327 Cyril of Alexandria 8, 58, 66,
Basil, St. 51, 58, 140, 141, 236, 140, 254, 262, 295, 296, 318
276, 288 Cyrillona 291
Bassus, Mar 112 Cyrus (mid-6th century) 302
Bazoud 212, 220 Cyrus, bishop 309
INDEX OF NAMES 367
Cyrus, king 67 Diogenes of Edessa 295

Dâdâ, monk of Amid 294 Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria
Dadishoʿ (of Izla; Abraham’s 264
disciple) 122, 145, 304 Dionysius bar Salibi 56, 57, 80,
Dadishoʿ of Qatar 122, 199– 125, 221, 237, 350
200 Dionysius of Tel Mahre 153,
Dadishoʿ, patriarch 60 166–167, 168–169, 340, 341
Damasus, St, of Rome (pope) Dionysius of Tel Mahre
140 (pseudo-) 116, 119, 157,
Damien of Alexandria 315, 160, 164
317 Dionysius of Thrace 245, 250,
Danaq, martyr 104 273
Daniel bar Khattab 353 Dionysius the Areopagite
Daniel bar Maryam 176 (pseudo-) 51, 79, 196, 241,
Daniel bar Toubanita 194, 195 266, 271–273, 342
Daniel of Salah 55 Dionysius the Areopagite 272,
Daniel, bishop of Harran 139, 311
297 Dioscorides 8, 233, 234, 235
Daniel, son of Moses 175, 335 Domnus of Antioch 139, 297
Dauma 118 Ebedshaddai 91
David bar John (Serapion), Elia, martyr 102
physician 338 Elias (bar Shinaya) of Nisibis 16,
David of Beth Rabban 48, 18, 108, 143, 149, 150, 172,
240, 250, 336, 354 173–174, 175, 176, 181, 190,
David, bishop of Kartewaye 211, 228, 249–251, 252, 254,
125, 185 258, 335, 344, 345, 346
David, Maronite metropolitan Elias of Tella 129
144 Elias bar Gagai 346
Democrite (pseudo-) 72 Elias I, patriarch of the
Demonicus 228, 230 Nestorians 141, 143, 149,
Demophilius 223 150, 345, 346
Denha I, patriarch of the East Elias III, patriarch of the
180–182 Nestorians 348
Denha of Tagrit 326, 327 Elias Jauhari 143
Denha (or Ibas) 63, 219, 251, Elias of Anbar15, 16, 175
268, 339 Elias of Kashkar 268
Deuterius (friend of John of Elias of Malatya, priest and
Asia) 316 father of Michael 351
Dhou-Nowas 119, 120, 121 Elias of Perozshabur, bishop
Dio Cassius 90 344
Diocles (pseudo-) 166 Elias of Sinjar 268
Diocletian 99, 100, 122 Elias of Tirhan 249, 250, 252,
Diodore of Tarsus 270, 271, 254
296 Elias, Jacobite patriarch 331
Elias, metropolitan of Merv Eustathius of Dara 329

62, 176, 325 Euthalius, archimandrite 169
Elisha (Hosea) of Nisibis 298, Eutyches 141, 297, 301, 305
325 Evagrius 86, 183, 196, 276,
Elisha bar Quzbaye 61, 300 307, 350
Elisha bar Saphanin 62 Ezalia 298
Elisha, patriarch 61 Ezechiel 324
Ella-Asbeha 120 Fakhr ad-Daula 357
Emmanuel bar Shahhare 240, Faustina, St 291
344 Febriona, St, fictitious martyr
ʿEnanishoʿ 122–124, 219, 122
255, 324 Felix I, pope 139, 265
Ephra Hormiz 106 Fidus, bishop 139
Ephrem, patriarch of Antioch Flavian of Constantinople 154,
314, 316, 317 297, 309
Ephrem, St 10–11, 12, 14, 15, Flavien of Antioch 139
16, 24, 25, 27–28, 34, 53, 54, Gabriel (of Sinjar) the physician
56, 58, 64, 69, 70, 84, 101, 193, 326
121, 126, 145, 160, 172, Gabriel Arya 62
204–205, 207, 285–290, 291, Gabriel bar Bokhtishoʿ 233–
294, 295, 300, 303, 354 234, 256, 337, 338
Epictitus 223 Gabriel bar Sabroy 48
Epiphanius (pseudo-) 69 Gabriel Kamsa 354
Epiphanius 58, 192, 203, 204, Gabriel of Edessa, physician
270, 292 235, 358
Erostrophos 228 Gabriel of Qatar 183
Eugene, St 302 Gabriel Taureta 199
Eugenius, bishop 315 Gabriel the Chaldean 16
Eunomius 304 Gabriel, bishop of Hormizd
Euphrasius, patriarch of Ardashir 302
Antioch 314 Gabriel, commander of siege of
Eusebius of Alexandria 214 Malatya 280, 348
Eusebius of Caesarea 21, 32, 58, Gabriel, metropolitan of Basra
65, 76, 83–84, 86–87, 121, 143
125, 133–134, 162–163, 167, Gabriel, patriarch of Julianist
204, 205, 263, 268, 269 Armenians 336
Eusebius of Dorylaeum 139, Gabriel, Rabban, of Beth ʿAbe
297 102, 176, 184, 268
Eusebius of Rome 155 Gadyahb, bishop of Beth Lapat
Eusebius, bishop of Qenneshre 106
295 Galen 8, 232, 233, 234, 235,
Eustache (“Holy Father”) 140 238
Eustathius of Antioch 65, Galerius Maximianus 101
266, 317 Gallo-Roman pilgrim 84, 86
INDEX OF NAMES 369
Gargamush, martyr 113 Gregory abu al-Faraj see Bar

George I of Alexandria, Hebræus
patriarch 324 Gregory of Nazianzus, St 51, 58,
George I of Seleucia, patriarch 140, 205, 266, 268, 274, 326,
325 327, 329, 330, 333, 334, 339,
George Mihrgushnasp 116, 340, 343
183 Gregory of Nisibis 176, 193
George of Alqosh 19 Gregory of Nyssa, St 58, 65,
George of Antioch, patriarch 56, 140, 276, 285, 287, 288
335 Gregory Pirnagushnasp 115
George of Erbil, metropolitan Gregory Thaumaturgus 224,
148, 344 265–267
George of Maipherkat 331 Gregory the Illuminator 188–
George of Nisibis 325 189
George of Scythopolis 272 Gregory, bishop and physician
George of Serug, bishop 248, 231
329 Gregory, Mar, the Director 192
George of Shuster 176 Gregory, monk 292
George Warda of Erbil 353 Gubralaha, martyr 113
George, bishop of the Arabic Guhshtazad, eunuch 106
tribes of the Euphrates 65, Gurya (chronicler) 170
147, 190, 205–206, 209, 218, Gurya, martyr 97, 99–101
238, 239–240, 268, 307, 330 Habban (merchant) 79
George, chorepiscopus of Amid Habib of Edessa 327, 328
169 Habib, martyr (occidental
George, deacon 329 Mesopotamia) 97, 99, 100–
George, disciple of Jacob of 101
Edessa (=George of Serug?) Habib, martyr (Persia) 102
306 Hadji Khalfa 237
George, Nestorian patriarch Hadrian 122, 133
(660–680) 194 Hanania of Erbil 109
George, prince of Persia, Hanina, Mar 307
christened by Ahoudemmeh Hannan (Abgar’s deputy) 84, 86,
318 91
George, St, fictitious martyr Hariri 17, 18
122 Harith ibn Jabalah 314
Gerard of Cremona 235 Harmonius 11
Gesius Petae 232 Harun al-Rashid 257
Gewargis of Alqosh 78 Harun, son of Abu Ishaq 167
Gewargis Warda 302 Hazaruy (Mary), sister of
Gilani martyrs 110 George Mihrgushnasp 116
Gondophares 78 Helen, St 87
Gosius of Alexandria 231 Heliodorus, bishop 111
Heliogabalus 204
Henana of Adiabene 61, 193, Ignatius (friend of Moses bar

195, 196, 302, 303–304 Kepha) 343
Henanishoʿ (monk; compiler of Ignatius II, Jacobite patriarch
the Paradise) 254 357, 359
Henanishoʿ bar Seroshway, Ignatius III, patriarch 360
bishop of Hira 63, 175, Ignatius of Antioch, Saint 13,
257, 343 140, 263
Henanishoʿ I 184, 194, 219, Ignatius of Malatya 170
325 Immanuel, bishop of Beth
Henanishoʿ II 142, 334 Garmai 179
Heraclius, emperor 170, 178, Irenaeus (of Lyons) 264
199, 321, 323 Irenaeus of Tyre 139, 297
Herod 75 Isaac (disciple of St Ephrem) 54
Hesychius of Jerusalem 66, Isaac (Patriarch) 22, 91, 137
254 Isaac of Amid 293
Hierotheus 264, 311 Isaac of Antioch 11, 12, 195,
Hipparchus 101 289, 293–294, 347
Hippocrates 233, 234, 235 Isaac of Edessa (5th c.) 293
Hippolytus 58, 64, 264 Isaac of Edessa (6th c.) 293
Hobeish (nephew of Hunayn) Isaac of Nineveh 189–190,
220, 235 193–195, 196, 294
Hofsay of Erbil 109 Isaac Sciadrensis 253
Homer135, 247 Isaac the Doctor 11
Hormizd IV 304 Isaac, bishop of Beth Slok 103
Hormizd, priest of Shustar 107 Isaiah (bar Hadabo) of Arzon
Hormizd, Rabban 19 103
Hormizd, son of Khosro 166 Isaiah of Scetis 200
Houb (Ahob, Job) of Qatar 63 Isaiah of the School of Seleucia
Houlagou 360 302
Hunayn ibn Ishaq 176, 214, 220, Isaiah the Ascetic 130, 161
231, 232, 234–235, 236, 249, Ishaq bar Hunayn 220, 235
254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 337, Ishoʿ (Jesu) bar Ali 256, 338
338 Ishoʿ (Jesu) bar Nun 63, 143,
Iamblichus 243 149, 174, 203, 254, 268, 337,
Ibas 139 338–339
Ibas, bishop of Edessa 47, 60, Ishoʿ bar Shushan (John X)
65, 213, 271, 296–297 148, 347
Ibas, Rabban 299, 300, 309 Ishoʿ Zeka 175–176, 184,
Ibn Abi Ouseibia (Usaibia) 304
226, 234, 257 Ishoʿ, priest 330
Ibn al-Awam 238 Ishoʿbokht, metropolitan of
Ibn al-Masibi 17 Persia 147, 149, 220, 241
Ibn Bahlul 235
Ibrahim of Seleucia of Syria 16
INDEX OF NAMES 371
Ishoʿdad (of Merv), bishop of Jacob, Mar, of Edessa 21, 24,

Haditha 23, 34, 46, 54, 58, 48, 49, 50, 55, 56, 58, 73, 74,
60, 61–62, 63, 340 121, 146–147, 163, 164, 166,
Ishoʿdnah, bishop of Basra 191, 209–210, 214, 217,
175, 177, 191, 192, 193, 239–240, 246–247, 248, 249,
194–196, 199, 219, 335 250, 252, 266, 272, 274–275,
Ishoʿsabran 116, 324 293, 306, 327–329, 328, 330
Ishoʿyahb bar Ezechiel, Jacob, master of Bar Hebræus
patriarch 346 359
Ishoʿyahb bar Malkon 251, Jacob, patrician and martyr 101
252, 348 Jacob, priest of Erbil 109
Ishoʿyahb I (of Arzun) 135, Jacob, priest of Tella Shliha
304 109
Jacob, priest (correspondent of
Ishoʿyahb II, patriarch 62,
199, 323 George ca. 714–718) 330
James, St (of Jerusalem) 87
Ishoʿyahb III, patriarch (of
James, bishop of Deirin 142
Adiabene) 15, 61, 116, 177–
Januaris Candidatus of Amid
178, 184, 323, 325
267
Ishoʿyahb, brother of Ishoʿyahb Jeremiah, prophet 72
of Adiabene 324 Jerome, St 123, 277
Ishoʿyahb, monk 185 Jesu- see Ishoʿ-
Isocrates 228–229, 230 Jesus (“Our Lord”) 8, 15, 81–
Israel of Alqosh 15, 17 85, 86, 90, 92, 93, 94
Jacob (administrator of Nisibis) Jesus Bar Ali 233–234
287 Job the Persian, Mar 184
Jacob bar Salibi see Dionysius John (contemporary of
bar Salibi patriarch Denha) 181
Jacob bar Shakko see Severus John (colleague of Abraham at
bar Shakko the School of Nisibis) 61
Jacob Baradaeus 129, 246, 313, John bar Abgar 147
314–315, 316, 317 John bar Aphtonia 55, 217,
Jacob Intercisus 115 274, 313
Jacob of Maipherkat (bishop of John bar Cursus (of Tella) 129,
Tagrit) 357 145, 306, 313
Jacob of Serug11, 12, 78, 85, 92, John bar John (Serapion),
101, 112, 116–117, 120, 121, physician 338
127, 160, 217, 271, 278, John bar Khaldoun 15, 182
305–308, 309, 311, 329 John bar Khamis 250
Jacob Philoponus 274 John bar Madani 228
Jacob, bishop of Halat 62 John bar Maswai 234, 337, 338,
Jacob, St, bishop of Nisibis (d. 339
338) 125, 188, 286, 303 John bar Penkaye (Saba) 197–
Jacob, Mar, of Beth Abe 183 198, 354
John bar Serapion 235, 337, 338 John X, patriarch of the

John bar Shushan 293 Jacobites see Ishoʿ bar
John bar Zobi 63, 174, 246, Shushan
249, 251–252, 255, 349, 356 John, abbot of Eusebius 55
John Chrysostom, St 56, 65, John, bishop of Erbil 109
123–124, 276, 303 John, bishop of Jerusalem 270
John Grammaticus 269, 274 John, bishop of Mayouma 131
John I of Antioch, patriarch 327 John, Mar, of Beth Dalyatha
John Maron 57, 331, 346 194, 197
John of Apamea 194, 269 John, master of Stephen bar
John of Asia 119, 128–129, Sudaili 311
154, 156–161, 168, 305, 312, John, patriarch of the East see
315, 316 John bar Abgar
John of Beth Garmai 176, 184– John, St 38
185, 324 John, superior at the convent of
John of Beth Rabban 301 Beth Aphtonia 131, 313
John of Callinice 335 Jonah, periodeut 217
John of Damascus 133 Joseph (biblical patriarch)290,
John of Dara 166–167, 272, 300
341 Joseph (monk) 145, 269
John of Dasen325 Joseph Acurensis 253
John of Daylam 334 Joseph bar Malkon see
John of Ephesus see John of Ishoʿyahb bar Malkon
Asia Joseph Hazzaya 125, 177,
John of Harran, Mardin, etc. 194–196, 304
(Mesopotamia), bishop 347, Joseph of Ahwaz 47, 245, 248,
351 254, 273, 301, 303
John of Kaisoum 170 Joseph of Beth Koke, Rabban
John of Lycopolis 269 184
John of Mosul 354, 355 Joseph of Diarbekir 139–140
John Philoponus 51, 212, 213, Josephus 68, 87, 168, 208
219, 273 Joseph, disciple of Narsai of
John Psaltes 120 Shahrgard 109
John the Garameen 297 Joseph, patriarch (5th century)
John the monk (disciple of 142, 303
Abraham of Kashkar)183, Joseph, priest (Persia) 113
184–185, 193 Joshua the Stylite 85, 154, 169
John the Scholastic of Jovian, emperor 112, 155
Scythopolis 272 Judah Harizi 17
John the Stylite 170, 249, 329, Judas (Iscariot) 91
330 Judas Thomas 7
John V 174 Julian of Halicarnassus 273
Julian the Apostate 112, 155,
156, 288, 295
INDEX OF NAMES 373
Julian, patriarch of Antioch Macarius, deacon 143

146 Mahdukt 102
Julius Africanus 167 Mahomet see Muhammad
Julius Caesar 156 Mahri, martyr 102
Julius, pope 139, 265 Malchus 129
Julius, strategist 99 Malkishoʿ, disciple of Addai 93
Justin I117 Mama, martyr 104
Justin I, emperor 306, 307, 309, Mamaea, empress 264
313, 314 Mana Pahlavi 271, 297, 300–
Justin II, emperor 157, 168, 170 301
Justin Martyr 32, 134, 135, 264 Mane of Beth Garmai103–104
Justinian 120, 170, 302, 316 Mani 311
Kamal al-Din ibn Yunus 356 Manu (father of Abgar V) 82
Kamis bar Qardahe 250, 353, Mara bar Serapion 208–209
354 Mara of Amid 55, 313
Kam-Ishoʿ, Rabban 184 Mara of Beth Kardu 298
Kavadh, king 153, 298 Mara, archdeacon 115
Khodawai, Mar 185 Maranammeh, bishop of
Khosro I Anoshirwan 85–86, Adiabene 178
115,180, 215, 303, 318 Marc of Alexandria, patriarch
Khosro II Peroz 115, 116, 181, 336
183, 297, 298, 321, 323 Marcellinus 65
Koumi 213 Marcion 203, 207, 290
K(o)utbi 134 Marcos, Mar 125
Kune, bishop of Edessa 99 Marcus bar QiQi (Ignatius)
Kyrisona of Dara 329 346, 347
Labubna, son of Senac 91 Maremmeh 323
Lazarus bar Sobto 341, 342 Mari ibn Suleiman 172
Lazarus of Beth Qandasa 56, Mari of Beth Ardashir 298,
335 300
Lazarus, martyr 102 Mari the Persian 297
Lazarus, physician 169 Mari, Mar, disciple of Addai 46,
Leo II of Armenia 352 92–94, 115
Leo of Harran 331 Mari, son of Solomon92
Leo, emperor 148, 297 Maribas the Chaldean 170
Leo, pope 141 Mark Fakhr ad-Daula 356
Licinius, consul 99 Mark Isaurios, Aba 141
Livy 155 Mark, monk 332
Lucian of Antioch 27–28 Maruth, martyr 102
Lucian 228–230 Marutha, bishop of Maipherkat
Lulianus, patrician and martyr 104–105, 108, 137, 326
101 Marutha, metropolitan of Tagrit
Lysanias 98 55, 326
Maʿna, bishop 104 Mary, Virgin 8, 14, 15
Maryam, nun of Tella Shliha Moses of Chorene (pseudo-)

109 162, 204
Masoud ibn al-Kass 354 Moses, doctor 192
Massardjawihi (Masardjis) 233 Mousa (Sindbân) 280
Matthew the hermit 183 Mousa ben Ibrahim al-Hadith
Maurice, emperor 135, 167 235
Maximian, emperor 101 Muhammad ibn-Tahir 340
Maximus 272 Muhammad 185, 278
Mazdai78 Musionus, governor of Edessa
Mazuræi 233–234 99
Mekim, Mar 346 Mzakhya, martyr 104
Melchizedek 69 Narsai, Mar, of Beth ʿAbe 184
Melito, bishop of Sardis 22–23, Narsai 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 47–48,
133–134, 264 60, 61, 271, 289, 298, 299–
Menander 223, 225 300, 301
Meshihazeka see Ishoʿ Zeka Narsai, bishop of Shahrgard 108
Mesrop 162 Narsai, king of Persia 88
Metaphrastes 287, 288 Narsai, martyr 102
Methodius 266 Nashiram, mother of Bardaisan
Michael Andropoulos 280 203
Michael the interpreter 63, Nathaniel (late 6th c.) 62
216, 220 Nebuchadnezzar 91
Michael the Syrian (“the Great”) Nestorius 180, 295, 296, 298
71, 82, 131, 163, 167, 169– Nestorius, Mar, bishop of Beth
171, 175, 204, 273, 291, 336, Nuhadra 196
340, 342, 350, 351, 352 Nicolas (outliner of Aristotle)
Michael, bishop of Tinnis270 220
Michael, disciple of St. Eugene Nicomachus 243
344 Noah 69
Mihrnarse, martyr 102 Nonnus of Edessa (5th c.) 128,
Mika, bishop of Lashom (cited 97
by Elias of Nisibis) 175, Nonnus of Nisibis, archdeacon
297, 301 342
Mika, doctor 61, 301 Novatius 264
Miles, bishop of Susa 107, 108 Nuhama, father of Bardaisan
Mina, chorepiscopus of Persia 203
142 Numan ibn al-Mundhir 181,
Mondhir, king of Arabs 117– 304
119 Œcumenicus 66
Moqima, bishop of Beth Lapat Olympiodorus, deacon of
107 Alexandria 66
Moses bar Kepha 21, 24, 56, 58, Omar, caliph 195
176, 206, 211, 219, 240, 342 Orestes (priest of Edessa) 311
Moses of Aggel 43, 70, 318 Origen 22–23, 27, 44, 58, 207
INDEX OF NAMES 375
Pachomius, St 124 Philagrius 231

Palladius 122–125, 254, 285, Philip, disciple of Addai 93
324 Philip, disciple of Bardaisan 206
Palut, bishop of Edessa 27, Philotheus 101, 214
32–33, 90–91 Philoxenus bar Sobto see
Pamphylus 290 Lazarus bar Sobto
Papa, bishop 93–94, 303 Philoxenus of Mabbug 11, 43,
Papa, patriarch 107 54, 58, 187–189, 191, 305,
Paphnutius, monk 318 307, 309–310, 311, 318
Paphnutius, St, fictitious martyr Phocus bar Sergius of Edessa
122 272
Paragrus, patrician and martyr Phocus, emperor 321
101 Photius 237, 238
Patricius of Edessa 311 Pilate 75
Patros (Peter), monk 181 Pinhes 176
Paul of Aegina 8, 233, 234 Plato 209, 223–224, 228
Paul of Antioch 129, 246, 329 Plutarch 228–230
Paul of Edessa 120, 273, 307 Polycarp, bishop of Adrumette
Paul of Nisibis 62, 302 139
Paul of Samosata 138, 264 Polycarp, chorepiscopus 43, 44
Paul the Hermit 124 Porphyry 212, 214, 218, 221
Paul the Persian 215–216, 303 Pos(s)I, professor 106, 302
Paul, abbot 266, 267, 268, Probus 212, 213
274, 326, 339 Proclus, bishop of
Paul, apostle 191 Constantinople 271
Paul, bishop of Callinice 273– Procopius 85–86
274, 275, 314 Prosdocius 139
Paul, bishop of Tella Mauzalat Protagoras 224
21, 44, 58, 326 Protonike 87–88
Paul, priest of Cilicia 140 Psellus 224
Paul, son of Qaqi 298 Ptolemy 239, 240
Paulonas/Paulinas 290 Pythagoras209, 223
Pelagia, St, of Antioch 128 Qantropos 301
Pelagius (“Holy Father”) 140 Qardag of Adiabene 109–110
Peter (Simon), Apostle 87, 90 Qazo, martyr 113
Peter of Callinice 319 Quintus, bishop 139
Peter the Fuller, patriarch of Quros, priest of Serug 170
Antioch 309 Quryaqos (converted Joseph
Peter the Iberian 130–131 Hazzaya) 196
Peter, bishop of Alexandria Quryaqos of Antioch, patriarch
140, 265 147, 335, 336, 340
Pethion, patriarch 63, 175, Quryaqos of Nisibis, bishop 62
332 Quryaqos, Mar 315
Pethion, St 114–115 Qusta ibn Luqa 237
Rabbula, bishop of Edessa 32– Serapion the elder see John bar
33, 35, 127–128, 145, 146, Serapion
160, 208, 262, 271, 295–296, Serapion, bishop of Antioch 27,
298, 299, 318 32–33, 90
Ram Yeshu (bar Sabroy) 48 Serapion, Mar 125
Romanus of Kartemin 226, Sergis (George?), bishop of
233, 342 Resafa 118–119
Romanus, patrician and martyr Sergis of Alqosh 19
101 Sergius bar Elias (=of
Rufin 122, 123 Reshʿayna?) 237
Saba Pirgushnasp 102, 111 Sergius Dewada 325
Saba, doctor 50 Sergius Grammaticus 274
Sabina, bishop of Beth Lapat Sergius of Adiabene 62
106 Sergius of Reshʿayna 3, 213–
Sabinus (=Olbinus) 89 215, 217, 224, 230, 231, 232,
Sabrishoʿ of Nineveh 194 234, 237, 238–239, 245–246,
Sabrishoʿ the elder, Rabban 272, 305, 316, 317
184 Sergius of Sinjar 327
Sabrishoʿ I 176, 180–181, Sergius, bishop of Amphiator
193, 301 147
Sabrishoʿ IV, patriarch 353 Sergius, brother of John of
Sabrishoʿ V, patriarch 348 Dalyatha 197
Sabrishoʿ, Rabban 184, 354 Sergius, martyr 121
Sabroy 48 Sergius, monk of Tella 314
Sahdona 178, 183, 199, 323, Sergius, patriarch of Antioch
332 129, 315
Said bar Sabouni 348 Sergius, Rabban 184
Saliba al-Mansouri 15, 339 Severus bar Shakko 212, 221,
Saliba ibn Yohanna of Mosul 241, 243–244, 252, 259, 280,
172–173, 182 337, 353, 354, 356
Salib-Zacha 331 Severus of Antioch 48, 51, 53,
Samuel (disciple of Arch. Bar 55, 56, 58, 112, 129–131,
Sauma) 305 141, 249, 263, 269, 273, 274,
Sauma, Rabban 181, 182 275, 306, 309, 314, 317, 329,
Schalita, disciple of St Eugene 331
125 Severus Sebokht of Nisibis 175,
Shisban 301 216, 217, 239, 251, 267, 327,
Scuthinos 203 328, 329
Secundus 223, 224 Sextus, philosopher 226
Senorinus Chididatus see Shabur II 102, 103, 104–114,
Januaris Candidatus of Amid 189, 286
Septimius Severus 90–91, 206 Shabur I 231
Serapion of Thmuis 266 Shabur, bishop of Nicator 103
Shahdost, martyr 108
INDEX OF NAMES 377
Shamona, martyr 97, 99–101 Solomon of Haditha 176, 197

Shams ad-Daula 357 Sophie, St, fictitious martyr
Sharbel, martyr 97–98, 100– 122
101 Sophronius of Tella 139, 297
Shem 69 Soterichus, bishop of Caesarea
Shembayteh, martyr 102 in Cappadocia 309
Shoubhalmaran, Mar, Sozomen 162, 287, 288
metropolitan of Karka of Stephen bar Sudaili 273, 307,
Beth Slok 193 311
Simeon bar Sabbaʿe 13, 105– Stephen of Alexandria 212, 221
108, 285, 349 Stephen of Rome 264
Simeon Barkaya 176 Stephen, disciple of Jacob
Simeon Koubaya 308 Hazzaya 197
Simeon of Beth Garmai 103, Suidas 254
163 Surin, bishop of Halah and
Simeon of Karka 176 Houlvan 333
Simeon of Kashkar 176, 333 Suzanne, virgin 129
Simeon of Shanklawa 105, 174– Sylvester, St 160
175, 349, 355 Tad ad-Daula 357
Simeon of Taibuteh 147, 200, Tarbo, sister of Simeon bar
231, 233 Sabbaʿe 107
Simeon Seth 280 Tareh (=Terah) 91
Simeon the Stylite 126–127, 305 Tatian 31, 32
Simeon, abbot of Gabbula 117 Taton, martyr 104
Simeon, abbot 65 Thaddeus (=Addai) 84
Simeon, bishop of Beth Arsham Theano 223, 224
117–120, 129, 162, 168, 297, Thekla, nun, martyr 104, 109
298, 300, 312 Themistius 228, 230
Simeon, bishop of Hira 116 Theocritus 224
Simeon, disciple of Mar Theodora, empress 312, 314
Yozadak 179 Theodore bar Koni (bar
Simeon, Jacobite deacon 175, Kéwâni) 62, 176, 322
345 Theodore bar Wahbun 352
Simeon, metropolitan of Rev Theodore bar Zaraudi 272
Ardashir 146, 323 Theodore of Merv 62, 214.
Simeon, son of Apollo 126 215, 302, 317
Sixtus, pope 223, 226, 264 Theodore of Mopsuestia 8, 24,
Socrates, historian 13, 155, 26, 46, 47, 63, 65, 213, 270,
161–162, 168 271, 295, 296–297, 300, 303
Socrates 209, 222, 228 Theodore, bishop of Bostra
Solomon, king of Israel 23, 91 314
Solomon bar Garaph, monk 185 Theodore, brother of John of
Solomon of Basra 13, 70, 241, Dalyatha 197
290, 352–353 Theodore, monk 192, 292
Theodore, priest 232, 238 Timachus 224

Theodoret of Cyrus 126, 139, Timothy Aelurus of Alexandria
161–162, 297 130, 263, 274
Theodoret, Bishop of Edessa35, Timothy I, Nestorian patriarch
66, 126 46, 135, 142–143, 150, 185,
Theodosius I, emperor 148 197, 199, 239, 268, 333, 334,
Theodosius II (“the Younger”) 338–339
104, 168, 295 Timothy II, Nestorian patriarch
Theodosius of Alexandria 141, 356
245, 314, 317 Timothy of Alexandria 141
Theodosius of Antinoe 130 Timothy of Karkar 16
Theodosius of Edessa 163, Timothy, disciple of
267, 340 Apollinarius 140
Theodosius of Kartemin see Timothy, elder (recipient of
Romanus Dionysius’ letter) 79, 272
Theodosius, bishop of Titus of Bostra 269
Jerusalem 161 Tobit 25
Theodosius, patriarch of Totila, king of the Ostrogoths
Antioch 129, 231, 311, 160
312 Toubana Santa 50
Theodosius, Rabban 50 Trajan 98, 100
Theophanes 165 Valens 126, 288
Theophilus bar Manu 314 Valentinian, emperor 148, 150
Theophilus of Edessa 99, 176, Valentinus 203–204, 205, 207
247, 280, 335 Vatican Anonymous, the 218
Theophilus, emperor 167 Veronica, St 86
Theopompus 266 Vologese of Nisibis 287
Thidas, Mar 129 Walid, caliph 4
Thomas (“Holy Father”) 140 Yaballa I 301
Thomas of Edessa 302, 343 Yahb, Mar, the anchorite 192
Thomas of Harkel 44, 45, Yahbalaha III 180, 181, 354,
326 355, 356
Thomas of Marga 123–125, 145, Yahya ben Masawaih see John
176, 177–178, 181, 183, 331, bar Maswai
340, 342 Yazdandukt 109
Thomas, apostle 77, 78, 93 Yazdgird I 104
Thomas, bishop of Kaphartab Yazdgird II 103, 105, 114
144–145 Yazdpaneh, martyr 115
Thomas, deacon (=Thomas of Yohannan III 143
Harkel?) 248–249 Yohannan of Homizd Ardashir
Thomas, Jacobite priest 164 106
Thomas, sculptor 329 Yohannan, bishop of Beth Slok
Tiberius Caesar 87, 88 103
Tiberus 170
INDEX OF NAMES 379
Yohannan, bishop of Karka of Zebina, martyr 102

Maishan 106 Zedekiah 72
Yonan, disciple of St Eugene Zekaishoʿ see Ishoʿ Zeka
125 Zengi 348, 350
Yonan, martyr 102 Zeno, emperor 160, 232, 297,
Zachariah of Merv 220, 256, 298, 305, 306, 307, 309
338 Zenobius 290
Zacharias Rhetor (Scholasticus) Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome 90
70, 130–131, 159, 161, 316, Zinai, Aba 193
317, 318 Zoroaster 332
Zachee, bishop of Tella 315 Zosimus 73
Zaia of Kurdistan 125

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Syriac Literature

Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies

George Anton Kiraz

Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies brings to the scholarly world the

An English Translation of La Littérature Syriaque

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Duval, Rubens, 1839-1911.

Foreword to the English Edition ......................................................... vii

XII. The Historiographers ..................................................................153

Despite having been written over a century ago, Rubens Duval’s La

Syriac literature was formed and developed in Mesopotamia under

of the Roman Empire were to declare themselves partisans of the

ed. MARTIN II, p. 5, and A Compendious History of Dynasties, ed. Pocock,

The positive influence of Christianity was soon felt in

§1. — FEATURES OF SYRIAC LITERATURE

These translations have preserved a number of works of which

1 The following discussion of Syriac poetry was the object of a lecture

of “answers,” i.e. the reuse at the beginning of a stanza of a word or

However, the determined number of syllables per line, which

3S. Ephraemi syri opera syriace et latine, ed. STÉPH. ÉVOD.

According to St Ephrem, Bardaisan wrote these hymns in

The homilies or poetic discourse (‫ܐܳܕܡ ̈ܘܫܚܬܐ‬

counterpart of the youths’ games and dances. He set up choruses

5 According to BAR HEBRÆUS, Chron. eccl., II, 33, the institution of

method is used to record musical tunes in our collections of

6S. Ephraem syri Hymni et Sermones, t. IV, p. 486–494, Malines, 1902.

These canticles are short and vivid dramas not devoid of a

8 Although these canticles are part of the Nestorian breviary and

rhyming poems attributed to former authors, but these claims are

generalised.11 The ancient Syrians did not know the art of

not strike us as being conclusive.

consists in the formation of a double acrostic, the line beginning

the Paradise of Eden.

captivated by the Makamat that he translated them into Hebrew

Beyrouth, 1889, which only includes the twenty-five first homilies.

to the numerous prosodic types he inherited from his predecessors.

ed., Beyrouth, 1900, p. 159 in the Chrestomathy, he reproduced the thirty-

The dim rays of light which the declining Syriac literature

§1. — THE SO-CALLED PESHITTA VERSION

eccl., V, 23) in relation to those discussions on the Easter holiday

1Eichhorn, de Wette, Field, and others. Renan, in his Histoire des

January-February 1893, p. 35.

3 As for PERLES, he has established in his Meletemata Peshittaniana,

7 See BAR HEBRÆUS’s preface to his commentary entitled The

Jewish communities. According to the Legend of Abgar, Addai, the

9Melelemata Peschittoniana, Breslau, 1859.

Theologie, 1879. Cf. BARNES, Apparatus criticus to Chronicles in the Peschitto,

Although the Peshitta derives from the Hebrew text and

13 PERLES, Melelemata Peschittoniana, Breslau, 1859; HOLZINGER,

Psalter, New York, 1895; compare with OPPENHEIM, Die syr.

f. die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 1885, p. 66 ff.

1887; MANDI., Die Peschitto zu Hiob, Leipzig, 1892.

Wissenschaft, t. XIV, 1894, p. 65–141 and 161–222.

the Targum of Proverbs depends on the Peshitta, the opinion

19 On this collation, see PAUL DE LAGARDE, Librorum Veteris

whether the revision of the Peshitta remained outside the

20 In Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel, Oxford, 1890,