Kristian Heal has announced 35 additions to the Syriac books online here. Nothing wildly exciting, but all very useful, solid stuff!
Category: Syriac
Dionysius Bar Salibi’s “Commentary on the Gospels”, Papias and Eusebius
The massive commentary on the Gospels of the 13th century Syriac writer Dionysius Bar Salibi has never been translated into English. But at one point it looked as if it might be. An Irish scholar named Dudley Loftus made use of a manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin, and made a Latin translation of the whole thing. This still exists, in manuscript, and I have seen it in the Bodleian, among the mss. of Dr. John Fell, where it is numbered #6 and #7. The ms is crumbling, and probably unphotographed; of course I wasn’t allowed to take a copy.
But it seems that Loftus found that he could not publish his translation. Instead he made an English version of extracts, which he did publish as “A clear and learned explication of the history of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ: taken out of above thirty Greek, Syriack, and other oriental authors: by Dionysius Syrus, … and faithfully translated by D. Loftus. / [by] DIONYSIUS BAR SALIBI, Bishop of Amadia ; Loftus, Dudley ; JESUS CHRIST. (1695)”
This contains some interesting material. It contains a passage from Papias, which my friend Tom Schmidt is going to blog about. But while looking for this, I also found a quotation from Eusebius! The work is really something of a catena, and thus the statement of Eusebius about how the Lord was dead for 3 days appears in it, on p.58.
Eusebius; Mathew by way of Exposition adds after this, of the Evening of the Sabbath the dawning of the Firstday of the Week, denoting the Hour and time of the Night after the Sabbath, which was when the First day of the Week dawned. ‘Tis true, Mathew wrote in the Hebrew, and he who Translated the Scripture into the Greek Language, rendered the Dawning of tbe Day, the Evening of the Sabbath; and Mathew, by the Evening, means the whole Length and Evening af the Night; as John calls the passing away, or the least Part of the Night, Day; and therefore adds, whilest it was yet dark, least it should be thought, that he spoke of the Morning; so Mathew also, when he said, the Evening of the Sabbath, lest Men might think it was spoken of the Evening Season, he adds, When the First day of the Week began to dawn.
I suspect this is more the sense of Eusebius’ thought than his words; it will be interesting to see, when the Syriac fragments are properly published, how this compares.
Michael the Syrian, vol. 3 of the French translation now online
It’s here:
http://www.archive.org/details/MichelLeSyrien3
The PDF is searchable, and I’ve stuck the raw OCR output in .doc and .htm format there as well.
The other two parts of the French translation are also online (search for Michael the Syrian).
UPDATE: it turns out that pp.44 and 46 are upside down. I’m reloading a corrected PDF.
Discussion on Armenian version of Michael the Syrian
I note that the comments on this post of mine have wandered into the very interesting area of Armenian versions of Michael the Syrian, Armenians in Egypt, and related issues, and are well worth a read.
Still scanning Michael the Syrian part 3
And boy is it hard work! Just lifting and turning the heavy volume itself is tiring. Just scanned p. 165. I find that I have to play games with myself, to avoid giving up. So at the moment I’m saying, “only a couple more to 170; you can pause there.” When I get to 170, of course I have 171 open. So I tend to just scan the extra page — just turn the book and lower it on the scanner. Then, “well, may as well do a couple more.” And so on.
We tend to take for granted how all those books on Google and Archive.org got scanned. But it was hard, slow, back-breaking work. When we grumble about missing pages, perhaps we should think of some low-paid person, very tired.
P. 173 done. Maybe I’ll just do as far as 180…
UPDATE. p.269. Wonder if I can get to 300 tonight?
UPDATE2. p.361. But I’m missing One Tree Hill! Still, when the pages are turning and the pain-level is low, you have to keep rolling.
Michael the Syrian, book 12, chapter 1 — have a quick translation!
Today is pretty much done, but since I read the first chapter of book 12 of Michael the Syrian, perhaps I could give a quick translation of it here.
Book 12.
With the aid of the divine power that perfected the twelve holy apostles, we shall commence the twelfth book of the chronicle, which begins in the year 1088 of the Greeks, which is the year 157 of the empire of the Arabs, who are the Taiyaye, the year 6260 from Adam, i.e. since the beginning of the world, and the year 758 from our Lord.
Chapter 1. — Of the era from the beginning of the reign of Leo, (emperor) of the Romans, and of Mahdi, (king) of the Taiyaye, when the holy patriarch and martyr Mar Georgius came out of prison.
In the year 1088 Leo son of Constantine began to reign over the Romans. In the same year, 25 days later, Mahdi, son of Abu Jafar, began to reign over the Taiyaye. Both set free all the prisoners who had been imprisoned by their fathers.
Mahdi opened the treasuries of his father and gave away his riches, as with the van, not only to his soldiers but also to women, his concubines; because he was debauched and addicted to pleasures. He was also interested in magic, divination, sortileges, and he collected books of magic and divination. This is why Leo, emperor of the Romans, sent him the book entitled Janes and Jambres, which contains all the magic of the Egyptians, and all that they did when they encountered Moses.
In the year 1090 Mahdi went to Aleppo, and the Tanoukaye came out to meet him; [479] they lived in tents in the surroundings of Aleppo. He saw that they were mounted on Arab horses, and were richly dressed. Then someone said to him, “All these people are Christians.” He was inflamed with rage and ordered them to become Moslems. He forced them to do this by tortures, and the men apostasised, to the number of five thousand; the women were saved and to the present day are found in the churches of the west. A venerable man among them, named Leith, suffered martyrdom.
Mahdi invaded the territory of the Romans and fixed his camp on the river Pyramus, in the region of the town of Arabissus.
He sent his son Haroun to ransack Beit Roumaye; himself he captured Syria and returned to Jerusalem to pray; his son, after capturing a fortress called Semalus, finished pillaging and moved off.
In the year 1092 of the Greeks, the Taiyaye penetrated into the region of Ephesus and made captive around seven thousand men. The emperor Leo, on his side, sent an army which took into captivity the orthodox Syrians and settled them in Thrace.
One of the Chalcedonian writers says that this emperor Leo detested images and wouldn’t allow anyone to venerate them, and that he adhered to the Orthodox, like his father.
In the year 1092 Leo died, and his son Constantine [Porphyrogentius] began to reign. Since he was a child of 12, his mother Irene governed and was proclaimed as ruler with him.
In the year 1094 Mahdi sent his son [480] Haroun, with two generals, into the land of the Romans. `Adb el-Malik beseiged Nacolaea; his army was shattered in pieces and he returned covered in shame. Bournike gave battle and killed ten thousand Romans. Haroun advanced towards the imperial city. The Romans made use of a ruse, and encircled the Taiyaye near the river Sangarius between the mountain on one side and the sea on the other. The Taiyaye were in great straits. They asked for peace; Irene, following the feminine spirit, agreed. A truce of three years was made, and the Taiyaye emerged from their difficulty.
In the following year `Ali built the town of Hadeth.
In the year 1095, Mahdi died. His son Mousa [began to reign], for two years.
In the year 1097 the Romans advanced with a considerable army and reached the town of Hadeth, which had been newly built by the Taiyaye, on the frontier. The inhabitants fled and it was deserted. The Romans then destroyed the walls completely and demolished all that had been constructed.
In the month of Tammuz [July] Mousa, [king] of the Taiyaye died; and after him reigned his brother Haroun, surnamed Rashid [=the Just, a name given by his father].
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At the time when Mahdi began to reign over the Taiyaye, he sent a man named Mohtasib to destroy the churches which had been built in the times of the Taiyaye, and he ordered that the Christian slaves should be sold. Many churches were demolished, and the slaves fled. The church of the Chalcedonians at Aleppo was destroyed. He also stirred up a persecution against the Manichaeans everywhere. Many of the Taiyaye were convinced of this heresy and were put to death because they would not renounce it. A place called Padana Rabta was destroyed, which was quite filled with Manichaeans. Some Christians were arrested because they were unjustly accused of being of this heresy. A Persian also denounced some women of the family of the Goumaye, and they were arrested. The motive (for this) of this Persian was that they had not given him lodging in their house situated in the town of Hinan. He was annoyed at this, and when he saw at Baghdad [479] that (a persecution) was being stirred up against the Manichaeans, he denounced the people of the Goumaye as being Manichaeans. Eight of the principal men among them were seized and thrown in prison. After many torments, three died in prison and the other five were delivered and came out, thanks to the Saviour who saves. [A long passage on a locust plague in 1095 follows] |
After nine years of the imprisonment of the patriarch Georgius at Baghdad, Mahdi, son of Abu Jafar, began to reign and released the prisoners. The patriarch came out with them. Mahdi banned him from exercising the patriarchate, and from calling himself Patriarch. The blessed man went back to Tikrit, and was received there like an angel of God. He was received the same way in going through Mosul and all the towns of Jezira [=Iraq], and was treated everywhere with honour. He came to Antioch. There he ordained ten bishops in that year; he deposed those of David, and created others in their place. However he left some of them, making the concessions which the situation of the moment demanded. He excommunicated and deposed Plotinus, who had been installed by Sandalaya, and made Constantinus return to Samosata. Some time later, when Constantinus died, the inhabitants of Samosata asked him for Plotinus [479], and he sent him back to them. After the patriarch had spent two years in travelling around and supporting the churches, some calumniators accused him to `Ali, emir of Jezira, of using the orders of the king to clean his feet. Annoyed, (`Ali) had him brought from Harran to Callinice. Before he appeared in the presence of the emir, Theodosius, the bishop whom Sandalaya had deposed, went in and calmed the heat and anger of the emir. He demonstrated to him that the patriarch had been accused falsely. When the blessed man went in, and when the emir set forth the accusations against him, he made his apology admirably, and was very well received, above all because Theodosius who interpreted his words into Arabic, and who was well thought of by the emir, made a eulogy of the patriarch, saying that he was a good and holy man and that those who accused him of having imposed charges and tributes on the church were not truthful. The emir was appeased by this acceptable discourse, and the patriarch retired victorious, and after that he governed the church of God without fear until the end of his life. At Alexandria the patriarch was Maiana for 9 years; then Iwannis [=John]. In the year 1095 the Edessans fell out with Zacharias their metropolitan for various reasons, but principally because they told him to bring back his brother Simeon, because of his bad conduct, and because he never did anything. This is why the patriarch Georgius ordered him to leave the town, and he was no longer received there. |
And so on it goes.
Michael the Syrian vol. 3 has arrived
I scanned volume 1 and volume 2 of the French translation of the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian, the big 12th century Syriac Chronicle and placed them on Archive.org. I learned today that after a very long wait, volume 3 has appeared at the local library via ILL. I shall go and get it tomorrow, and fire up my scanner.
Syriac origins for the Gospel of Thomas? Not convinced, I think
Paleobabble is a useful blog on some of the factual mistakes that go around. He’s suspicious — as I am — of the idea that the Gospel of Thomas is “obviously” earlier than the canonical gospels; the way in which this idea is asserted and disseminated has that characteristic smell of a bit of paleobabble.
The Gospel of Thomas: Is it Really Earlier than the Canonical Gospels?
Many scholars think so, especially those trotted out by the Discovery Channel, PBS, etc. A lot of scholars disagree, and for good reasons, but that isn’t as media-sexy.
Here’s a good article on recent re-consideration of the “earliness” of Thomas. It’s by Nick Perrin of Wheaton College, whom I know. Nick spoke as part of a lecture series I coordinated in Bellingham, WA a couple years ago on this topic. The article is a bit technical, but I think non-specialists in biblical studies will follow it. I post it since there is so much paleobabble surrounding the Gospel of Thomas. You all ought to know that it’s not so neat a picture as the popular media would have it.
The article by Nick Perrin is interesting. But in truth it is merely a summary of research, reflecting its origins as a paper given as an address. I think to be happy with the thesis made, we would need to see all the supporting evidence. Bits of this paper make me feel unhappy with the argument.
The first bit to do this appears on p.69, where a table of Matt. 8:20 with its version in the GoT and the Diatessaron appears. This is given to show that the GoT agrees with the Diatessaron. But … the table is in English! We need, instead, the original languages, albeit with an English gloss. I feel deeply uneasy relying on quite as many layers of translation as this table must involve!
The general argument seems to be that there are more “link words” between the sayings if we translate the text into Syriac than if we do into Greek, or in the Coptic. The reason is that the same Syriac word may represent more than one word in Coptic, thereby creating links not visible in the other two languages. Likewise the fact that in Syriac families of words all derive from one tri-literal root naturally creates links that won’t exist in other languages.
But … won’t the same apply to every translation into Syriac? I’d like to see a control test; look at one of Chrysostom’s sermons, extant in Greek, and its Syriac version, and see if exactly the same thing happens, and how often. It seems to me that it must do. Because, after all, both things are features to the language. If so, the statistics quoted may be simply meaningless, unless adjusted for a possible general feature.
The other issue that will come to mind is to ask why the Diatessaron is not, then, using GoT? If the latter was composed in Edessa (? why?), surely such a thing is likely? We’re not told this.
In my bones, the paper feels forced. It feels clever rather than convincing.
A palimpsest of Menander in the Vatican
Menander did not reach us. The New Comedy dramatists works were not part of the Byzantine school curriculum, and, at some time in the Dark Ages, the last manuscript was reused for other purposes.
A post in the CLASSICS-L list tells me that a manuscript was found in the Vatican in 2003, manufactured from reused parchment from a late-antique codex containing works by Menander. Apparently hundreds of verses of this author can be recovered from the pages.
A reference is given, with a mention of Wikipedia, which has a link to an article in German about this by D. Harlfinger (which says the Vatican ms. is a *Syriac* manuscript!):
F. D’Aiuto: Graeca in codici orientali della Biblioteca Vaticana (con i resti di un manoscritto tardoantico delle commedie di Menandro), in: Tra Oriente e Occidente. Scritture e libri greci fra le regioni orientali di Bisanzio e l’Italia, a cura di Lidia Perria, Rom 2003 (= Testi e studi bizantino-neoellenici XIV), S. 227-296 (esp. 266-283 and plates 13-14).
But the posters says that this “did not publish entire Greek text, and that in 2006 we were “still waiting” for an edition. “
Manuscripts online now at the VMR
Lots of Syriac, Arabic, Coptic and Persian mss are starting to appear at the VMR, here. Contents contain all sorts of things; service books, bits of the bible, homilies, and so on.
When I first looked, I was using IE6 and couldn’t see any images. But with Firefox it’s fine, even from behind a corporate firewall. The images are nice, colour and clear enough to read the text and see the rubrics. In short they are ideal for study purposes.
One less good feature is that you can’t resize the viewing window. Often the whole image is larger than this, which means that you have to drag it around to see the whole opening. This is undesirable.
The user interface is a bit clunky. What you get is a list of manuscript shelfmarks. Not having memorised the three volume Mingana handbook, I’d like to see a quick summary of contents. In fact it would be nice if there was some way for me to enter the catalogue description in text form — it’s a PDF — so that I don’t have to click on a link, click on a PDF, just to see what each ms. contains. But early days yet. These are teething problems only.
Thanks for Tommy Wasserman at ETS for the update.