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The study of Bardesane's anthropological teachings comes up against testimonies that are difficult to interpret and reconcile. Information about the "soul made of elements" and allusions to atomistic theory cannot be fitted into a tripartite anthropological scheme that observes the separation of soul and body. This article examines Bardesanite anthropology in relation to cosmology and physics. By highlighting Bardesanism's peculiarities, namely the theory of qualities-atoms (perde) component of elemental masses (itye), we can reconstruct its teaching on human origin, constitution and destiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses scholarly exchanges between the Greek- and Arabic-speaking worlds during early Islamic times by outlining pathways of knowledge transmission within the broader framework of Arabs’ keen interest in knowledge acquisition. It contextualizes the hypothesis on the Greek contribution to the Arabic linguistic thinking and discusses challenges in documenting direct access to Greek sources by early Arabic grammarians. By bridging the roles of the caliphate and scholarly activities, it finally delves into the role of knowledge circulation and the significance of indirect influences.

Copyright of Journal of College of Languages is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

After setting out the background of the early history of the Church of the East, this contribution focuses on the Syriac sources of the fifth to seventh centuries which are witnesses to the development of the 'two-nature' Christology of the Church of the East, situated outside the Roman Empire during this formative period. Special attention is paid to the ambiguous term qnoma, which is used to render hypostasis in the Chalcedonian Definition, but which, for native Syriac authors, has the different sense of 'defining characteristic'. The problematic designation 'Nestorian' should be avoided since it implies completely different things to different parties. Some final thoughts are given to the ongoing significance of the tradition of the Church of the East in its various present-day manifestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Together with Procopius' other texts; namely "Wars" and "Secret History", "Buildings" is one of the principal sources for writing the history of the reign of the emperor Justinian (527-565). "Buildings" is a panegyric and conforms to literary conventions. Procopius portrays Justinian as a powerful patron who expanded and transformed the empire, and ended the schism in Christianity by uniting the Church. The first book of Buildings is dedicated to Constantinople and focuses on the churches of the imperial capital. In the second book, Procopius focuses on Mesopotamia and Syria. He starts with Dara and devotes a passage even longer than the one he wrote on Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. When he wrote Buildings, the discussions about Christology were as pressing as the wars with Persians, and Mesopotamia and Syria were the main centers of Syriac miaphysite Christianity. Procopius rarely mentions the churches in this book on the eastern frontier and he never talks about the miaphysites. Northern Mesopotamia is an important frontier and it may seem only natural that Procopius chose to focus on fortifications to depict a strong frontier. This article argues that while avoiding tackling the Christological disputes of the day, Procopius gave implicit references related to the unity of the Church by employing some literary devices and suggests that some buildings that Procopius neglected may have pointed to the division in the Church. Procopius dedicates a long section to the Church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople which has been claimed was built in the Hormisdas Palace for the miaphysite refugees and compares it with the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, which had relics of these saints received from the Pope in Rome. His narration can potentially be interpreted as a reference to the unity of the Church. While discussing Procopius' preferences in choosing his material and treatment, this article shows the potential of analysing the many layers of his texts and reads the "Buildings" in a new light in relation to the miaphysites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present article summarises a bootstrapping approach to Syriac corpus linguistics that gives freedom for Syriac researchers to apply part-of-speech (POS) tagging technology on texts of their choice using the SEDRA API mechanism and offers an annotated corpus based on this method using a representative and well-balanced selection of Syriac manuscripts spanning one millennium.

In 2009, Michael Penn published a transcription and English translation of two Syriac texts, To the Rulers of the World (ܠܘܬ ܪ̈ܝܫܢܐ ܕܥܠܡܐ) and Concerning the Entrance before a New Emir (ܕܡܥܠܬܐ ܨܝܕ ܐܡܝܪܐ ܚܕܬܐ). This essay proposes a new historiographical approach to these texts based on the concepts and theoretical apparatus of systems intelligence theory and affect theory. I show how these texts use key Islamic theological and cultural ideas that would affectively resonate with the Muslim authorities while remaining non-objectionable to the orthodoxy of the Assyrian Church of the East. Specifically, I argue that Christians sometimes sought to curry favor with Islamic authorities not so much through logical persuasion, but by creating a sense of affective coherence through attunement to the discursive and theological systems of Islam. Through this strategy, Christians perhaps hoped to gain some small measure of political and religious advantage, especially over and against other Christian jurisdictions, such as the Syrian Orthodox Church. I conclude by discussing what methodological prospects these approaches can offer to the subfield, particularly if combined with other theories that similarly remain underused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces two late nineteenth-century colophons written by Syriac Orthodox scribes outside Anatolia commenting on the series of massacres occurring in 1894-1896 across the Ottoman Empire better known as the “Hamidian Massacres” after the reigning Sultan, Abdülhamid II. Adding to the small repository of published Syriac Orthodox testimonies and sources on the Hamidian massacres, these private documents, are of value for opening a window into the early formulation of narratives and historiographies of the massacres which the authors of these colophons present from their own unique vantage point and social position as part of the Syriac Orthodox Church within the empire. Furthermore, the article proposes that understanding the commentary on, and interpretation of, these massacres among the Syriac Orthodox contributes to a greater understanding of the relationship and tensions between Armenian Apostolic Orthodox ecclesiastics and Syriac Orthodox ecclesiastics in the Ottoman Empire of the 1890s. Following a brief consideration of Syriac Orthodox practice in writing colophons and waqfs from 1870-1905 in relevant regions, a reading and interpretation of the colophons is framed through an overview of the massacres, a discussion of the suffering of the Syriac Orthodox during these massacres, and their relationships with the Ottoman State and Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church. The colophons are given in their original languages of Syriac and Arabic (Garshuni) with translations and commentary.

Copyright of Batman Academy Journal is the property of Batman Academy Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article considers the role of the Muslim authorities in enforcing Christian excommunication. After setting out late Roman precedents for the use of excommunication, it examines four cases in the period 650-850 in which the patriarch opposed other high-ranking clergy. It argues that Muslim authorities were increasingly willing to intervene in these disputes to support the legitimacy of the patriarch. The significance of this relationship is illustrated by the disintegration of the patriarch's to bring his opponents into line during periods of civil war, where the caliph's government was challenged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The medieval Middle East is often described as a multiconfessional place inhabited by Christians, Muslims, Jews, Manichaeans, Zoroastrians, pagans, and others. These groups, scholars demonstrate, manifested complex modes of cohabitation, exchange, negotiations with law, conflict, and resilience under Islamic governance. The ways this religious diversity was perceived by non-Muslim communities, however, need further study. Considering the voluminous theological, apologetic, and debate literature, some scholars argue that the religious diversity in the medieval Middle East was construed especially by Christians as a mix of one form of orthodoxy and many heresies. Others point at the possibility of some early steps in the development of religious pluralism–harmonious co-existence of different religions. The current article revisits the question of religious diversity in the medieval Middle East. Through a detailed reading of the Syriac Chronicle of Zuqnin (8th c.), it highlights the role licit and illicit practice played in the articulations of religious diversity in the medieval Middle Eastern countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culture is the collection of material and spiritual characteristics that have been produced by society throughout the course of history and passed down from generation to generation. In order for a culture to continue its existence it requires a community, a community need a physical space. Some spaces are cosmopolitan by nature and host a variety of cultures due to historical and sociological reasons. Mardin is a cultural space where many religions and languages coexist. Dereiçi Village in Savur district is a micro-example of this. The purpose of this research is to examine the migration patterns and causes of migration in the village in order to determine why this cultural space is facing the danger of extinction. The qualitative findings revealed that migration has multiple social, political, and economic causes. With the occurrence of migrations and the consequent depopulation of the village, cultural spaces are at risk of disappearing. However, after the restoration of these cultural places, it was observed that there were temporary returns to the village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Some of the ancient manuscripts and versions of Mark 15.15 add the phrase 'to them' after the verb '[Pilate] delivered [Jesus]', suggesting that Pilate delivered Jesus to the Jewish crowd who subsequently crucified him. This textual variant was well-established in the Syriac and Ethiopic traditions while it remained marginal in the Greek, Latin, and Coptic traditions. This pattern suggests that those translators and readers of the gospels who lived on the Eastern fringes or outside of the territory of the Roman empire were more inclined to accept the idea that Jesus had been executed by the Jewish mob (and not by the Roman soldiers) than those translators and readers who lived in the core territories of the empire. The Diatessaron most likely played an important role in disseminating this anti-Jewish narrative. The obliteration of historical memories about crucifixion as a Roman method of execution in late antiquity contributed to the formation of one of the most devastating anti-Jewish narratives of the ensuing centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A building identified as a monastery, probably associated with the nearby Byzantine settlement at Ḥorbat Ḥur, was paved with four mosaic pavements containing four Greek inscriptions and one bilingual inscription in Greek and local Syriac. The inscription in the prayer hall indicates that the building was a monastery, probably founded in 575 CE. The monastery's cemetery, located to its southwest, was well-preserved including four sealed graves of adult males, possibly monks. The mosaic art in the monastery deviates from the period's trends, depicting figurative images and implicit crosses. This, and the location of the monastery, suggest that the monastery served a diversified Christian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of the Center Papyrological Studies (BCPS) is the property of Ain Shams University, Faculty of Archaeology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 2009, Michael Penn published a transcription and English translation of two Syriac texts, To the Rulers of the World (ܠܘܬ ܪ̈ܝܫܢܐ ܕܥܠܡܐ) and Concerning the Entrance before a New Emir (ܕܡܥܠܬܐ ܨܝܕ ܐܡܝܪܐ ܚܕܬܐ). This essay proposes a new historiographical approach to these texts based on the concepts and theoretical apparatus of systems intelligence theory and affect theory. I show how these texts use key Islamic theological and cultural ideas that would affectively resonate with the Muslim authorities while remaining non-objectionable to the orthodoxy of the Assyrian Church of the East. Specifically, I argue that Christians sometimes sought to curry favor with Islamic authorities not so much through logical persuasion, but by creating a sense of affective coherence through attunement to the discursive and theological systems of Islam. Through this strategy, Christians perhaps hoped to gain some small measure of political and religious advantage, especially over and against other Christian jurisdictions, such as the Syrian Orthodox Church. I conclude by discussing what methodological prospects these approaches can offer to the subfield, particularly if combined with other theories that similarly remain underused.

For centuries, the legal rate of interest in the Roman Empire was "one-hundredth": 1 percent of the principal of the loan was added to it each month. Although Christian leaders and writers in the Greek and Latin west did not approve of this practice, Syriac-speaking Christian communities in the eastern Roman Empire incorporated the rate of "one-hundredth" into canon law, and some grounded it in a novel interpretation of the Syriac Bible. In this paper, I describe the incorporation of Roman lending norms into the framework of the Syriac church and discuss an early document that both reflects and modifies these norms: a "circular letter" of Symeon Stylites (d. 459), in which he commands that interest rates be lowered by 50 percent as a temporary act of piety. That letter is preserved in a manuscript of Symeon's Syriac Life, found today in the British Library (Add. 14,484, fols. 130b–133b). I situate the letter within that Syriac tradition, and I offer the possibility that Justinian's law of 528, which also lowered interest rates by 50 percent (CJ 4.32.26), might have been the result of contacts with this Syriac tradition, and specifically with Symeon's regulation. I also examine the reception of the Roman rate of "one-hundredth" in early Christian normative sources ("lawbooks" and "canons") from the Church of the East, in the Sasanian Empire. These Christians received the Roman norm of "one-hundredth" differently and did not incorporate Symeon's pious reduction of the interest rate, or Justinian's imperial legislation to the same effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has a few goals. The first goal is to discover the development of Semitic pointing systems such as Babylonian Hebrew (both simple and complex), Tiberian Hebrew, Palestinian Hebrew, Samaritan Hebrew, Syriac (both Western [Jacobite] and Eastern [Nestorian]) and Arabic. The second goal is to propose the possible development because of the interaction between those languages in the past. In this article, the comparative method will be used as the methodology. A general observation of these signs and a proposition regarding the possible development amongst those languages will be presented. Contribution: This article traces the synchronic and diachronic development of Semitic languages’ vocalisation systems and proposes a possible development between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Syriac gospel of Matthew is divided into sentences by means of pausal accent dots, both single clause sentences and complex sentences. This article explores the relationship between these pausal accent dots and verse division, comparing the Syriac dotting system with Greek punctuation marks and Hebrew accents. All three traditions divide the text into larger and smaller sections. In the Hebrew Bible the smaller sections are often classified as verses that are further subdivided through cantillation marks, typically called accents. This article explains why the Syriac dots, also called accents, have a fundamentally different function than the Hebrew accents. It also explores the similarities between the Syriac dots and the Greek punctuation marks. The conclusion is that the "verse" is not a concept that can easily be applied to Syriac Bible manuscripts. Instead, the Syriac dots indicate different types of boundary tones, pauses associated with a specific pitch contour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Motif Academy Journal of Folklore is the property of Motif Yayincilik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

During the Late antiquity, several works by Galen (2nd–3th CE.) were translated into Syriac for the first time by Sergius of Rēšʽaynā (6th CE.), starting up the Hippocratic-Galenic medicine in Syriac Language. Based on these translations, there arouse novel versions of compound medicines in Syriac, such as the “Apostles’ Ointment” which is found in The Book of Medicines, possibly from Abassid period, edited and translated by E.A.W. Budge in 1913, which contains more ancient Syriac medical prescriptions. The textual pharmaceutical study regarding the therapeutic uses and qualitative composition of the ‘Apostles’ Ointment’, and its comparison with a kind of plaster (barbaros) which appears in various Late antiquity Greek recipes (Galen, Oribasius, Aetius of Amida, and Paul of Aegina), reveal the micro-transformations suffered to a new and final Syriac Christian version which we here introduce.

Copyright of Journal of Iranian Studies / İran Çalışmaları Dergisi is the property of Journal of Iranian Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article has a few goals. The first goal is to discover the development of Semitic pointing systems such as Babylonian Hebrew (both simple and complex), Tiberian Hebrew, Palestinian Hebrew, Samaritan Hebrew, Syriac (both Western [Jacobite] and Eastern [Nestorian]) and Arabic. The second goal is to propose the possible development because of the interaction between those languages in the past. In this article, the comparative method will be used as the methodology. A general observation of these signs and a proposition regarding the possible development amongst those languages will be presented. Contribution: This article traces the synchronic and diachronic development of Semitic languages’ vocalisation systems and proposes a possible development between them.

Publication of a Syriac parchment codex fragment kept in the papyrus collection of the National Library of Austria (P. Vind. Syr. 5), which belongs to a gospel manuscript once in the "Syrian" monastery of Wadi el-Natrun, the rest of which is now in London (British Library, Add. MS 17114). The potential contribution of the reconstituted codex, which was adduced as cod. 8 in the edition of Pusey and Gwilliam, to the criticism of the text of the Syriac version is reexamined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shall look briefly into the treatment of some topics related to scepticism in general in works by Barhebraeus, the famous Syrian Orthodox polymath and theologian (1226–1286). He addresses scepticism both directly by a discussion of sensory and intellectual fallacies or sceptical scenarios as well as indirectly by the definition of knowledge and the role of intuitive knowledge regarding primary notions and logical principles, which have an impact on establishing secure knowledge. Despite writing in Syriac, his dealing with the matter is heavily indebted to Arabic sources, primarily contemporary post‐Avicennan authors, and here especially Fakhr al‐Dīn al‐Rāzī (1149–1209) and Naṣīr al‐Dīn al‐Tūṣī (1201–1274) but also Avicenna (980–1037) himself, although Barhebraeus adds a decisively Christian note in some instances. The Syriac tradition, therefore, should not be neglected when dealing with medieval scepticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents nine Syriac graffiti which until now have been overlooked in the literature on the well-known inscriptions at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. These additional graffiti attest to known and unknown Syriac pilgrims who visited the church. Some can be located within the Ottoman period while the date of others is less clear. Several of the graffiti are of particular interest. One attests to the visitation of a well-known East Syriac cleric, and another provides a clue to the architectural history of the closed eastern door at the southern entrance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The word samminē (PL) appears to be a hapax legomenon in Syriac, being attested only in Mēmrā 10 'On Stephen' of Narsai (d. ca. 500), where it seems to refer to grapes and perhaps, more specifically, to pomace. Though the available manuscripts are unanimous in transmitting samminē (PL), Brockelmann emended the word to yasminē 'jasmine'. This emendation is, however, contextually difficult. In addition, a possible cognate to Syriac samminē (PL) is to be found in Akkadian sammīnu , which occurs in lists of foodstuffs in several Old Babylonian letters as well as in the Uruanna plant list. The Akkadian cognate, which has not previously been noted in the Syriac lexicographical literature, all but assures that samminē (PL) is a genuine Syriac word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identity Puzzles, Identity and Christian-Muslim Interaction, Redefining Christian Identity ... These titles are only three examples of a growing corpus of scholarship that asks the question, "How did Syriac-speaking Christians in the Near East perceive and present their communities?" Some scholars approach this question from the angle of theological distinctions between Syriac Christian groups, while others look into the power structures and discursive negotiations between Christian and other communities in the Near East. As our understanding of Syriac communities in the pre-modern Near East is further nuanced, contemporary religious and national identities shape the scholarship in new ways. This article summarizes the major theories brought to bear on the study of "Syriac identity" in premodern and modern era in the past twenty years. By mapping the field, I aim to demonstrate how the academic study of identity in Syriac communities have been underpinned by the question of the so-called East-West divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Osrhoene Mosaics Discovered In Situ in Northern Syria In 2017, a mosaic was discovered in a plain near Tell Shioukh Tehtani, located 60 km northeast of Aleppo in the Euphrates Valley and is known for remains from the Bronze Age found by an Italian-Syrian archaeological mission. The mosaic was found during a clandestine excavation carried out before 2017. The Directorate of Antiquity in Damascus which was informed by the local society sent a team of restorers who excavated and documented all the floor mosaic before removing it to the service of antiquity at Al-Hassake province. The work of the restorers has shown that this mosaic is the remains of the pavements of a private villa. The drawing plan done by the restorers shows a part of this building composed of several rooms and a corridor. All these parts are paved with mosaics, some of them was in situ, others were looted. The apse main room is paved with a mosaic around a basin in the center; there remains only one carpet figured by the Achilles scene in Skyros; the figures are identified by inscriptions in Syriac. In another room, there is a mosaic around a basin in the center representing a foliage of vine coming out of the vases with four Eros. The mosaic of the corridor is decorated with geometric patterns. The stylistic study shows that these mosaics are very close to those found at Edessa (Urfa) and dated to the 3rd century AD. This mosaic has an exceptional importance because, on the one hand, it attests the diffusion of the Edessa mosaics workshops outside the city and its region, and on the other hand, it gives an idea on the decoration of the mosaics in the public buildings in this region in Roman times.

A wooden altar tablet (ṭablītō) inscribed in Syriac, consecrated by an ‘Athanasius bishop of Ethiopia’ in 1295/1296 CE was recently documented from a church in the nearby of Asmara, in Eritrea. The note provides edition, translation, and commentary of the text, as well as a first assessment of its meaning in connection with the debated issue of the presence of Syrian prelates in Ethiopia and Eritrea at the end of the thirteenth century. The wooden tablet is the only ancient or medieval written object in Syriac script or language that has so far been found in Ethiopia or Eritrea.

This article examines a fragmentary Christian text from Turfan written in Uyghur which contains an embedded Syriac magical text intended to be used for corralling a horse. After giving a transcription and translation of the Syriac passage and setting it in its literary context, including the role of amulets and other magical texts in the history of Syriac Christianity, the article discusses the angelic name Saraqael found in the Syriac extract, in an effort to trace the origins of the text. Excurses are given on the book of I Enoch and the Book of Giants, the first because the angelic name is found in it, the second because of its connections wiThthe Aramaic and Central Asian cultural zones. The article then examines another text where the angelic name occurs, the Pishra de-Rabbi anina ben Dosa, before discussing possible links to other Syriac amulets and incantation bowls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Adab / Al-ādāb is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present article deals with Medieval Bulgarian anthroponyms and toponyms of Syriac and Arabic origin. They have all been registered in the medieval epigraphy and written sources of Bulgarian and Byzantine origin and up to this moment they have not been examined in linguistic studies. In the second part of the article on the basis of previous investigations on the traces of direct translations from Syriac in Old Slavonic texts of Bulgarian origin an attempt at reconstructing the peculiarities of the medieval Old Slavonic (Bulgarian) – Syriac bilingualism is made. Some examples of literary translations of idioms, disregard for the metaphoric meaning of words and transliterations of uncommon words give arguments in favor of the hypothesis that this form of bilingualism had a popular character and typologically did not differ essentially from some latter forms of bilingualism registered in the 19th and 20th centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Palestinian writer Jabra Ibrahim Jabra (né Chelico) was born in Adana in the French Mandate of Cilicia on 28 August 1919. Jabra's Syriac Orthodox family survived the Sayfo genocide and probably hailed from the Kurdish-speaking Syriac village of Midën in Tur Abdin, in northern Mesopotamia. In the early 1920s, the Chelico family immigrated to Bethlehem, where Jabra grew up. Jabra was a consummate autobiographer who wrote two autobiographies, six autobiographical novels, and dozens of personal essays. Yet he never revealed his family's history in Tur Abdin, his birth in Adana, and his immigration to Palestine as a child. In this article, the author exposes and contextualizes biographical facts that Jabra concealed. Tamplin analyzes Jabra's two autobiographies - The First Well (1987) and Princesses' Street (1994) - and his novel In Search of Walid Masoud (1978) in light of these revelations to argue that Jabra's project of "self-creation" (Neuwirth, 1998) extends well beyond his first autobiography. Moreover, Jabra's lifelong project to propel traditional, collectivist Arab society into modernity by valorizing individual experience precluded other possible sources of identity, such as family history, from compromising Jabra's sense of modern Palestinian national identity. The author proposes new directions in which to take Jabra criticism, such as trauma studies. Until the full range of concealed facts about Jabra's life is exposed, literary biographers and critics of Jabra should regard his work with a hermeneutic of suspicion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Late antiquity, several works by Galen (2nd-3th CE.) were translated into Syriac for the first time by Sergius of Rēšaynā (6th CE.), starting up the Hippocratic-Galenic medicine in Syriac Language. Based on these translations, there arouse novel versions of compound medicines in Syriac, such as the "Apostles' Ointment" which is found in The Book of Medicines, possibly from Abassid period, edited and translated by E.A.W. Budge in 1913, which contains more ancient Syriac medical prescriptions. The textual pharmaceutical study regarding the therapeutic uses and qualitative composition of the 'Apostles' Ointment', and its comparison with a kind of plaster (barbaros) which appears in various Late antiquity Greek recipes (Galen, Oribasius, Aetius of Amida, and Paul of Aegina), reveal the micro-transformations suffered to a new and final Syriac Christian version which we here introduce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Artuklu Akademi is the property of Artuklu Akademi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper reviews and comments upon a recent monograph by Aaron M. Butts on linguistic contacts between Greek and Syriac, Language Change in the Wake of Empire : this volume is also used as an opportunity to discuss the expectations for this kind of studies in the future years, and to reflect upon their past. The importance of Butts' book as a crucial tool for the scholarly community involved in contact-induced studies is here highlighted. Butts offers a most welcome new and thorough analysis of the materials collected by his predecessors and adds his personal new data. This review article also provides a brief recollection of previous studies, that opened the way to Butts' comprehensive approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hebrew Bible mentions 12 precious stones arranged in four rows of three each on the high priest’s breastpiece in two lists (Ex 28:17–20 and 39:10–13). Nine of these precious stones reappear in the Tyrian king’s ‘covering’ in Ezekiel 28:13 in three groups of three. Although the two lists in Exodus are identical, the order in Ezekiel is slightly different. In Septuagint (LXX) Ezekiel there are 12 precious stones. However, the number and order in the LXX lists (LXX-Ex 28:17–20 and 36:17–20; LXX-Ezk 28:13) are constant in all three cases. The same 12 stones as in the LXX appear, but with variation in order, in two accounts found in Josephus (The Wars of the Jews Book 5, Chapter 5, Section 7; The Antiquities of the Jews Book 3, Chapter 7, Section 5). The list of precious stones in Revelation 21:19–20 that adorn the 12 foundations of the New Jerusalem is reminiscent of the breastpiece, but it shows four new names along with eight that are known from the LXX; it is not clear if it is a fresh translation from the Hebrew list. This article focuses on the relationships amongst these lists by examining the arrangement, translation and symbolism of these precious stones. Contribution: The precious stones in the high priest’s breastpiece (Exod 28:17–20, 39:10–13) were rendered differently and re-arranged by the Septuagint and other later versions for new contexts, audiences and theological purposes. Unknown stones were rendered with similar stones known to the translator or the incipient text terms were transliterated.

In the present difficult circumstances in the Middle East, the position of the so-called Oriental Churches, which is united by the similarity of the liturgical language, the language of the patristic and historical heritage – Syriac, is indicative. The pre-Chalcedon faith confession of these Christians and their special Eastern church rites, despite the separation of the Uniate Catholic communities, gave them an identity that persists to this day. The fate of these ancient autochthonous Christian communities was formed not only in conditions of an alien and heterodox environment, but also in isolation, and even confrontation with the main branches of Christianity. Now, serious efforts are being made by them in the mainstream of the activities of world supra-church structures, primarily the World Council of Churches. A characteristic feature of these communities are relatively prosperous diasporal communities, which far exceed the number of co-religionists in their historical homeland, and therefore, an important part of the ministry of their church hierarchy has become diverse contacts with foreign dioceses. Moreover, against the backdrop of the rise of the national aspirations of the Kurds – their neighbors in the territories of historical settlement – the national argument often referring to the Aramaic or Assyrian origin is often used. The vulnerable position of the flock of these ancient but few communities in the Middle East forces them to seek material, and sometimes even political, support abroad. Russia is still using the resource of only inter-church relations, which once showed its inadequacy, but at the same time the development of cultural ties with these communities in their homeland, the financial recharge of these projects on a secular basis could also contribute to strengthening our country’s image in the Middle East. The implementation of cultural, scientific and educational initiatives to support “Oriental” communities could become additional direction for Russia’s fruitful participation in the fate of the region, could prevent fragmentation of the Middle Eastern societies, to improve the situation of these communities and to normalize interfaith relations in general.

The massacres of 1895-1896 targeted mainly Armenians, but many Assyrians of various religious denominations were also caught up in the violence and plundering. This presentation is based on several hitherto unused sources which focus on the Assyrian experience. One is the narrative of Makdisi Habib Jarwe who was a Syriac Catholic priest serving in Mardin and who died in 1915. The second source comes from a diary-like notebook composed by the American missionary Alpheus Andrus, based in Mardin. The towns and villages covered are those in which the American missionaries brought some help to Syriac communities such as the towns of Mardin and Siirt as well as the Beshiri region.

The poetry of Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306–373 C. E.) shows a marked predilection for composing beatitudes, usually in the form, "Blessed is the one who..." Careful study of these formulas, particularly when they predominate in certain madrāšē, shows that Ephrem uses the device deliberately and creatively to signal the creator-creature polarity, and in that context, the balancing of its tension via the transference of the creature to a medial or liminal state between God and humanity. They also signal creatures' consequent ability to mediate between God and other creatures. Ephrem carefully limits the formula to created entities and distinguishes between the epithets and concepts brīḵā and ṭūḇānā, a subtlety that has not typically, but should be, respected in English translation, because it is integral to the dynamic they express. Ephrem's beatitudes are often associated with personification and balance. Thus, when applied to biblical entities, they form a way in which he rhetorically brings the polarity between God and man to life in his own teaching, and seeks to dramatize the experience of closeness to God in his community's present time. A complete reference list of Ephrem's beatitudes in his extant madrāšē is included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jesuit mission among the "ancient Christians" on the Malabar coast in today's Kerala was one of the watershed moments—as I argued a decade ago—in their global expansion in Asia in the sixteenth century, and a prelude to the method of accommodation as it had been theorized and practiced in Asia. In this article I want to emphasize the invocation of comparisons with and the use of Mediterranean antiquity in crafting the identities, memory, and history of Indian Christianity. Jesuit ethnographic descriptions concerning the liturgy, rites, and customs of māppila nasrānikkal , also known as St. Thomas Christians, triggered a series of debates involving various missionaries, Catholic Church authorities in Goa and Rome, as well as Syrian bishops and St. Thomas Christian priestly families. Caught up in the contrary efforts at unifying and homogenizing Christianity under two distinct helms of the Portuguese king and the Roman pope, the missionaries generated different intellectual tools and distinctions, all of which contributed to further jurisdictional struggles. The St. Thomas Christian community became a model of "antique" Christianity for some and a heretical or even idolatrous sect for others. It became a mirror for the divided Christianity in Europe and beyond. In India, it was precisely the vocabulary and the historicizing reasoning that was invested in analyzing and defining these Indian homegrown Christians that would be subsequently applied by comparison, analogy, or contrast to formalize and reify other Indian "religions." The dating and the autonomous or derivative status of Indian ("pagan") antiquities emerged, a century later, as a major orientalist problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hebrew Bible mentions 12 precious stones arranged in four rows of three each on the high priest's breastpiece in two lists (Ex 28:17–20 and 39:10–13). Nine of these precious stones reappear in the Tyrian king's 'covering' in Ezekiel 28:13 in three groups of three. Although the two lists in Exodus are identical, the order in Ezekiel is slightly different. In Septuagint (LXX) Ezekiel there are 12 precious stones. However, the number and order in the LXX lists (LXX-Ex 28:17–20 and 36:17–20; LXX-Ezk 28:13) are constant in all three cases. The same 12 stones as in the LXX appear, but with variation in order, in two accounts found in Josephus (The Wars of the Jews Book 5, Chapter 5, Section 7; The Antiquities of the Jews Book 3, Chapter 7, Section 5). The list of precious stones in Revelation 21:19–20 that adorn the 12 foundations of the New Jerusalem is reminiscent of the breastpiece, but it shows four new names along with eight that are known from the LXX; it is not clear if it is a fresh translation from the Hebrew list. This article focuses on the relationships amongst these lists by examining the arrangement, translation and symbolism of these precious stones. Contribution: The precious stones in the high priest's breastpiece (Exod 28:17–20, 39:10–13) were rendered differently and re-arranged by the Septuagint and other later versions for new contexts, audiences and theological purposes. Unknown stones were rendered with similar stones known to the translator or the incipient text terms were transliterated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Digital Syriac Corpus was launched publicly in May 2018. The goal of the corpus is to provide a venue for publishing digitized editions of Syriac texts. All of the texts in the Digital Syriac Corpus are open-access (CC BY 4.0) and freely available for anyone to use. The Digital Syriac Corpus includes texts that have been transcribed from print sources as well as manuscripts, and it also includes newly produced digital editions. The search feature, including advanced searching options, provides users the opportunity to analyze a large database of Syriac texts in ways that have never before been possible. It is hoped that as the project continues to develop, scholars and readers of Syriac texts will find new ways to use and analyze the data the Digital Syriac Corpus has collected and published. As an open-access digital repository, the Digital Syriac Corpus can also serve as a tool for the preservation of the Syriac language, not only for scholars who study the Syriac tradition, but also for the heritage communities who have preserved Syriac as a literary, liturgical, and spoken language for centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative research on young adults of the Armenian Apostolic and Syriac Orthodox Churches in Lebanon considers why participation in liturgy aids the identity formation of youth in both communities. By participating in liturgical rituals, these young adults express identities which transcend the limited spaces they inhabit. These spaces are influenced by the minority context in Lebanon, as well as by traumatic historic experiences of both Armenians and Syriacs. Such spaces stimulate the youths' appreciation for their ancient traditions and their strong connection to other members of their church communities, both past and present. Their sense of belonging is rooted in ancient languages and narratives, and in the embodied rituals that open Armenian and Syriac young people up to the divine dimension of liturgy in church and in daily life. We argue that, for the research population, engagement in the liturgy is a matter of identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]