Syriac literature

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Syrian literature.
Monastery of St Catherine
, Mt Sinai (Schøyen Collection MS 574)

Syriac literature is literature in the

Late Antiquity. It is strongly associated with Syriac Christianity.[2][3][4]

Terminology

In modern

self-designations of native Syriac-speaking communities. Since the term Syriac literature continues to be used differently among scholars, its meanings are remaining dependent on the context of every particular use.[10][11][12]

Classical

Ephrem the Syrian in a 16th-century Russian manuscript illustration

Early Syriac texts date to the 2nd century, notably the old versions Syriac Bible and the Diatessaron Gospel harmony. The bulk of Syriac literary production dates to between the 4th and 8th centuries. Syriac literacy survived into the 9th century, but Syriac Christian authors in this period increasingly write in Arabic.

"Classical Syriac language" is the term for the literary language as was developed by the 3rd century. The language of the first three centuries of the Christian era is also known as "Old Syriac" (but sometimes subsumed under "Classical Syriac").

The earliest Christian literature in Syriac was biblical translation, the Peshitta and the Diatessaron. Bardaisan was an important non-Christian (Gnostic) author of the 2nd century, but most of his works are lost and only known from later references. An important testimony of early Syriac is the letter of Mara bar Serapion, possibly written in the late 1st century (but extant in a 6th- or 7th-century copy).

The 4th century is considered to be the

Isaac of Nineveh and Jacob of Edessa
.

There were substantial efforts to translate Greek texts into Syriac. A number of works originally written in Greek survive only in Syriac translation. Among these are several works by Severus of Antioch (d. 538), translated by Paul of Edessa (fl. 624). A Life of Severus was written by Athanasius I Gammolo (d. 635).

Eusebian Ecclesiastical History
dated to AD 462.

After the

Bar-Hebraeus
.

The conversion of the Mongols to Islam began a period of retreat and hardship for Syriac Christianity and its adherents. However, there has been a continuous stream of Syriac literature in Upper Mesopotamia and the Levant from the fourteenth century through to the present day.

Modern

The emergence of vernacular

early modern period, and literary Syriac (ܟܬܒܢܝܐ Kṯāḇānāyā) continues to be in use among members of the Syriac Orthodox Church
.

Modern Syriac literature includes works in various colloquial

Senaya
, to begin to produce literature.

List of writers

See also

References

  1. ^ This manuscript was previously misidentified as a translation of John Chrysostom's Homilies on the Gospel of John. It has subsequently been identified as missing pages from a Syriac witness to the Asceticon. See J. Edward Walters, "Schøyen MS 574: Missing Pages From a Syriac Witness of the Asceticon of Abba Isaiah of Scete," Le Muséon 124 (1-2), 2011: 1-10.
  2. ^ Wright 1894.
  3. ^ Baumstark 1922.
  4. ^ a b Brock 1997.
  5. ^ Brock 2015a, p. 7-19.
  6. ^ Brock 1989, p. 11–23.
  7. ^ Healey 2012, p. 643-644.
  8. ^ Millar 2006, p. 383-384.
  9. ^ Minov 2020, p. 256-257.
  10. ^ Butts 2011, p. 390-391.
  11. ^ Healey 2012, p. 638.
  12. ^ Butts 2019, p. 222–242.

Sources

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Syriac Literature".
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