Ancient Syria Research Articles

Icons of the Nursing Virgin in Fifteenth-Century Ethiopia

The oldest known extant Ethiopian panel painting is Fəre Ṣəyon’s Nursing Virgin with Saints Stephen, Peter, and Paul (ca. 1434–68), preserved at the Monastery of Daga Ǝsṭifanos. As I argue, this novel subject matter for Ethiopian religious culture emerged in light of Emperor Zärˀa Yaˁqob’s introduction of the cult of the Virgin Mary in 1441 and Giyorgis of Sägla’s writings, which drew upon translations of early medieval Egyptian and late ancient Syrian texts. Numerous adaptations of Fəre Ṣəyon’s panel prove its long-lasting impact in fifteenth century sacred art as an original and influential Ethiopian artwork in its own right.

The use of metal in ancient Syria in the manufacture of jewelry (ornamental tools in the third and second millennium BC and the molds used in their manufacture)

This research sheds light on the use of metal in the manufacture of jewelry, which is represented by ornamental tools in the period between the third and second millennium BC, in addition to the most important molds used in their manufacture. Man has been interested in metals since early ages, and was able to make tools that he uses in his daily life, especially jewelry. And the Syrian people got acquainted with the types of minerals, their characteristics, and how to deal with them. Minerals played an effective and prominent role in the economy of ancient Syria. Trade with those countries and secure their roads.

The Coptic Act of Peter in Late Antiquity: Virginity, Disability, Intertextuality

Abstract: In this essay, I argue that the Coptic Act of Peter (Papyrus Berolinensis 8502.4) is a late ancient Christian reformulation of an early Jewish temple tradition preserved in the book of 3 Maccabees , according to which God preserves the sanctity of his temple by means of divine paralysis. I argue further that the implications of this intertextual relationship ought to influence how we interpret the Act of Peter —its narrative, themes, and theology—as well as how and where we might situate this apocryphal account in history. Instead of placing the Greek original in the second or third centuries, I locate it closer to the fourth or fifth, alongside a contemporaneous surge of orthodox exhortations and treatises on virginity—most likely in the context of the varieties of "household asceticism" that were prevalent in late ancient Syria and Asia Minor.

Sefer Yeṣirah’s Dating, Geographic Provenance and the Open Question of Its Composer’s Religious Affiliation and Identity

Abstract In 2018, Weiss has ended centuries of speculation about the enigmatic Hebrew Sefer Yeṣirah’s dating and geographical provenance, demonstrating with a high level of confidence (specifically on the basis of Sefer Yeṣirah’s Syriac grammarian loanwords) a seventh-century C.E. Syrian origin. Weiss and others have also shown that Sefer Yeṣirah’s closest parallels are in Syriac Christian grammarian and theological sources. Given that abundant evidence points to a Rabbinic form of Judaism present in ancient Syria, the theory of a Jewish composer is odd because of the text’s non-Rabbinic character. Similarly, the theory of a Syriac Christian or “Jewish-Christian” author is odd in view of the text’s composition in Hebrew instead of Syriac. It remains for future research to solve this final enigma of the religious identity of Sefer Yeṣirah’s composer.

A TRANSFORMING ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CLIENT IN SOCIAL WORK: THE PRAXIS OF THE ANTIOCH SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND THEOLOGY

This article is an analysis of the historical roots and ethical semantics of the social work concept ‘a marginal person, a client’ (the Greek words ξένος, ksenos and αςτος, astos). The question is relevant in modern social work in relation to the concept of ‘strange’ or ‘marginal’. The article analyses how the concepts ‘strange’, ‘other’ and marginal’ have re-entered the modern world from the Ancient world, as they were used in Ancient Syria (in the fourth century), Greece, and Medieval Europe. However, nowadays in social work theory they should be described anew using the discourses of social work and anthropology. The article explores the question of how to communicate with the ‘other’ or marginal person, based on reciprocity and internal solidarity.

Ebla between the Early and Middle Bronze Ages: A Précis (and Some New Data)

The discoveries of the 2004-2008 excavations at Tell Mardikh, ancient Ebla, in north-western Syria, and the following processing of the archaeological record have allowed for a re-examination the site’s trajectory between Early Bronze IVB and Middle Bronze I. Not only it was possible to gain a clearer picture of the site’s trajectory during Early Bronze IVB, the phase following the demise of Ebla’s Early Bronze IVA kingdom, but also to re-investigate how the site transitioned from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age at a deeper chronological scale, which was hampered before by the lack of sufficient stratified data. Moving from these insights, this paper offers a summary of the state of research on Ebla between the Early and the Middle Bronze Ages and proposes some ideas concerning this critical nexus in the site’s development. Moreover, unpublished stratified ceramic data are presented and examined that might allow current synchronisms between Ebla, the Middle Euphrates, and the Syrian Jazirah between the late 3rd and the early 2nd millennium BC to be re-considered, and to shed light on the site’s participation and role in region-wide processes that were taking place between the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC. This way, this crucial connection in the developmental trajectory of Ebla and in the study of ancient Syria will be re-analysed offering insights into archaeology, chronology, and history.

Foreigners and Religion at Ugarit

During the Late Bronze Age, Syria was mostly dominated by the larger powers of the ancient Near East—Mitanni (the Hurrians), the Hittite Empire, and Egypt. The ancient city of Ugarit yielded numerous texts and artifacts that attest to the presence of foreigners and their influences on local religious traditions. Textually, the best-preserved influences are those of Hurrian origin, although these were probably promoted thanks to the Hittites, who incorporated many Hurrian deities and cults. Hurrian traditions thus influenced both Ugaritic cults and divine pantheons. Egyptian influences, in contrast, are observable mostly in art and material evidence. Art of Egyptian origin was considered prestigious and because of that was prominently seen in trade and international exchange gifts, but it also entered the religious sphere in the form of cultic statues and ex-voto gifts for deities. Egyptian art was also often imitated by local artists. The same can be said of art from the Mediterranean area. Some evidence suggests that foreigners actively related to local traditions as well. Ritual tablets from Ugarit (namely KTU3 1.40 and its variants) illustrate that there were always frictions in a multicultural/national society. These tablets also indicate that such frictions could have been dealt with through ritual action, and thus emphasize the role religion played. The city of Ugarit is used in this paper to illuminate some processes that can be observed in the whole of ancient Syria. Nevertheless, every site has its own outcome of interactions with other cultures.

Starve to Sustain-An Ancient Syrian Landrace of Sorghum as Tool for Phosphorous Bio-Economy?

Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient, playing a role in developmental and metabolic processes in plants. To understand the local and systemic responses of sorghum to inorganic phosphorus (Pi) starvation and the potential of straw and ash for reutilisation in agriculture, we compared two grain (Razinieh) and sweet (Della) sorghum varieties with respect to their morpho-physiological and molecular responses. We found that Pi starvation increased the elongation of primary roots, the formation of lateral roots, and the accumulation of anthocyanin. In Razinieh, lateral roots were promoted to a higher extent, correlated with a higher expression of SbPht1 phosphate transporters. Infrared spectra of straw from mature plants raised to maturity showed two prominent bands at 1371 and 2337 cm−1, which could be assigned to P-H(H2) stretching vibration in phosphine acid and phosphinothious acid, and their derivates, whose abundance correlated with phosphate uptake of the source plant and genotype (with a higher intensity in Razinieh). The ash generated from these straws stimulated the shoot elongation and root development of the rice seedlings, especially for the material derived from Razinieh raised under Pi starvation. In conclusion, sorghum growing on marginal lands has potential as a bio-economy alternative for mineral phosphorus recycling.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF PALMYRA BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR IN SYRIA

In the article there is example of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, the article examines the problems of loss and preservation of the world historical, cultural, archaeological and architectural heritage in the context of modern local military confl icts. During the periods of Antiquity and the middle Ages, a complex of monuments, unique in composition and size, was formed here, combining ancient Eastern, Roman, Byzantine and Arab elements. During the ongoing acute armed confl ict in Syria, because of the purposeful actions of religious terrorist-extremist organizations, defi ned by the author as an "international historian of cultural terrorism", hesuffered catastrophic damage. An analysis of the scale of this damage, as well as the effectiveness of the efforts of the Syrian authorities, international organizations and the world community, shows that the preservation and restoration of Palmyra's heritage is possible because of painstaking, complex, joint work of all interested parties. Thus, the example of Palmyra showed the military confl icts in the Middle East, along with the actual destruction of entire states, the death of a huge number of people, the economic crisis, millions of refugees, was an attack on the heritage of ancient civilizations, which caused unprecedented loss of world cultural heritage in modern history. Now the world community faces a long and comprehensive joint effort to determine the damage, restore, and prevent further destruction and looting of the cultural heritage of Palmyra and Syria.

Review of Frédérique Duyrat, Wealth and Warfare. The Archaeology of Money in Ancient Syria, Numismatic Studies 34, The American Numismatic Society, New York 2016, 619 pages, 73 figures, 37 maps; ISSN 0517–4048, ISBN 978-0-89732-346-1

Review of Frédérique Duyrat's book Wealth and Warfare. The Archaeology of Money in Ancient Syria, New York 2016.

Jawa El Khash, The Upper Side of the Sky: Virtual Worlds as Sites for Ecological and Cultural Resurgence

Damascus-born artist, Jawa El Khash’s immersive installation, The Upper Side of the Sky (2020), combines virtual reality and Syria’s natural ecology to confront the physically devastating impacts of war. In response to ISIS’s 2015-16 occupation of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, El Khash evaluates the relationship between technology and the environment to explore the ability for virtual reality to rebuild destroyed landscapes and create sites for healing.

In vitro analysis of Fusarium head blight resistance in ancient Syrian wheats (Triticum sp.)

Assessment of Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance in ancient wheat (Triticum sp.) cultivars is crucial for disease management. To update our knowledge, in vitro resistance in two ancient Syrian bread and durum wheat cultivars with known resistance to four Fusarium species was investigated at Plant Protection Lab., Damascus under Atomic Energy Commission of Syria during 2019. Three criteria involved in a Petri-dish test were compared on wheat plants. Cultivar differences at seedlings stage after inoculation with a set of 16 Fusarium isolates relative to the controls were detected. Standardized area under disease progress curve (AUDPCstandard) did differentiate the two wheat cultivars; however, seed germination rate reduction and coleoptile length reduction did not. Inter- and intraspecific differences were observed in pathogenicity of four Fusarium species toward wheat plants. Less AUDPCstandard was related to greater FHB disease-type I and -type II resistance previously generated under controlled conditions. In vitro data confirmed artificial head and floral inoculations in which the bread wheat cultivar was less affected to FHB infection than durum wheat. The ancient Syrian wheat plants may be introduced into wheat breeding programs because of their resistance to FHB.

Graeco-Roman and Byzantine traditions in the miniature of the Arab Middle Ages

A comparative analysis of the Middle Eastern art monuments from different epochs urge the assumption upon us that colourful murals, reliefs and mosaics of palaces, religious and public buildings, just as the illustrated Greek, Latin and Syrian scrolls and codes, created in distant and recent the Western Asia pre-Islamic past or in the early centuries of the Caliphate, served as a kind of breeding ground for the development of a new art form for the Islamic world – a book miniature. In the works of monumental art of the city-states of pre-Islamic ancient Syria and Mesopotamia, traits are found that allow us to see in the heritage of the different art cultures of the ancient and early medieval Mediterranean and the non-Mediterranean Hellenized East not only a cradle, but also schools of Greco-Roman and Early Byzantine miniatures that complement and decorate texts of the ancient manuscripts. With the absorption of these regions by the Caliphate and the development of the medieval Islamic civilization, these schools, next to the vivid and developing art of Byzantium, became sources of knowledge and skill for the designers of Arabic manuscripts. The design of Greek, Latin and Syrian codes, along with the illustrations in the text, inspired the inclusion in the Arabic manuscripts of the frontispiece with the "portrait" of the author (or authors) of the book, and 'the dedication picture' – that were the separate miniatures glorifying the patron or the crowned addressee of the book in allegorical form. Over time, the style of Arabic manuscripts had lost the visible connection with both Greco-Roman and Byzantine prototypes. However, the acquisition of their own stylistic devices, methods and norms did not mean either a final deviation or a complete denial of lessons of the classical book painting. In one form or another, their contribution in Medieval Near Eastern arts was also manifested in the later illustrated Arabic manuscripts, although now at most they were oriented toward the models and ideals of Iran and Eastern Asia.

Arch Construction in Palmyra (Syria)

Palmyra is an important ancient site famous of its architectural monuments Analysis of numerous monuments exposed an intriguing situation, until the III rd century arches and arched vaults were constructed in a specific manner based on a corbelled system. Such system was adopted even in construction of a famous Monumental Arch of Palmyra. Situation completely changed in the III-rd century AD Author discusses the problem analysing development of the building construction and technique in Palmyra comparing it with other sites of ancient Syria.

Isolated Monuments in Highly Urbanised Landscapes: The Farayji Stela in Central-Western Syria

A fragmentary basalt stela carved in bas-relief discovered in Central-Western Syria is held by the National Museum of Aleppo (Inv. No. 468). The relief is not perfectly preserved: the surface is abraded and a direct examination in the Aleppo Museum was not possible. Nevertheless, the finding place, along with composition and subject matter, provide a starting point for a discussion on the role and dissemination of stone commemorative sculpture in ancient Syria.

How to Read the Gospel(s): Reading and Ritual in Late Ancient Syria

How to Read the Gospel(s): Reading and Ritual in Late Ancient Syria

Benjamin Bailey and the Call for the Conversion of an Ancient Christian Church in India

Benjamin Bailey (1791–1871) was one of the first English-born Church Missionary Society missionaries to go to India. Along with Joseph Fenn and Henry Baker, Sr, he was part of what has been called the Travancore Trio. Their objective was to reform the ancient community of Syrian Christians in Travancore so that they in turn might be a great native missionary force in India. Their mission was known as the ‘Mission of Help’ to the ancient Syrian Church. The mission was distinctive from others in India at that time which sought more directly to call for the conversion of the country's massive Hindu and Muslim populations. This article will show that Bailey seriously underestimated doctrinal differences between the CMS and the Syrians. Moreover, the place of the Syrians in the complex social fabric of Travancore was not adequately understood. Unlike other missions, this one may almost be said to have as its aim the conversion of an existing church. That call for conversion, however, arose from fundamentally divergent understandings of Christian belief and practice. The article concludes by considering further some of the sources of these divergences and engaging with some of the critique that the Mission of Help has received.

Syro-Hittite iconography and food in practice

Figure 1. Map of Syro-Hittite kingdoms (Niehr, Herbert. The Aramaeans in ancient Syria. Leiden: Brill, 2014.)Alongside the rise of the independent Syro-Hittite kingdoms in the 1st millennium BC, a distinctive category of banquet scenes also developed in the northern Syria/southern Anatolia region. Iron Age Sam’al—modern Zincirli Höyük—was one such kingdom. This talk will explore how these scenes relate to the archaeology of food and identity by addressing the following concepts:Stylistic elements and local/regional identityLimitations of iconographic interpretationFood-related practices and archaeological correlates from Zincirli

Enslaved People in an Ancient Syrian City

Abstract The cuneiform documents found at Tell Atchana, a site on the River Orontes not far from modern city of Antakya, are of pivotal importance for our knowledge of western Syrian society during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. These tablets from ancient Alalakh provide data relating to the city’s daily life and its social structure and administration. Compared to the large amount of information regarding free citizens, the material concerning slave laborers and menial workers—which is the topic of this article—is scanty and not always easy to interpret, for both the public and private sectors.

The Ancient Near East: History, Texts, etc.

The Ancient Near East:History, Texts, etc. Christopher T. Begg, Joseph E. Jensen, Victor H. Matthews, Martin Kessler, and Alan J. Moss, CFC 1315. Anne Austin, "Accounting for Sick Days: A Scalar Approach to Health and Disease at Deir el-Medina," JNES 74 (2015) 75-85. This study offers a broad quantitative analysis of texts stemming from the ancient Egyptian site of its title concerning absences from work at the site. These texts have an underlying seasonal distribution of sick days which are highest in early spring and lowest in late fall. Such a distribution mirrors seasonal changes as documented in modern Egypt as well as mortality patterns in Thebes during the Roman period. Sick days as recorded in O. BM 5634 offer more specific evidence for contagious disease at the site. The distribution of sick days recorded in this text provides circumstantial evidence for the contraction of one infectious disease by multiple members of the Deir el-Medina workforce at the same time. Though 13% of the workforce was out sick simultaneously at the moment cited in the record, the overall time lost due to illness was significantly less than time taken off from work in general; in this case, sick days may not have significantly impacted productivity. On the other hand, in P. Ashmolean 1958.112, productivity was an issue, and the workmen supplemented the workforce with additional labor, albeit at the expense of the laborers' own rations. At the most detailed level, Mr-Sḫm.t's absences show that while he ultimately went home to his village, his presence in the workmen's huts and the Valley of the Kings demonstrates a commitment to continue working even in the midst of his illness. The above three levels of analysis of the texts recording absences from work coalesce to demonstrate that short-term diseases had social and physical impact on the Deir el-Medina workforce. While the government provided paid sick leave as well as a doctor at the site, such support was likely only offered as a way of ensuring progress on the construction of the royal tomb. When productivity ran into obstacles, the workforce was expected to come up with its own support mechanisms to remedy the situation. [Adapted from author's conclusion, p. 85—C.T.B.] 1316. Noga Ayali-Darshan, "The Role of Aštabi in the Song of Ullikummi and the Eastern Mediterranean 'Failed God' Stories," JNES 73 (2014) 95-103. The account of Aštabi in the Song of Ullikummi differs significantly from other Hurro-Hittite works, but also exhibits numerous similarities with the story of Attar found in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle. In both accounts, a minor god is appointed by other gods to replace the recently defeated storm-god. In both accounts as well, the substitute-gods fail in their mission just prior to the storm-gods' ultimately successful war against the sea. A.-D. suggests that the Hurro-Hittite narrative concerning Aštabi and the Ugaritic depiction of the god Attar reflect the same aetiological story of a "falling star" phenomenon. Following the collapse of the Ugaritic and Hurrian cultures the "failed-god" account of Attar/Aštabi was transferred to and amalgamated with another minor astral god prominent in the Levant during the first millennium, i.e., Helel son of Šaḥar, the equivalent of Phaeton, son of Eos in Greek mythology.—J.E.J. 1317. Noga Ayali-Darshan, "The Identification of Ḥmrq in Leiden Magical Papyrus I 343 + I 345 in Light of the Eblaite Texts," JNES 74 (2015) 87-89. The papyrus of A.-D.'s title, discovered at Memphis in Egypt and first published by A. Massert in 1954, is replete with names of Syrian and Levantine deities, many of whose [End Page 443] names are widely attested in sources stemming from ancient Syria and the Levant. The papyrus also, however, preserves the name Ḥmrq as that of both a deity and a mountain site, and scholarship hitherto has not determined a Syro-Levantine parallel for either of these uses of the name on the papyrus. In this brief paper, N.-D. proposes connecting the name...