Syriac Language Research Articles

On the Rise and Fall of Canaanite Religion at Baalbek: A Tale of Five Toponyms

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) The city of Baalbek, in present-day Lebanon, has been subject of interest to students of the Bible for more than millennium. Since the tenth century c.e., many have identified it with Baal-Gad (Josh 11:17) and/or Baalath (1 Kgs 9:18).1 Since the beginning of the eighteenth century, others have connected it, in one way or another, with Bikath-Aven (Amos 1:5). In 1863, these and suggestions were reviewed by John Hogg in lengthy treatise.2 The etymology of the toponym, which appears as B'lbk in classical Syriac and as Ba'labakku in classical Arabic, has been widely discussed since the eighteenth century. Many etymologies have been suggested, most of them unconvincing.3 Part of the problem is that combination of etymologies is needed, for the name of the place changed over the centuries as its religious significance evolved. In this article, I shall attempt to show that the and fall of Canaanite religion at from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine period can be traced with the help of five toponyms: (1) Mbk Nhrm (Source of the Two Rivers),4 (2) ... (Valley of Idolatry), (3) ... (Baal of Weeping), (4) ... (Spring of Weeping), and (5) B'lbk/Ba'labakku (Baal-Bacchus). All of these Semitic; the Greek name of Baalbek, Heliopolis, will not be discussed.5 I. MBK NHRM (SOURCE OF THE TWO RIVERS) Toponym 1, probably poetic toponym,6 is Mbk Nhrm. In the Baal cycle (KTU 1.4 IV 21 and parallels) and in Ugaritic serpent incantation (KTU 1.100.3), Il's abode is said to be located there. A full review of the literature on this toponym is beyond the scope of this article,7 but one piece of evidence should be mentioned. Othmar Keel, followed by Mark S. Smith, notes that seal from the Akkadian period at Mari depicts a god of the type El enthroned, between the springs of two streams, on mountain.8 If this is really depiction of Il's abode, it suggests that the latter was above ground, even if the of the two was partly subterranean. In my view, the Ugaritic toponym (and perhaps the seal from Mari) should be compared with modern descriptions of Baalbek, such as: Baalbek was natural centre for the upper part of the Beqa'a, being located at its highest level, at the source of two important rivers. . . .9 The two rivers in question Lebanon's greatest rivers, the Litani and the Asi (Orontes), which, according to Ellen Churchill Semple, rise in swampy, indeterminate watershed near at an altitude of 3,500 feet.10 According to Richard F. Burton and Charles F. Tyrwhitt Drake, the true (scientific) sources of the Litani and the Asi the 'Ayn el-Baradah and the Nabav el-'Illa, located within one short mile of each other and only five or six miles west of the ruins of Baalbek.11 The two sources are separated by mere ground wave; . . . whilst two distinct river-valleys, running north and south, have been formed by the erosion of the twin streams.12 It has been argued that Baalbek's location explains its to prominence as religious center: A more appropriate setting for the abode of gods who represented such material phenomena as rain and tempest, fertility and growth, would be difficult to imagine. Situated near the highest point of the Beqa'a, controlling the watershed between the Orontes river to the north, and the Leontes river to the south, combined aspects of city in plain with that of high place, and was thus predestined to become centre of religious worship.13 Since was occupied already in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages,14 it could well have been religious center in the Late Bronze Age, when the Ugaritic texts were written (and even in the Akkadian period, when the seal from Mari was manufactured). I suggest, therefore, that Ugaritic Mbk Nhrm refers to the site of Baalbek.15 II. ... (Valley of Idolatry) Toponym 2 is ... …

Foundations for Syriac Lexicography I: Colloquia of the International Syriac Language Project

Foundations for Syriac Lexicography I: Colloquia of the International Syriac Language Project

Foundations for Syriac Lexicography I: Colloquia of the International Syriac Language Project

Foundations for Syriac Lexicography I: Colloquia of the International Syriac Language Project

Serafim Seppälä. In Speechless Ecstasy. Expression and Interpretation of Mystical Experience in Classical Syriac and Sufi Literature. Helsinki, Finnish Oriental Society, 2003, 341 p. (Studia Orientalia, 98)

Les etudes comparees de religions sont assez rares et souvent contestees. Celle-ci exigeait une triple competence : connaissance du syriaque et du christianisme oriental, connaissance de l’arabe et de la tradition soufie, et maitrise des differentes approches en sciences des religions. L’A., non issu d’un milieu academique, nous fournit un ouvrage surprenant et stimulant, qui allie la fraicheur et la liberte d’un essai a une rigueur scientifique et une honnetete scientifique sans failles. Au ...

A New Syriac Mosaic Inscription

The article provides the editio princeps of the Syriac inscription in a mosaic depicting Orpheus which is now in the Dallas Museum of Art. The mosaic is from Edessa and is dated 194 CE. It belongs to a series of such mosaics, but predates the other dated examples by over two decades. The inscription refers to the building of the tomb in which the mosaic was originally located and also mentions the profession of the mosaic-maker who made it, using a Syriac term, rasopa, not otherwise attested in Classical Syriac in this sense.

Syntactic Features of the Syrohexapla of Ezekiel

AbstractAn analysis of syntactic features found in the Syrohexapla of Ezekiel in comparison to the Peshitta, on the one hand, demonstrates diachronic development within the Syriac language, and in comparison to the Greek, on the other hand, proves that the Syrohexapla translation was made for scholarly purposes, not for congregational use.

Syntactical Aspects of Negation in Syriac

This paper aims to present an analysis of the system of negation in Early Classical Syriac. According to the analysis suggested here, Syriac uses different negation morphemes for different types of predicates and for different types of syntactical structures. The morpheme lā negates predicates whose person component is inside them, called inherent predicates. The morpheme lā hwā negates predicates which need an external mark of person in order to constitute nexus (the connection between the subject and the predicate), called non-inherent predicates. The morphemes lāhwā and law form negative cleft sentences in sentences with both predicates. The position of 'īt and its negations in this system will also be discussed. The system of negation morphemes and syntagms will be shown to exhibit clearly the differences between the two types of predicates, much more than their affirmative counterparts.

Information and Technology Resources for the Study of Arabic Christianity

ABSTRACT This article is a guide to the reference literature and primary source materials for the study of Eastern Christianity. The author covers print and electronic resources for the Christian faith communities, writing in the Coptic, Syriac, and Persian languages. The major focus of the article, however, is Arabic Christianity and its information resources.

YŪHANNĀ IBN SARĀBIYŪN: FURTHER STUDIES INTO THE TRANSMISSION OF HIS WORKS

Ibn Sarābiyūn is one of the last exponents of classical Syriac medical writing, and one of the most influential authors for the development of medical theory and practice in late ninth-century Baghdad in particular, and for the Arabic medical tradition in general. During the last thirty years, three important studies have been published regarding the life and work of Ibn Sarābiyūn, each of which dealing with a different aspect of the transmission of this important author’s œuvre. Likewise, during the last twenty-five years, a number of texts associated with Ibn Sarābiyūn's works have been edited, allowing us today to shed new light on the relation between the original Syriac and the numerous translations into Arabic, Latin and Hebrew. Furthermore, through analysing and comparing a number of manuscripts containing different parts of Ibn Sarābiyūn's work which have not hitherto been considered together, progress can be made towards answering the question how Ibn Sarābiyūn was translated and used during the medieval period.

Aramaic k, lyk and Iraqi Arabic aku, maku: The Mesopotamian Particles of Existence

A linguistic phenomenon which has been evident in the central and southern Mesopotamian area (the former Babylonia), including neighboring Khuzistan, since the early Christian centuries is the deictic indicator k here that functions predominantly as the adverb k' or kh, and is a Common Aramaic particle.1 The earliest attestation of kh in Aramaic occurs in the Sfire inscriptions in ancient northern Syria outside the boundaries of Mesopotamia,2 and it is still employed in modern Aramaic. This deictic particle can be combined with many other grammatical particles. For example, with the deictic element h' it forms the adverb hkh or h(')k' hither,3 which appears in Classical Syriac in a dissimilated variant hrk'4 and in modern West Aramaic (e.g., Ma'lula) on account of phonetic change as hoxa.5 Furthermore ka can be combined with prepositions, e.g., with the proclitic preposition l_, as the adverb Ik' with 'd as 'd k' to here, or with mn as mn k' from here.6 This list could be lengthened, but for our purposes this is not necessary, since all other possible combinations can be looked up in the relevant Aramaic dictionaries. Another grammatical category where the deictic indicator k' is in use is that of the demonstrative pronouns that refer to distance. As early as Imperial Aramaic forms such as zk, dk, zk', znk, and zky7 and augmented variants h'z'k, and h'zyk (pre-Classical Mandaic)8 are employed, and only later shortened variants like h'k that, identical for the masculine and feminine singular.9 For the plural (those) one has 'Ik, 'lky in Imperial Aramaic, hlyk in Qumran Aramaic and Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, hn(y)k in Christian Palestinian Aramaic, Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic, and Mandaic.10 This means that the deictic particle k' can be added to the basic forms of the demonstrative pronouns that are identical with the neardeixis (z', d', zn, dn, or 'ylyn, hlyn, and hnyn), thereby forming the far-deixis.

Sources on the Alans

The first exhaustive key to the sources to, and the proper names of the Alans. The scattered nature of sources and their dispersion in time, space and intermediary languages may explain the lack of a true comprehensive guide to this important ancient people, a nomadic tribe of Iranian stock, living from one end of the Eurasian steppes to the other. Documents from ancient up to medieval times regularly make, in a wide variety of languages, mention of the Alans. With his Sources on the Alans Agusti Alemany now provides us for the first time with a reliable and exhaustive handbook by collecting, classifying, translating (or summarizing) all reports on the Alans written in Greek, Latin, Medieval Latin, Byzantine, Arabic, Armenian, Catalan, Georgian, Hebrew, Iranian, Mongol, Russian, Syriac and Chinese languages. The volume will also be frequently used as an Onomasticon. With time tables and indices on authors and passages. A reference work in the truest sense. ...

Performative utterances in classical Syriac

Performative utterances in classical Syriac

Origin of India’s St. Thomas Christians: A Historiographical Critique (review)

Origin of India's St. Thomas Christians: A Historiographical Critique. By Benedict Vadakkekara. (Delhi: Media House. 1995. Pp. xii, 509. $30.00.) This book is the result of extraordinary labor by the author. He makes reference to all the archival and published sources available on the topic. In itself the topic should not be controversial, but in the hands of fanatic Latinists and avid believers of the Saint Thomas tradition in the Malabar it became just that. The Latinists reject outright the tradition that Saint Thomas the Apostle founded the church in Malabar as historically unfounded while the Malabarites accept it without question. Both sides argue for their causes, not for historical accuracy. The author makes it his task to find the historical truth. For this he employs some of the well-worn tools of historiography. The first thing the author does is to establish the identity of the Saint Thomas Christians. This is important as in several regions of the Middle East and Asia claim to be descendants of the people converted by Thomas the Apostle in the first century. Even in Malabar itself there are groups who attribute their evangelization to Thomas as they are descendants of people from regions other than India which, by their tradition, were beneficiaries of Thomas' apostleship. Vadakkekara narrowly defines Saint Thomas of India as those who are descendants of the first-century converts to Christianity who received their baptism in Malabar. The author further narrows the definition to include only those who follow the Law of Thomas, the customs and traditions sanctioned by the Apostle himself; those who used the Syriac language in their liturgy; those who maintained the exclusivity of the caste regulations handed down from their Hindu ancestors with regard to etiquette, pollution and purification, meals, and marriages. He also narrows down the list of names designating, exclusively and without doubt or ambiguity, this Christian community of Malabar. They are Thoma Christians, Nasrani Mappilas, Christians of the Serra, Christians, and Chaldeans. Further Vadakkekara identifies the present-day Christian communities in Malabar who are offshoots of the original community the Apostle Thomas founded. They are the two churches in communion with the papacy, the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara churches, and the six churches which are outside the obedience of Rome, namely, the Syrian Orthodox, the Independent Syrian Church of Malankara, the Mar Thomite Church, Saint Thomas Evangelical Church of India, the Church of South India, and the Church of the East. Next the author discusses briefly the available sources that might provide historical validity to the tradition that Saint Thomas the Apostle founded the church in Malabar. The first among these is the tradition itself that is composed of the belief that Thomas founded this church and the religious, ritualistic, and liturgical experiences and expressions that sprang from this tradition. Second among the sources is the physical presence of the tomb of Saint Thomas in Mylapore, near Madras, and the many facts, historical and otherwise, associated with it. The third source is the Acta Thomae, an apocryphal work written in Syriac, reportedly during Thomas' own lifetime, which contain references to his apostolic work in India, aside from descriptions of his travels and other activities, all of which became part of the folklore and tradition of Malabar Christians. The author, then, analyzes the evidentiary value of these sources and weighs their significance in proving or disproving the historicity of Thomas' apostleship in India. …

Early Christian Poetry: A Collection of Essays (review)

Reviewed by: Early Christian Poetry: A Collection of Essays Carl P. E. Springer J. den Boeft and A. Hilhorst. Early Christian Poetry: A Collection of Essays. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, 22. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993. Pp. xi 1 319. $103.00. The sixteen essays collected in this volume were first presented at a conference held at Nijmegen in March of 1991 to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Dutch Foundation for Early Christian Studies. Although one would hardly expect such a vast field to be fully represented in a volume which consists of conference papers, when taken together these studies do give the reader at least some idea of the richness and variety of materials, many of which have not yet been exhaustively studied from either a theological or a literary perspective, available to the student of early Christian poetry. The essays address (without always resolving) a number of intriguing issues concerning the origin of Christian poetry, its function and audience, its complex relation to the classical tradition, and, of course, its debt to biblical themes and models. [End Page 392] From the earliest period, when “the Jewish legacy is clearly manifest,” we have P. W. van der Horst, all too briefly, on “Jewish Metrical Epitaphs,” G. P. Luttikhuizen with a provocative (but cursory) essay on “The Poetic Character of Revelation 4 and 5,” and G. J. M. Bartelink on the reception of the Oracula Sibyl-lina by early Christian Greek theologians from Justin Martyr to Origen. The second section, which features essays on Christian poetry in the Latin-speaking portion of the Roman Empire, fairly sparkles in comparison. Christine Mohrmann’s spirit obviously lives on! W. Evenepoel thoughtfully addresses the complex issues surrounding “The Place of Poetry in Latin Christianity,” looking especially at the problem of poetry not meant for “immediate ecclesiastical use.” A. Hilhorst offers a comparative examination of the treatment of the pericope of the cleansing of the temple (John 2.13–25) in the Latin Evangeliorum Libri Quattuor of Juvencus and the Greek metrical paraphrase of the Gospel of John by Nonnus. Jan den Boeft waxes practically rhapsodic in his praise of “Ambrosius lyricus,” undoubtedly the most original and influential hymn writer in the early church. M. J. Mans, also writing on the hymns of the bishop of Milan, examines the function of biblical figures and events featured in the hymns. Certainly the most theoretically astute article in the volume is the contribution of A. A. R. Bastiaensen on “Prudentius in Recent Literary Criticism.” Bastiaensen bravely tackles such controversial topics as the European reception of M. Cunningham’s CCSL edition of Prudentius (published in 1966), W. Ludwig’s thesis that the whole of Prudentius’ work, which may be seen as including all major poetic categories, such as “epic, didactic, lyric, epigrammatic and elegiac, even comic and tragic (in the Peristephanon),” actually constitutes a poetical unity (along the lines of an early Christian basilica), and K. Thraede’s determination to view Prudentius first and foremost as a rhetorical poet. This provocative article concludes with a fascinating glimpse into the Nachleben of Prudentius’ poetry, especially the Psychomachia. P. W. A. Th. van der Laan finishes this section with a thoughtful study of the problem of imitation in the Paschale Carmen of Sedulius, one of the most important of the biblical epics of Late Antiquity, whose popularity persisted well into the early modern period. The question posed by van der Laan is a crucial one: was Sedulius’ imitatio veterum by accident or by design? The answer is nuanced (as it should be), but decisive. The third part of the volume concentrates on Christian poetry from the eastern half of the Roman empire. Without question the most idiosyncratic article here is Andrew Palmer’s “The Merchant of Nisibis: Saint Ephrem and His Faithful Quest for Union in Numbers.” While it would be hard to overstate the importance of “the greatest poet in the Syriac language,” Palmer’s lengthy article (67 pages) almost manages to do so. The author’s lively translations which he hopes will be “sung and loved” are, to be sure, welcome, as is his personal identification with his subject (all too rare in academic circles), but...

Studies in Hebrew and Aramaic Syntax Presented to Professor J. Hoftijzer on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday

A collection of essays on syntactical questions in the field of Hebrew and Aramaic, dealing with the nominal sentence, the particle 'et, clause types, word order and concord within sentences, the status and use of particles and verbal forms. In addition to Biblical Hebrew, other language forms discussed in some of the essays are Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew, Imperial Aramaic, Middle Aramaic and Classical Syriac.

The Christology of Aphrahat, the Persian Sage: an Excursus On the 17Th Demonstration

Aphrahat' (* c. 270 t c. 345) is indisputably one of the giants of early Christianity. His twenty-three Demonstrations define classical Syriac,2 and are the most significant literary monument of Syrian Christianity before Ephrem. The alert reader of literature about Aphrahat is struck by a paradox in many descriptions of his theology, especially his Christology. Three examples will illustrate the point. The first sentence of the Vorwort of Ortiz de Urbina's 1933 dissertation asserts that Aphrahat's writings sind fur die Dogmengeschichte wertvoll; sie bieten unicum fur die Geschichte der christlichen Lehre.3 This is because Aphrahat is unabhangig von Nizaa und...[der] Entwicklung der griechisch-romischen Christologie.4 Aphrahat was and remained ein reiner Semit.5 In der ganzen christlichen Fruhzeit...ist uns...kein anderer christlicher Schriftsteller rein semitischer Kultur bekannt ausser Afrahat.6 After such a beginning, one might presume that Ortiz de Urbina would contrast this ausserordentlich wertvoll Semitic theology with the Nicene and post-Nicene theology of the Hellenistic Great Church. Instead, however, his study, titled Die Gottheit Christi bei Afrahat, quickly acquires a defensive tone; one hundred and forty pages later it climaxes with this italicized sentence: Also war Christus nach Afrahat eigentlich Gott.7 Three questions are raised by Ortiz de Urbina's conclusion. First, why italicize and make the capstone of one's argument what is today simply orthodox Christian theology-unless there is some question about it? Second, if Ortiz de Urbina's conclusion is correct, then does it not mitigate the uniqueness he claims for Aphrahat? Third, how can Ortiz de Urbina use such patently Nicene language to summarize Aphrahat's theology, which he himself has characterized as being so distinctly Semitic, an unicum, untouched by the Hellenistic world and Nicaea?

Two Syriac Inscriptions from Harran

It is remarkable that no Syriac inscriptions have been discovered hitherto at Harran or in its immediate vicinity. Cuneiform tablets have been unearthed, and these reflect the prominence of the city in ancient times.But written records in Syriac have been strangely absent. And yet we know that for more than a millennium—certainly until the eleventh century—the indigenous inhabitants of Harran spoke Syriac. Lying only about 30 kilometres south of Edessa, the home of classical Syriac, Harran was nevertheless able to maintain jealously its distinctive character and traditions.

Qusta Ibn Luqa on the Use of the Celestial Globe

QUsTA IBN LUQA AL-BA'ALBAKKI, born ca. 205 A.H., 820 A.D., died 300 A.H., 912 A.D., was a native of Baalbek in Syria. In origin he was a Greek,' in religion a Christian,2 by profession and occupation a physician, philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, and musician. He journeyed to the Byzantine lands, and brought back to Baghdad many scientific works in Greek. Knowing well the Greek and Syriac languages, and of course Arabic, in which he was reputedly a master of style, he settled in Baghdad and engaged in the translation of such scientific works, the employment of other persons in translation, and the redaction of existing translations. Later on he was induced by a certain SANHARIB to migrate to Armenia and establish himself there. He then engaged in the production of original scientific works for a certain ABU L-GHITRIF AL-BATRIQ, a learned, distinguished, and generous man, and for others, such as ISMA'TL IBN BULBUL and ABU L-HASAN 'ABDALLAH IBN

(1) Geometrical Optics: (2) Geometrische Optik.

(1) FEW men were more versatile than Sir William RowanHamilton (1805-1865). In early youth he showed amazing linguistic ability, and attained a high standard in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, French, Persian, Arabic, Chaldee, Syriac, Sanskrit, Hindustani, Bengali, and other languages. He then turned to mathematics, astronomy and physics, and at the age of seventeen years he began to produce original work in geometrical optics. Hamilton's achievements were so great and so varied that it has taken the scientific world a long time to appreciate their full extent. Nineteenth century mathematicians esteemed him principally for his theory of quaternions. Since the rise of quantum mechanics, we now realize the fundamental importance of Hamiltonian dynamics. His optics, although his earliest work, has been the last to be appreciated. (1) Geometrical Optics: an Introduction to Hamilton's Method. By Prof. J. L. Synge. (Cambridge Tracts in Mathematics and Mathematical Physics, No. 37.) Pp. ix + 110. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1937.) 6s. 6d. net. (2) Geometrische Optik. Von C. Caratheodory. (Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzbegiete, Band 4, Heft 5.) Pp. iv + 104. (Berlin: Julius Springer, 1937.) 9.90 gold marks.

A Specimen of Old Aramaic Verse

WHAT WAS LOST to the world when the old Aramaic literature perished, we of course cannot guess. We have not at present, and probably never shall have, any satisfactory basis for an idea of either its volume or its variety. The Elephantine papyri brought a surprise in this regard, though perhaps not to those who were familiar with the Aramaic inscriptions. In the important field of poetry, very little has thus far come to light. We know, indeed, that in the earlier Aramaic literature of the Jews it was customary to employ the standard line of three stressed syllables, as in Hebrew; the Book of Daniel furnishes sufficient illustration of this, though in only a few scattered passages. I showed, some years ago, that in the Aramaic original of the Story of the Three Guardsmen, interpolated in the Book of Ezra, and now preserved in the fragment of the old Greek translation known to us as First Esdras, the three formal discourses of the contestants at the court of Darius are composed throughout in the familiar three-beat verse.' This very interesting tale may have had a Jewish author, but it is more probably Gentile in its origin. The accentual verse is easily composed, almost too easily, in fact. Did the Aramaic-speaking Gentiles of the Persian period, or earlier, have also a syllabic meter, such as we have not found, for instance, among the Hebrews? Syllabic meter is the usual thing in the classical Syriac literature, but has not hitherto been surely recognized in the great western branch of Aramaic. I once demonstrated, in the Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie (Vol. 28, 1913, pp. 312-317) the possibility of Aramaic syllabic meter in the original form of the Lord's Prayer; showing that the Greek version given in the Third Gospel, if rendered verbally into Jewish Aramaic, can easily be made to represent strict seven-syllable verse. Several scholars, after reading the article, wrote me their approval. My own attitude toward my demonstration was, and is, one of benevolent skepticism. I was interested to show the possibility, but prefer to leave it to