[PDF] The Syriac World

This volume surveys the 'Syriac world', the culture that grew up among the Syriac-speaking communities from the second century CE and which continues to exist and flourish today, both in its original homeland of Syria and Mesopotamia, and in the worldwide diaspora of Syriac-speaking communities. The five sections examine the religion; the material, visual, and literary cultures; the history and social structures of this diverse community; and Syriac interactions with their neighbours ancient and modern. There are also detailed appendices detailing the patriarchs of the different Syriac denominations, and another appendix listing useful online resources for students.

This volume surveys the 'Syriac world', the culture that grew up among the Syriac-speaking communities from the second century CE and which continues to exist and flourish today, both in its original homeland of Syria and Mesopotamia, and in the worldwide diaspora of Syriac-speaking communities. The five sections examine the religion; the material, visual, and literary cultures; the history and social structures of this diverse community; and Syriac interactions with their neighbours ancient and modern. There are also detailed appendices detailing the patriarchs of the different Syriac denominations, and another appendix listing useful online resources for students.

[PDF] The Syriac World

Download File

Introduction Part I: Backgrounds 1. The eastern provinces of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity 2. The Sasanian Empire Part II: The Syriac world in Late Antiquity 3. The pre-Christian religions of the Syriac-speaking regions 4. The coming of Christianity to Mesopotamia 5. Forms of the religious life and Syriac monasticism 6. The establisment of the Syriac Churches 7. The Syriac Church denominations: an overview 8. The Syriac world in the Persian Empire 9. Judaism and Syriac Christianity 10. Syriac and Syrians in the later Roman Empire: questions of identity 11. Early Syriac reactions to the rise of Islam 12. The Church of the East in the 'Abbasid Era Part III: The Syriac langage 13. The Syriac language in the context of the Semitic languages 14. The Classical Syriac language 15. Writing Syriac: manuscripts and inscriptions 16. The Neo-Aramaic dialects and their historical background Part IV: Syriac literary, artistic, and material culture in Late Antiquity 17. The Syriac Bible and its interpretation 18. The emergence of Syriac literature to AD 400 19. Later Syriac poetry 20. Syriac hagiographic literature 21. The mysticism of the Church of the East 22. Theological doctrines and debates within Syriac Christianity 23. The liturgies of the Syriac Churches 24. Historiography in the Syriac-speaking world, 300-1000 25. Syriac philosophy 26. Syriac medicine 27. The material culture of the Syrian peoples in Late Antiquity and the evidence for Syrian wall paintings 28. Churches in Syriac space: architectural and liturgical context and development 29. Women and children in Syriac Christianity: sounding voices 30. Syriac agriculture 350-1250 Part V: Syriac Christianity beyond the ancient world 31. Syriac Christianity in Central Asia 32. Syriac Christianity in China 33. Syriac Christianity in India 34. The renaissance of Syriac literature in the twelfth-thirteenth centuries 35. Syriac in a diverse Middle East: from the Mongol Ilkhanate to Ottoman dominance, 1286-1517 36. The Maronite Church 37. The early study of Syriac in Europe 38. Syriac identity in the modern era 39. Changing demography: Christians in Iraq since 1991 Appendices I: The patriarchs of the Church of the East II: West Syrian patriarchs and maphrians III Online resources for the study of the Syriac world Maps Index Subject Index

The Syriac literature and the material culture of Late Antiquity are covered in the fourth, most extensive, part (pp. 293-580). The chapter by Jonathan Loopstra provides an introduction into the field of biblical translations into Syriac and traditions of biblical interpretation in West and East Syriac literature. Early Syriac literature, which includes anonymous writings (Odes of Solomon, Acts of Thomas), as well as The Laws of Countries by Bardaiṣan and his circle, and works of famous Ephrem the Syrian and Aphrahat, are presented in the contribution of Ute Possekel. Apart from this, the volume offers chapters on literature of various genres and content: Syriac hagiography (Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent) and historiography (Philip Wood), poetry (Sebastian P. Brock), the mystical movement in the Church of the East and its mystical literature (Adrian Pirtea), perception and further transmission of Greek philosophy in the Syriac world (John W. Watt), and translated and original works on medicine (Grigory Kessel). Material manifestations of the Syriac religious and secular life are discussed in contributions on the liturgical rites in the Syriac churches (Fr Baby Varghese), the architecture of Syriac churches (Widad Khoury), fine arts (Emma Loosley), and Syriac agriculture (Michael J. Decker). A very distinct chapter by Susan Ashbrook Harvey studies the role of women and children in Syriac Christianity. Syriac Christology and theological debates around it are outlined by Theresia Hainthaler.

Diachronic maps of Syriac cultures and their geographic contexts Introduction (Daniel King) Part I: Backgrounds 1. The eastern provinces of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity (Muriel Debié) 2. The Sasanian Empire (Touraj Daryaee) Part II: The Syriac world in Late Antiquity 3. The pre-Christian religions of the Syriac-speaking regions (John F. Healey) 4. The coming of Christianity to Mesopotamia (David G. K. Taylor) 5. Forms of the religious life and Syriac monasticism (Florence Jullien) 6. The establishment of the Syriac Churches (Volker Menze) 7. The Syriac Church denominations: an overview (Dietmar W. Winkler) 8. The Syriac world in the Persian Empire (Geoffrey Herman) 9. Judaism and Syriac Christianity (Michal Bar-Asher Siegal) 10. Syriac and Syrians in the later Roman Empire: questions of identity (Nathanael Andrade) 11. Early Syriac reactions to the rise of Islam (Michael Penn) 12. The Church of the East in the ʿAbassid Era (David Wilmshurst) Part III: The Syriac language 13. The Syriac language in the context of the Semitic languages (Holger Gzella) 14. The Classical Syriac language (Aaron Michael Butts) 15. Writing Syriac: manuscripts and inscriptions (Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet) 16. The Neo-Aramaic dialects and their historical background (Gefforey Khan) Part IV: Syriac literary, artistic, and material culture in Late Antiquity 17. The Syriac Bible and its interpretation (Jonathan Loopstra) 18. The emergence of Syriac literature to AD 400 (Ute Possekel) 19. Later Syriac poetry (Sebastian P. Brock) 20. Syriac hagiographic literature (Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent) 21. The mysticism of the Church of the East (Adrian Pirtea) 22. Theological doctrines and debates within Syriac Christianity (Theresia Hainthaler) 23. The liturgies of the Syriac Churches (Fr. Baby Varghese) 24. Historiography in the Syriac-speaking world, 300-1000 (Philip Wood) 25. Syriac philosophy (John W. Watt) 26. Syriac medicine (Grigory Kessel) 27. The material culture of the Syrian peoples in Late Antiquity and the evidence for Syrian wall paintings (Emma Loosley) 28. Churches in Syriac space: architectural and liturgical context and development (Widad Khoury) 29. Women and children in Syriac Christianity: sounding voices (Susan Ashbrook Harvey) 30. Syriac agriculture 350-1250 (Michael J. Decker) Part V: Syriac Christianity beyond the ancient world 31. Syriac Christianity in Central Asia (Mark Dickens) 32. Syriac Christianity in China (Hidemi Takahashi) 33.Syriac Christianity in India (Istvan Perczel) 34.The renaissance of Syriac literature in the twelfth-thirteenth centuries (Dorothea Weltecke and Helen Younansardaroud) 35. Syriac in a diverse Middle East: from the Mongol Ilkhanate to Ottoman dominance, 1286-1517 (Thomas A. Carlson) 36. The Maronite Church (Shafiq Abouzayd) 37. The early study of Syriac in Europe (Robert J. Wilkinson) 38. Syriac identity in the modern era (Heleen Murre-van den Berg) 39. Changing demography: Christians in Iraq since 1991 (Erica C. D. Hunter) Appendices I The patriarchs of the Church of the East II West Syrian patriarchs and maphrians III Online resources for the study of the Syriac world

the capital of Damascus - located at an oasis fed by the Barada River - is thought to be one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities; there are 42 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights (2017)

Syriac studies benefits enormously from the broad array of digital humanities projects that have sprung up in the last twenty years. We have a state of the art gazetteer, prosopography, and clavis of hagiographical works thanks to syriaca.org; we have a collection of splendid annotated and linked bibliographies that serve as an essential introduction to the field and its various sub-disciplines thanks to syri.ac; we have the framework for a global catalogue of Syriac manuscripts thanks to e-ktobe; and we have millions of words of searchable Syriac thanks to syriaccorpus.org and Simtho. These and other projects provide a framework and resources for future research. In many ways they represent a selfless contribution to the field, because although the work has enormous value, it is not really rewarded in conventional academic terms. So thanks to the many people who have contributed to these and other digital humanities projects! 2ff7e9595c