Sources for the History of the School of Nisibis

Description

Translated with an introduction and notes by Adam H. Becker The Aramaic-speaking Christian community of late antique and early Islamic period Mesopotamia developed a school culture that persisted for several centuries. Not unlike the Rabbinic academies, the East-Syrian schools were innovative as centres of learning where study was formally institutionalized, in contrast to the informal study circles of the past. This school culture played an important role in the early translation of Greek philosophical texts into Arabic in the Abbasid period. The most influential and prominent of these schools was the School of Nisibis, and this volume provides an annotated translation of the major sources for the School. A polemical document composed by Simeon of Bēt Arsham, a theological enemy of the School, describes the foundation of the School as a significant step in the supposed spread of 'Nestorianism' throughout the Sasanian Empire. The more extensive East-Syrian "Cause of the Foundation of the Schools" offers a history of learning from God's creation of the world to the time of the text's composition at the School of Nisibis in the late sixth century CE, recasting patriarchal, Israelite, 'pagan' and Christian history as a long series of schools. The last two chapters of the "Ecclesiastical History" describe the lives of the two most important head exegetes at the School. These sources have never been translated into English and this is the first time that any of them has received close historical, linguistic and thematic analysis. Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations ix Introduction 1 The School of Nisibis 1 Identifying Barhadbeshabbā 11 On the Manuscripts, Translation, Notes and Terms 16 The Transliteration of the Syriac Alphabet in this Volume 18 Texts Simeon of Bēt Arsham, "'Letter' on the 'Nestorianization' of Persia" 21 Introduction 21 Translation and Notes 25 Barhadbeshabbā, "Ecclesiastical History" 40 Introduction 40 Translation and Notes 47 Chapter Thirty One: "The Life of Narsai" 47 Chapter Thirty Two: "The Life of Abraham of Bēt Rabban" 73 Barhadbeshabbā, "The Cause of the Foundation of the Schools" 86 Introduction 86 Translation and Notes 94 Mingana Fragment of the "Cause" 161 Translation and Notes 161 Portion of the "Mēmrā on the Holy Fathers" by Rabban Surin 163 Translation and Notes 163 Appendix I: On the Manuscript Tradition of the "Cause of the Foundation of the Schools" 165 Appendix II: The Tree of Porphyry in the "Cause of the Foundation of the Schools" 172 Appendix III: The Literary Dependence of the "Cause of the Foundation of the Schools" on the "Ecclesiastical History" 181 Brief Glossary of Selected Terms 192 Maps 194 Bibliography 196 Index of Biblical References 203 Index of Proper Names 206 Subject Index 211