Syriac Literature An English Translation of La Littérature Syriaque

Description

Foreword to the English Edition ......................................................... vii PART I SYRIAC LITERATURE AND ITS DIFFERENT GENRES ....... 1 I. The Origins of Syriac Literature ......................................................... 3 II. General Features of Syriac Literature. Poetry................................. 7 §1. — Features of Syriac Literature .............................................. 7 §2. — Poetry .................................................................................... 9 III. The Ancient Versions of the Old and New Testaments........... 21 §1. — The so-called Peshitta version of the Old Testament . 21 §2. — The ancient versions of the New Testament ................ 31 IV. The Syro-Palestinian Version of the Old and New Testament ....................................................................................... 37 V. The Later Versions of the Old and New Testament ................... 43 VI. The Syrian Masoretic Text ............................................................. 47 VII. The Biblical Commentaries .......................................................... 53 VIII. The Apocrypha Concerning the Old and New Testament ... 67 §1. — The apocrypha of the Old Testament ............................ 67 §2. — The apocrypha of the New Testament. ......................... 73 IX. The Acts of the Martyrs and of the Saints .................................. 97 §1. — The Acts of the Martyrs of Occidental Mesopotamia ......................................................................... 97 §2. — The Acts of the Martyrs of Persia ................................. 102 §3. — The Syriac texts on the martyrs outside Mesopotamia and Persia .................................................... 116 §4. — Lives of the saints and martyrs ...................................... 122 X. The Apologetic Texts ..................................................................... 133 XI. Ecclesiastical Canons and Civil Law........................................... 137 §1. — Ecclesiastical canons translated from Greek ............... 137 §2. — Syriac ecclesiastical canons. ............................................ 141 §3. — Civil law. ............................................................................ 148 XII. The Historiographers .................................................................. 153 §1. — General history ................................................................. 153 §2. — Particular histories. .......................................................... 177 XIII. Ascetic Literature ....................................................................... 187 XIV. Philosophy ................................................................................... 203 §1. — Syriac philosophy ............................................................. 203 §2. — Aristotelian philosophy ................................................... 212 §3. — Other Syriac versions of Greek philosophy ................ 223 XV. The Sciences of the Syrians ........................................................ 231 §1. — Medicine ............................................................................ 231 §2. — Natural history ................................................................. 236 §3. — Astronomy, cosmography and geography ................... 238 §4. — Chemistry .......................................................................... 242 §5. — Mathematics ..................................................................... 243 XVI. Grammar, Lexicography, Rhetoric and Poetic ...................... 245 §1. — Grammar ........................................................................... 245 §2. — Lexicography .................................................................... 253 §3. — Rhetoric and poetic ......................................................... 258 XVII. Syriac Translations .................................................................... 261 §1. — Translations of the works of the Greek Fathers ........ 262 §2. — Translations of the secular works ................................. 276 PART II NOTES ON THE SYRIAC AUTHORS ........................................ 281 I. Writers up to the 5th Century ......................................................... 285 II. Writers up Until the 7th Century .................................................. 293 §1. — The Orthodox .................................................................. 293 §2. — The Nestorians ................................................................. 296 §3. — The Monophysites ........................................................... 304 III. Writers under the Arabs ............................................................... 321 §1. — The 7th century ................................................................ 321 §2. — The 8th century ................................................................ 331 §3. — The 9th century ................................................................ 337 §4. — The 10th century.............................................................. 343 §5. — The 11th century.............................................................. 345 §6. — The 12th century.............................................................. 348 §7. — The 13th century and the end of Syriac literature ...... 352 Index of Names .................................................................................... 363