Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
is a dialect of
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
. Portions of the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
were written in Aramaic and there are Aramaic phrases in the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
. Syriac translations of the New Testament were among the first and date from the 2nd century. The whole
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
was translated by the 5th century. Besides Syriac, there are
Bible translations into other Aramaic dialects.
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
played an important or even predominant role in the beginning of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
. Here is where the
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...
, the
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volu ...
, the
Didache
The ''Didache'' (; ), also known as The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations (Διδαχὴ Κυρίου διὰ τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τοῖς ἔθνεσιν), is a brief anonymous early Christian tr ...
, Ignatiana, and the
Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is an extra-canonical Logia, sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars specu ...
are believed to have been written. Syria was the country in which the
Greek language
Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Al ...
intersected with the Syriac, which was closely related to the
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
dialect used by
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
and the
Apostles. That is why Syriac versions are highly esteemed by textual critics.
Scholars have distinguished five or six different Syriac versions of all or part of the New Testament. It is possible that some translations have been lost. The manuscripts originate in countries like
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
(
Sinai
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
),
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
,
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
,
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and even from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. This is good evidence for the great historical activity of the Syriac
Church of the East
The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...
.
Diatessaron
This is the earliest translation of the gospels into Syriac. The earliest translation of any New Testament text from Greek seems to have been the
Diatessaron
The ''Diatessaron'' ( syr, ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ܕܡܚܠܛܐ, Ewangeliyôn Damhalltê; c. 160–175 AD) is the most prominent early gospel harmony, and was created by Tatian, an Assyrian early Christian apologist and ascetic. Tatian sought to comb ...
, a harmony of the four canonical gospels (perhaps with a now lost fifth text) prepared about AD 170 by
Tatian
Tatian of Adiabene, or Tatian the Syrian or Tatian the Assyrian, (; la, Tatianus; grc, Τατιανός; syc, ܛܛܝܢܘܣ; c. 120 – c. 180 AD) was an Assyrian Christian writer and theologian of the 2nd century.
Tatian's most influential wor ...
in Rome. Although no original text of the Diatessaron survives, its foremost witness is a prose commentary on it by
Ephrem the Syrian
Ephrem the Syrian ( syc, ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, Mār ʾAp̄rêm Sūryāyā, ; grc-koi, Ἐφραὶμ ὁ Σῦρος, Efrém o Sýros; la, Ephraem Syrus; am, ቅዱስ ኤፍሬም ሶርያዊ; ), also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint ...
. Although there are many so-called manuscript witnesses to the Diatessaron, they all differ, and, ultimately only witness to the enduring popularity of such harmonies. Rescensions appeared in later centuries as translation of originals. Many medieval European harmonies draw on the
Codex Fuldensis
The Codex Fuldensis, also known as the Victor Codex (Hessian State Library, ''Codex Bonifatianus I''), designated by F, is a New Testament manuscript based on the Latin Vulgate made between 541 and 546. The codex is considered the second most impo ...
.
Old Syriac version
The Old Syriac version translation of the four gospels or ''Vetus Syra'' is preserved today in only two manuscripts, both with a large number of gaps.
The
Curetonian Gospels
The Curetonian Gospels, designated by the ''siglum'' syrcur, are contained in a manuscript of the four gospels of the New Testament in Old Syriac. Together with the Sinaiticus Palimpsest the Curetonian Gospels form the Old Syriac Version, and a ...
consist of fragments of the four Gospels. The text was brought in 1842 from the
Nitrian Desert
The Nitrian Desert is a desert region in northwestern Egypt, lying between Alexandria and Cairo west of the Nile Delta. It is known for its history of Christian monasticism."Nitrian Desert", in F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., ''The Oxfor ...
in Egypt, and is now held in the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
. These fragments were examined by
William Cureton
William Cureton (180817 June 1864) was an English Orientalist.
Life
He was born in Westbury, Shropshire. After being educated at the Adams' Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire and at Christ Church, Oxford, he took orders in 1832, became chapl ...
and edited by him in 1858. The manuscript is dated paleographically to the 5th century. It is called Curetonian Syriac, and is designated by Syr
c.
The second manuscript is a
palimpsest
In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...
discovered by
Agnes Smith Lewis
Agnes Smith Lewis (1843–1926)Christa Müller-KesslerLewis, Agnes Smith (1843–1926) in ''Oxford Dictionary of the National Biography'', vol. 33 (Oxford, 2004), pp. 579–580. and Margaret Dunlop Gibson (1843–1920),Christa Müller-KesslerD ...
at
Saint Catherine's Monastery
Saint Catherine's Monastery ( ar, دير القدّيسة كاترين; grc-gre, Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, ...
in 1892 at Mount Sinai(Egypt), called
Sinaitic Syriac, and designated by Syr
s. This version was known and cited by
Ephrem the Syrian
Ephrem the Syrian ( syc, ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, Mār ʾAp̄rêm Sūryāyā, ; grc-koi, Ἐφραὶμ ὁ Σῦρος, Efrém o Sýros; la, Ephraem Syrus; am, ቅዱስ ኤፍሬም ሶርያዊ; ), also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint ...
, It is a representative of the
Western text-type
In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Western text-type is one of the main text types. It is the predominant form of the New Testament text witnessed in the Old Latin and Syriac Peshitta translations from the Greek, and also in quotations ...
.
These two manuscripts represent only the Gospels. The text of Acts and the Pauline Epistles has not survived to the present. It is known only from citations made by Eastern fathers. The text of Acts was reconstructed by
F. C. Conybeare
Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare, (14 September 1856 – 9 January 1924) was a British Oriental studies, orientalist, Fellow of University College, Oxford, and Professor of Theology at the University of Oxford.
Biography
Conybeare was born in Co ...
, and the text of the Pauline Epistles by J. Molitor. They used Ephrem's commentaries.
Peshitta
![RabulaGospelsFolio04vCanonTable](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/RabulaGospelsFolio04vCanonTable.jpg)
The term
Peshitta
The Peshitta ( syc, ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ ''or'' ') is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition, including the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the ...
was used by Moses bar Kepha in 903 and means "simple" (in analogy to the Latin
Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...
). It is the oldest Syriac version which has survived to the present day in its entirety.
It contains the entire Old Testament, most (?) of the deuterocanonical books, as well as 22 books of the New Testament, lacking the shorter
Catholic Epistles
The catholic epistles (also called the general epistlesEncarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "katholieke brieven". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.) are seven epistles of the New Testament. Listed in order of their appearance in ...
(2-3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, as well as John 7:53-8:11).
It was made in the beginning of the 5th century. Its authorship was ascribed to
Rabbula
Rabbula ( la, Rabula) was a bishop of Edessa from 411 to August 435 AD, noteworthy for his opposition to the views of Theodore of Mopsuestia and Nestorius. However, his successor Ibas, who was in charge of the school of Edessa, reversed the offi ...
, bishop of
Edessa
Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene ...
(411-435). The Syriac church still uses it to the present day.
More than 350 manuscripts survived, several of which date from the 5th and 6th centuries.
In the Gospels it is closer to the
Byzantine text-type
In the textual criticism of the New Testament, the Byzantine text-type (also called Majority Text, Traditional Text, Ecclesiastical Text, Constantinopolitan Text, Antiocheian Text, or Syrian Text) is one of the main text types. It is the form fou ...
, but in Acts to the
Western text-type
In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Western text-type is one of the main text types. It is the predominant form of the New Testament text witnessed in the Old Latin and Syriac Peshitta translations from the Greek, and also in quotations ...
. It is designated by Syr
p.
The earliest manuscript of the Peshitta is a ''Pentateuch'' dated AD 464. There are two New Testament manuscripts of the 5th century (
Codex Phillipps 1388 Codex Phillipps 1388, Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It contains the text of the four Gospels. Palaeographically it had been assigned to the 5th/6th centuries. It is one of the oldest manuscripts of Peshitta with some Old Sy ...
).
; Some manuscripts
:
British Library, Add. 14479 — the earliest dated Peshitta Apostolos.
:
British Library, Add. 14459 — the oldest dated Syriac manuscript of the two Gospels
:
British Library, Add. 14470 British Library, Add MS 14470, Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 5th or 6th century. It is one of the oldest manuscript of Peshitta with complete text of the New Testament.
Content ...
— the whole Peshitta text from the fifth/sixth century
:
British Library, Add. 14448 — the major part of Peshitta from the 699/700
Syro-Hexaplar version
The
Syro-Hexaplar version is the
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
translation of the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
based on the fifth column of
Origen
Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, ...
's
Hexapla
''Hexapla'' ( grc, Ἑξαπλᾶ, "sixfold") is the term for a critical edition of the Hebrew Bible in six versions, four of them translated into Greek, preserved only in fragments. It was an immense and complex word-for-word comparison of the ...
. The translation was made by Bishop
Paul of Tella Paul, in Syriac Pawlos (fl. early 7th century), was the Syriac Orthodox bishop of Tella and an important translator of Greek works into Syriac.
Paul was a native of Tella. By 615 he was a bishop. At some point before 613, he fled Syria for Egypt. ...
, around 617, from the Hexaplaric text of the Septuagint.
Later Syriac versions
The Philoxenian was probably produced in 508 for
Philoxenus, Bishop of Mabbug Philoxenus of Mabbug (Syriac: , ') (died 523), also known as Xenaias and Philoxenus of Hierapolis, was one of the most notable Syriac prose writers and a vehement champion of Miaphysitism.
Early life
He was born, probably in the third quarter of ...
in eastern Syria. This translation contains the five books not found in the Peshitta: 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and the Apocalypse. This translation survived only in short fragments. It is designated by syr
ph. Harclensis is designated by syr
h. It is represented by some 35 manuscripts dating from the 7th century and later; they show kinship with the Western text-type.
According to some scholars the
Philoxenian and
Harclensis are only recensions of Peshitta, but according to others they are independent new translations.
[http://sor.cua.edu/Bible/Philoxenian.html Philoxenian - Syriac Orthodox Resources George Kiraz, 2001]]
See also
*
List of the Syriac New Testament manuscripts
Syriac-language manuscripts of the New Testament include some of the earliest and most important witnesses for textual criticism of the New Testament. Over 350 Syriac manuscripts of the New Testament have survived into the 21st century. The majo ...
;Other early Eastern translations
*
Coptic versions of the Bible
There have been many Coptic versions of the Bible, including some of the earliest translations into any language. Several different versions were made in the ancient world, with different editions of the Old and New Testament in five of the dial ...
*
Bible translations into Sogdian Portions of the Bible were translated into the Sogdian language in the 9th and 10th centuries. All surviving manuscripts are incomplete Christian liturgical texts (psalters and lectionaries), intended for reading on Sundays and holy days. It is unkn ...
*
Bible translations into Nubian
*
Bible translations into Persian Bible translations into Persian have been made since the fourth or fifth century, although few early manuscripts survive. There are both Jewish and Christian translations from the Middle Ages. Complete translations of the Hebrew Bible and Greek New ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
* W. Wright, ''Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum'',
Gorgias Press
Gorgias Press is an independent academic publisher specializing in the history and religion of the Middle East and the larger pre-modern world.
History
Founded in 2001 by Christine and George Kiraz, the press is based in Piscataway, New Jers ...
LLC 2002.
*
{{refend
Syriac Versions of the Bible at the Bible ResearchThe New Testament with full western vocalizationat syriacbible.nl
Peshitta with analytical lexicon and English translation
Early versions of the Bible
Texts in Syriac
Bible translations into Aramaic