SYRIAC LITERATURE.
Divisions of Syriac Literature (§1).
General Works on Syriac Literature (§ 2).
Judaeo-Pagan Writings (§ 3).
Bible and Apocrypha (§ 4).
Native Christian Literature (§ 5).
Theological Literature under Greek Influenca (§ 6).
Rise of History under Islam (§ 7).
Period of Decline (§ 8).
Collected and Miscellaneous Writings (§ 9).
Works on Philosophy and Science (§ 10).
Translation Literature (§ 11).
Juristic Literature (§ 12).
Historical Treatises (§ 13).
Syriac literature — the literature of the language designated as " Syriac " or " Syrian " (R. V. marg. " Aramaic," " Aramean ") in the Old Testament (II Kings xviii. 26; Dan. ii. 4; Ezra iv. 7) — is of prime importance in the history of the Christian religion, though not so much for its bearing on the Bible and its exegesis as because of the high value of the Christian literature which it contains. This statement holds good both of the works originally written in Syriac by native authors, and of those works which were first composed in other languages, but which now, their original texts having been lost, are preserved only in Syriac translations. Of the latter type it is sufficient simply to allude to such recent finds as the Old Syriac Gospels from Sinai (see Bible Versions, A, III., 1, § 3), to the Odes of Solomon (see Solomon, Odes of), or to the list of " Old Syriac Versions of Early Christian Greek Literature " given by Harnack (Litteratur, i. 885-886).
Syriac literature may be divided (1) from the religious point of view into (a) heathen, (b) Jewish, and (c) Christian. (2) Chronologically it ranges from the beginning of the Christian era, or, if the recent discoveries of Aramaic papyri in Egypt be included, from the fifth century B.C. i. Divisions to the Middle Ages; while in the nine-
of Syriac teenth century a modern Syriac litera- Literature. ture sprang up, largely through the agency of the American Mission at Urumiah. (3) Geographically the literature ranges from the southern frontier of Egypt and the shore of the Mediterranean across Mesopotamia to India (Kottayam in Malabar), Turkestan (Semiryeshchie), and China (Singan-fu) . (4) In extent and contents Syriac literature is sufficiently rich to arouse the zeal of the scholar, without being so huge as to make him despair, as is the case, for instance, with Arabic. The new Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (Paris, 1903 sqq.) allows 125 parts for the Syriac section, or more than for any other branch; a single editor, Paul Bed j an, during recent years has published over thirty volumes, mostly inedita; and Paul de Lagarde (q.v.) began a Bibliotheca Syriaca (GSttingen, 1892).
Though mainly theological, Syriac literature covers all branches of science — history, geography, philology, medicine, law, and astronomy — and even contains specimens of the romance.
Syriac Literature
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Eusebius, in various places in his Hist, eccl., like Jerome and Gennadius in their De vir. ill., make mention of some Syriac writers who had already become known in the West, but the chief work of this sort is the " Catalogue " drawn up by Ebed Jesu (q.v., where details will be found regarding the edition by J. S. Assemani). Among modern works mention may be made of W. Wright, Short History of Syriac Literature, London, 1894 (first 2. General published as the article '' Syriac Litera- Works on ture " in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th Syriac ed., xii. 824-S56, London, 1SS7); R. Literature. Duval, La Litterature syriaque (Paris, 1899; 2d ed., 1901); E. Nestle, Litteratura Syriaca (Berlin, 1888; extract from his Syrische Grammatik, 2d ed., giving the titles of the principal publications prior to 1SSS); C. Brockelmann, Syrische Grammatik, pp. 124-144 (2d ed., Berlin, 1905), gives a selection with additions up to 1905, and the same scholar has also treated this field in the section on the Syriac and Christian Arabic literatures in the Geschichte der christlichen Literat uren des Ostens, pp. 1-74 (Leipsic, 1907); J. B. Chabot, Les Langues et les littiratures arameens (Paris, 1910); while more special topics are discussed by A. Baumstark in his " Bibliotheks- und Buchwesen der christlichen Syrier," in Germania, Sept. 23, 1909, and in his " Palsestinensia," in RQS, xx. 123-149, 157-188, and " Ostsyrisches Christentum und ostsyrischer Hellenismus, " ib., xxii., pp. 17-35. For a more thorough study the catalogues of the collections of Syriac manuscripts in the libraries of Europe and the East are indispensable, since a large part of Syriac literature is still hidden in manuscripts, of which some are to be found in America (for a list of some of these catalogues see BrGr.,* p. 124-125; cf. also the works referred to in Syriac Church, especially those of F. C. Burkitt, R. Duval, J. Labourt, and L. J. Tixeront).
A Judaeo-pagan source is probably to be sought in the story of Ahikar the Sage, a fragment of which has been found in one of the Aramaic papyri now in the Royal Library, Berlin, while the complete version was made accessible by F C. Conybeare, J. R. Harris, and A. S. Lewis in their Story 3. Judaeo- of Ahikar from the Syriac, Arabic, Ar- Pagan menian, Ethiopic, Greek, and Slavonic Writings. Versions (London, 1898; cf. BrL, p. 5; F. Nau, Histoire et sagesse d' Ahikar VAssyrien, Paris, 1909); and Mara bar Serapion, who, in a letter to his son (first edited by W Cureton, in his Spicilegium Syriacum, London, 1855), makes the wise king of the Jews (i.e., Christ) the
* Special abbreviations employed in this article:
AB, Analecta Bollandiana, Paris and Brussels, 1882 sqq.
BO, J. 3. Assemani, Bibliotheca Orienlalis, Rome, 1719-28.
BrGr, ('. Brockelmann, Syrische Grammatik, 2d ed., Berlin, 1005.
BrL, C. Brockelmann, in Geschichte der christlichen Literaturen des Ostcns, Leipsic, 1907.
GA , Abhandlunaen der kiiniglichen Gesellschafl der Wissensrhnftw zu Gfttinr/en, Gottingen, 1843 sqq.
.Y.S7, Xeue StudUn zur Geschichte der Theologie und Kirche, ed. G. N. Bonwetsch and R. Seeberg, Leipsic, 1897 sqq.
OChr, Oriens Christinnus, Rome, 1901 sqq.
PO, Patrologia Orienlalis, Paris, 1903 sqq.
ROC, Revue de I'orient chritien, Paris, 1896 sqq.
RQS, Romische QuartaUchrifl, Rome, 1887 sqq.
equal of Socrates and Pythagoras, was probably a pagan, not a Christian (cf. Harnack, Litteratur, i. 763, ii. 701; E. Renan, in J A, IV., xix. 328; F. Schulthess, in ZDMG, li. 365-391).
The beginnings of the Syriac version of the Bible probably came from Syrian Jews (see Bible Versions, A, III.; cf. also W E. Barnes, "The Peshitta Version of II Kings," in JTS, vi. 220-232, xi. 533-542) ; but a practical and critical edition of the Syriac Old Testament is still to be made (cf. E. Nestle, in TLB, 1910, no. 23, and the same scholar on the edition of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in ZDMG, lix. 31-32). To Christian or Gnostic literature, rather than to apocryphal or even Jewish, belong the Odes of Solomon (q.v.), which were first edited by J. R. Harris (Cambridge, 1909; 2d ed. revised, 1911), who has also 4. Bible published An Early Christian Psalter and (London, 1909; cf. A. Harnack and Apocrypha. J. Flemming, Ein jiidisch-christliches Psalmbuch aus dem ersten Jahrhundert, Leipsic, 1910). On the Syriac translations of the New Testament general reference may be made to Bible Versions, A, III., to which may be added, as the most important subsequent publications, A. S. Lewis' Old Syriac Gospels or Evangelion da-Mepharreshe: Being the Text of the Sinai or Syro-Antiochene Palimpsest, including the latest Additions and Emendations with the Variants of the Curetonian Text (London, 1910) and H. K. H. von Soden's Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer dltesten erreichbaren Textgestalt (§§ 331, 342, 363-368, 463, 493, 548, Berlin, 1902 sqq.), his main conclusions being that the Diatessaron of Tatian (q.v.) existed not only in Syriac, but also in Greek, and that the influence of both Tatian and his work was extremely great on the text of the New Testament. Among the Apocrypha of the New Testament more than usual interest attaches to the Acts of Thomas (see Apocrypha, B, II. (9), and cf. A. S. Lewis, in Horce Semitica, iii., London, 1904), which seems to be of Syriac origin and to belong to the school of Bardesanes (q.v.). It is also noteworthy as containing the celebrated " Hymn of the Soul," on which cf. A. A. Bevan, in TS, v.; BrL, pp. 12-15; F. C. Burkitt, Hymn of Bardaisan (London, 1899) and Early Eastern Christianity, lecture vi. (New York, 1904; Eng. transl., pp. 218-223). There is considerable doubt as to whether the original language of the " Book of the Laws of the Countries," which also belongs to the school of Bardesanes, was Greek, as is maintained by F Schulthess, or Syriac, as T. Noldeke holds (cf. ZDMG, lxix., 91-94, 555-560, 745-750; and F. Nau, in ZA, Sept.-Oct., 1910, pp. 209 sqq.)
Excepting these few pieces which have a heathen,
Jewish, or Gnostic origin, and to which may be
added scattered fragments of Manichean literature
(see Mani, Manicheans; and note also Mand^eans),
Syriac literature is entirely Christian, and for the
most part ecclesiastical and theolog-
5. Native ical. The chief centers were Edessa
Christian and Nisibis, and at first the literature
Literature, was purely national, though later it
came under the influence of the Greek
Church, and finally was compelled to struggle against
Arabic domination. As the chief authors of this