Table Of ContentIntroduction to Aramean and Syriac Studies
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Introduction to Aramean and Syriac Studies
A manual
By
Arman Akopian
gp
2017
Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
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Copyright © 2 0 1 7 by Gorgias Press LLC
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of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
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otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC.
2017 ܐܝ 1
ISBN 978-1-4632-0738-0 ISSN 1935-6838
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A Cataloging-in-Publication Record is available from the
Library of Congress.
Printed in the United States of America
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... v
List of figures ......................................................................................................................... vii
List of tables ............................................................................................................................ xi
List of maps .......................................................................................................................... xiii
1. Semitic languages and peoples .......................................................................................... 1
2. Arameans at the dawn of their history .......................................................................... 29
3. The religion of ancient Arameans .................................................................................. 51
4. The Aramaic language and its world ............................................................................. 57
Old Aramaic (10th – 8th centuries BC) ................................................................... 58
Imperial Aramaic (7th – 4th centuries BC) .............................................................. 66
Middle Aramaic (3rd cent. BC – 2nd centuries AD) .............................................. 84
Late Aramaic (since the 3rd centuries AD) ........................................................... 119
5. Osrhoene and the Aramean awakening ...................................................................... 149
6. The spread of Christianity in Osrhoene ...................................................................... 161
7. Syriac Christianity under the rule of Iran .................................................................... 169
8. Syriaс thought and literature of the first centuries of Christianity .......................... 179
9. The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and its schisms .......................... 189
10. The split of Syriac Christianity: “Nestorians” and “Jacobites” ............................ 199
11. Other branches of Syriac Christianity: Melkites and Maronites ............................ 217
12. The writing and scribal traditions of the Syriacs ..................................................... 223
13. Translation activity of the Syriacs .............................................................................. 245
14. Syriac translations of the Holy Scriptures ................................................................. 255
15. Syriac system of education .......................................................................................... 269
16. Syriac theology and philosophy .................................................................................. 277
17. Worldly sciences and secular literature of the Syriacs............................................. 285
18. Syriac historiography .................................................................................................... 297
19. Syriacs under Arab-Muslim domination ................................................................... 307
20. Commercial and missionary activity of the Syriacs ................................................. 315
Missionary activity of Syriacs among Arabs .......................................................... 317
Missionary activity of Syriacs in Central Asia ........................................................ 322
Missionary activity of Syriacs among Mongols and their circumstances under
Mongol rule ........................................................................................................ 329
“St. Thomas Christians” and Syriac Christianity in India .................................... 337
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vi INTRODUCTION TO ARAMEAN AND SYRIAC STUDIES
Missionary activity of Syriacs in China and Tibet ................................................. 348
21. Syriac rite Catholic Churches ...................................................................................... 357
22. The Syriacs between the Ottoman Empire, Iran, and Russia ............................... 369
23. The “Assyrian idea” and the issue of self-identitification for Syriac Christians . 391
24. Syriacs in the 20th century and on the threshold of the third millennium ......... 401
25. Modern Aramaic dialects ............................................................................................. 427
26. The current state of the Classical Syriac Language ................................................. 447
27. The origins and development of modern Aramean and Syriac studies ............... 455
Appendix: Klaus Beyer’s classification of Aramaic dialects ......................................... 479
Select bibiliography ............................................................................................................. 495
Index ..................................................................................................................................... 503
LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 1. Sumerian inscription from Uruk (32nd cent. BC) .............................................................. 1
Fig. 2. An example of Akkadian cuneiform (the first lines of the Enuma Elish epic) ................ 5
Fig. 3. A sample of proto-Sinaitic script .......................................................................................... 8
Fig. 4. Some characters of the proto-Canaanite script ................................................................... 8
Fig. 5. Inscription in pseudo-hieroglyphic script of Byblos .......................................................... 9
Fig. 6. Phoenician inscription on the sarcophagus of King Eshmunazar II ............................. 11
Fig. 7. The Gezer calendar ............................................................................................................... 14
Fig. 8. The King Mesha stele ........................................................................................................... 15
Fig. 9. The Amman citadel inscription ........................................................................................... 16
Fig. 10. Characters of the Ugaritic script ....................................................................................... 18
Fig. 11. An Arabic inscription of the 4th century BC made in the Nabatean Aramaic
script .......................................................................................................................................... 20
Fig. 12. Samples of Arabic calligraphy ........................................................................................... 22
Fig. 13. A fragment of an inscription in South Arabian script ................................................... 23
Fig. 14. An example of Ethiopian syllabary ................................................................................... 24
Fig. 15. A bas-relief from Gozan with a winged sun disk ........................................................... 33
Fig. 16. Citadel of Sam’al (reconstruction by German archeologist Robert Koldewey).......... 40
Fig. 17. King Bar Rakkab of Sam’al and his secretary .................................................................. 41
Fig. 18. Hadad riding a bull (a restored stele from Til Barsib) .................................................... 52
Fig. 19. The image of priest Abd-Hadad on a coin ...................................................................... 53
Fig. 20. Images of Hadad and Atargatis on a coin ........................................................................ 53
Fig. 21. A Western Semitic “Baal” from Ugarit ............................................................................ 55
Fig. 22. Fragment of King Zakkur’s inscription ........................................................................... 58
Fig. 23. The Sefire treaty .................................................................................................................. 59
Fig. 24. Melqart’s stele ...................................................................................................................... 59
Fig. 25. Surviving fragments of the Tel Dan stele ........................................................................ 61
Fig. 26. King Kilammuwa’s inscription with his own image ....................................................... 62
Fig. 27. King Bar Rakkab’s inscription ........................................................................................... 64
Fig. 28. Assyrian bas-relief depicting scribes writing in Akkadian and Aramaic ...................... 68
Fig. 29. Gem with the image of Nebuchadnezzar and an Akkadian inscription ...................... 69
Fig. 30. A Babylonian bas-relief depicting Nabonidus worshiping heavenly bodies ............... 70
Fig. 31. The script of the Elephantine archive .............................................................................. 73
Fig. 32. An Elephantine papyrus with Aramaic text..................................................................... 74
Fig. 33. A fragment of the demotic text on the Rosetta Stone ................................................... 77
Fig. 34. An Aramaic inscription from Tayma ............................................................................... 81
Fig. 35. The Aramaic part of a Greek-Aramaic inscription with Ashoka’s edict...................... 85
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viii INTRODUCTION TO ARAMEAN AND SYRIAC STUDIES
Fig. 36. A sample of Kharosthi script ............................................................................................ 86
Fig. 37. The Parthian script .............................................................................................................. 86
Fig. 38. A boundary stone-mark with an Aramaic inscription by Armenian
King Artashes I ........................................................................................................................ 87
Fig. 39. A sample of the Armazi script........................................................................................... 89
Fig. 40. The supposed sarcophagus of Queen Helena with Aramaic inscriptions ................... 91
Fig. 41. The portrait of Queen Zenobia on a coin ....................................................................... 93
Fig. 42. The divine trinity of Palmyra: Aglibol, Baal-Shamayn, and Malakbel .......................... 95
Fig. 43. A Palmyrene inscription on an altar ................................................................................. 96
Fig. 44. A tombstone from Palmyra with Aramaic inscriptions ................................................. 96
Fig. 45. Aramaic inscription by Queen Zenobia on a column .................................................... 97
Fig. 46. An Aramaic inscription from Dura-Europos (32 BC) ................................................... 98
Fig. 47. Emperor Elagabalus ........................................................................................................... 99
Fig. 48. A Nabatean bethel with an Aramaic inscription ............................................................. 103
Fig. 49. A Nabatean inscription .................................................................................................... 105
Fig. 50. The “square” script of the Dead Sea Scrolls ................................................................. 110
Fig. 51. A fragment of a Dead Sea Scroll ..................................................................................... 110
Fig. 52. A Palestinian ossuary ........................................................................................................ 115
Fig. 53. Inscriptions on the Palestinian ossuaries of the 1st century AD ................................ 116
Fig. 54. Albert Pike’s rendering of the Samaritan script ............................................................ 126
Fig. 55. A fragment of the Samaritan Torah ............................................................................... 126
Fig. 56. A mosaic inscription in Palestinian Christian Aramaic on Mount Nebo in
Jordan ...................................................................................................................................... 131
Fig. 57. A sample of Mandaic writing........................................................................................... 136
Fig. 58. A Mandean magical disk with Aramaic inscription ...................................................... 137
Fig. 59. A text written in the “square” script with Masoretic vocalization
(Aleppo Codex)...................................................................................................................... 143
Fig. 60. The title page of “Zohar” published in Cremona in 1558 ........................................... 146
Fig. 61. The Aramaic-Hebrew “square” script in its modern variety ....................................... 147
Fig. 62. A traditional Jewish marriage contract (ketuba) in Aramaic ......................................... 148
Fig. 63. The Birecik inscription (6 AD)........................................................................................ 156
Fig. 64. The Serrin inscription (73 AD) ....................................................................................... 158
Fig. 65. A dedication to Queen Shalmat on “Nimrod’s column” in Edessa ........................... 158
Fig. 66. Edessan mosaic tombstones with Aramaic inscriptions .............................................. 159
Fig. 67. A Syriac inscription in Estrangela on an Edessan mosaic presumably depicting
King Abgar the Great ........................................................................................................... 224
Fig. 68. The Lord’s Prayer in Estrangela script ........................................................................... 224
Fig. 69. A page of an 11th-century Melkite manuscript ............................................................. 225
Fig. 70. The Lord’s Prayer in Nestorian script ............................................................................ 226
Fig. 71. A sample of Melkite Serto ............................................................................................... 227
Fig. 72. The Lord’s Prayer in Serto script .................................................................................... 228
Fig. 73. The letters for vowels suggested by Jacob of Edessa ................................................... 229
Fig. 74. A sample of the Pahlavi script ......................................................................................... 231
Fig. 75. A sample of the Avestan script ....................................................................................... 231
Fig. 76. A sample of the Manichean script .................................................................................. 232
Fig. 77. Arabic text written in Syriac letters (Serto) .................................................................... 233
Fig. 78. A page from Malke bar Nikodimos’ Syriac-Arabic-Armenian dictionary ................. 234
Fig. 79. The Church of the Mother of God in the village of Hah in Tur Abdin ................... 235
Fig. 80. A 12th-century Syriac palimpsest with original Armenian 6th-century text ............. 236
Fig. 81. A fragment of a 9th-century Syriac papyrus manuscript ............................................. 237
Fig. 82. A miniature from “The Rabbula Gospels” .................................................................... 238
ARMAN AKOPIAN ix
Fig. 83. A manuscript of 1205 with Hippocrates’ aphorisms in Arabic and Syriac
translation by Hunain ibn Ishaq .......................................................................................... 251
Fig. 84. A page from the Ambrosian Peshitta ............................................................................. 256
Fig. 85. An illustration from the Paris manuscript of the Old Testament .............................. 258
Fig. 86. A page from the Ambrosian Syro-Hexapla ................................................................... 259
Fig. 87. A page from the Curetonian manuscript ....................................................................... 261
Fig. 88. A sketch from a medieval Syriac manuscript with symbols and names of the
signs of the Zodiac and the known planets, as well as the list of metals associated
with each planet. .................................................................................................................... 286
Fig. 89. A page from a 7th century manuscript with the text of the “Chronicle of
Edessa” (Vatican Library) ..................................................................................................... 299
Fig. 90. A fragment of a Sogdian manuscript .............................................................................. 325
Fig. 91. A Nestorian cross.............................................................................................................. 328
Fig. 92. A tombstone from Zhetysu with an Armenian-Syriac inscription ............................. 328
Fig. 93. The modern Mongolian vertical script ........................................................................... 331
Fig. 94. A fragment of a letter in Mongolian from Argun Khan to King Philip the Fair
of France, confirming Rabban Sauma’s ambassadorial status ......................................... 334
Fig. 95. A tombstone with St. Thomas’ Cross and a Pahlavi inscription from the
St. Thomas Mount near Chennai ........................................................................................ 342
Fig. 96. The Xi’an stele ................................................................................................................... 350
Fig. 97. The Syriac inscription on the Xi’an stele ....................................................................... 350
Fig. 98. The upper part of the Xi’an stele with a Nestorian cross ............................................ 351
Fig. 99. A Chinese tombstone of 1314 with a Nestorian cross and inscription in
Phags-pa script ....................................................................................................................... 353
Fig. 100. The Daqin Pagoda .......................................................................................................... 354
Fig. 101. An altar-shaped Nestorian tombstone from China with vertical Syriac
inscriptions ............................................................................................................................. 355
Fig. 102. The Hakkari mountains in the vicinity of Qudshanis (from “The Cradle of
Mankind; the Life in Eastern Kurdistan” by William Wigram) ....................................... 370
Fig. 103. The Catholicos of the Church of the East Shemon XVII Abraham (from
“Nestorians and their Rituals” by George Percy Badger) ................................................ 371
Fig. 104. Yohannan, Bishop of Urmia (portrait by Justin Perkins) .......................................... 373
Fig. 105. Sophonia Sokolsky .......................................................................................................... 377
Fig. 106. Yawsep VI Audo, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church ................................ 381
Fig. 107. Ashur Yusuf ..................................................................................................................... 386
Fig. 108. Naum Faiq ....................................................................................................................... 387
Fig. 109. The covers of the Armenian-language journals “Babylon” and “Nineveh” ........... 388
Fig. 110. William Wigram ............................................................................................................... 394
Fig. 111. Map of Hakkari ornamented with Assyrian motifs .................................................... 395
Fig. 112. Freydun Aturaya .............................................................................................................. 397
Fig. 113. Afram Barsoum (a portrait from “Assyrian Progress”) ............................................. 400
Fig. 114. The Catholicos of the Church of the East Shemon XIX Benyamin ....................... 402
Fig. 115. William Shedd .................................................................................................................. 402
Fig. 116. General Agha Petros ...................................................................................................... 403
Fig. 117. The Assyrian flag designed in 1968 .............................................................................. 408
Fig. 118. The Chaldean flag designed in 1985 ............................................................................. 410
Fig. 119. The Syriac Orthodox church of Worcester on the cover of “Assyrian
Progress” (California, 1933) ................................................................................................. 417
Fig. 120. Modern Syriac/Aramean symbols based on the Gozan bas-relief ........................... 422
Fig. 121. Justin Perkins ................................................................................................................... 438
Fig. 122. The Zahrire d-Bahra magazine ..................................................................................... 441
x INTRODUCTION TO ARAMEAN AND SYRIAC STUDIES
Fig. 123. The Kokhva newspaper ................................................................................................. 442
Fig. 124. The Star of the East newspaper (Tbilisi) ..................................................................... 443
Fig. 125. A page of the Complutensian Polyglot with Aramaic original and Latin
translation of the Targum Onkelos at the bottom ............................................................ 457
Fig. 126. A double-page spread of Teseo Ambrogio’s grammar showing the samples
of the Syriac and Armenian languages ................................................................................ 460
Fig. 127. The title page of the printed edition of the Syriac New Testament of 1555 .......... 461
Fig. 128. The title page of “The Main Characters of the Syriac Language” by Johann
Widmannstetter ............................................................................................................................... 462
Fig. 129. A page of the Antwerp Polyglot with the text of the Peshitta New Testament
and its Latin translation ........................................................................................................ 465
Fig. 130. The title page of the London Polyglot ......................................................................... 468
Fig. 131. Josephus Simonius Assemanui ...................................................................................... 470
Fig. 132. The title page of the first volume of the Bibliotheca Orientalis
Clementino-Vaticana ............................................................................................................. 470
Fig. 133. An East Syriac manuscript from the “Mingana collection” with the
New Testament ...................................................................................................................... 474
