Table Of ContentMemory and Identity in the Syriac Cave of Treasures
Sergey Minov - 978-90-04-44551-2
Jerusalem Studies
in Religion and Culture
Editors
Anthony Grafton (Princeton University)
David Shulman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Guy Stroumsa (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
volume 26
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/jsrc
Sergey Minov - 978-90-04-44551-2
Memory and Identity in the
Syriac Cave of Treasures
Rewriting the Bible in Sasanian Iran
By
Sergey Minov
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Sergey Minov - 978-90-04-44551-2
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov
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ISBN 978-90-04-44550-5 (hardback)
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Sergey Minov - 978-90-04-44551-2
мана�н аннене, Нина Якимова�на, халалласа
Хватит, покружились мы здесь,
как звонкие монеты серебряные,
поклонимся, – согнемся пред вами,
как белые деньги бумажные.
Геннадий Айги, Тридцать шесть вариаций
на темы чувашских и татарских народных песен
∵
Sergey Minov - 978-90-04-44551-2
Sergey Minov - 978-90-04-44551-2
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations and Conventions xi
Introduction 1
1 Genre, Date, and Provenance of CT 18
1 Content and Genre 18
2 The State of the Text 26
2.1 Direct Textual Witnesses 26
2.2 Indirect Textual Witnesses 28
2.3 The “Original” Text of CT 32
3 Date of CT 36
3.1 Terminus ante quem 38
3.2 Terminus post quem 38
4 Milieu of CT 40
5 Concluding Observations 44
2 Categorizing the Jewish “Other” 49
1 The Jewish Background of CT 55
2 Apologetics: The Genealogy of the Virgin Mary 60
3 Polemic: Anti-Judaism and the Passion Narrative 71
3.1 Jews as the Killers of Christ 72
3.2 Demonization of the Jews 74
3.3 Anti-Jewish Revision of the Canonical Passion Narrative 77
3.4 The Jews and the Instruments of Jesus’ Execution 79
3.5 The Sponge-Bearers as Jews 85
4 Polemic: Supersessionism 87
4.1 Rhetoric of Supersessionism 89
4.2 Supersessionist Exegesis of the Old Testament 101
4.3 Supersessionist Revision of Biblical History 121
5 Concluding Observations 130
3 Categorizing the Iranian “Other” 142
1 The Customs and Beliefs of the “Persians” 145
1.1 The Cult of Fire 145
1.2 The Cult of the Horse 152
1.3 Close-Kin Marriage 163
1.4 Astrology 177
Sergey Minov - 978-90-04-44551-2
viii Contents
2 Iranian Kingship 190
2.1 Nimrod 190
2.2 Cyrus 218
2.3 The Magi 223
3 Concluding Observations 247
4 Identifying the Syriac Christian “Self” 254
1 The Ethnonym “Syrians” 255
1.1 Territorial Aspects of Suryāyā 259
1.2 Linguistic and Cultural Aspects of Suryāyā 263
1.3 The Confessional Aspect of Suryāyā 266
2 Syriac Primacy: The Language 271
3 Syriac Primacy: The People 283
4 The Figure of Abgar 290
5 Attribution to Ephrem 294
6 Concluding Observations 300
General Conclusion 310
Bibliography 317
Index of Scriptural References 390
Index of Ancient Sources 394
Sergey Minov - 978-90-04-44551-2
Acknowledgements
This book is a reworked version of my thesis in Comparative Religion which
I have submitted for the degree Doctor of Philosophy at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem in the year 2013.
It was, however, the Ratisbonne Pontifical Institute in Jerusalem, where my
Israeli odyssey started two decades ago. I am most thankful to the members of
the Congregation of the Religious of Our Lady of Sion, as well as to such ex-
ternal lecturers as Pesach Schindler, Alon Goshen-Gottstein, and Ada Spitzer,
who were the first to introduce me into the field of Jewish studies. Fortuitously,
it was one of these teachers, Petra Heldt, who “infected” me with curiosity in
Syriac Christianity. Moreover, I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Elio Passeto,
the former vice-rector of the Institute, for his goodwill and unfaltering support
that made my stay in Israel possible.
Later on, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, I was fortunate to have had
the opportunity of studying under such renowned scholars as Michael E. Stone,
Menahem Kister, Isaiah M. Gafni, Lee I. Levine, Israel J. Yuval, David Satran,
and several others, who taught me how to approach intellectually the inter-
twined worlds of Judaism and Christianity in their formative periods. I am also
grateful to Shraga Assif, who kindly let me join his class of Classical Syriac even
before I was officially enrolled as a student.
My deepest expression of gratitude goes to my two Doktorväter, Serge Ruzer
and Guy G. Stroumsa. It was their wise guidance, unwavering faith in me, and
ever-present readiness to help that made it possible to bring this project to
fruition.
A special expression of appreciation is reserved for Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony,
the former director of the Center for the Study of Christianity at the Hebrew
University, whose kind support and encouragement were a source of
strength and inspiration throughout this and several other academic ven-
tures. Fortunately for me and for the whole community of syriacisants, it
was her long-term strategic vision that made the ongoing online project
“Comprehensive Bibliography on Syriac Christianity” possible.
I also appreciate very much the help and support that I have received from
those among my colleagues and friends from Jerusalem and all over the world,
who have read various parts of this book and offered their insights and correc-
tions, especially Sebastian P. Brock, Lorenzo Perrone, Tal Ilan, Geoffrey Herman,
Māra Poļakova, Yonatan Moss, Nikolai Seleznyov, Muriel Debié, and Alice Croq.
I am especially indebted to Michael Shenkar and Yuhan S.-D. Vevaina, whose
expertise in things Zoroastrian saved me from many embarrassing mistakes in
Sergey Minov - 978-90-04-44551-2
x Acknowledgements
the relevant chapter. Needless to say, any errors of fact or judgment that one
may come across in the book are mine and solely mine.
I have also greatly enjoyed discussing different matters related to my re-
search with Aryeh Kofsky, Craig Morrison, Clemens Leonhard, István Perczel,
Reuven Kiperwasser, Julia Rubanovich, Michael Schneider, Yakir Paz, Miriam
Goldstein, Daniel Barbu, Emiliano Fiori, Salam Rassi, Simcha Gross, and
David Taylor. Moreover, I feel a deep sense of gratitude to friends who sup-
ported me on this path,—Lolita Tomsone, Michael Rand, Natasha and
Leonid Ostrovsky, and Laura Slater.
I would like to offer my sincere appreciation to the Dolabani Fund for Syriac
Studies in Oxford that provided me with a grant for academic proofreading of
the book’s manuscript, and to Katharine Handel, who had carried out this ar-
duous task. Finally, I owe thanks to the editors of “Jerusalem Studies in Religion
and Culture” Series for accepting my book to be published in what feels like its
proper home.
Last but not least, I would like to express my eternal gratitude to my mother
Nina, without whose love and support this long journey there and back again
would not be possible.
Sergey Minov - 978-90-04-44551-2
