A Letter of Mara, Son of Serapion Tran. from Syriac
Mara, son of Serapion, to Serapion, my son: peace. When thy master and guardian wrote me a letter, and informed me that thou wast very diligent in study, though so young in years, I blessed God that thou, a little boy, and without a guide to direct thee, hadst begun in good earnest; and to myself also this was a comfort-that I heard of thee, little boy as thou art, as displaying such greatness of mind and conscientiousness:2 a character which, in the case of many who have begun well, has shown no eagerness to continue. On this account, lo, I have written for thee this record, touching that...
Read MoreThe Mara bar Sarapion Project
(Syrian Philosopher) The Syriac letter of Mara bar Sarapion still is accessible only through W. Cureton’s 1855 edition with English translation, B.P. Pratten’s translation in the ‘Ante-Nicene Fathers’ series (1867-72) and the German version by F. Schulthess (1897). Clearly these are products of a bygone era of scholarship. A new edition of this highly important document, together with a translation and a discussion of interpretative issues, is an urgent desideratum. This is the project undertaken by a small research team consisting of Annette Merz (New Testament Studies, Utrecht),...
Read MoreAt the Banquet of Cultures: Mesopotamia’s Heritage in Arabic Times / CAROLINE JANSSEN Ghent
CAROLINE JANSSEN Ghent At the Banquet of Cultures: Mesopotamia’s Heritage in Arabic Times In regions like Mesopotamia with its heterogeneous population, ideologies of tolerance and universalism were useful tools to unite the different ethnic groups.1 Such ideologies are an inter- cultural phenomenon in se, and vital to societies with complex histories and foundations. A common language, politi- cal ideas and religion are important in- gredients to create a feeling of together- ness. In this paper we explore the idea that such ideologies can be transplanted from one empire to another, and...
Read MoreThe Survivals of the Ancient Syrian and Mesopotamian Intellectual Traditions in the Writings of Ephrem Syrus Amar Annus, Tartu1
The Survivals of the Ancient Syrian and Mesopotamian Intellectual Traditions in the Writings of Ephrem Syrus Amar Annus, Tartu1 Two last decades have witnessed a major growth of interest in studies on Ephrem, the Syrian Church Father of the fourth century (303–373). Before that, the writings of Ephrem were mostly a business exclusively for Syriologists, and Ephrem’s texts seldom reached to outside world, for example to the historians of comparative religion. It is true that the writings of Ephrem and other early Syr- ian Church fathers are of much potential interest to modern scholars of...
Read MoreOn the Role of Aramaic in Transmitting Syro-Mesopotamian Legal Institutions / BARUCH A. LEVINE
BARUCH A. LEVINE New York On the Role of Aramaic in Transmitting Syro-Mesopotamian Legal Institutions Iam happy to be returning to one of my very first scholarly interests, the survival of ancient Near Eastern civi- lization, thanks to the agenda adopted by the initiators of the MELAMMU project. The many-faceted study by S. Alvesen, “The Legacy of Babylon and Nineveh in Aramaic Sources,” (1998) has illustrated the possibilities of searching for ancient themes in later sources. My Phd Disserta- tion (Brandeis, 1962) had dealt with a number of technical terms that had skipped, or had almost...
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