From Ephrem to Romanos: Interactions between Syriac and Greek in Late Antiquity (Variorum Collected Studies)

By: Sebastian Brock

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Synopsis: It is often forgotten that many people in Late Antique Syria were bilingual in Syriac and Greek. The 16 articles in this volume explore different aspects of the interaction between these two literary cultures, exemplified in the works of two of the greatest Christian poets and hymnographers of the period: Ephrem the Syrian and Romanos the Melode. Among the topics covered are the legend of King Abgar and the origins of Christianity in Edessa, Syriac texts on the finding of the Cross, translations from Syriac into Greek and Greek into Syriac (with specific studies on the Aristotle commentary tradition and Hunayn’s translation of Hippocrates’ Aphorisms). The volume concludes with the case of a distinctive topos employed by Greek and Latin scribes, but whose earliest and latest attestations are to be found in colophons of Syriac manuscripts.