Greek history written by that author. The Syriac work exists (not quite complete) in a British Museum MS. of about the beginning of the 7th century: this can be in part supplemented by an 8th-century MS. at the Vatican. From the latter Guidi published the interesting chapter (X. 16) which contains the description of Rome. The entire text of the London MS. was published by Land in the third volume of his Anecdota syriaca; and there is now an English translation by Hamilton and Brooks (London, 1899), and a German one by Ahrens and Krüger (Leipzig, 1899).
Of the other 6th-century Jacobite writers we need mention only Moses of Aggēl (fl. c. 550-570) who translated into Syriac some of the writings of Cyril, and Peter of Callinīcus, Jacobite patriarch of Antioch 578-591, who wrote a huge controversial treatise in 4 books, each of 25 chapters, against Damian, patriarch of Alexandria, as well as other less important works.
The Nestorian writers of the 6th century were numerous, but as yet we know little of their works, beyond what ‘Abhdīshō‘ tells us in his Catalogue. It will be sufficient to mention one or two. Joseph Hūzāyā (i.e. of al-Ahwāz or Khūzistan), who came third in succession to Narsai as head of the school of Nisībis, was the first Syriac grammarian and invented various signs of interpunction. Mārūthā, who was Nestorian catholicus of Seleucia from about 540 to 552[1] and a man of exceptional energy, made the only known attempt, which was, however, unsuccessful, to provide the Nestorians with a Bible version of their own. He was the author of many commentaries, homilies, epistles, canons and hymns. Paul the Persian, a courtier of Khosrau Anōsharwān, dedicated to the king a treatise on logic which has been published from a London MS. by Land in the 4th volume of his Anecdota. Bōdh the periodeutes is credited with a philosophical work which has perished, but is best known as the author of the old Syriac version of the collection of Indian tales called Kalīlah and Dimnah. He made it doubtless from a Pahlavī version. His translation, which was edited by Bickell with 811 introduction by Benfey, must be distinguished from the much later Syriac translation made from the secondary Arabic version and edited by Wright in 1884.[2] Ḥannānā of Ḥēdhaiyabh, who nearly produced a disruption of the Nestorian Church by his attempt to bridge over the interval which separated the Nestorians from Catholic orthodoxy, was the author of many commentaries and other writings, in some of which he attacked the teaching of Theodore of Mopsuestia. An account of his theological position, derived from the treatise of Bābhai De unione, will be found in Labourt, op. cit. pp. 279 sqq. One of his followers, Joseph Ḥazzaya, was also a prolific writer.
“With the 7th century,” as Wright remarks, “begins the slow decay of the native literature of the Syrians, to which the frightful sufferings of the people during the great war with the Persians in its first quarter largely contributed.” The same process of decay was greatly promoted by the Arab conquest of Persia, achieved through the victory of Ḳādisīya in 636-637. The gradual replacement of Syriac by Arabic as the vernacular language of Mesopotamia by degrees transformed the Syriac from a living to a dead language. Apart from a few leading writers—such as Jacob of Edessa, the anonymous historian whose work has passed under the name of Dionysius of Tell-Maḥrē, Thomas of Margā, Dionysius Bar Ṣalībī, and Barhebraeus[3]—there are not enough names of interest to make it worth while to continue our chronological catalogue. It will be sufficient to group the more important contributors to each of the chief branches of literature.
1. Theology.—Here we may first mention George, Bishop of the Arabs (†724), who wrote commentaries on Scripture, and tracts and homilies on church sacraments, and finished the Hexaēmeron of Jacob of Edessa.[4] Bābhai the Elder, a leading Nestorian in the beginning of the 7th century and a prolific author, wrote many commentaries and theological discourses. Īshō‘yabh III., Nestorian catholicus from 647 to 657/8, wrote controversial tracts, religious discourses and liturgical works. Elias of Merv, who belongs to the 2nd half of the 7th century, compiled a Catena patrum on the Gospels and wrote many commentaries. Timothy I., catholicus 779-823, wrote synodical epistles and other works bearing on church law.[5] Moses bar Kēphā (†903), one of the most fertile of 9th-century authors, wrote commentaries, theological treatises and many liturgical works. Other important contributors to this sphere of literature were Ishō‘ bar Nōn (†827/8), John bar Zō‘bī (beginning of the 13th century), Jacob bar Shakkō (†1241), and the great Nestorian scholar ‘Abhdīshō’ (†1318).
2. History.—Besides the important writers treated in separate articles, we need mention only four. Elias bar Shīnāyā, who in 1008 became Nestorian bishop of Nisībis, was the author of a valuable Chronicle, to which are prefixed numerous chronological tables, lists of popes, patriarchs, &c., and which covers by its narrative the period from A.D. 25 to 1018. Of this work, which exists in only one imperfect copy, the later portion was edited by Baethgen in 1884, and the earlier by Lamy in 1888. Another important Chronicle is that of Michael I., who was Jacobite patriarch from 1166 to 1199. Its range extends from the Creation to the author's own day, and it was largely used by Barhebraeus in compiling his own Chronicle. Till recently it was known only in an abridged Armenian version which was translated into French by V. Langlois (Venice, 1868); but the Syriac text has now been found in a MS. belonging to the library of the church at Edessa, and is in course of publication by J. B. Chabot. A work rather legendary than historical is the Book of the Bee, by Solomon of al-Baṣrah, who lived early in the 13th century.[6] Lastly, acknowledgment must be made of the great value of the Catalogue of Nestorian writers, by ‘Abhdīshō’ of Nisībis, the latest important writer in Syriac. It was edited by Assemani in the 3rd part of his Bibliotheca orientalis, and has been translated into English by Badger.
3. Biography, Monastic History, &c.—Besides the important work by Thomas of Margā (q.v.) the following deserve special mention. Sāhdōnā, who was a monk in the Nestorian monastery of Bēth ‘Ābhē (the same to which Thomas of Margā belonged two centuries later) and afterwards a bishop early in the 7th century, wrote a biography of and a funeral sermon on his superior Mār Jacob who founded the monastery, and also a long treatise in two parts on the monastic life, of which all that survives has been edited by P. Bedjan (Paris, 1902). Whilst accompanying the catholicus Ishō’yabh II. (628-644) on a mission to Heraclius, Sāhdōnā was converted, apparently to Catholicism,[7] and thereby caused much scandal in the East. The chief events in his life are narrated by Īshō‘dĕnaḥ.[8] Another, Nestorian who, a few years later, wrote ecclesiastical biographies and other theological works was Sabhrīshō‘ Rusṭam, who lived at Mount Izlā and other monasteries. In the beginning of the 8th century David of Bēth Rabban, also a Nestorian monk, wrote, besides a geographical work, “a monastic history, called The Little Paradise, which is frequently cited by Thomas of Margā.” A more important work is The Book of Chastity, by Īshō‘dĕnaḥ, who according to ‘Abhdīshō‘ was bishop of Ḳaṣrā—but read Baṣrā—about the end of the 8th century. This work is a collection of lives of holy men who founded monasteries in the East, and is a valuable historical source. The work itself, or an abridgment of it, was discovered and published for the first time by J. B. Chabot (Rome, 1896).[9] As the last under this head we may mention a late anonymous biography, that of the catholicus Yabhalāhā III. (1281-1317), which throws much light on the relations of the early Mongol kings with the heads of the church in their dominions. Among other interesting features it contains information about the Nestorian Church of China in the 13th century—Yabhalāhā was a native of Peking—an account of a journey through Central Asia, and a description of a visit to Europe by Rabban Ṣaumā, the friend of the catholicus.[10]
4. Philosophy and Science.—Special mention may be made of ‘Ānānīshō‘ of Ḥĕdhaiyabh (middle of 7th century) well known as the author of a new recension of the Paradise of Palladius, and also the author of a volume on philosophical divisions and definitions; Romanus the physician (†896), who wrote a medical compilation, a commentary on the Book of Hierotheus, a collection of Pythagorean maxims and other works; Moses bar Kēphā, the voluminous writer above referred to; the famous physician Ḥonain ibn Iṣḥāḳ
- ↑ See a full account of his career in Labourt, Le Christianisme dans l'empire perse, pp. 163-191.
- ↑ Of this there is an English translation by Keith Falconer (Oxford, 1884).
- ↑ These have all been dealt with in separate articles.
- ↑ George's part has been translated into German by V. Ryssel (Leipzig, 1891).
- ↑ See O. Braun's article in Oriens christianus, i. 138-152; and Labourt, De Timotheo I. Nestorianorum patriarcha (Paris, 1904).
- ↑ Text and translation, by E. A. W. Budge (Oxford, 1886).
- ↑ See H. Goussen, Martyrius-Sahdonas Leben und Werke (Leipzig, 1897).
- ↑ Le Livre de la chasteté (ed. Chabot, pp. 67 sqq.).
- ↑ A fresh edition by Bedjan forms an appendix to his edition of Thomas of Margā (Paris, 1901).
- ↑ The text has been twice edited by Bedjan (Paris, 1888 and 1895), and there is a French translation, with copious notes, by Chabot (Paris, 1895); cf. also Journ. As. (1889), pp. 313 sqq., and Eng. Hist. Rev. xiv. 299 sqq.
