Syntipas

The Book of Sindbad the Philosopher, rendered Syntipas in Greek, was translated into learned Byzantine Greek in the late 11th century by Michael Andreopoulos in eastern Asia Minor. Andreopoulos translated the text from the Syriac version, which in its turn was a translation of the 9th-century Arabic translation of a Persian original. In the 13th century, Andreopoulos’ text was rewritten in a slightly less ‘elevated’ linguistic register, termed 'Metaphrasis' in scholarship. From the 16th century onwards translations into lower linguistic registers begin to appear; these are known as the Post-Byzantine versions of the text. The Greek Syntipas has come down to us in 25 manuscripts, as well as in numerous chapbooks printed in Venice and Athens (for which see Kechayoglou 2024).

The metaphrasis is a rather faithful ‘rewording’ of Andreopoulos’ translation. The two versions offer largely the same text, though the metaphrasis has one extra story that seems to be unique to it, as it does not appear in Andreopoulos or any of the eastern text traditions of Sindbad. The metaphrasis also changes the storyline of one of the stories to an ostensibly more plausible one. These and other minor differences can help to determine which unseen or understudied manuscripts belong to which tradition.

While several studies and editions of the Syntipas narrative exist, many of the editions need updating. For example, an examination of the manuscripts of the Andreopoulos version to which Jernstedt did not have access at the time is necessary: at least one of them often offers better readings (Vind. phil. gr. 173; see Hinterberger 2023) than the three manuscripts used by Jernstedt. The same holds true for the manuscripts of the Metaphrasis, for which no fewer than seven have not yet been properly collated and studied. Moreover, there are other manuscripts containing the text, especially in the Greek Library of Parliament and the Athos monasteries, for which the catalogues are often inadequate. Occasionally, there is confusion between the Book of Syntipas and the collection of fables attributed to Syntipas (e.g. in Dresd. gr. Da. 33), as well as between Syntipas and Stephanites and Ichnelates. For instance, in the manuscript Hieros. Patr. 208, Syntipas appears after the text of Stephanites and Ichnelates but is not mentioned in the library catalogue. The same holds true for a large excerpt of Syntipas in another known manuscript, Monac. gr. 525. It is therefore likely that there are more such cases, and it would be worth examining manuscripts that contain the texts frequently found alongside Syntipas, such as Stephanites and Ichnelates, the collection of fables attributed to Syntipas, and the Life of Aesop.

[By Marjolijne Janssen, edited by Jane Bonsall]

Tradition & Lineage

Branch of the tradition

Book of Sindbad

Recorded Secondary Versions

Syntipas
- Bulgarian Syntipas
- Greek Syntipas

Connected Manuscripts

	Has Language	Has Location	Has Date Range Of Production
Athos Dionysiou Monastery 352	Greek	Mount Athos, Μονή Διονυσίου	1624/10/23 - 1624/10/23
Athos Iviron Monastery 205	Greek	Mount Athos, Μονή Ιβήρων	1621/10/01 - 1621/10/01
Athos Iviron Monastery 502	Greek	Mount Athos, Μονή Ιβήρων	1660 - 1670
Athos Koutloumousiou Monastery 220	Greek	Mount Athos, Μονή Κουτλουμουσίου	1601 - 1700
Athos Monastery of Great Lavra I 107	Greek	Mount Athos, Μονή Μεγίστης Λαύρας	1601 - 1700
Athos Monastery of Great Lavra Κ 8	Greek	Mount Athos, Μονή Μεγίστης Λαύρας	1560 - 1569
Città del Vaticano Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Vat. gr. 1759	Greek	Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana	1575 - 1600
Città del Vaticano Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Vat. gr. 335	Greek	Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana	1301 - 1400
Dresden Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek gr. Da 33	Greek	Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek	1626
Jerusalem Patriarchal Library Ms. 208	Greek	Jerusalem, Πατριαρχική Βιβλιοθήκη Παναγίου Τάφου	1599
London British Library Harley 5560	Greek	London, British Library	15/03/1667

Modern Scholarship & Editions

Modern research literature

Kechayoglou (2004), Hinterberger (2023)

Pattern of Embedded Stories in This Version

Has Short Title	Has Sequence Number	Has Narrator
Leo	1	First Master
Avis – The Bird	2	First Master
Lavator	3	Empress
Panes	4	Second Master
Gladius – The Drawn Sword	5	Second Master
Striga – The Prince and the Ogress	6	Empress
Mel	7	Third Master
Zuchara	8	Third Master
Fons	9	Empress
Balneator	10	Fourth Master
Canicula – The Weeping Dog	11	Fourth Master
Aper – The Boar and the Fruit	12	Empress
Canis – The Faithful Dog	13	Fifth Master
Pallium	14	Fifth Master
Simia	15	Empress
Turtures	16	Sixth Master
Elephantinus	17	Sixth Master
Nomina	18	Seventh Master
Ingenia 1 – The Trick: The Wiles of Women Collection	19	Seventh Master
Lac venenatum	20	Prince
Puer 3 annorum	21	Prince

Connected Prints

	Has Language	Has Location	Has Sort Date Of Print