Syriac Sindban
There is credible evidence that the text itself must have been composed much earlier: Michael Andreopoulos plausibly claims to have translated his Greek Syntipas from a Syriac text. The text of his Greek Syntipas is close to the surviving Syriac manuscript, leading most academics to assume that both were based on a common source (Perry 1960, Krönung 2016). Krönung 2016 assumes that the Syriac version was composed some time in the ninth, tenth or eleventh centuries, Minets 2023 speaks of the eighth to the eleventh centuries.
The frame narrative in this version is set at the court of King Cyrus, and the prince is taught by Sindban alone, who reads the prophecy in the stars. The seven philosophers who come to the defence of the prince are the king's counsellors. The sequence of stories is the same as in Andreopoulos' Syntipas, except for three lacunae. A leaf is missing in the manuscript just after the fourth philosopher had announced that he would tell his first story (which is 'Balneator' in Andreopoulos' Syntipas). The text start again in the middle of his second story, 'Canicula'. Three leaves are missing after the seventh philosopher has just begun to tell 'Ingenia'. The ending is also missing, just after the prince has started telling the story 'Senex Caecus'. In Andreopoulos' Syntipas, this ending includes two more stories, 'Vulpes' and 'Fatum'.
Entered by Bettina Bildhauer
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