Syriac (Berlin Sachau 238)
From The Seven Sages of Rome
Manuscript Identification
Reference Number
SyriacSindban1
Location
Siglum / Shelfmark
Petermann Syr. 24
Page / Folio range
60a–87b
Textual Content & Tradition
Digitisation & Editions
Authorship & Production
Scribe
Author
Place of Production
Date of Production
Unconfirmed / codicological evidence suggests it was likely copied in 15th/16th century, working off an original that was similar, but likely distinct from, the version used by Michael Andreopoulos in translating the Book of Syntipas
Physical Description
Contents & Additional Texts
Other texts in the Manuscript
Manuscript contains a heterogenous collection of folk and wisdom literature traditions. However, only 87 folios of the original 177 survive, and about half of the remaining folios are inserted replacements, with dated paratextual comments suggesting that the process of replacement began in the 16th/17th century. We therefore cannot securely assess the full original character of the manuscript. The first part of the manuscript is taken up by a dialogue between God and Moses on Mount Sinai, comprising of a series of wise aphorisms and followed by a prophetic speech concerning the last judgement, and then a Garshuni (Arabic language in Syriac script) version of Aesop’s fables, set in a frame story at the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Six fables, however, forming a continuous group in the middle, are in Syriac.
The Sindban itself takes up pages 60a-87b, and is written in fine small Serto script. The manuscript also contains medical advice (how to tell when a woman is pregnant with a boy), and a collection of spiritual addresses to the soul in (inconsistent and poorly rhymed) Iambic metre. In the case of the latter, the poet identifies himself as Habib, a presbyter from the village of Klebin near Mardin (the heartland of Syriac monasteries on the Tur Abdin plateau). Sachau notes the similarities between these verses and contemporary Arabic folk songs from the Mardin/Sirnak region.
Catalogues & Research Literature
Catalogue
Modern Research Literature
Barsoum, I. A,. The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences, 2nd revised (Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2003)., p: 196., Gollancz, H., ‘The History of Sindbad and the Seven Wise Masters’, Transactions of the Folk-Lore Society 8 (1897), 99–130., Jernstedt, V., Mich. Andreopuli Liber Syntipae (1912). (Greek translation), Macler, F., Contes syriaques. Histoire de Sindbad (1903)., Minets, Y., “Language of Speaking, Arguing, and Persuading: Cultural Exchange and Adaptation in Greek and Syriac Versions of the ‘History of Sindban/Syntipas’,” Das Mit- telalter 28:1 (2023), 155–171., Minov, S., (ed.), A Comprehensive Bibliography on Syriac Christianity (The Center for the Study of Christianity, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2013)
Research Material
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