467 Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent, Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches, Transformation of the Class

Home , Aggai (bishop), Ahudemmeh, Jacob Baradaeus, List of maphrians, Saint Mari, Sebastian Brock

Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent, Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches, Transformation of the Classical Heritage 55 (Oakland: University of California Press, 2015). Pp. xii + 209; $90.00.

RALPH BARCZOK, UNIVERSITY OF FRANKFURT In her revised dissertation Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches, Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent focuses on a corpus of missionary stories written in Syriac: the Acts of Thomas (3rd c.), the Teaching of Addai (ca. 400), the Acts of Mari (late 6th c.), the Lives of Simeon of Beth Arsham and Jacob Baradaeus by John of Ephesos (mid-6th c.), the longer Life of Jacob Baradaeus (late 7th c.), and finally the Life of Ahudemmeh (7th / 8th c.). Her analysis of these texts examines the “relevance of the missionary story in the self-presentation of Syriac sacred history” (p. 4). As the title suggests, all of the stories in the corpus were written in Syriac. Additionally, they are mainly from the pre-Islamic period and originate from a Syriac Orthodox background (with the exception of the Acts of Mari). As the introduction makes quite clear, the main focus is indeed on the anti-Chalcedonian Syriac Orthodox Church, especially on the interaction of the saints with the Persian aristocracy. Through- out the work, Saint-Laurent seeks out the “symbolic layers of hagiographic and biblical types” as well as the recurring motifs in this corpus. Her analysis aims to uncover the “ideals these symbols promote” (p. 4). She analyzes the intertextuality of the missionary stories, not claiming a literary dependency of the sources, but rather that their authors drew on a common religious memory. Her analysis reveals a common basis for Syriac missionary stories and biblical motifs, shared by the texts that create stories that resonate with each other on several levels (p.134-135). She is especially interested in the way they are used to form identities or construe the otherness of the religious rival. She approaches this task through a thorough discussion of seven Syriac apocryphal and hagiographic accounts. The work begins with two apocryphal accounts, the Acts of Thomas (3rd century) and the Teaching of Addai (ca. 400), both 467 468 Book Reviews produced before the schism of the 5th / 6th centuries. Saint- Laurent is right to put the Acts of Thomas at the beginning of her discussion. This text – originally written in Syriac – origi- nates very likely in Edessa and thus in the center of Syriac Christianity. It is itself deeply influenced by other texts, especially the Bible and other apocryphal Acts, and it is the most important source for literary motifs in the Syriac missionary stories. The basic structure is simple, as Saint-Laurent notes on p. 30: “…the itinerant holy man brings his portable practices to convert rulers and sanctifies the wilderness for the worship of his Christianity, uprooting, when necessary, the remnants of the religious ‘others’, whether ‘pagan’ or Christian ‘heretic.’” Several of these motifs Saint-Laurent detects in her corpus. Already in the Teaching of Addai (ca. 400), the famous story of the epistolary correspondence between King Abgar and Jesus Christ and the deeds of his disciple Addai in Edessa, we can find motifs already present in the Acts of Thomas, in which a poor apostle converts a king by means of healing. The Teaching brings together “a Christian apostle (Addai), a Christian king (Abgar) and a Christian city (Edessa)”. But these motifs are used differently than in the Acts of Thomas. Addai does not encounter great opposition, but the king is on his side from the beginning. Further, Addai is not itinerant; he stays at Edessa until his death; and he does not become a martyr, although his disciple Aggai does. In this way, the Teaching of Addai already exhibits the transformation of traditional motifs. After the discussion of these earlier texts from the Syriac tradition, Saint-Laurent turns to texts from the time in which the Syriac Orthodox Church formed. The Acts of Mari, I would argue, also belong to this set of texts although they originated in the Church of the East. The composition of this work in the 6th century falls within the time of theological conflict between the official Church of the East and those who sympathized with and later joined the Miaphysite movement. Here motifs already seen in earlier texts appear in that Mari is an itinerant missionary moving from place to place to proselytize; he aims for the center of power to convert the Persian king; and like

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Thomas he persuades by healing. On the other hand, the story also exhibits strong affinities with the Teaching of Addai: Mari is ordained and assigned to the mission to the Persian Empire by Addai in Edessa just before his peaceful death. After her analysis of the Acts of Mari, Saint-Laurent turns to the Syriac Orthodox Church by analyzing two hagiographic accounts of John of Ephesus, who wrote in 6th-century Con- stantinople in the midst of the christological conflict between Miaphysites and Chalcedonians. She first inserts a short chapter on John of Ephesus to explore the background and self- representation of this important Syriac Orthodox author. John wrote at a time when the conflict between the Miaphysites and Chalcedonians was still undecided. In the political situation of John’s time, it still seemed possible that the Roman Empire could endorse Miaphysite doctrine or find a christological compromise. In his literary production, John tried therefore to navigate a difficult middle path between condemning the official position of the emperor and attempting to find a compromise. Understanding this twofold position of the Miaphysite movement in general in the 6th century is important for the analysis of his hagiographic accounts, represented by the Life of Simeon of Beth Arsham and the Life of Jacob Baradaeus in Saint-Laurent’s book. Simeon as well as Jacob are depicted as itinerant, ascetic, and poor bishops. In the Life of Simeon, the focus is on his multilingualism and eloquence. Therefore, the debate between Simeon and Babowai, the catholicos of the Church of the East, is of special interest. Christology is discussed and – of course – Simeon’s argumentation proves more convincing. In the same text, Simeon asks Emperor Anastasius for help to ease the burden of the Miaphysite Christians in the Persian Empire. Anastasius sends him to the Shah in order to discuss the case. The focus in the Life of Jacob, on the other hand, is on his arduous effort to build a Miaphysite hierarchy by which he prevents the Syriac Orthodox Church from van- ishing. John of Ephesus depicts both bishops as two of many excellent champions of the anti-Chalcedonian cause and he does not divinize them. This is different in the Longer Life of

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Jacob Baradaeus written either in the 7th or in the 8th century. This vita depicts Jacob as superhuman from his miraculous birth onwards. He becomes the founder and the savior of his church and, as a consequence, the Longer Life of Jacob adopts the desig- nation “Jacobite” for this church that by the 7th and 8th centuries was clearly distinguishable from the official Chalcedonian church of the Roman Empire. The last hagiographic text Saint-Laurent analyzes is the Life of Ahudemmeh. As opposed to the aforementioned Syriac Orthodox hagiographic accounts, this text seems to be written within the Persian Empire in the 7th century. Saint-Laurent identifies many allusions to missionary stories like the Acts of Thomas or Mari. For example, the hagiographer tells of the conversion of the Shah’s son. The text thus draws on the motif of the conversion of the monarch, but its focus on the son sets it apart from earlier accounts. At the same time, this episode marks the beginning of the saint’s martyrdom; and his impris- onment and death allude to the East Syriac martyr tradition as well as to the Acts of Thomas. Saint-Laurent shows that the similarities between these Acts and Lives justify speaking of a common Syriac missionary rhetoric, built on a common narrative typology, that forms the basis of an “idealized Christian society” (p. 129). These accounts aim to emphasize the orthodoxy and apostolicity of the communities from which they emerged and to which they were addressed. They create cohesion within their own group by sanctifying their mission and demonizing the religious other. While the principal motifs remain consistent, they prove very pliable, providing the hagiographers with various possibilities for using them. Here I want to raise two small points about this wonderful book. First, each chapter in this work offers an introduction to and thorough analysis of an apocryphal or hagiographic account. This enables readers to study each chapter on its own. But at the same time this leads to some redundancies that can make it difficult to find the narrative thread in the book. Sec- ond, although the focus on the Syriac Orthodox Church can

Book Reviews 471 be justified methodologically, the title speaks of the “Syriac Churches”. It is true that the third chapter discusses a text from the Church of the East, but it is one that mainly reacts to the diffusion of Miaphysite christology in the Persian Empire. It would have been enlightening to include further texts from the Church of the East, including, for example, the Life of Rabban Hormizd. Although this is not a missionary text in the strict sense, it shares some of the motifs Saint-Laurent explores. Fur- thermore, the Chalcedonian Church in Syria and the Levant has a rich Syriac heritage too and can thus be classified as a Syriac Church. This is not discussed at all. Nonetheless, the very fine and thorough analyses of the individual sources and their comparison offer a new perspective on the gradual development of the Syriac Orthodox Church into an autonomous church situated between the imperial church and the Church of the East. Saint-Laurent convincingly shows how the missionary stories play an important role for the gradual formation of this church, beginning with the first Syriac missionary texts from Edessa written to prove its apostolic origin, to John of Ephesus, writing at the time of the christological controversies to maintain his version of orthodoxy, to the first hagiographic accounts that reflect the emergence of a distinct church. The motifs used by the hagiographers create texts that interrelate on many levels. Each story has its own focus, message, and goal, but all of them draw on the same basic elements. With this book, Saint-Laurent proves the value of hagiography for the history of ideas and introduces a new perspective into Syriac studies.

472 Book Reviews

Gisela Fuchs, Auflehnung und Fall im syrischen Buch der Stufen (Liber Graduum): eine motiv- und traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2012). Pp. 423; €86.00.

ROBERT A. KITCHEN, SANKT IGNATIOS THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY, SÖDERTÄLJE, SWEDEN Monographs on the Liber Graduum (Book of Steps/Buch der Stufen) are still rare, although depending upon one’s language skills it is still humanly possible to read all the articles and studies on this book. Gisela Fuchs’ doctoral dissertation at the University of Bonn has approached this enigmatic early Syriac work by an in-depth study of a recurring cluster of ideas, images and references to the activity of Satan and evil occur- ring throughout the corpus. Burrowing deep inside the language and imagery of the Liber Graduum (LG), Fuchs unveils surprising and often unnoticed dimensions in this anonymous collection. The converse of the old adage can be true: by look- ing very closely at the individual trees, one can better understand the forest. Indeed, the references to Satan and his rebellion are, pun intended, “legion.” At first sight, the anonymous author’s language about Satan appears to be part of the biblical vocabulary employed heavily by him, but Fuchs sees at play a more fundamental dynamic for the economy of the LG. Concentrating upon four mēmrē (Number Seven: “On the Commandments of the Upright”; Fifteen: “On Adam’s Marital Desire”; Twenty-One: “On the Tree of Adam”; and Twenty- Three: “On Satan and the Pharaoh and the Israelites”) Fuchs identifies the central theme permeating LG as the argument and battle with Evil and labels the author’s persistent efforts to attain “victory over evil” as the summa theologica of the LG. The title of this monograph, “Rebellion and Fall,” reflects the nature of humanity’s struggle with Evil. The return to the lost Paradise of Eden by Adam and the regaining of his original Perfection by means of apokatastasis, Fuchs nevertheless insists, is the Hauptthema of LG which prefigures the attempt of the Perfect (gmīrē) of the LG community to re-enter Eden.

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The typology underlying this narrative is signified by the relationship between Satan and Adam. Satan is the typos, the Rebel who fell and was overthrown from heaven, who then becomes the teacher, instructing and tempting Adam to obey him rather than God. Adam becomes the student of Satan and obeys him, becoming the anti-type, for “Adam fell from heaven with that same fall by which the Rebel had slipped and fallen” (mēmrā 21, section 18). “He (Adam/human being),” moreover, “obeyed Satan and became Satan” (23.4). Fuchs traces the two variant traditions which state that Adam “fell from heaven” (ܠܦܢ) and “was driven out” (ܩܦܢ) of Paradise, noting that the two other principal characters in the biblical saga – Eve and the Snake – are considered by these traditions as “extras” who were not essential in the ongoing drama. Adam wanted to be like God, and thus was induced by Satan to enjoy eating with no mention of Eve’s famous encouragement. Fuchs could have cited here Philoxenos of Mabbug’s memo- rable dictum from his Discourses that “the lust of the belly is the beginning of all sin” (Discourse 10.60). The literal and figurative nexus of this falling and eating is the Tree in the Garden of Eden. Fuchs aligns the uses of a “Baumsatanologie” (21.1; cf. Fuchs pp. 165-166) as sources of the fall and expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. They obeyed and learned from Satan, and so Satan is “personified” as the Tree, from which people still eat. The author of the LG countered with a “Baumchristologie”: people eat from “the Tree of Life, that is our Lord” (20.7); “The good tree, in that world of light invisible to the eyes of flesh, is our Lord Jesus” (21.2); “…the Tree of Life of the Garden of Eden by which people are saved from death, this Tree being the Life-giving Spirit…” (29.19). Fuchs identifies a passage as a “hymn of the Fall of Adam” (15.7), in which Adam watches the animals and desires to become like them sexually. Hating the celibacy of the angels, he wants to become greater than they are and to be like God, causing the angels great distress. Showing how the “imitation

474 Book Reviews of the animals” echoes Psalms 49:13 and 8:6, Fuchs then offers an excursus from other sources on this tradition of humans watching the animals in order to learn how to behave sexually. This activity of animal watching is used several times by the Author to illustrate the straying desires of Adam and Eve for sexuality and lust and their lack of trust in God’s provi- dence. They hated celibacy or holiness (qaddīšūtā), so God relented and allowed them to marry. The couple did not realize that God possessed the ability and will to eventually give them children without lust or sexuality. In this vein, the Author recites the surprising tradition that “If all people desire to become holy (i.e., celibate), I (God) would create for them children just as I made a daughter for Adam from himself, without marriage and without lust” (25.3; Syriac text, Patrologia Syriaca III, 737:26-740:2). This subtle insertion reflects the concept that Adam had in essence given birth to Eve, by the agency of God and without sexuality (Adam’s rib), and therefore she was his daughter – which itself is a prefiguration or type of the Virgin Birth. What the Author has been rehearsing throughout his writings, Fuchs deduces, is a protological anthropology which presents the narrative of the origins of human existence and the emergence and fall of Evil, a predominantly negative and still functioning narrative. She identifies two early works that provide similar tendencies towards such a protological anthropology as background for the Author, the Apocalypse of Moses and the Life of Adam and Eve. The former work appears to have been translated from Syriac into Armenian and a Greek version is extant as well, and the latter has some of its content in the Syriac Cave of Treasures. How much access the Author would have had to these works or knowledge of their traditions remains a question. Fuchs’ analysis and insight into this strong current in the LG of the origins and operation of Evil, along with the pairing of Satan and Adam as type and anti-type in the Author’s reconstruction of salvation, demonstrate an intellectual curios- ity and creativity that invites the reader to look more deeply

Book Reviews 475 into this text. Her perception that these traditions and motifs provide the primary hermeneutic for the entire work has tremendous validity, especially as the practical theology and spiritual direction of the Author towards the implementation of Perfection continue to be deciphered. A gentle note, nonetheless, about these “trees” which constitute this “forest” is worth mentioning. Fuchs recognizes that the return of Adam and his descendants to Perfection and re- entering Eden is the essential movement of this work. The Author expends much time and energy presenting the nature of this return to Perfection and how he believes it should be accomplished in this non-Edenic world. The reason the LG is one of the most important texts for early Syriac Christianity lies not so much in its theological construction of the Perfect and Upright way of life, but in our ability to read how this construction and movement was implemented, worked well for a time, and failed perhaps miserably, and anonymously. The unique scenario of the Perfect falling from Perfection, with the lowly Upright rising to near Perfection in the Author’s estima- tion, leaves behind much of the biblical imagery, tradition history, and innumerable motifs employed, especially given the virtual mid-sentence ending of mēmrā 30, in which the fate of the Author and his community disappears from history. The “trees” Fuchs has identified and classified tell us a tremendous amount about the character of early Syriac Christianity and the influences at play upon it and especially the LG, yet we still are straining to encompass the whole forest of the LG in one glance. Fuchs has provided a rich resource for the nooks and cran- nies of the discourse in the LG. One gains a new appreciation for the depth of learning and sophistication of that anonymous author, comprehending more about his theological mind-set and worldview. Anyone who embarks upon the study of this early Syriac work should find a place for this volume on their desk at the beginning of their journey.

476 Book Reviews

Heleen Murre-van den Berg, Scribes and Scriptures: The Church of the East in the Eastern Ottoman Provinces (1500-1850), Eastern Christian Studies 21 (Leuven: Peeters, 2015). Pp. xiv + 399; €82.

MARK DICKENS, ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA This volume examines the Church of the East in the Early Modern era. East Syriac Christianity typically receives less scholarly attention during this period, when it was no longer spread throughout Asia. The book looks at East Syriac manuscripts and the scribes who wrote them, with particular attention to scribal production in Mesopotamia. It includes an Introduction, seven chapters and Conclusions, followed by three appendices, a bibliography and an index. The Introduction begins by challenging the “narrative of decline that was shared by Western and Middle Eastern Chris- tians” regarding the 19th-century history of the Church (p. 2). Inspired and informed by the works of David Wilmshurst, Amir Harrak, Jean-Maurice Fiey, Alessandro Mengozzi and many other scholars, Murre-van den Berg notes at the outset her view of manuscripts, and particularly colophons, as “literary productions reflecting on the religious world of their time” (pp. 7-8). The author’s extensive knowledge of East Syriac manuscripts and her ability to parse their data is on display throughout the volume. Three themes underlie much of this study: 1) “the centrality of religious ritual and the importance of the sacred as a living reality in everyday life”; 2) the notion of manuscripts as “objects that function in the liturgical construction,” like icons; and 3) the fact that “scribes… constitute an essential but often overlooked part of the process [of manuscript production]” (pp. 14-15). Chapter 1, Patriarchs, Popes and Missionaries, provides the general historical and religious background to the period cov- ered by the volume, including an overview of the Church of the East prior to the mid-16th century. Much of the chapter Book Reviews 477 concerns the most significant factor of this era relative to East Syriac Christianity: its complicated relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. The author does an excellent job describing the vicissitudes of that relationship, as different branches of the Church of the East allied themselves with Rome at different times. The story is told with attention to facts, but in a manner that makes sense out of the seemingly endless list of patriarchs named Eliya, Shimʿon or Yosep. As the author notes, “this process was far from smooth…reasons for conversion to Catholicism differed greatly” (p. 76). Chapter 2, The Production of Manuscripts, examines technical aspects of manuscript production. The author notes that “the substantial number of manuscripts that have survived…indi- cates a period of considerable cultural, ecclesial and literary activity” in the Church of the East (p. 80). Graphs accompany the discussion of when and where manuscripts were produced and the chapter concludes with a lengthy and informative discussion of various aspects of manuscript production (e.g., paper sourcing, writing styles, manuscript decoration). On many of these topics, the author notes the need for further study (pp. 101, 102, 103, 108, 109). Chapter 3, The Colophons, concerns that aspect of manuscript production which is easily overlooked by non-specialists, but which historians know can prove to be a goldmine of information on the historical context of manuscript writing. As the author suggests, colophons exert a “profound and central function in the economy of the textual culture” (p. 141). The chapter breaks down the constituent parts of typical colophons (title, date and place of writing, scribal and donor names) and discusses the use in them of Syriac verbs, the Seleucid dating system and scribal self-deprecation; she also remarks upon the many women who commissioned manuscripts. Chapter 4, The Texts of the Ritual, begins the second part of the volume by examining different types of liturgical texts copied between 1500 and 1850. The author notes, “the majority of the manuscripts from the Ottoman period are directly con- nected to the liturgical life of the Church of the East” (p. 145). 478 Book Reviews

The chapter goes on to consider liturgical texts in general, including how the liturgy developed in both traditional and Catholic circles. Following this, specific liturgical texts are considered: biblical lectionaries, ʿonyatha, soghyatha, ḥuttame, turgame and funeral madrashe. As elsewhere in the volume, the need for further study is frequently emphasized (pp. 155, 170, 177, 181). Interestingly, some of these works were translated not only into Arabic, but also into Turkish (pp. 163, 165). Chapter 5, Popular Prose and Poetry, considers texts used apart from formal liturgical settings, primarily by non-elites. Several types of texts are examined, including those of a para- biblical or hagiographic nature, discussing “holy men and women [seen] as visible and tangible signs of divine incarna- tion” (p. 195). The author reminds us of “the highly fluid boundaries between Bible, apocrypha and hagiography in the Syriac tradition” (p. 197). Protective texts constitute another category of popular texts, whether booklets containing charms, anathemas and prayers of protection as templates to be copied, or personalized scrolls and amulets prepared for specific indi- viduals. As the author observes, “in real life the gap between religion as expressed in the communal liturgy and these protective practices was nowhere near as great as later scholars and clergy have sometimes suggested” (p. 215). Chapter 6, The Scriptures of the Learned, examines texts used by clerical and scribal elites: biblical commentaries, liturgical commentaries, canon law, theology, ascetic and devotional texts, history, philosophy, grammar and personal texts. For both canon law and theology, the name of ʿAwdishoʿ bar Brikha is prominent, but most new theological works come from the Catholic camp. Catholic influence is also apparent in the ascetic and devotional literature from this period, with many translations of Western Catholic works. Personal texts from the period include the fascinating Arabic travelogue of Ilyas ibn Ḥanna, narrating travels in the Americas during the late 17th century. In conclusion, “the prevailing negative views of the erudition of the clergy of the Church of the East” need to be nuanced (p. 268). Again, the author reminds us Book Reviews 479

throughout the chapter of the need for more research (pp. 233, 244, 245, 256, 261, 262, 266). Chapter 7, Knowledge, Power and Mediation, acts as a theoreti- cal reflection on the large amount of data introduced in the previous six chapters, by asking the question “What was it that the scribes of these manuscripts intended to achieve with their writing?” In short, three things: “the storage and transferral of knowledge, the attribution, legitimisation and exertion of power, and the mediation of divine merit, grace and power” (p. 271). Regarding knowledge, most texts from this period treasured knowledge “of the ritual framework and its accompanying stories” (p. 274). Concerning the legitimization of power, the colophons are key, benefitting not only the reader, but also “those mentioned in the colophon [who] acquire power by vir- tue of the special status of the text” (p. 282). Finally, “the mediation of the divine [must be] included in the discussion” (p. 286). Liturgical texts mediate divine power through rituals and prayers; protective texts do so as a result of being “worn, stored and sometimes even eaten by those who ordered them” (p. 288). In the Conclusions, the author again reminds us of her attempts to counter the narrative of “stagnation and oppres- sion” in the Church of the East by seeing these centuries as ones of “recovery rather than decline” (p. 293). We are reminded too of the contrast between “the traditional socio- religious community,” loyal to the Church of the East, and “the modernising and globalising middle class,” ultimately won over to Catholicism (p. 294). As the author notes, “conversion to Catholicism directly challenged existing power structures within the Church of the East” and “reflected the search for a religion that fitted the circumstances better than the type of East Syriac Christianity that had evolved in northern Mesopo- tamia” (p. 295). In the end, that search for a religion able to engage with globalism “neatly coincided with the interests of missionaries and other agents from the Catholic West” (p. 296). 480 Book Reviews

The volume closes with three helpful appendices. Appen- dix A is a list of all patriarchs of the Church of the East and its various Chaldean offshoots from ca. 1500 on. Appendix B gives the text and translation of an extensive gospel lectionary colophon. Appendix C is a list of all known East Syriac authors from 1500 to 1850. The volume has many strong points. The author displays deep and consistent knowledge of pre-modern East Syriac manuscripts. The value she places on manuscript colophons as a source of social information is clear throughout the volume. Also commendable is her ability to bring religious studies the- ory to bear on the subject matter, whether considering the manuscripts or the scribes that produced them. It is clear that the author has a mastery of the historical background, especially relations with other religious communities. At the same time, in addition to those broad brush strokes, she is intimately aware of the details of where, when, how and by whom the manuscripts were produced. Masterful too are her treatment of Syriac literary genres, including texts that cross genres (protective texts come to mind) and her matter-of-fact yet sensitive way of dealing with relations between the Church of the East and its Catholic offshoot(s). Overall, the book is a welcome addition to the rather sparse selection of sources on the Church of the East after the Mongol era. Scholars from a variety of academic fields – Syriac Studies, Islamic Studies, Ottoman Studies, Middle Eastern Studies and Religious Studies – will want to have this volume on their bookshelves.

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Daniel King, ed., The Syriac World (London: Routledge, 2019). Pp. lii + 842; $220.

J. EDWARD WALTERS, ROCHESTER UNIVERSITY The field of Syriac studies, including language, history, religion, and literature, has become much more visible in recent years, both as a distinct area of study and as a significant ancillary subject to other fields (Early Christianity, Late Antiquity, Is- lamic studies, Middle Eastern History, etc.). One area where the visibility of Syriac studies was lacking, however, was the publication of scholarly reference handbooks. The present volume, edited by Daniel King, fills this gap and provides a much-needed reference work for anyone interested in Syriac, novice and expert alike. The book is arranged in five parts.1 Part I (“Backgrounds”) situates the study of early Syriac literature and history against two historical backdrops: the eastern Roman Empire in Late Antiquity (Ch. 1, Muriel Debié) and the Sasanian Empire (Ch. 2, Touraj Daryaee). In addition to the wealth of information provided in these chapters, they also introduce a theme that runs throughout the work: the relationship of Syriac speakers to imperial powers. The study of Syriac history and literature from virtually any time period involves an understanding of the political precarity of these communities, which shaped significant aspects of the development of ecclesiastical hierarchies and divisions between communities.2

1 For purposes of space, it is impossible to review each chapter individually, so the comments here will treat each part of the work, focusing on thematic connections. Likewise, for purposes of space I will not include the titles of chapters. I will merely refer to chapter numbers and the authors’ names. The full Table of Contents is available on the publisher’s website: https://www.routledge.com/The-Syriac-World-1st-Edition/King/p/ book/9781138899018. 2 For other chapters in this book that highlight the significance of the history of empires and issues pertaining to political alignments, see especially: Ch. 6 (Volker Menze), Ch. 7 (Dietmar W. Winkler), Ch. 8 (Geoffrey Herman), Ch. 10 (Nathanael Andrade), Ch. 11 (Michael Penn), Ch. 13 (David Wilmshurst), Ch. 31 (Mark Dickens), Ch. 32 (Hidemi 482 Book Reviews

Part II (“The Syriac World in Late Antiquity”) continues the historical framing, but the chapters here are more varied in topic and scope. Two chapters continue the theme of Part I by addressing how Syriac Christians adapted to Roman (Ch. 10, Nathanael Andrade) and Persian (Ch. 8, Geoffrey Herman) settings. Some of the chapters herein treat the topic of Syriac Christians and their relationship to other religious groups, including pre-Christian “pagan” religions (Ch. 3, John F. Healey), Judaism (Ch. 9, Michal Bar-Asher Siegal), and early Islam (Ch. 11, Michael Penn). Other chapters focus particularly on the early history of the various branches of Syriac-speaking churches (Ch. 6, Volker Menze; Ch. 7, Dietmar W. Winkler; and Ch. 12, David Wilmshurst). Rounding out the section are chapters that debunk literary myths about the origins of Syriac Christianity (Ch. 4, David G. K. Taylor) and an overview of Syriac monasticism (Ch. 5, Florence Jullien). The topics of these chapters are diverse and difficult to classify together, but they are likely to be of intertest to a wide variety of readers as they interact with a number of other fields. Part III (“The Syriac Language”), containing four chapters, provides a more coherent thematic organization by focusing solely on topics pertaining to Syriac as a language. The first two chapters in this section (Ch. 13, Holger Gzella and Ch. 14, Aaron Michael Butts) both situate Syriac linguistically with respect to other Semitic languages; the former is broader in scope, while the latter focuses more on developments within and unique features of classical Syriac. The following contribution (Ch. 15, Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet) treats the history of writing systems for Syriac, including an analysis of both inscriptions and manuscripts. The section concludes with an essay on Neo-Aramaic dialects and their relationship to early forms of Syriac/Aramaic (Ch. 16, Geoffrey Khan). Part IV (“Syriac Literary, Artistic, and Material Culture in Late Antiquity”), in contrast with the thematic unity of the

Takahashi), Ch. 33 (István Perczel), Ch. 35 (Thomas Carlson), Ch. 36 (Shafiq Abouzayd), and Ch. 39 (Erica C. D. Hunter). Book Reviews 483 previous section, is a wide-ranging collection of essays on various topics. Several of the chapters are focused on divergent aspects of Syriac literature, such as the Bible (Ch. 17, Jonathan Loopstra), an overview of early Syriac literature (Ch. 18, Ute Possekel), poetic writings (Ch. 19, Sebastian Brock), hagiography (Ch. 20, Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent), and historiography (Ch. 24, Philip Wood). Two further chapters pertaining to literature explore the contributions of Syriac to the preservation and development of philosophical (Ch. 25, John W. Watt) and medical knowledge (Ch. 26, Grigory Kessel). Other thematic chapters treat topics such as mysticism (Ch. 21, Adrian Pirtea), theological debates (Ch. 22, Theresia Hainthaler), women and children (Ch. 29, Susan Ashbrook Harvey), and agriculture (Ch. 30, Michael J. Decker). Finally, material culture is treated in two chapters, focusing on wall paintings (Ch. 27, Emma Loosley) and church architecture (Ch. 28, Widad Khoury). In addition to these chapters, it would have been nice if a chapter on Syriac manuscripts as objects of material culture had been included. The final section, Part V (“Syriac Christianity Beyond the Ancient World”) explores different aspects of Syriac history and culture beyond its ancient contexts. Several chapters are geographically oriented, surveying the history of Syriac Christi- anity in Central Asia (Ch. 31, Mark Dickens), China (Ch. 32, Hidemi Takahashi), India (Ch. 33, István Perczel), and later developments in the Middle East (Ch. 35, Thomas Carlson). The remaining chapters are difficult to classify, treating topics as diverse as the medieval renaissance of Syriac literature (Ch. 34, Dorothea Weltecke and Helen Younansardaroud), the Maronite tradition (Ch. 36, Shafiq Abouzayd), the early study of Syriac in Europe (Ch. 37, Robert J. Wilkinson), modern Syriac identity (Ch. 38, Heleen Murre-van den Berg), and even the most recent political upheavals affecting Syriac Christians in Iraq (Ch. 39, Erica C. D. Hunter). The chapters in this section cover topics that have received comparatively less scholarly attention than the earlier eras of Syriac literature and 484 Book Reviews history, so they play a much-needed role in introducing Syriac as a significant field of study beyond Late Antiquity. These chapters are supplemented by a set of newly produced maps, arranged diachronically, which were produced by David A. Michelson, as well as a series of three appendices: 1) a list of patriarchs of the Church of the East; 2) a list of patriarchs and maphrians for the West Syriac tradition, and 3) an annotated bibliography of online resources for Syriac studies. The volume also includes dozens of wonderful images and figures that enrich the various essays. In short, alongside the Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, the present volume will immediately become a standard reference work for nearly any topic in the broad field of Syriac studies. The chapters contained in this volume are sufficiently broad to serve as introductions for non-specialists, yet deep enough for experts to gain further insight on a wide variety of topics. This volume is a ground-breaking achieve- ment, and the editor and all contributors should be commended for producing such a valuable contribution to the field of Syriac Studies. Hopefully this publication will make Syriac more visible as a field of study and serve as an invitation to study the rich history and literature of the Syriac tradition.