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Monographs of the Peshitta Institute, Leiden, 10.) Leiden/Boston/Koln, 1999 REVIEWS 325 elsewhere in print and that deserve attention; some are very useful and authoritative statements of topics where recent bibliography has become overwhelming. While the Cambridge History' will not render older histories such as the revised Schurer obsolete it complements them helpfully, and it will be consulted with profit not only by students of Judaism but also by those interested in Roman history and the origins of Christianity. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jts/article/52/1/325/1682872 by guest on 29 September 2021 N. R. M. DE LANGE The Books of Samuel in the Syriac Version of Jacob of Edessa. By ALISON SALVESEN. Pp. xlix+125. (Monographs of the Peshitta Institute, Leiden, 10.) Leiden/Boston/Koln, 1999. ISBN 90 04 11543 9. Gld 250/8147.50. BY virtue of belonging to two worlds, one the West Syriac world of the Euphrates and the other the Greek world of Alexandria, Jacob of Edessa (c.640-708) could not only translate works from Greek into Syriac but also bring elements of Greek tradition into the study of Syriac scripture. This biculturalism, or at any rate the concomitant bilingualism, was not always acceptable in traditional Syriac circles, but it is evidence of the character of a Christianity lodged in provinces where eastern Roman power and Sasanian authority had long been in conflict. The books of Samuel, here presented and translated by Dr Salvesen, are part of Jacob's version of the Old Testament which he finished in AD 705. notable among other of his works are studies on grammar, a chronicle continuing that of Eusebius, and translations, among them that of the Cathedral Homilies of Severus of Antioch. The volume here reviewed is a notable instance of the biculturalism referred to above. In Dr Salvesen's words, his plan here was the 'entwining of the Syriac and Greek Samuel in a text designed for study' (facing part two, p 1). This entwining is of syntax and vocabulary as well as of texts and traditions. The monograph contains the Syriac text of Jacob's Samuel, found only in the eighth-century British Library Additional Manuscript 14, 429, and Dr Salvesen's English translation. There is a short introduction, and three Excursuses which examine Jacob's Scholia; his version of proper names in Samuel, and the lectionary notes in the manuscript. The very attractive computer-generated Syriac font, designed by the editor's husband, is based on the estrangelo hand of the manuscript. The translation 326 REVIEWS provides a straightforward formal equivalent of the Syriac, and has footnotes which indicate phrases or passages which reflect Greek tradition, Syrohexapla, or are Jacob's own adaptations of Peshitta or quotations of other commentators. The volume needs to be considered with its predecessor in the same series, R. J. Saley's The Samuel Manuscript of Jacob of Edessa. A Study in the Underlying Textual Traditions, Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jts/article/52/1/325/1682872 by guest on 29 September 2021 Monographs of the Peshitta Institute 9 (Leiden/Boston/Koln, 1998). Dr Saley provides detailed discussions of Jacob's sources, namely Greek texts in general, and particular Greek texts of the Egyptian, Lucianic and Hexaplanc families. Dr Salvesen broadly accepts Saley's conclusions that Jacob used 'the major strands known in the Syriac Monophysite church', but not his further suggestion that he intended to provide a new 'authorised' version (Saley, p. 122). The two monographs are interdependent, and are in fact collaborative Dr Salvesen provides the necessary edition of the manuscript, and a rendering which makes Jacob's enterprise accessible to scholars of text-reception theory who are without benefit of Syriac. A few examples show the character of Jacob's work, (a) 1 Sam 5:6—9 combines Peshitta and Greek, mostly Lucianic, so that the Philistines were afflicted both by boils and by mice, (b) 1 Sam. 13:1. Peshitta translates MT 'Saul was one year old, and when he had ruled Israel for two years' by 'When Saul had ruled Israel for one or two years'. LXX omits the verse. Jacob has an equi- valent for it, 'Saul was like a one year old when he became king', noting that Symmachus transmits the phrase with the explanation that it means that when he became king he was 'a simple man and inexperienced in evil things', but that after two years of wilful behaviour his character changed, thus forfeiting God's goodwill and Samuel's recognition of him as monarch (c) 2 Sam. 5:6, 7. MT's opaque reference to the 'lame and the blind' in the episode of Joab's capture of Jerusalem has been turned into a factual statement to the efFect that the city's defenders were the lame and blind. Jacob has conflated Greek and Syriac phrases and applied a misplaced common sense, (d) 2 Sam. 15.30. As at other places, Jacob's own familiarity with Scripture has led him to make associations, here with Luke 19:37, so that David is presented as a prefiguration of Christ. 'David went up the ascent of the mountain of the olive trees'. The edition has been done carefully and with insight into Jacob's intellectual and spiritual world. As Dr Salvesen's comments on personal and proper names, part two, pp. 65, 119 suggest, here is evidence of the Greek as well as the Syriac texts REVIEWS 327 familiar in Jacob's world. Students of both these text traditions will therefore find much of value. D. J. LANE The Synac Language of the Peshitta and Old Synac Versions Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jts/article/52/1/325/1682872 by guest on 29 September 2021 of Matthew. Syntactic Structure, Inner-Syriac Develop- ments and Translation Technique. By JAN JOOSTEN. Pp. xiii + 223. (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, 22.) Leiden: Brill, 1996. ISBN 90 04 10036 9. Gld 190/8122.75. SINCE the publication of the great nineteenth-century grammars of classical Synac, such as that of Rubens Duval (1881) and Theodor Noldeke (18982), there has been a dearth of substantial studies of Synac syntax, and so this study of the syntax of the Peshitta and Old Syriac versions of St Matthew's Gospel, origin- ally submitted as a PhD dissertation at the Hebrew University, is a very welcome contribution to the field. Joosten's most impressive work is contained in chapters two to five (the core of the book), in which he provides a synchronic investigation of the syntax of the nominal phrase, the non-verbal clause, the 'it clause, and the verbal clause in Matthew (to which can be added an extensive appendix listing all occurrences of non-verbal clauses). Here he provides a careful and methodical analysis, and not only builds upon other recent studies but also makes many original, insightful, contributions. These chapters will remain essential reading for Syriacists and students of Semitic syntax for some time to come (although they will inevitably be hindered by the hopeless index of biblical citations) Chapters six and seven are much slighter and weaker affairs, addressing the syntax of the Syriac versions of Matthew from a diachronic perspective and attempting to tackle the issue of translation technique. Here Joosten's analysis is skewed both by several methodological failings and by his strongly held, but idiosyncratic, understanding of the development of the Syriac Gospel versions. He is aware that as translations they may have suffered linguistic interference from their Greek Vorlage, but he does not seem to have grappled with the problem that the identity and readings of these Greek texts are far from certain, and so he tends to refer simply to 'the Greek'. His understanding of the translation methodology of the Syriac translators—a subject that has been discussed in some detail in recent decades—is also.
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