DOCSLIB.ORG

THE MONKS of Kublal KHAN EMPEROR of CHINA

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE MONKS of Kublal KHAN EMPEROR of CHINA The Monks of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China THE MONKS OF KUBLAl KHAN EMPEROR OF CHINA OR THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND TRAVELS OF RABBAN SAWMA, ENVOY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE MONGOL KHANS TO THE KINGS OF EUROPE, AND MARKOS WHO AS MAR YAHBH-ALLAHA III BECAME PATRIARCH OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH IN ASIA TRANSLATED FROM THE SYRIAC BY SIR E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, KT. M.A., LITT.D. (CAMBRIDGE), M.A., D.LITT. (OXFORD), D.LIT. (DURHAM), F.S.A. Sometime Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences Lisbon; and Corresponding Member of the Philosophical Society of America With 16 plates and 6 illustrations in the text LONDON THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY Manchester, TORONTO, Madrid LISBON, BUDAPEST First published in 1928 [All rights reserved] Made in Great Britain Printed by Harrison & Sons, Ltd., St. Martin's Lane, London, W.C. 2 Assyrian International News Agency Books Online www.aina.org ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ ¥ © § © ¢ § ¤ ¥ © £ ¥ © © ¤ © ¡ § ¤ © § ¨ ¤ 1 The Monks of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China 2 The Monks of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FREDERIC LLEWELYN DEANE, D.D. BISHOP OF ABERDEEN AND ORKNEY BISHOP BELOVED OF THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE BATTLE FLEET AT SCAPA, MASTER OF THE CRAFT OF THE APOSTOLIC “FISHERS OF MEN,” GREAT FISHER OF FISH IN ICELAND, AND TRUE AND LOYAL FRIEND OF ALL THOSE “THAT GO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS AND OCCUPY THEIR BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS” WITH THE REVERENCE, SYMPATHY AND AFFECTIONATE ESTEEM OF THE TRANSLATOR 3 The Monks of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China CONTENTS PREFACE.............................................................................................................................................................6 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................7 THE NESTORIAN CHRISTIANS AND THEIR DOCTRINES .....................................................................9 THE HERESY OF NESTORIUS ...................................................................................................................12 PROGRESS OF NESTORIANISM................................................................................................................14 THE CONVERSION OF TURKESTAN .......................................................................................................15 DOWNFALL OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH IN CHINA .......................................................................15 THE CREED AND DOCTRINE OF THE NESTORIANS ...........................................................................16 THE TRAVELS OF THE NESTORIAN CHINESE MONKS, RABBAN SAWMA AND MARKOS ........17 I.--THE TRAVELS OF SAWMA AND MARK............................................................................................17 THE PAIZAH OR BULL OF THE MONGOL KINGS.................................................................................21 II.--THE TRAVELS OF RABBAN SAWMA................................................................................................22 SAWMA RETURNS TO MONGOLIA.........................................................................................................24 III.--THE PATRIARCHATE OF MAR YAHBH-ALLAHA III....................................................................24 THE IL-KHANS OF PERSIA........................................................................................................................28 THE DECLINE OF CHRISTIANITY IN CENTRAL ASIA AND CHINA .................................................29 THE MODERN NESTORIANS.....................................................................................................................29 THE CREED OF MAR YAHBH-ALLAHA III.............................................................................................30 APPENDIX A TO INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................32 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE FIRST MONGOL EMPIRE......................................................................32 THE MONGOLS AND CHRISTIANITY......................................................................................................33 THE MONGOL LANGUAGE.......................................................................................................................35 THE PROGRESS OF MUHAMMADANISM IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY ...................................35 APPENDIX B TO INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................36 THE NESTORIAN STELE AT HSI-AN-FU.................................................................................................36 TRANSLATION OF THE SYRIAC TEXT.......................................................................................................38 I...........................................................................................................................................................................39 THE PRAYER OF THE SYRIAN TRANSLATOR ......................................................................................39 CHAPTER I........................................................................................................................................................40 THE HISTORY OF RABBAN SAWMA ......................................................................................................40 CHAPTER II ......................................................................................................................................................42 THE HISTORY OF MAR YAHBH-ALLAHA, THE CATHOLICUS AND PATRIARCH OF THE EAST .................................................................................................................................................................................42 CHAPTER III .....................................................................................................................................................43 RABBAN SAWMA AND RABBAN MARKOS WISH TO GO TO JERUSALEM ....................................43 CHAPTER IV.....................................................................................................................................................47 RABBAN MARK IS ORDAINED METROPOLITAN, AND IS CALLED MAR YAHBH-ALLAHA, AND RABBAN SAWMA BECOMES VISITOR-GENERAL ..............................................................................47 CHAPTER V ......................................................................................................................................................49 YAHBH-ALLAHA IS ELECTED PATRIARCH..........................................................................................49 CHAPTER VI.....................................................................................................................................................51 THE FALSE ACCUSATIONS WHICH MAR YAHBH SUFFERED IN THE DAYS OF AHMAD THE KING.......................................................................................................................................................................51 CHAPTER VII....................................................................................................................................................53 (47) ON THE DEPARTURE OF RABBAN SAWMA TO THE COUNTRY OF THE ROMANS IN THE NAME OF KING ARGHON AND OF THE CATHOLICUS MAR YAHBH-ALLAHA.....................................53 THE JOURNEY OF RABBAN SAWMA; TO THE COUNTRY OF THE ROMANS IN THE NAME OF KING ARGHON AND OF THE CATHOLICUS MAR YAHBH-ALLAHA........................................................53 RABBAN SAWMA IN BYZANTIUM .........................................................................................................53 RABBAN SAWMA IN ITALY AND IN GREAT ROME............................................................................54 THE BELIEF OF RABBAN SAWMA, WHICH THE CARDINALS DEMANDED FROM HIM..............55 RABBAN SAWMA IN FRANSA OR FRANGESTAN................................................................................57 RABBAN SAWMA GOES TO THE KING OF ENGLAND [i.e. EDWARD I]..........................................58 4 The Monks of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China RABBAN SAWMA RETURNS TO ROME..................................................................................................58 THE RETURN OF RABBAN SAWMA FROM ROME AND FROM MAR PAPA, THE CATHOLICUS PATRIARCH OF THE ROMANS AND OF ALL WESTERNS ...........................................................................60 CHAPTER VIII ..................................................................................................................................................62 THE GOOD ACTS OF KING ARGHAN, AND HIS DEATH......................................................................62 CHAPTER IX.....................................................................................................................................................63 KING KAIKHATO AND MAR YAHBH-ALLAHA....................................................................................63 CHAPTER X ......................................................................................................................................................64 THE DEATH OF RABBAN SAWMA AND OF THE KINGS KAIKHATO AND BAIDU........................64 CHAPTER XI.....................................................................................................................................................66
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Evidence of Late Antique Syriac Hagiography Di Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony
    From Sacred Travel to Monastic Career: The Evidence of Late Antique Syriac Hagiography di Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony In one of the dramatic moments in the conversion of Rabbula – a prominent figure in the Church of Edessa in the first half of the fifth century – Acacius bishop of Aleppo and Eusebius bishop of Edessa led him to the monastery of Marcian and Abraham, two local holy recluses belonging to the Syriac ecclesiastical landscape1. There Rabbula declared his desire to convert to Christianity and to shut himself away, like them. But before entering this new way of life he expressed one desire: To go to Jerusalem and see the holy place and be baptized in the Jordan where Christ was baptized as a model for us2. Rabbula then «entered Jerusalem, prayed in front of Golgotha…, entered the tomb of the Lord and the cave where he was born, and went up to the place of the Ascension… From there he went down to the Jordan; at once he petitioned the priests and recited before them the creed, and they anointed him and baptized him»3. As soon as he was baptized he went back to his city, where he assumed a social position, and appeared as the patron of the poor4. Later on he launched his episcopate career and served as the bishop of Edessa in 411-412 and again in 435- 436, emerging as an opponent of Nestorius and supporter of Cyril of Alexandria. This account narrated in the Life of Rabbula, composed around 440, close to the hero’s own time, offers an intriguing close-up of the social and intellectual elite’s conversion against the background of Edessa’s Hellenic culture at the end of the fourth century and beginning of the fifth5.
    [Show full text]
  • Christian Historical Imagination in Late Antique Iraq
    OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES General Editors Gillian Clark Andrew Louth THE OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES series includes scholarly volumes on the thought and history of the early Christian centuries. Covering a wide range of Greek, Latin, and Oriental sources, the books are of interest to theologians, ancient historians, and specialists in the classical and Jewish worlds. Titles in the series include: Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and the Transformation of Divine Simplicity Andrew Radde-Gallwitz (2009) The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh Patrik Hagman (2010) Palladius of Helenopolis The Origenist Advocate Demetrios S. Katos (2011) Origen and Scripture The Contours of the Exegetical Life Peter Martens (2012) Activity and Participation in Late Antique and Early Christian Thought Torstein Theodor Tollefsen (2012) Irenaeus of Lyons and the Theology of the Holy Spirit Anthony Briggman (2012) Apophasis and Pseudonymity in Dionysius the Areopagite “No Longer I” Charles M. Stang (2012) Memory in Augustine’s Theological Anthropology Paige E. Hochschild (2012) Orosius and the Rhetoric of History Peter Van Nuffelen (2012) Drama of the Divine Economy Creator and Creation in Early Christian Theology and Piety Paul M. Blowers (2012) Embodiment and Virtue in Gregory of Nyssa Hans Boersma (2013) The Chronicle of Seert Christian Historical Imagination in Late Antique Iraq PHILIP WOOD 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries # Philip Wood 2013 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2013 Impression: 1 All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • The Syrian Orthodox Church and Its Ancient Aramaic Heritage, I-Iii (Rome, 2001)
    Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 5:1, 63-112 © 2002 by Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute SOME BASIC ANNOTATION TO THE HIDDEN PEARL: THE SYRIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND ITS ANCIENT ARAMAIC HERITAGE, I-III (ROME, 2001) SEBASTIAN P. BROCK UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD [1] The three volumes, entitled The Hidden Pearl. The Syrian Orthodox Church and its Ancient Aramaic Heritage, published by TransWorld Film Italia in 2001, were commisioned to accompany three documentaries. The connecting thread throughout the three millennia that are covered is the Aramaic language with its various dialects, though the emphasis is always on the users of the language, rather than the language itself. Since the documentaries were commissioned by the Syrian Orthodox community, part of the third volume focuses on developments specific to them, but elsewhere the aim has been to be inclusive, not only of the other Syriac Churches, but also of other communities using Aramaic, both in the past and, to some extent at least, in the present. [2] The volumes were written with a non-specialist audience in mind and so there are no footnotes; since, however, some of the inscriptions and manuscripts etc. which are referred to may not always be readily identifiable to scholars, the opportunity has been taken to benefit from the hospitality of Hugoye in order to provide some basic annotation, in addition to the section “For Further Reading” at the end of each volume. Needless to say, in providing this annotation no attempt has been made to provide a proper 63 64 Sebastian P. Brock bibliography to all the different topics covered; rather, the aim is simply to provide specific references for some of the more obscure items.
    [Show full text]
  • From Beit Abhe to Angamali: Connections, Functions and Roles of the Church of the East’S Monasteries in Ninth Century Christian-Muslim Relations
    Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Cochrane, Steve (2014) From Beit Abhe to Angamali: connections, functions and roles of the Church of the East’s monasteries in ninth century Christian-Muslim relations. PhD thesis, Middlesex University / Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. [Thesis] Final accepted version (with author’s formatting) This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13988/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Works, including theses and research projects, may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from them, or their content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). They may not be sold or exploited commercially in any format or medium without the prior written permission of the copyright holder(s). Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including the author’s name, the title of the work, publication details where relevant (place, publisher, date), pag- ination, and for theses or dissertations the awarding institution, the degree type awarded, and the date of the award. If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address: [email protected] The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated.
    [Show full text]
  • The Apostolic Succession of the Right Rev. James Michael St. George
    The Apostolic Succession of The Right Rev. James Michael St. George © Copyright 2014-2015, The International Old Catholic Churches, Inc. 1 Table of Contents Certificates ....................................................................................................................................................4 ......................................................................................................................................................................5 Photos ...........................................................................................................................................................6 Lines of Succession........................................................................................................................................7 Succession from the Chaldean Catholic Church .......................................................................................7 Succession from the Syrian-Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch..............................................................10 The Coptic Orthodox Succession ............................................................................................................16 Succession from the Russian Orthodox Church......................................................................................20 Succession from the Melkite-Greek Patriarchate of Antioch and all East..............................................27 Duarte Costa Succession – Roman Catholic Succession .........................................................................34
    [Show full text]
  • ABRAHAM Von Kaschkar
    ABRAHAM von Kaschkar Abraham von Kaschkar, genannt der Große, (* 503; † 8. Januar 588) war der Begründer des Wiederauflebens der assyrischen Klosterbewegung im Nahen Osten (assyrische Kirche des Ostens) während des 6. Jahrhunderts1. Die nestorianische Kirche legte ihm aus Dankbarkeit den Ehrennamen „Vater der Mönche“ bei.2 Ihm, sowie seinem Nachfolger Dâdischô‘ verdanken wir die ältesten ostsyrischen Klosterregeln, die wir kennen.3 Das Klosterleben war bei den frühen syrischen und mesopotamischen Christen sehr beliebt. Einige waren der festen Überzeugung, dass nur streng zölibatäres Leben zur Erlösung führen könnte. Alle Mönche und Nonnen 1 „Als es im 6. Jahrhundert zur Reform und Wiedereingliederung des Mönchtums in die Apostolische Kirche des Ostens kam, die seit dem Ende des 5. Jahrhunderts das Mönchtum eher an den Rand der Kirche gedrängt hatte, da geschah dies nicht so sehr aus alten syrischen Wurzeln der Askese, sondern unter bewusster Aufnahme ägyptischer Vorbilder. Schon der erste große Reformator Abraham von Kaschkar griff bei der Abfassung seiner Klosterregel auf Gedankengut aus den Apophthegmata Patrum zurück. Und bei seinem Nachfolger ist unübersehbar, wie die Klosterregel des Pachominos auf ihn eingewirkt hat. Beide zeugen dafür, dass über alle dogmatischen Hindernisse der verfeindeten Konfessionen hinweg spirituelles Erfahrungswissen über den gesamten Kulturraum vermittelt wurde...“. – R.G.Kratz/ H. Spieckermann (Hsg), Götterbilder – Gottesbilder – Weltbilder, Bd 2, Tübingen, 2006, S. 269; 2 „Wie Gott früher den seligen Abraham aus Ur der Chaldäer ausgesondert und im Glauben zum Vater für die Menge der Völker gesetzt hatte, so ließ er diesen heiligen Wandel des Mönchtums im ganzen Orient aufsprießen und wachsen durch einen dem Namen, der Heimat und den Werken nach des Abraham würdigen Geistesmann, den er zum Vater des Standes der jungfräulichen Nasiräer bestellte.
    [Show full text]
  • Mardin from Tales to Legends 2
    1 MARDİN FROM TALES TO LEGENDS 2 künye 3 MARDİN FROM TALES TO LEGENDS 4 Introduction Mesopotamia is among those few names in the world that almost everyone is familiar with. Think of a region that is the birthplace of many tools, philosophies, systems and religions. Think of a region that so much that it pioneered has been adopted throughout the world and has played such an important role in shaping everyday lives. Imagine a place which witnessed so much for the first time: first writing system, first state, first city, first water irrigation sysems, first law and many more. Mardin situated right at the centre of this incredibly rich region can therefore be seen as a fortunate city, blessed in history. It has Anatolia on one side and Mesopotamia on the other, an ancient region which transported so many innovations that had originated in the Middle East to the western world. Despite the common assumption, the word Mesopotamia is not of Middle Eastern origin. It comes from the ancient Greek root words mesos (middle) and potamia (rivers) literally meaning “(land) between rivers.” It is curious that although writing was introduced in the region almost 3000 years earlier than in Greece, the region’s name is of Greek origin rather than a Middle Eastern language. In Syriac, Mesopotamia is called Beth Nahrin. Composed of the words beth (house, land) and nahrin (two rivers), it literally means “the land of/between two rivers.” Based on this, it can be deduced that the region was named not by the Greek civilizations of the west but by the people of the region themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Narrative and Iranian
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Narrative and Iranian Identity in the New Persian Renaissance and the Later Perso-Islamicate World DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in History by Conrad Justin Harter Dissertation Committee: Professor Touraj Daryaee, Chair Professor Mark Andrew LeVine Professor Emeritus James Buchanan Given 2016 © 2016 Conrad Justin Harter DEDICATION To my friends and family, and most importantly, my wife Pamela ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v CURRICULUM VITAE vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2: Persian Histories in the 9th-12th Centuries CE 47 CHAPTER 3: Universal History, Geography, and Literature 100 CHAPTER 4: Ideological Aims and Regime Legitimation 145 CHAPTER 5: Use of Shahnama Throughout Time and Space 192 BIBLIOGRAPHY 240 iii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1 Map of Central Asia 5 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all of the people who have made this possible, to those who have provided guidance both academic and personal, and to all those who have mentored me thus far in so many different ways. I would like to thank my advisor and dissertation chair, Professor Touraj Daryaee, for providing me with not only a place to study the Shahnama and Persianate culture and history at UC Irvine, but also with invaluable guidance while I was there. I would like to thank my other committee members, Professor Mark LeVine and Professor Emeritus James Given, for willing to sit on my committee and to read an entire dissertation focused on the history and literature of medieval Iran and Central Asia, even though their own interests and decades of academic research lay elsewhere.
    [Show full text]
  • The Book of Resh Melle by Yoḥannan Bar Penkaye: an Introduction to the Text and a Study of Its Literary Genres
    i THE BOOK OF RESH MELLE BY YOḤANNAN BAR PENKAYE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TEXT AND A STUDY OF ITS LITERARY GENRES By Emmanuel Joseph Mar-Emmanuel A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto © Copyright by Emmanuel Joseph Mar-Emmanuel 2015 ii The Book of Resh Melle by Yoḥannan bar Penkaye: an Introduction to the Text and a Study of its Literary Genres Emmanuel Joseph Mar-Emmanuel Doctor of Philosophy The Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto 2015 Abstract This dissertation offers a study of the fifteen books of Resh Melle, a work written in Mesopotamia before the close of the seventh century A.D. by Yoḥannan (John) bar Penkaye. John’s purpose is to explain God’s dispensation in human history. He offers theological instruction through the medium of historical narrative. Chapter one discusses John’s political and ecclesiastical context. The fifteenth book of Resh Melle illustrates historical events which were contemporary to John. This chapter also discusses the rise of Islam, which had a great impact on the monastic centres and the numerous communities that formed the Church of the East. Chapter two investigates the life, literary works, and importance of the author. The works that have been traditionally attributed to John are discussed and their authenticity assessed. The chapter also discusses John’s importance for modern scholarship in various fields of study, including history, theology, exegesis, liturgy, and asceticism. Chapter three discusses the title, provenance, sources, manuscripts, editions and translations of Resh Melle.
    [Show full text]
  • The Spread of Syriac Was Due to At
    Slide 1 What do we mean by Syriac? The spread of Syriac was due to at least two factors: the spread of Christianity in the Semitic-speaking world, and commerce on the Silk Road, both activities sometimes combined. Today, a few million Christians in India of various denominations follow the Syriac tradition. Slide 2 Syriac languages Syriac is a form of Aramaic, a language whose many dialects have been in continuous use since the 11th century BC. Originally the language of the Aramean people, Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Near East by the 6th century BC. It was the native tongue of the ancient Chaldeans, a second language to the Assyro-Babylonians, an official language of the Persian Achaemenians, and a common language of the Jews replacing Hebrew. Jesus and the Apostles spoke and preached in Aramaic. Syriac is the Aramaic dialect of Edessa Slide 3 Relat of Syriac to Arabic and Surrounding Region Slide 4 A matter of proximity, but not of the same genesis. When the Arabs desired to transmit the Greek sciences into Arabic during the 8th and 9th centuries, they turned to their Syriac subjects to do the task. In most cases, these Syriac scholars translated the works first into their native language then into Arabic. As a result, many of the Arabic scientific terminology, including the names of plants, are rooted in Syriac. Scientific works and terminology from other cultures, such as Persian and Indian, passed to Arabic via Syriac; a noted example is the name of the chemical element Zirconium (via Syriac zargono 'color of gold').
    [Show full text]
  • Dates Are Ce Unless Stated As Bce. Popes Are Cross-Referenced from Their Entry Under Their Birth Name to Their Papal Name, S.V
    Index All dates are ce unless stated as bce. Popes are cross-referenced from their entry under their birth name to their papal name, s.v. Rome; monarchs are gathered under their principal territory, Oecumenical Patriarchs under Constantinople and Archbishops of Canterbury under Canterbury. Monarchs and popes have (where possible) their birth date followed by the date of their accession to the throne, followed by their date of death. Members of European nobility are indexed under their surnames. Those who have been declared saints by one or other Christian Church are indexed either under their first names or their surnames, not at ‘St’. a` Lasco, Johannes see Łaski Abravanel, Isaac ben Moscow 1690–1700) Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) (1437–1508) 868 542 349–50, 352, Plate 28 absolutism: see monarchy Adrianople, battle (378) 218 Aaron 581 Abu¯ Mı¯na¯ 259 Adriatic Sea 458, 486 Abbasid dynasty 262, abun (bishop): see Ethiopia adultery 91, 314, 626, 1025 264–7, 272, 446, 854 Acacian schism (482–519) Advent 199–200 abbesses 358, 378 234–5, 322–3, 326, Adwa, battle (1896) 891 abbots 318, 378, 393, 817; 374 Aegean Sea 461, 468, 473, see also monks acheiropoieta: see icons; 924 ’Abd al-’Aziz (1746–1824) Mandylion Aelia Capitolina: see 880 acrostics 195 Jerusalem ’Abd al-Malik, Caliph (646; Action Franc¸aise 936 Aeneas 43, 192, 297 685–705) 256, 260 Actium, battle (31 bce) aeroplanes 960, 966 ’Abd al-Wahha¯b, 43–4 Aeschylus (c. 525–456 bce) Muhammad ibn: see Adam 80, 100–101, 144, 35 Wahhabite Islam 153, 307, 339, 404, Aethelthryth (Etheldreda, Abel 306, 868, 1006 440, 555, 613, 627, Audrey; c.
    [Show full text]
  • Syriac Source-Material for Islam's Holy Book
    Syriac Source-Material For Islam’s Holy Book October 18, 2019 Category: Religion Download as PDF (This is the first of a two-part piece on the Syriac origins of Islamic lore. Here, I will analyze content. The next part will be a linguistic analysis. Note: Mohammed of Mecca, considered the “Seal of the Prophets” in Islam, is denoted “MoM”. Classical Arabic is denoted “CA”.) A full understanding of the development of the Koran–and of the Mohammedan Faith in general–cannot be procured until one recognizes the percolating memetic environs in which it occurred. During the epoch of the religion’s gestation (from the late 7th century through the early 9th century), cultures of the Middle East were suffused with a potpourri of Abrahamic folklore. This is made apparent by the Syriac basis for much of what eventually came to be Islam’s sacred scripture. Predictably, such history has been elided by Islamic apologists in an attempt to uphold even the most flimsy of historiographic claims. This laundering of history does not necessarily stem from perfidy; it merely requires that we not notice what the historical record shows. My aim here is to counter such dissimulation by highlighting some key points. Let’s start with the obvious. If the Koran were derivative in nature, we would expect to find antecedent sources with distinct peculiarities that match the raft of distinct peculiarities found in the Koran. It turns out that this is–indeed–what we find. Upon surveying the contents of Islam’s holy book, we encounter myriad idiosyncrasies that had been recycled from earlier material.
    [Show full text]