Apocrypha Syriaca
The Protevangelium Jacobi and Transitus Mariae

A transcription of a Syriac manuscript including Christian and Islamic texts, translated by Agnes Lewis, first published in 1902.

Agnes Smith Lewis (Edited and translated by)

9781108043489, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 February 2012

326 pages, 8 b/w illus.
24.4 x 17 x 1.7 cm, 0.52 kg

The twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920) were pioneering biblical scholars who became experts in a number of ancient languages. Travelling widely in the Middle East, they made several significant discoveries, including one of the earliest manuscripts of the Four Gospels in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language probably spoken by Jesus himself. First published in 1902 as part of the Studia Sinaitica, this text is transcribed and translated by Lewis from a Syriac manuscript she acquired in Suez in 1895. As well as featuring pages of the Septaguint and the Peshitta Gospels, the palimpsest includes some Arabic pages including a very early version of the Qur'an (estimated by Lewis as seventh-century). Illustrated with reproductions of the leaves of the various texts, this is a valuable resource for scholars of Syriac, but also of interest for historians of Christianity and Early Islam.

Preface
Protevangelium Jacobi
Transitus Mariae
Isaiah XXXI.6-XXXII.24
Isaiah XXXIV.1-13
LX.3-7
Exodus XIV.24-31
Syriac hymn
Mar Ephraim
Miscellanea
Mar Jacob
Miscellanea
Appendix I. Taylor-Schechter fragments
Appendix II. Transitus Mariae. Sinae text
Introduction
Table of quires
Index of proper names
Emendanda to Taylor-Schechter fragments
Septuagint text Gen. XL.3,4,7
Coran I
Coran II
Arabic document
Errata
Translation.

Subject Areas: Biblical studies & exegesis [HRCG]