A. Pritula

The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

HSEUniversity, Moscow, Russia

E‑mail: pritulanna@gmail.com

East Syriac Poetry Embedded in the Manuscript Illumination: 16th Century

Abstract. Over the course of the Syriac tradition's interaction with Islamic culture, the role of poetry became increasingly significant. It is for this reason that so‑called scribal poetry first appeared. This genre is often found alongside passages in prose and accompanied other paratextual features of the manuscript such as the colophon and marginal notes. Due to the increasing cultural importance of poetry from the medieval period onwards, these features were often composed in verse. Some poems were embedded in the manuscript illumination and therefore formed part of decorative compositions. The current paper discusses notable examples of scribal poetry, in particular, quatrains from the 16th century, when the earliest known “decorative” poems first appeared. Despite their popularity and the important information they contain, such poems have hitherto never been published or studied.

Keywords: East Syriac tradition, Syriac poetry, manuscript production, manuscript decoration, scribes, manuscript illumination

DOI: 10.31250/1238-5018-2020-26-1-26-36

References

• Balicka‑Witakowska, E. (1998), “Remarks on the decoration and iconography of the Syriac Gospels, British Library, Add. 7174”, in: Symposium Syriacum VII, R. Lavenant (ed.), Uppsala University, 11—14 August 1996, Roma: Pontificio Istituto Orientale, pp. 641—659.
• Borbone, P. G. (2006), “I blocchi con croci e iscrizione siriaca da Fangshan”, Orientalia Christiana Periodica, vol. 72, No. 1, pp. 167—187.
• Borbone, P. G. (2019), “A Nestorian mirror from Inner Mongolia”, Egitto e Vicino Oriente, vol. 42, pp. 135—149.
• Brock, S. P. (2007), “East Syriac pilgrims to Jerusalem in the early Ottoman period”, Aram, vols. 18—19, pp. 189—201.
• Harrak, A., (2012), “Bacchus son of Mattay, a master Calligrapher in the Mongol period”, in: From Ugarit to Nabataea: Studies in Honour of John F. Healey, G. A. Kiraz& Z. Al‑Salameen (eds.), New Jersey: Gorgias Press, pp. 107—122.
• Kaufhold, H. (1991), “Der Ehrentitel ‘Jerusalempilger’ (syrisch maqdšāyā, arabisch maqdisī, armenisch mahtesi)”, Oriens Christianus, vol. 75, pp. 44—61.
• Kessel, G. M. (2011), “A list of East Syriac ecclesiastical authors in the ‘Book of Considerations on the Order of Church Services and its Succession’ of Abraham Šekwānā (A. D. 1849—1931)”, Parole de l'Orient, vol. 36, pp. 39—65.
• Leroy, J. (1964), Les manuscrits syriaques à peintures, conservés dans les bibliothèques d'Europe et d'Orient. Contribution à l'étude de l'iconographie des églises de langue syriaque, vol. 1, Paris: Paul Geuthner.
• Mazzola, M. (2013), “Alcuni poemi di Barhebraeus e Bar Ma‘dani nella redazione del ms. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Orientale 298”, Egitto e Vicino Oriente, vol. 36, pp. 73—99.
• Mengozzi, A. (2015a), “Quatrains on love by Khamis bar Qardahe: Syriac Sufi Poetry”, in: Christsein in der islamischen Welt: Festschrift für Martin Tamcke zum 60. Geburtstag, S. H. Griffith & S. Grebenstein (eds.), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 331—344.
• Mengozzi, A. (2015b), “The Book of Khamis bar Qardaḥe: history of the text, genres, and research perspectives”, in: Syriac Encounters: Papers from the Sixth North American Syriac Symposium, M. E. Doerfler, E. Fiano & K. R. Smith (eds.), Duke University, 26—29 June 2011, Leuven: Peeters, pp. 415—438.
• Murre‑van den Berg, H. L. (2011), “The Patriarch, the Scribe and Mr. Reader: the colophon of Jerusalem Ms. Syr 1, a Gospel Lectionary from Alqosh (1679)”, Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, vol. 63, Nos. 3—4, pp. 277—310.
• Murre‑van den Berg, H.L (2015), Scribes and Scriptures. The Church of the East in the Eastern Ottoman Provinces (1500—1850), Leuven: Peeters.
• Pritula, A. (2018), “‘Abdīshō‘ of Gazarta, the first literate of the Chaldean church: poems dedicated to the popes of Rome”, Vestnik Sankt Peterburgskogo universiteta. Vostokovedenie i afrikanistika, vol. 10, issue 3, pp. 374—391.
• Pritula, A. (2019a), “‘Abdīšō‘ of Gāzartā, patriarch of the Chaldean church as a scribe”, Scrinium: Journal of Patrology and Critical Hagiography, vol. 15, pp. 297—320.
• Pritula, A. (2019b), “East Syriac literary life in the mid‑16th century: ‘Abdīshō‘ of Gāzartā and older contemporary poets”, Vestnik Sankt Peterburgskogo universiteta. Vostokovedenie i afrikanistika, vol. 11, issue 3, pp. 89—107.
• Pritula, A. (2019c), “From Tigris to Jerusalem: East Syriac poetic notes from the Ottoman time”, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies, vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 193—234.
• Rassi, S. (2015), Justifying Christianity in the Islamic Middle Ages: the Apologetic Theology of ‘Abdīshō‘ bar Brīkhā (d. 1318), PhD, Oxford: Trinity Term.
• Sana, H. (1978), “Manuscripts of Al‑Qosh church”, Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in Iraq, vol. 1, Baghdad: Iraqi Academy Press.
• Scher, A. (1905), Catalogue des manuscrits syriaques et arabes, conservés dans la Bibliothèque épiscopale de Séert (Kurdistan) avec notes bibliographiques, Mosul: Imprimerie des pères dominicains.
• Scher, A. (1907), “Notice sur les manuscrits syriaques et arabes conservés à l'archevêché chaldéen de Diarbékir”, Journal asiatique, vol. 10, No. 10, pp. 331—362, 385—431.
• Scher, A. (1908), “Notice des mss. syriaques et arabes conservés dans la bibliothèque de l'évêché chaldéen de Mardin”, Revue des bibliothèques, vol. 18, pp. 64—95.
• Snelders, B. (2010), Identity and Christian‑Muslim Interaction: Medieval Art of the Syrian Orthodox from the Mosul Area, Louvain: Peeters.
• Teule, H. (2004), “Joseph II, Patriarch of the Chaldeans (1696—1713/4), and the Book of the Magnet: first soundings”, in: Studies on the Christian Arabic Heritage in Honour of Father Prof. Dr Samir Khalil Samir S. I. at the Occasion of his Sixty‑Fifth Birthday, R. Y. Ebied & H. G. B. Teule (eds.), Leuven — Paris — Dudley, MA: Peeters, pp. 221—241.
• Vosté, J. M. (1929), Catalogue de la bibliothèque syro‑chaldéenne du couvent de Notre‑Dame des Semences près d'Alqoš (Iraq), Rome — Paris: Paul Geuthner.
• Wilmshurst, D. (2000), The Ecclesiastical Organization of the Church of the East, 1318—1913, Louvain: Peeters.
• Younansardaroud, H. (2010), “‘Aḇdīšō‘ Bar Brīḵā's († 1318) Book of Paradise: a literary renaissance?”, in: The Syriac Renaissance, H. G. B. Teule, C. F. Tauwinkl, R. B. ter Haar Romeny & J. van Ginkel, (eds.), Leuven — Paris — Walpole, MA: Peeters, pp. 195—204.

Received by the Editorial Board: 09.12.2019