A Companion to Late Antique Literature

by Scott McGill

  Wright, Roger. (1982). Late Latin and Early Romance in Spain and Carolingian France. Liverpool: Francis Cairns.

  Yavuz, Nurgül Kivilcim. (2015). Transmission and Adaptation of the Trojan Narrative in Frankish History between the Sixth and Tenth Centuries. PhD diss., University of Leeds.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Syriac

  John W. Watt

  Syriac literature flourished throughout late antiquity, especially in its homelands east of the Euphrates. The extant literature is almost entirely Christian, and the adoption of Syriac as the preferred literary medium by Christians in that region no doubt contributed to its widespread use, although it is likely that it, or one or more closely related Aramaic dialects, was also employed by other religious groups. It is only in the fourth century, particularly in the writings of Ephrem Syrus, that we can see a form of Christianity clearly differentiated from movements such as Marcionism and Manichaeism, and even in the early fifth century, in the text known as the Doctrine of Addai, a “proto‐orthodox” group still appears to be battling for supremacy against competing movements and claiming apostolic foundation for itself in Edessa. Whether or not some Syriac texts prior to the fourth century should be categorized as Christian often depends, therefore, on how tightly one draws the boundary in relation to these groups that were later rejected, as well as on difficulties of interpretation inherent in the texts themselves. In the subsequent period, the rejection of the Council of Chalcedon in favor of a miaphysite Christology by the majority of Roman Syrians, and the independent development in the Persian Empire of a dyophysite Christology that did not recognize Chalcedon, led to a theological, in addition to an institutional, division between the West Syriac and East Syriac Churches (and the Greek Orthodox) and their writers. Although in Christology the thought of the two Syriac churches clearly diverged, admiration not only of Ephrem but also of some major Greek theologians, particularly Gregory of Nazianzus, was nevertheless common to both.

  3.1 Biblical Commentary

  Biblical interpretation was an important part of Syriac literature throughout late antiquity. While not exactly a commentary, the Diatessaron of Tatian, the harmonized narrative created from the four Gospels, is nevertheless a striking literary creation derived from the Bible. Whether it was first created in Greek or Syriac, and whether in Rome or the East, is still open to dispute, but its influence in the Syriac‐speaking area is unquestioned, even though the complete Syriac text is not extant (Petersen 1994). The earliest Syriac version of the individual Gospels is that known as the Old Syriac, extant in two fifth‐century manuscripts. While translated from a Greek text, the version also made use of the Diatessaron. The Old Syriac Gospel text probably originated in the third or early fourth century, and the translators knew (at least parts of) the Syriac version of the Old Testament later known as the Peshitta (the “Simple” version), which may be as early as the second century. It was translated from the Hebrew by many translators, among whom were probably both Jews and Jewish converts to Christianity.

  Biblical commentary in the stricter sense begins with the exegetical writings of Ephrem (d. 373). His fame rests primarily on his poetic works, but he also wrote extensively in prose. Commentaries are attributed to him on Genesis, Exodus, the Diatessaron, Acts, and the Pauline epistles, but the latter two are extant only in Armenian. The contents and literary character of the three extant Syriac works are varied, but in the main they may be said to offer notes on the text or to offer explanations of a fairly simple theological nature of the passages which most interested him. For example, in Genesis he is particularly interested in the primal history. In the story of Adam and Eve, he explains at some length the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as a test of the use of their free will, but much of the later narrative of the book he passes over with little or no comment. Many comments in the two Old Testament commentaries appear to be taken, probably indirectly and orally, from Jewish sources. In the commentary on the Diatessaron, however, there are some longer lyrical passages in which his more sophisticated symbolical theology, well known from his hymns (considered below), is given full rein (Griffith 2003).

  After Ephrem, extended biblical commentary in Syriac is known in two works of Philoxenus of Mabbug: one on Matthew and Luke, the other on the prologue to John. Since neither of the two is preserved intact, some caution is advisable in their overall characterization, but the contrast with Ephrem is nevertheless quite striking. They are sophisticated theological treatises expounding a miaphysite Christology, intended to win readers to the miaphysite cause and to counteract the exegetical writings of the dyophysites Diodore and Theodore. While that on Matthew and Luke, preserved only in fragments, appears to oscillate between extended theological expositions of the author’s key Christological passages (e.g. Luke 2:52) and only brief comments on the others, the enormous commentary on the prologue of John is devoted exclusively to that alone. Philoxenus considered Ephrem’s Christological terminology too inexact, and also found fault with the existing translations of the New Testament and the Creed, as a result of which he commissioned fresh ones. The expression “put on a body,” for example, found in the current Syriac version (the Peshitta) of Hebrews 5:7 and 10:5 and of the Creed, and used frequently by Ephrem, was considered by Philoxenus to open the door to “Nestorianism” and replaced in later versions by more exact terms (“embodied,” “enfleshed”) (de Halleux 1963). Ephrem and Philoxenus are the two most notable Syriac biblical commentators of late antiquity, but from the fifth century we also have a commentary on Ecclesiastes by John of Apamea and an elaboration on the Joseph story in the form of an epic poem by Balai. Biblical interpretation, if not commentary as understood in the schools, is found in much Syriac poetry, not only in Balai and anonymous works, but most notably in the works of Ephrem and Jacob of Serugh.

  3.2 Poetry

  Unlike Philoxenus’s concern with exact Syriac terminology and its correspondence with that of the Greek, Ephrem’s linguistic usage is allusive, his thinking metaphorical and symbolic, and his most favored literary form the poetic. Theology expressed and advocated through poetry is the most striking aspect of Syriac within late antique literature, and its two greatest poets, Ephrem and Jacob of Serugh, are generally thought to have been only lightly if at all affected by Greek philosophy or rhetoric, though recently some studies have argued for a stronger Greek influence on the former than has generally been supposed (Possekel 1999). Although the corpus of Ephrem’s poetry is the most impressive known in Syriac, it was not the earliest. The Odes of Solomon, a group of 42 short poems preserved virtually complete in Syriac, have been variously ascribed to the first, second, or third century, and their original language is thought to be either Syriac or Greek. While some passages are suggestive of a Christian origin, much of their material remains difficult to interpret (Lattke 1999–2005). Bardaisan of Edessa (154–222) is known to have written poetry in Syriac, though he also understood Greek, but none of his poetry has survived. Some of Ephrem’s theological poems were composed for the express purpose of combating Bardaisan’s teaching, so it is possible that Ephrem was to some extent inspired to write theological poetry by the example of Bardaisan.

  Syriac poetry from Ephrem onwards (but not the Syriac form of the Odes of Solomon) is distinguished by a regulated syllable count. Ephrem employed two forms: the madrasha (hymnus), composed of stanzas in which the lines may or may not have the same syllable count, but in which the pattern remains constant throughout the entire piece; and the memra (sermo), not structured in stanzas but composed of couplets with the same syllable count throughout, which in Ephrem’s case is always 7 + 7. Ephrem spent most of his life in Nisibis, but when it was ceded to the Persians, he moved to Edessa. He was a vigorous advocate of Nicene Christianity and opponent of those who adhered to the doctrines of Bardaisan, Marcion, or Mani. His poetry was very influential in later Syriac Christianity and even inspired imitations in Greek. Today he is admired principally for the richness
of his poetic imagery and the imaginative use he made of it in his theological and spiritual teaching (Brock 1992; Murray 2006). A good example of his method is his madrasha De fide 82, where contemporary ideas about the pearl are presented as a symbol of the nativity and life of Christ (Brock 2013).

  Two smaller poetic corpora are attributed to writers from the early fifth century, Cyrillona and Balai, although it is not certain that all the individual pieces stem from them. Their content and their form are quite varied. The six in the former group are mostly theological or biblical, but one concerns an incursion of the Huns (ca. 396). The latter comprises a number of short poems on ecclesiastical or liturgical matters and also an epic poem, in 12 memre, on the biblical Joseph. Their true author is disputed; Ephrem has been proposed, which is consistent with their 7 + 7 meter, but the attribution to Balai has also been defended. They present a striking meditation on the Joseph story, not without some similarities with Jewish interpretations and elaborations of the biblical narrative, and have also been thought to exhibit acquaintance with Greek rhetorical practice (Phenix 2008). A larger body of material is attributed to Narsai (d. ca. 502), consisting of several memre each on the Creation, Old Testament topics, Gospel parables, church sacraments, and feasts, and the three principal theologians particular to the East Syriac Church, namely, Diodore, Theodore, and Nestorius (Brock 2009). Narsai also has been thought to be familiar with some Greek rhetorical practice (McVey 1983). A considerable amount of anonymous poetry (memre) on biblical themes also probably belongs to the fifth or sixth century.

  The outstanding Syriac poet after Ephrem is Jacob of Serugh (d. 521). He produced a vast number of memre, in the 12‐syllable meter, as well as a small number of madrashe. Unlike Ephrem, he was little concerned with combating “heresy” or establishing a particular “orthodoxy.” While opposed to the Chalcedonian Christological formula, he did not make his opposition a theme of his poems, and in some of them he even appears to have been influenced by the works of Theodore, which will probably have been a result of his education at the strongly dyophysite School of the Persians in Edessa. His poems are mostly on biblical and ecclesiastical themes, including liturgical feasts and portraits of various saints (Kiraz 2010).

  3.3 Theology

  From the foregoing it will be evident that much theological, spiritual, and paraenetic literature in Syriac exists in poetic forms. Even the great poets, however, also composed such literature in prose. Six prose homilies survive from Jacob’s hand, and theology in prose comes, too, from that of Ephrem. From him two discourses (memre) and a letter are extant in artistic prose, while in normal prose we have, in addition to his biblical commentaries (above), works against Bardaisan, Marcion, and Mani. Two other significant series of such works come from the fourth century. One is a set of 23 Demonstrations attributed to Aphrahat (or in some manuscripts to a Jacob), whose identity is unknown but who must have been a significant figure in the church in the Persian Empire. The Demonstrations fall broadly into two groups. The first deals with various aspects of Christian life (e.g. “Faith,” “Love,” “Prayer,” “Humility”), and one, on “The Children of the Covenant,” has received particular attention on account of its significance for the study of early Syriac asceticism. The second appears to be directed to Christians who were attracted by Judaism or by some Jewish practices and is devoted to subjects such as “Circumcision,” “The Sabbath,” “The Distinction between Foods,” and “The Peoples Who Have Replaced the People.” This second group may have arisen at a time of persecution (the subject of Demonstration 21) of Christians in the Persian Empire, and it has been thought to reflect the differing positions of Christians (pro‐Roman) and Jews during Persian–Roman hostilities. An interesting feature of the collection is that the first 22 Demonstrations form an alphabetic acrostic of the letters of the Syriac alphabet. Roughly contemporary with Aphrahat, and also from an unidentified author within the Persian Empire, is another paraenetic work entitled (by its modern editor) Liber graduum (Book of Steps). The “steps” refer to the ascetical ascent to the heavenly city, marked by two broad stages. The “Upright” observe the “lesser commandments” marked by charity; the “Mature” or “Perfect” the “greater commandments” characterized by the imitation of Christ (Juhl 1996; Heal and Kitchen 2014).

  The outstanding theologian of the following century was Philoxenus of Mabbug (d. 523). His miaphysite Christology found expression in his biblical commentaries, in numerous letters, in a number of short discourses, and in two substantial works: Ten memre “On one of the Holy Trinity was embodied and suffered,” and Three memre “On the Trinity and the Incarnation.” His concern for precise Syriac terminology modeled on the Greek has already been noted, together with his belief that disdain or indifference to this in Syriac opened the door to false doctrine. An extensive set of discourses on the ascetic life picks up the binary division known from the Liber graduum and was widely read in monastic circles. Like Jacob of Serugh, Philoxenus had been educated at the School of the Persians in Edessa, and although (like Jacob, but more forcefully) he rebelled against the Christological doctrine advanced there, it may be that it was there that he came across the writings of Evagrius of Pontus and perhaps also learned something of the rudiments of Greek (Aristotelian) philosophy. His works display knowledge not only of Evagrius’s ascetical teaching but also of his cosmological system in the form of the common Syriac version of the Kephalaia gnostica (de Halleux 1963, Michelson 2014). He was, however, opposed to the more radical form of Evagrianism expounded by Stephen bar Sudhaili, against which he warned in a letter to two priests, Abraham and Orestes, who had been in contact with Stephen. Stephen was the author of The Book of the Hierotheos, or at least of what has been considered by some scholars to be its first layer, clearly indebted to Evagrius’s writings. The attribution to Hierotheos, the alleged teacher of “Dionysius the Areopagite,” connects it with the Pseudo‐Dionysian corpus and may be part of a second layer, perhaps stemming from Stephen’s disciples. The doctrine concerns the ascent of the mind to the divinity and the eschatological unification of all (Pinggéra 2002).

  3.4 Biography and Hagiography

  Our information about the lives of significant authors is limited by a lack of genuine biographies, but some of them are the subjects of hagiographical accounts. As is well known, hagiography is not the same as critical biography but is nevertheless related to it and also to panegyric. It does not necessarily provide reliable historical information about a figure but may illuminate instead the cultural and ideological concerns of the hagiographer who praises his subject’s saintliness. In the case of Ephrem, there is a biographical tradition stemming probably from the sixth century, which is now extant in late manuscripts exhibiting three recensions. It is not a reliable source for his life, but it seemingly reflects the ideal picture of a monk held by later Greek Orthodox tradition. While, for example, the memra on Ephrem by Jacob of Serugh (correctly) connects him with the Syriac ascetic tradition of the “Children of the Covenant” (cf. above), the Syriac vita (biography) associates him with Basil and Egyptian monasticism (Amar 2011). Vitae of Philoxenus and Jacob of Serugh are known only from a much later date.

  There is a substantial amount of Syriac hagiography from the fifth or sixth century, though dating is sometimes problematic. Many of the works can be classified as vitae in the restricted sense described above, such as the Life of Simeon Stylites. Others are martyr acts, such as those dealing with martyrdoms under various Persian shahs (Shapur II, Yezdgerd I, Bahram V, Yezdgerd II). Some are collections of short pieces or anecdotes on holy men and women known to the author, notably the Lives of the Eastern Saints by John of Ephesus (Harvey 1990). Some vitae merge into panegyric, such as the Life of Rabbula and the Life of John bar Aphthonia.

  The Acts of Thomas, extant in both Syriac and Greek versions, were probably written in the third century and present a legendary account of the apostle Thomas’s mission to India, culminating in his martyrdom under king Mazdai. Em
bedded in this romance is material of diverse origin, including two notable poems: the “Hymn of the Bride,” and the “Hymn of the Pearl” (Klijn 2003). Another legendary account of supposedly apostolic times is the Doctrine of Addai, containing the famous alleged correspondence between Jesus and King Abgar of Edessa, and the apostle Addai’s mission to the city and its conversion (Desreumaux 1993). The origin of this Syriac text (as distinct from the shorter version, claimed by Eusebius to have existed in the archives of Edessa, which he presented in his Ecclesiastical History) is probably to be located in fifth‐century Edessa, from which also came a group of Edessene martyr Acts, including the Acts of Sharbel and the Acts of Barsamya. They purport to tell of their heroes’ martyrdom under Trajan and have features in common with the Doctrine of Addai. These fifth‐century Edessene texts aim to exalt the Christian status of the city. Probably also of Edessene origin is the Julian Romance, though the date and unitary origin of the work are disputed. It is a polemical work against the emperor Julian, with legendary accounts of his accession and death but with praise for his successor Jovian.

  3.5 Rhetoric and Epistolography

  In Greek, similarities have been observed between some hagiographic vitae and the prescriptions for an encomiastic speech presented in rhetoric handbooks, such as the progymnasmata and the treatises of Menander Rhetor. No treatise on rhetoric of a similar age is known in Syriac, but some, at least, of the prescriptions could have been known to Syriac writers, either because they themselves knew Greek, or because they had learned of them through others who did. Furthermore, there is a lengthy treatise on rhetoric from a Syriac author probably of the ninth century, Anton of Tagrit, which, although differing in several ways from known Greek treatises, nevertheless shows knowledge of many of the prescriptions. It is hard to see why such knowledge would have come into Syriac at that late date, and it is most natural to suppose that the treatise embodies a tradition of rhetoric instruction in Syriac which goes back to an earlier time (Watt 2010).