Author: Tesei
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197646875
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
The Syriac text entitled Neshana d-Aleksandros (also known as Syriac Alexander Legend) is a seminal text for late Christian and Muslim apocalyptic traditions. Containing the earliest recorded versions of literary motifs that would become central to the medieval apocalyptic tradition, it represents an early witness to an influential political ideology that guided both Byzantine and early Islamic imperial policies. While the scholarly consensus commonly dates the Neshana to the time of Heraclius (r. 610-641 CE), in this book author Tommaso Tesei argues that an earlier version of the text was produced during the reign of Justinian I (r. 527-565). This new historical contextualization of the text enables us to better delineate the role of the Neshana in the development of late antique, politicized, forms of apocalypticism, which assign to the Christian Roman Empire the task of establishing a cosmocratic rule in view of Jesus' Second Coming. In analyzing the contents and the ideology of this seminal text, this volume contributes to our understanding of the origins and developments of important literary motifs of Medieval literature worldwide, such as the characterization of Alexander as a pious prophet-king and the story of the gate that he erected to confine the eschatological nations of Gog and Magog. The Syriac Legend of Alexander's Gate sheds light on lesser-known aspects of political debates in the sixth-century Near East and offers historians a valuable insight into important aspects of Justinian's reign.
The Syriac Legend of Alexanders Gate
Author: Tesei
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197646875
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
The Syriac text entitled Neshana d-Aleksandros (also known as Syriac Alexander Legend) is a seminal text for late Christian and Muslim apocalyptic traditions. Containing the earliest recorded versions of literary motifs that would become central to the medieval apocalyptic tradition, it represents an early witness to an influential political ideology that guided both Byzantine and early Islamic imperial policies. While the scholarly consensus commonly dates the Neshana to the time of Heraclius (r. 610-641 CE), in this book author Tommaso Tesei argues that an earlier version of the text was produced during the reign of Justinian I (r. 527-565). This new historical contextualization of the text enables us to better delineate the role of the Neshana in the development of late antique, politicized, forms of apocalypticism, which assign to the Christian Roman Empire the task of establishing a cosmocratic rule in view of Jesus' Second Coming. In analyzing the contents and the ideology of this seminal text, this volume contributes to our understanding of the origins and developments of important literary motifs of Medieval literature worldwide, such as the characterization of Alexander as a pious prophet-king and the story of the gate that he erected to confine the eschatological nations of Gog and Magog. The Syriac Legend of Alexander's Gate sheds light on lesser-known aspects of political debates in the sixth-century Near East and offers historians a valuable insight into important aspects of Justinian's reign.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197646875
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
The Syriac text entitled Neshana d-Aleksandros (also known as Syriac Alexander Legend) is a seminal text for late Christian and Muslim apocalyptic traditions. Containing the earliest recorded versions of literary motifs that would become central to the medieval apocalyptic tradition, it represents an early witness to an influential political ideology that guided both Byzantine and early Islamic imperial policies. While the scholarly consensus commonly dates the Neshana to the time of Heraclius (r. 610-641 CE), in this book author Tommaso Tesei argues that an earlier version of the text was produced during the reign of Justinian I (r. 527-565). This new historical contextualization of the text enables us to better delineate the role of the Neshana in the development of late antique, politicized, forms of apocalypticism, which assign to the Christian Roman Empire the task of establishing a cosmocratic rule in view of Jesus' Second Coming. In analyzing the contents and the ideology of this seminal text, this volume contributes to our understanding of the origins and developments of important literary motifs of Medieval literature worldwide, such as the characterization of Alexander as a pious prophet-king and the story of the gate that he erected to confine the eschatological nations of Gog and Magog. The Syriac Legend of Alexander's Gate sheds light on lesser-known aspects of political debates in the sixth-century Near East and offers historians a valuable insight into important aspects of Justinian's reign.
The Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel
Author: Matthias Henze
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161475948
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
Matthias Henze has prepared the editio princeps of the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel, a hitherto unknown apocalypse composed in the early seventh century A.D. in Syriac and preserved in a single manuscript only. Following an introduction to the Apocalypse, the book includes an edition of the Syriac text, an English translation, and a detailed commentary.Like the biblical Daniel on which it is closely modelled, the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel is an 'historical' apocalypse, i.e. it has two parts: the 'historical' first part relates the adventures of Daniel in midrashic form, from his deportation by Nebuchadnezzar until his return to Persia from Jerusalem which he visits with King Darius. Upon returning to Persia, Daniel has a sequence of apocalyptic visions which are recorded in the latter, eschatological part of the text and which describe the gradual unfolding of the end of time.The Syriac Apocalypse has preserved a number of motifs worth exploring: the messianic woes, the Gates of the North erected by Alexander the Great, a description of Antichrist's physiognomy, the Second Coming of Christ, and the new Jerusalem. Equally important, the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel bears testimony to the vibrant apocalyptic currency in Syriac Christianity.
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161475948
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
Matthias Henze has prepared the editio princeps of the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel, a hitherto unknown apocalypse composed in the early seventh century A.D. in Syriac and preserved in a single manuscript only. Following an introduction to the Apocalypse, the book includes an edition of the Syriac text, an English translation, and a detailed commentary.Like the biblical Daniel on which it is closely modelled, the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel is an 'historical' apocalypse, i.e. it has two parts: the 'historical' first part relates the adventures of Daniel in midrashic form, from his deportation by Nebuchadnezzar until his return to Persia from Jerusalem which he visits with King Darius. Upon returning to Persia, Daniel has a sequence of apocalyptic visions which are recorded in the latter, eschatological part of the text and which describe the gradual unfolding of the end of time.The Syriac Apocalypse has preserved a number of motifs worth exploring: the messianic woes, the Gates of the North erected by Alexander the Great, a description of Antichrist's physiognomy, the Second Coming of Christ, and the new Jerusalem. Equally important, the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel bears testimony to the vibrant apocalyptic currency in Syriac Christianity.
The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes
Author: Stephen H. Rapp Jr
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317016718
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 583
Book Description
Georgian literary sources for Late Antiquity are commonly held to be later productions devoid of historical value. As a result, scholarship outside the Republic of Georgia has privileged Graeco-Roman and even Armenian narratives. However, when investigated within the dual contexts of a regional literary canon and the active participation of Caucasia’s diverse peoples in the Iranian Commonwealth, early Georgian texts emerge as a rich repository of late antique attitudes and outlooks. Georgian hagiographical and historiographical compositions open a unique window onto a northern part of the Sasanian world that, while sharing striking affinities with the Iranian heartland, was home to vibrant, cosmopolitan cultures that developed along their own trajectories. In these sources, precise and accurate information about the core of the Sasanian Empire-and before it, Parthia and Achaemenid Persia-is sparse; yet the thorough structuring of wider Caucasian society along Iranian and especially hybrid Iranic lines is altogether evident. Scrutiny of these texts reveals, inter alia, that the Old Georgian language is saturated with words drawn from Parthian and Middle Persian, a trait shared with Classical Armenian; that Caucasian society, like its Iranian counterpart, was dominated by powerful aristocratic houses, many of whose origins can be traced to Iran itself; and that the conception of kingship in the eastern Georgian realm of K’art’li (Iberia), even centuries after the royal family’s Christianisation in the 320s and 330s, was closely aligned with Arsacid and especially Sasanian models. There is also a literary dimension to the Irano-Caucasian nexus, aspects of which this volume exposes for the first time. The oldest surviving specimens of Georgian historiography exhibit intriguing parallels to the lost Sasanian Xwadāy-nāmag, The Book of Kings, one of the precursors to Ferdowsī’s Shāhnāma. As tangible products of the dense cross-cultural web drawing the re
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317016718
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 583
Book Description
Georgian literary sources for Late Antiquity are commonly held to be later productions devoid of historical value. As a result, scholarship outside the Republic of Georgia has privileged Graeco-Roman and even Armenian narratives. However, when investigated within the dual contexts of a regional literary canon and the active participation of Caucasia’s diverse peoples in the Iranian Commonwealth, early Georgian texts emerge as a rich repository of late antique attitudes and outlooks. Georgian hagiographical and historiographical compositions open a unique window onto a northern part of the Sasanian world that, while sharing striking affinities with the Iranian heartland, was home to vibrant, cosmopolitan cultures that developed along their own trajectories. In these sources, precise and accurate information about the core of the Sasanian Empire-and before it, Parthia and Achaemenid Persia-is sparse; yet the thorough structuring of wider Caucasian society along Iranian and especially hybrid Iranic lines is altogether evident. Scrutiny of these texts reveals, inter alia, that the Old Georgian language is saturated with words drawn from Parthian and Middle Persian, a trait shared with Classical Armenian; that Caucasian society, like its Iranian counterpart, was dominated by powerful aristocratic houses, many of whose origins can be traced to Iran itself; and that the conception of kingship in the eastern Georgian realm of K’art’li (Iberia), even centuries after the royal family’s Christianisation in the 320s and 330s, was closely aligned with Arsacid and especially Sasanian models. There is also a literary dimension to the Irano-Caucasian nexus, aspects of which this volume exposes for the first time. The oldest surviving specimens of Georgian historiography exhibit intriguing parallels to the lost Sasanian Xwadāy-nāmag, The Book of Kings, one of the precursors to Ferdowsī’s Shāhnāma. As tangible products of the dense cross-cultural web drawing the re
Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources
Author: Emeri J. van Donzel
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004174168
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299
Book Description
Alexander's Alleged Wall Against Gog and Magog, often connected with the enclosure of the apocalyptic people, was a widespread theme among Syriac Christians in Mesopotamia. In the ninth century Sallam the Interpreter dictated an account of his search for the barrier to the Arab geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih. The reliability of Sallam's journey from Samarra to Western China and back (842-45), however, has always been a highly contested issue. Van Donzel and Schmidt consider the travel account as historical. This volume presents a translation of the source while at the same time it carefully looks into other Eastern Christian and Muslim traditions of the famous lore. A comprehensive survey reconstructs the political and topographical data. As so many other examples, this story pays witness to the influence of the Syriac Christian tradition on Koran and Muslim Traditions.
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004174168
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299
Book Description
Alexander's Alleged Wall Against Gog and Magog, often connected with the enclosure of the apocalyptic people, was a widespread theme among Syriac Christians in Mesopotamia. In the ninth century Sallam the Interpreter dictated an account of his search for the barrier to the Arab geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih. The reliability of Sallam's journey from Samarra to Western China and back (842-45), however, has always been a highly contested issue. Van Donzel and Schmidt consider the travel account as historical. This volume presents a translation of the source while at the same time it carefully looks into other Eastern Christian and Muslim traditions of the famous lore. A comprehensive survey reconstructs the political and topographical data. As so many other examples, this story pays witness to the influence of the Syriac Christian tradition on Koran and Muslim Traditions.
A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture
Author: Richard Stoneman
Publisher:
ISBN: 1107167698
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 471
Book Description
Explores how Alexander the Great has influenced literature, art and culture in Europe and the Middle East over two millennia.
Publisher:
ISBN: 1107167698
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 471
Book Description
Explores how Alexander the Great has influenced literature, art and culture in Europe and the Middle East over two millennia.
Gog and Magog
Author: Georges Tamer
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 311072023X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1084
Book Description
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 311072023X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1084
Book Description
Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources
Author: E.J. van Donzel
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047427629
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291
Book Description
Alexander's alleged Wall against Gog and Magog, often connected with the enclosure of the apocalyptic people, was a widespread theme among Syriac Christians in Mesopotamia. In the ninth century Sallam the Interpreter dictated an account of his search for the barrier to the Arab geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih. The reliability of Sallam's journey from Samarra to Western China and back (842-45), however, has always been a highly contested issue. Van Donzel and Schmidt consider the travel account as historical. This volume presents a translation of the source while at the same time it carefully looks into other Eastern Christian and Muslim traditions of the famous lore. A comprehensive survey reconstructs the political and topographical data. As so many other examples, also this story pays witness to the influence of the Syriac Christian tradition on Koran and Muslim Traditions.
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047427629
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291
Book Description
Alexander's alleged Wall against Gog and Magog, often connected with the enclosure of the apocalyptic people, was a widespread theme among Syriac Christians in Mesopotamia. In the ninth century Sallam the Interpreter dictated an account of his search for the barrier to the Arab geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih. The reliability of Sallam's journey from Samarra to Western China and back (842-45), however, has always been a highly contested issue. Van Donzel and Schmidt consider the travel account as historical. This volume presents a translation of the source while at the same time it carefully looks into other Eastern Christian and Muslim traditions of the famous lore. A comprehensive survey reconstructs the political and topographical data. As so many other examples, also this story pays witness to the influence of the Syriac Christian tradition on Koran and Muslim Traditions.
Alexander's Gate, Gog and Magog, and the Inclosed Nations
Author: Andrew Runni Anderson
Publisher: Medieval Academy of America
ISBN:
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 136
Book Description
Publisher: Medieval Academy of America
ISBN:
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 136
Book Description
The History of Alexander the Great, Being the Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes
Author: Pseudo-Callisthenes
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Syriac language
Languages : en
Pages : 566
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Syriac language
Languages : en
Pages : 566
Book Description
Syriac Christianity under Late Sasanian and Early Islamic Rule
Author: G.J. Reinink
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000945359
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
The articles in this volume are concerned with the literary responses of the Syriac communities in the Middle East to the drastic political changes of the 7th and 8th centuries, in particular the Persian occupation of the eastern provinces of Byzantium under Khusrau II, and the Islamic conquests and Umayyad rule. Several studies discuss the influential Syriac works concerning Alexander the Great written shortly after AD 628, which present the Byzantine emperor Heraclius as a new Alexander; attention is given to their polemical and propagandistic functions, and to their influence on early apocalyptic texts which respond to the Arab conquests and 'Abd al-Malik's religious propaganda at the end of the 7th century. Other studies deal with the beginnings of Syriac apologetic literature in response to early Islam, discussing texts of the first decades of the 8th century. The remaining articles focus on the religious controversies in the East Syrian community in connection with the increasing political influence of the Syrian Orthodox in Persia by the end of the 6th and the beginning of the seventh century, and the after-effects of Syriac anti-Islamic apologetics in a medieval encyclopedic text.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000945359
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
The articles in this volume are concerned with the literary responses of the Syriac communities in the Middle East to the drastic political changes of the 7th and 8th centuries, in particular the Persian occupation of the eastern provinces of Byzantium under Khusrau II, and the Islamic conquests and Umayyad rule. Several studies discuss the influential Syriac works concerning Alexander the Great written shortly after AD 628, which present the Byzantine emperor Heraclius as a new Alexander; attention is given to their polemical and propagandistic functions, and to their influence on early apocalyptic texts which respond to the Arab conquests and 'Abd al-Malik's religious propaganda at the end of the 7th century. Other studies deal with the beginnings of Syriac apologetic literature in response to early Islam, discussing texts of the first decades of the 8th century. The remaining articles focus on the religious controversies in the East Syrian community in connection with the increasing political influence of the Syrian Orthodox in Persia by the end of the 6th and the beginning of the seventh century, and the after-effects of Syriac anti-Islamic apologetics in a medieval encyclopedic text.