Syriac Sources

Rigolio, A.

Abstract

This chapter offers an overview of the Syriac sources available for the study of the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic originally spoken in Edessa and its surrounding region, Osrhoene, which is enclosed by the Euphrates on the West and by one of its tributaries, on the East. Syriac literature, which includes a particularly rich strand of historiographical writing, continued to flourish for more than a millennium, and offers rich and fascinating material for the study of the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. The chapter focuses on Syriac coinage alone: the only known coins with Syriac inscriptions were minted in bronze during the second half of the second century, under the reigns of the kings Wael, Ma‘nu VIII, and Abgar VIII. Among the Syriac sources for the study of the Roman Near East, parchments and papyri occupy a prominent position.

Citation

Rigolio, A. (2022). Syriac Sources. In T. Kaizer (Ed.), A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East (76-85). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119037354.ch8

• Online Publication Date: Dec 21, 2021
• Publication Date: 2022-01
• Deposit Date: May 8, 2019
• Publisher: Wiley
• Pages: 76-85
• Series Title: Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World
• Book Title: A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East
• ISBN: 9781444339826
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119037354.ch8
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1661003
• Contract Date: May 8, 2019