Syriac

Abstract

The corpus of Jewish literature of the Second Temple period is represented in the Syriac tradition by biblical pseudepigrapha (especially of apocalyptic genre) and Josephus. The extant Syriac manuscripts containing these documents belong to the period spanning the sixth to the twentieth centuries. Like the majority of not originally Syriac writings, many texts in the corpus under discussion have been translated from Greek. Some of these texts have been preserved uniquely in Syriac, while others have parallel versions in other languages of Christian Orient. Some texts must be faithful renderings of ancient originals. Other texts in their present form are products of late antique or medieval reworking in Greek or Syriac. Differentiating between ancient and medieval, as well as between Jewish and Christian, materials is not always easy.