Full Description
The twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843-1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843-1920) were pioneering biblical scholars who became experts in a number of ancient languages. Travelling widely in the Middle East, they made several significant discoveries, including one of the earliest manuscripts of the Four Gospels in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language probably spoken by Jesus himself. First published in 1902 as part of the Studia Sinaitica, this text is transcribed and translated by Lewis from a Syriac manuscript she acquired in Suez in 1895. As well as featuring pages of the Septaguint and the Peshitta Gospels, the palimpsest includes some Arabic pages including a very early version of the Qur'an (estimated by Lewis as seventh-century). Illustrated with reproductions of the leaves of the various texts, this is a valuable resource for scholars of Syriac, but also of interest for historians of Christianity and Early Islam.
Contents
Preface; Protevangelium Jacobi; Transitus Mariae; Isaiah XXXI.6-XXXII.24; Isaiah XXXIV.1-13; LX.3-7; Exodus XIV.24-31; Syriac hymn; Mar Ephraim; Miscellanea; Mar Jacob; Miscellanea; Appendix I. Taylor-Schechter fragments; Appendix II. Transitus Mariae. Sinae text; Introduction; Table of quires; Index of proper names; Emendanda to Taylor-Schechter fragments; Septuagint text Gen. XL.3,4,7; Coran I; Coran II; Arabic document; Errata; Translation.
