Apocrypha Syriaca
The Protevangelium Jacobi and Transitus Mariae

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.

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Product details

• Date Published: February 2012
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9781108043489
• length: 326 pages

• dimensions: 244 x 170 x 17 mm
• weight: 0.52kg
• contains: 8 b/w illus.
• availability: Available