ABSTRACT

This volume surveys the 'Syriac world', the culture that grew up among the Syriac-speaking communities from the second century CE and which continues to exist and flourish today, both in its original homeland of Syria and Mesopotamia, and in the worldwide diaspora of Syriac-speaking communities. The five sections examine the religion; the material, visual, and literary cultures; the history and social structures of this diverse community; and Syriac interactions with their neighbours ancient and modern. There are also detailed appendices detailing the patriarchs of the different Syriac denominations, and another appendix listing useful online resources for students.

The Syriac World

offers the first complete survey of Syriac culture and fills a significant gap in modern scholarship. This volume will be an invaluable resource to undergraduate and postgraduate students of Syriac and Middle Eastern culture from antiquity to the modern era.

Chapter 26 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at https://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. 

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

part I|35 pages

Backgrounds

part II|157 pages

The Syriac World in Late Antiquity

chapter 7|15 pages

The Syriac Church Denominations

An overview

chapter 10|18 pages

Syriac and Syrians in the Later Roman Empire

Questions of identity

part III|87 pages

The Syriac Language

chapter 14|21 pages

The Classical Syriac Language

chapter 15|23 pages

Writing Syriac

Manuscripts and inscriptions

part IV|290 pages

Syriac Literary, Artistic, and Material Culture in Late Antiquity

chapter 19|12 pages

Later Syriac Poetry

chapter 25|16 pages

Syriac Philosophy

chapter 26|22 pages

Syriac Medicine

chapter 28|78 pages

Churches in Syriac Space

Architectural and liturgical context and development

chapter 29|13 pages

Women and Children in Syriac Christianity

Sounding Voices

chapter 30|14 pages

Syriac Agriculture 350–1250

part V|216 pages

Syriac Christianity Beyond the Ancient World

chapter 31|42 pages

Syriac Christianity in Central Asia

chapter 32|28 pages

Syriac Christianity in China

chapter 33|45 pages

Syriac Christianity in India

chapter 35|13 pages

Syriac in a Diverse Middle East

From the Mongol Ilkhanate to Ottoman dominance, 1286–1517

chapter 36|20 pages

The Maronite Church

chapter 39|14 pages

Changing Demography

Christians in Iraq since 1991

part VI|27 pages

Appendices