CHAPTER 8 Syriac Sources

       Alberto Rigolio

      The present chapter offers an overview of the Syriac sources available for the study of the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. The criterion for inclusion is, quite simply, the use of the Syriac language; the material is therefore arranged by type and is organized into “inscriptions and mosaics,” “coins,” “parchments and papyri,” “historiography,” and “other literature.”

      Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic originally spoken in Edessa (modern Urfa, in Turkey) and its surrounding region, Osrhoene, which is enclosed by the Euphrates on the West and by one of its tributaries, the Khabur, on the East. After almost two centuries of Seleucid rule, Osrhoene became independent in 133 BCE, when a dynasty of “lords” (and later “kings”) took control of it and held this region for more than three centuries until its eventual annexation to the Roman Empire (Chapter 27). It was in the context of this independent kingdom of Edessa that the local dialect of Aramaic was first put into writing, and, for this purpose, a characteristic Syriac script was developed, drawing from a late version of the Achaemenid Aramaic script. This enterprise responded to the administrative and cultural needs of the kingdom of Edessa, and it may therefore be understood as part of a broader effort to elevate non-Greek identity; the Syriac record, however, offers abundant evidence for the study of the fertile and complex interactions between Greco-Roman and Near Eastern cultures. The use of Syriac was not limited to epigraphic and documentary settings: this language was also employed in a flourishing literature that continued to be produced both within and outside Osrhoene after Osrhoene was integrated into the Roman Empire and its dynasty of rulers permanently overthrown in the middle of the third century CE. 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.

      Inscriptions and Mosaics

Like other Aramaic dialects in the Near East, such as Palmyrene, Nabataean, and Hatrene, Syriac was commonly employed in inscriptions and official documents, which were produced in the kingdom of Edessa. About one hundred and fifty such inscriptions and documents survive, the vast majority of which are chance finds; the continuous settlement of Edessa up to modern times has precluded systematic excavations, and many more inscriptions are certainly still to be recovered. Most of the known inscriptions are helpfully collected, published, and translated in one volume (Drijvers and Healey 1999; its numeration is followed here), with recent additions of new finds (notably Healey 2006; Önal 2017: 132–141); they all come from Osrhoene, with the only known exception being three short graffiti on sherds found in Krefeld, in Germany, that may suggest a link with merchants from Edessa (Luther 2009). Several inscriptions are on mosaics and are often accompanied by a rich iconography; they demonstrate a link to so-called Parthian art (for which see Chapter 12), but their technique and geometric ornamentation are Roman (Chapter 16). The language of these inscriptions is known as “Old Syriac,” thus differentiating it from “Classical Syriac,” the language used in the manuscripts and employed for literature, from which it differs in some important orthographic and morphologic features (most notably in the rendering of the proto-Semitic *ś and the use of different prefixes to mark the masculine third person singular imperfect). Scholars are still divided on the origins of the linguistic peculiarities of Classical Syriac, and possible explanations include a chronological development of Old Syriac or a reflection of a different register or variety in the spoken language (Van Rompay 1994; Healey 2008a, 2017; Gzella 2019).

      A considerable group of Old Syriac inscriptions are funerary in nature and mark the burial sites of members of the Edessene elites during the first three centuries CE. A representative of this material is the earliest surviving dated inscription, which was likely put up in the year 6 CE to mark the tomb of the governor of Birtha (now Birecik), a strategically placed settlement on the Euphrates (As 55). As frequently occurs in Old Syriac inscriptions, the text is reported in the first person by the dedicatee; his name was Zarbiyan and, in the inscription, he declares: “I made this tomb for myself and for Ḥalwiya, lady of my household, and for my children.” References to the family of the deceased are a common feature of Syriac funerary inscriptions, which often include portraits of the deceased together with family members, either in stone relief or in mosaic. Family ties are emphasized in these inscriptions, but especially important was any eventual connection of the deceased with members of the royal family. In the inscription of Zarbiyan, the deceased introduces himself not just as the “governor of Birtha,” but also as the “tutor of ‘Awidallat son of Ma‘nu son of Ma‘nu,” who can arguably be identified as the son of the king of Edessa Ma‘nu IV (d. 13 CE). Zarbiyan’s role of “tutor” (mrabbyōnō) is probably best understood as a special guardianship position that he had for a member of the royal family; this role may have equivalents in the Hatrene Aramaic mrabbyana, as is attested in a dedicatory inscription put up in the first half of the third century (H203:2; Vattioni 1981; Aggoula 1991; Beyer 1998), and in the Nabataean cognate rbw, used for the tutor of a third-century king Gadimat, “king of the Thanouēnoi,” in the context of a Greek bilingual inscription in which the word is translated as tropheus in Greek (RES 1097). According to Millar, this title indicates the extension of Hellenistic courtly culture into these kingdoms (Sartre 1979; Millar 1993: 431–434).

      The question of possible links with Hellenistic court life arises with another funerary inscription in mosaic, found in the northern cemetery of Edessa and part of the so-called Abgar mosaic (Am 10), which decorated the family tomb of a local notable, a certain Barsimya. This mosaic includes Barsimya’s portrait together with individual portraits of his grandfather, mother, brother, and son, but also, and most importantly, a prominent portrait of the king of Edessa, Abgar VIII (176–211), who occupies the central portion of the composition and is addressed as “my Lord and benefactor” in the inscription. Here, both iconography and text express the strong allegiance of Barsimya to the king, and there is a possibility that the Syriac terminology should be understood as a calque of the Greek euergetēs (Healey 2009: 243–245).

Several other inscribed mosaics from Osrhoene survive (mostly dating back to the second and third centuries CE) that similarly portray the deceased together with family members. Am 2, Am 3, and the Gadya family mosaic (Önal 2017: 132–134) represent 6, 13, and 4 individual portraits respectively; here, each person is represented individually, enclosed by a quadrangular frame, and is identified by Syriac labels. Conversely, other funerary family mosaics represent the figures standing as in a family portrait (Am 4, Am 5, Am 11, Cm 14), or, in one case, as an entire family taking part in a funerary banquet (Am 8). In this last mosaic, the deceased is depicted reclining on a couch, surrounded by his wife and members of his family; other inscribed scenes of funerary banquets survive also in stone (As 16/17, As 12, As 14; Drijvers 1977: 899 about possible links with the iconography in Palmyra). Conversely, a trace of rather more earthly banquets is represented by the fine silver jug that was found in a private house in Dura-Europos, inscribed, in Syriac, with the name of the owner and the weight of the silver (Bo 1): its decorative motifs, enriched by bunches of grapes and satyrs’ masks, indicate that the vessel was used to pour wine and likely attests to the adoption of the practice of the symposium among Syriac speakers (Baur et al. 1933: 178–181, 229–231, pl.XII). Other funerary inscriptions in stone (rather than in mosaic) include portraits of the deceased in relief, following a custom that might be compared with practices in Palmyra and Zeugma (As 6, As 26, As 40, As 43 possibly representing three women, As 50, As 60; Chapter 12); another link to burial practices in Palmyra comes from the remains of a tower-tomb south of Edessa, which is inscribed in Greek and Syriac and