- [UNTITLED]
- Acknowledgements
- List of Maps
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- From Patristics to Early Christian Studies
- Literature, Patristics, Early Christian Writing
- Which Early Christianity?
- Material Evidence (1): Archaeology
- Material Evidence (2): Visual Culture
- Epigraphy
- Palaeography and Codicology
- Jews and Christians
- Pagans and Christians
- ‘Gnosticism’
- Manichaeism
- Arius and Arians
- Pelagius and Pelagians
- The West (1): Italy, Gaul, and Spain
- The West (2): North Africa
- The East (1): Greece and Asia Minor
- The East (2): Egypt and Palestine
- The East (3): Syria and Mesopotamia
- Clergy and Laity
- The Biblical Canon
- Creeds, Councils, and Canons
- Church and Empire
- Women and Gender
- Monasticism
- Early Christian Apocryphal Literature
- Apologetics
- Homiletics
- Early Christian Historians and Historiography
- Martyr Passions and Hagiography
- Poetry and Hymnography (1): Christian Latin Poetry
- Poetry and Hymnography (2): The Greek World
- Poetry and Hymnography (3): Syriac
- Christian Philosophy
- Christian Initiation
- Eucharistic Liturgy
- Prayer
- Asceticism
- Penance
- Martyrdom and the Cult of the Saints
- Pilgrimage
- Interpretation of Scripture
- Doctrine of God
- Christ and Christologies
- Doctrine of Creation
- Early Christian Ethics
- <i>Instrumenta Studiorum</i>: Tools of the Trade
- General Subject Index
- Index of Persons Ancient (<i>Ancient and Modern</i>)
- Index of Biblical Citations
Abstract and Keywords
Poetry has always played a very important role in the history of Syriac literature, and even today, collections of poems by contemporary authors continue to appear. Verse can often also serve as the vehicle for instruction, the most notable example of which is the thirteenth-century polymath Bar 'Ebroyo's verse Grammar. But, it is above all in the writings of some of the great authors of the fourth to sixth centuries, and in the liturgical tradition, that Syriac poetry has found its finest expression. This article discusses Ephrem' s madrashe, metres, the narrative memre, dialogue poems, the later liturgical traditions, and translation into and out of Greek.
Keywords: Syriac writers, Syriac literature, Bar 'Ebroyo, liturgical tradition, Syriac poetry, madrashe, Ephrem, dialogue poems
Sebastian P. Brock is Reader in Syriac Studies Emeritus at the Oriental Institute, Oxford University.
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- [UNTITLED]
- Acknowledgements
- List of Maps
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- From Patristics to Early Christian Studies
- Literature, Patristics, Early Christian Writing
- Which Early Christianity?
- Material Evidence (1): Archaeology
- Material Evidence (2): Visual Culture
- Epigraphy
- Palaeography and Codicology
- Jews and Christians
- Pagans and Christians
- ‘Gnosticism’
- Manichaeism
- Arius and Arians
- Pelagius and Pelagians
- The West (1): Italy, Gaul, and Spain
- The West (2): North Africa
- The East (1): Greece and Asia Minor
- The East (2): Egypt and Palestine
- The East (3): Syria and Mesopotamia
- Clergy and Laity
- The Biblical Canon
- Creeds, Councils, and Canons
- Church and Empire
- Women and Gender
- Monasticism
- Early Christian Apocryphal Literature
- Apologetics
- Homiletics
- Early Christian Historians and Historiography
- Martyr Passions and Hagiography
- Poetry and Hymnography (1): Christian Latin Poetry
- Poetry and Hymnography (2): The Greek World
- Poetry and Hymnography (3): Syriac
- Christian Philosophy
- Christian Initiation
- Eucharistic Liturgy
- Prayer
- Asceticism
- Penance
- Martyrdom and the Cult of the Saints
- Pilgrimage
- Interpretation of Scripture
- Doctrine of God
- Christ and Christologies
- Doctrine of Creation
- Early Christian Ethics
- <i>Instrumenta Studiorum</i>: Tools of the Trade
- General Subject Index
- Index of Persons Ancient (<i>Ancient and Modern</i>)
- Index of Biblical Citations