Syriac Gnomologies as Link between Greek and Arabic Collections of Sayings

• Applicant: Dr. Yury Arzhanov
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies ; History of Philosophy
• Term: from 2015 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 263801714

The present project focuses on the collections of sayings (Gnomologies) which have been transmitted in Syriac-Aramaic language and form the "missing link" between Greek Hellenistic and Mediaeval Arabic gnomic collections. The main aim of the project consists in a scholarly analysis and publication of the three Syriac gnomologies which are characteristic of the Syriac tradition of wisdom literature and impart particularly well an impression of its scope and diversity. The following texts stand in the focus of the project: 1) "Sayings of the Greek Philosophers on the Soul" (critical edition on the basis of 10 Mss. with a translation and commentary); 2) "Wise Sayings of the Philosophers" in the Ms. Dublin 1505 (diplomatic edition with a translation and commentary); 3) two collections of sentences of Menander (new German translation and commentary). The analysis of the content and sources of these gnomologies on the background of the Late Antique and Mediaeval literature will be an important contribution to the study of the Syriac-Aramaic literature, on the one hand, and to the understanding the role of the Syriac gnomic collections in transmission of the wisdom literature, on the other. The results of the work will be interesting for a wide spectrum of specialists in the history of culture and literature. The results will be made available to the scholarly community both in published and in "open access" form.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Canada
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Wilfried Eisele; Professor Dr. Gerhard Endress; Dr. Grigory Kessel; Professor Dr. Gerbern Oegema; Dr. Ute Pietruschka