Reception and elaboration of philosophy within the School of Nisibis. By the means of a commentary and an analysis of Barhadbesabba's The Cause for the institution of the teaching period in the schools (around 600 A.D.)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Matthias Perkams
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy ; Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: from 2017 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 392250960

The proposed project treats, by the way of a transdisciplinary collaboration, the reception and transformation of Greek philosophy in the school of Nisibis before the background of the Sasanid empire in Persia:From a philosophical point of view, one has to investigate the question of what was the role of philosophy within this East Syriac school tradition and which philosophical approaches have been developed there. In order to reach that, it is crucial to treat the problem (largely neglected up to now) of how the Syriac author worked with the Aristotelian texts, that became available in Syriac from the early 6th century onwards.Furthermore, from the perspective of the science of Eastern Christianity, we intend to ask about how the school of Nisibis, given its predominantly late ancient Greek intellectual tradition, created an image of its own, taking into account the challenges posed by its surroundings, i.e. the multireligious Persian empire of the Sasanids. This question is closely linked with the first one, because the well attested relevance of philosophy in the Sasanid empire cannot be separated from the reception of Greek philosophical thought in the school of Nisibis.The project aims at contributing to both question by an exact commentary and a philosophical analysis, from both a historical and a systematic point of view of the text The Cause for the institution of the teaching period of the schools by Barhadbesabba. This text, the author of which understands his work als philosophy in the broad sense this word had acquired in late antiquity, has been recognized recently as the most important source for the intellectual history of the school of Nisibis. Thus, we intend to reach a more comprehensive understanding of this source itself and the school tradition behind it by analysing its philosophical ideas, by tracing its sources and parallels in the remaining literature from the Sassanid empire and its neighbourhood as well as from the (East-)Syriac literary tradition. A continuous commentary of the text shall be supplemented by interpretative essays to special problems and by the first German translation of the text.In order to achieve these aims, the project is founded upon a collaborative effort of Prof. Dr. Matthias Perkams (Ancient and Medieval Philosophy) and PD Dr. Alexander Schilling (Oriens Christianus and Medieval History), who has gathered much experience in research upon the history of the Persian empire, especially regarding its religious, intellectual and cultural history.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants