The Peshitta: Its Use in Literature and Liturgy.

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The Astrolabe

An ancient instrument for solving problems of location and distance, as well as time

Astrolábon órganon is the word used in Ptolemaeus Syntaxis 5.1 to describe a form of armillary sphere consisting of both fixed and rotating rings for determining the ecliptic co-ordinates of stars. Also called astrolabe were two-dimensional representations of the celestial sphere: over fixed disks with a representation of the horizon of the earth (in each case for a specific geographic latitude) and its parallels up to the zenith lies a rotating representation of the heavens (called ‘spider’ or ‘net’) with zodiac and indicators for some of the brightest stars. On the back is an indicator (‘alidade’) with visor plates for calculating the height of the stars. The astrolabe allows its user to determine the hours of day and night, the positions of stars, and the height and depth of objects on earth (mountains, buildings, wells). The oldest extant descriptions of the flat, planispheric astrolabe come from Iohannes Philoponus, 6th century AD, and (in Syrian) from Severus Sebokht, c. 660 AD. Indirect references may date back as early as Theon (4th cent.). Between the 8th and the 9th centuries the Arabs appropriated the knowledge of the astrolabe. At the end of the 10th century and again in the 12th century, they passed it on to Western Europe, where astrolabes were constructed up until the 17th cent. Today, one Byzantine astrolabe (from 1062) is extant, as are some 750 Arabic-Islamic astrolabes and approximately the same number of European astrolabes.

This information is abstracted from Brill's New Pauly, the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. For more information see www.brillsnewpauly.com or visit our website catalog: www.brill.nl/bnp
Brill’s New Pauly and the complete original Der Neue Pauly, the recognized standard reference works for students and scholars of the ancient world are also available online. This dual-language edition offers basic and advanced search facilities and is fully browsable. New English translations are added as they become available. See www.paulyonline.brill.nl for more information and a demo version.

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Publications & Services> News> Forthcoming Titles> The Peshitta: Its Use in Literature and Liturgy.

The Peshitta: Its Use in Literature and Liturgy.

Papers Read at the Third Peshitta Symposium

Edited by Bas ter Haar Romeny

Books

Available
Publication year: 2006


Series:	Monographs of the Peshitta Institute Leiden, 15
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 15658 6
ISBN-10:	90 04 15658 5

Cover:	Cloth
Number of pages:	xxiv, 416 pp.

List price:	€ 146.00 / US$ 217.00

Table of contents

KEYNOTE LECTURES

The Use of the Syriac Versions in the Liturgy
Sebastian P. Brock

Between the School and the Monk’s Cell: The Syriac Old Testament Commentary Tradition
Lucas Van Rompay

Problems in the Syriac New Testament and How Syrian Exegetes Solved Them
William L. Petersen

PAPERS

The Biblical Text in the Disputation of Sergius the Stylite against a Jew
A. Peter Hayman

Reworking the Biblical Text in the Dramatic Dialogue Poems on the Old Testament Patriarch Joseph
Kristian Heal

The Old Testament in the New: The Syriac Versions of the New Testament as a Witness to the Text of the Old Testament Peshitta
Jan Joosten

The ‘Syriac Masora’ and the New Testament Peshitta
Andreas Juckel

The Four Kingdoms in Peshitta Daniel 7 in the Light of the Early History of Interpretation
Arie van der Kooij

Aphrahat’s Use of his Old Testament
Marinus D. Koster

‘There is No Need of Turtle-Doves or Young Pigeons . . .’ (Jacob of Sarug). Quotations and Non-Quotations of Leviticus in Selected Syriac Writers
David J. Lane

Ephrem, his School, and the Yawnaya: Some Remarks on the Early Syriac Versions of the New Testament
Christian Lange

Isho‘dad’s Knowledge of Hebrew as Evidenced from his Treatment of Peshitta Ezekiel
Jerome A. Lund

The Text of the New Testament in the Acts of Judas Thomas
Craig E. Morrison, O.Carm.

Interpretation in the Greek Antiochenes and the Syriac Fathers
Shinichi Muto

The Book of Proverbs in Aphrahat’s Demonstrations
Robert J. Owens

Sirach Quotations in the Discourses of Philoxenus of Mabbug: Text and Context
Wido van Peursen

The Reception of Peshitta Chronicles: Some Elements for Investigation
David Phillips

The Greek vs. the Peshitta in a West Syrian Exegetical Collection (BL Add. 12168)
Bas ter Haar Romeny

The Peshitta and Biblical Quotations in the Longer Syriac Version of the Commentary of Athanasius on the Psalms (BL Add. 14568), with special attention to Psalm 23 (24) and 102 (103)
Harry F. van Rooy

The Reception of the Peshitta Psalter in Bar Salibi’s Commentary on the Psalms
Stephen D. Ryan, O.P.

Obscure Words in the Peshitta of Samuel, according to Theodore bar Koni
Alison Salvesen

New Testament Quotations in the Breviary of the Syrian Orthodox Church. Example: The Annunciation (Luke 1:26–38)
Aho Shemunkasho

The Psalm Headings in the West Syrian Tradition
David G.K. Taylor

Peshitta New Testament Quotations in the West Syrian Anaphoras: Some General Observations
Baby Varghese

Reviews

... the proceedings of the Third Peshitta
Symposium in 2001 (first two in 1985 and 1993) present a major contribution to the
study of Syriac scriptures. [...] While there was certainly no attempt to be all-inclusive in this volume, the editor and
participants come surprisingly close to providing a virtual manual of the reception history
of the Peshitta. - Robert A. Kitchen, Knox-Metropolitan United Church Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Readership

All those interested in the history of biblical interpretation, the textual history of the Syriac versions (Old and New Testaments), as well as Syriac liturgy and Syriac and Greek patristic literature.

About the author(s)

Bas ter Haar Romeny, Ph.D. (1997), Leiden University, is Professor of Old Testament and Eastern Christianity at Leiden University. He has published extensively on the biblical text and the history of its interpretation, including A Syrian in Greek Dress (Peeters, 1997).

For the first time, this volume brings together biblical scholars and specialists in Syriac liturgy and patristic literature. It contains introductory essays on the Syriac versions in the liturgy, the Syriac Old Testament commentary tradition, and the challenges posed to exegetes by the different Syriac versions of the New Testament, written by the leading scholars in the field. Twenty-one further contributions discuss the patristic and liturgical evidence for the development of the text of the Peshitta and other Syriac versions, as well as the reception and use of those versions in the exegesis and liturgy of the Syriac Churches. These studies are fully updated versions of the papers read at the Third Peshitta Symposium, held in Leiden, 12-15 August 2001.