Natalia Smelova

The Syriac Galen Palimpsest (SGP), a privately owned manuscript containing parts of books 2-9 of Galen’s Simple Drugs in Syriac translation, offers important evidence to the reconstruction of the Greek text of book 9. Roughly half the book survives in it, and the article discusses the methodology used to reconstruct the often poorly visible Syriac text, combining computational tools for text and image analysis. In particular, the creation of a lemmatised bilingual Greek-Syriac corpus provides an important heuristic tool for the reconstruction of the text. The Syriac version of two chapters from book 9, ‘on stones in sponges’ and ‘on ostracite’, are edited here for the first time and used to illustrate the challenges and the opportunities that the SGP offers not just for the study of the Greek textual history, but also the transmission from Greek into Arabic.

This article discusses the methodologies and tools employed in the study of the Syriac Galen Palimpsest. While it focusses on the efforts of the ongoing Manchester Project, attention is also paid to earlier and contemporary work, particularly the most recent phase of research (which can be said to have started in 2009). In this way, the Manchester Project is properly contextualised. We describe the image analysis techniques employed by the Manchester team. The challenge is to reduce the information contained in the set of multi-spectral images and enhance it where it can usefully distinguish between undertext and overtext. One can either use unsupervised or supervised dimensional reduction techniques. An unsupervised method such as principle component analysis (PCA) provides an automatic result, whereas a supervised method such as Canonical Variates Analysis (CVA) requires one to teach the system by identifying blank areas, areas with only overtext, areas with only undertext, and areas with both. Using the resulting improvements to the visibility of the undertext, the Manchester team has been able to make significant advances in identifying where its folios fit into Galen's Book of Simple Drugs. The use of a program called SketchEngine is outlined, which permits an engagement with parallel Greek and Syriac texts and powerful searches - this is particularly useful for those folios that come from Books 6–8, for which a parallel Syriac manuscript exists. Having completed this initial stage, it became clear that around 100 folios that did not come from Books 6-8 remained to be identified. SketchEngine again has proved to be very useful in facilitating identifications of these folios. To illustrate the different challenges posed by these two distinct scenarios, examples are provided from Books 5 and 8.

The treatise On the Mixture and Power of Simple Drugs (Περὶ κράσεως καὶ δυνάμεως τῶν ἁπλῶν φαρμάκων) by Galen of Pergamum (129-216) is transmitted in a number of Greek manuscripts, and was translated into Syriac and Arabic. One Greek manuscript, Vatican Urbinas gr. 67, contains a passage from book IX about digamma and ‘Armenian earth’, not transmitted in the majority of Greek manuscripts and not included in the standard Greek edition by Kühn (1826). Galen called ‘Armenian earth’ a mineral that probably was orpiment, although the exact identification remains problematic. We now present a critical edition of the Syriac translation of part of this passage on the basis of the Syriac Galen Palimpsest; discuss the historic use of digamma; and explore the importance of Galen’s attestation of Armenian words.

In this article, we provide an update on the progress of the AHRC-funded Syriac Galen Palimpsest Project, which is directed by Peter E. Pormann at the University of Manchester. We also present a newly identified folio from Book 3 of Galen's On Simple Drugs - a book hitherto not known to be represented in the manuscript. We offer some preliminary conclusions about the original medical manuscript's codicological structure, particularly the composition of its quires and the sequence of hair and flesh sides of parchment. Finally, we outline our approach to analysing the undertext's palaeography, with reference to the methodology devised by Ayda Kaplan.

This article presents an update on the collaborative research recently devoted to the spectral imaging, reading, and study of the so-called “Syriac Galen Palimpsest” (or “SGP”), of which the undertext contains a difficult-to-read but important witness to an early (6th-century) Syriac translation of Galen’s treatise On simple drugs by Sergius of Rēš 'Aynā. Important recent developments include a large number of new bifolia identifications, many of which were made possible thanks to collaboration between two on-going European projects: the ERC “Floriental” project at the CNRS (UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée) in Paris, and the AHRC project “Syriac Galen Palimpsest” at the University of Manchester.

Cet article propose une mise à jour sur les recherches collaboratives consacrées récemment à l’imagerie spectrale, à la lecture et à l’étude du « Syriac Galen Palimpsest » (ou « SGP »), dont le sous-texte véhicule un témoin important - mais difficile à lire - de la traduction syriaque du traité de Galien Sur les médicaments simples élaborée par Sergius de Rēš 'Aynā au VIe siècle. Parmi les développements récents majeurs, notons surtout le grand nombre de nouvelles identifications de bifolios, dont beaucoup ont été possibles grâce à la collaboration fructueuse de deux projets européens en cours : le projet ERC « Floriental » hébergé au CNRS à Paris (UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée), et le projet AHRC « Syriac Galen Palimpsest » hébergé à l’université de Manchester.

The article examines a selection of hymns of potentially Byzantine origin in the eighth-to-tenth-century manuscripts of the New Tropologion, which was the hymnal of the Anastasis cathedral of Jerusalem and in churches that followed its rite. Such adoption in the rite of Jerusalem represented a Byzantine influence before the wave of liturgical Byzantinisation that started in the late ninth and tenth centuries. For the first time, three versions of the New Tropologion are studied together: the Greek original and the Syriac and Georgian translations. The Greek Tropologion Sinai MS NE MΓ 56+5 is the primary material, compared with Sinai MS Syriac 48 and several Georgian New Iadgari manuscripts from Sinai. The study identifies one certain Byzantine element in the New Tropologion: parts of the feast of St. John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople, and several probable Byzantine elements: the interpolation of the second ode in three canons by Kosmas of Jerusalem and one by John, and parts of the stichera series Aἱ ἀγγελικαὶ προπορεύεσθε δυνάμεις attributed to Romanos the Melodist. By contrast, the interpolated ode 1 in Kosmas’ canon for Great Saturday seems to be of Palestinian origin, and therefore not a Byzantine loan, contrary to traditional views. The article shows that there is considerable variation between the different versions of the New Tropologion.

The article deals with the manuscript IOM, RAS Syr. 34, one leaf of parchment originating from the collection of Nikolai Likhachev. It contains a Syriac translation of selected documents of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (AD 325): the introduction to the canons, a bilingual Greek-Syriac list of 42 bishops, and the first five canons of the council. Most of the texts are incomplete and damaged. The present article focuses mainly on the study and commented publication of the five Nicaean canons from IOM, RAS Syr. 34. On the basis of comparative textual research the author aims to show the place of the St. Petersburg manuscript in the history of Syriac translations of the canons.

The article deals with the remarkable exegetical works ascribed to St John Chrysostom – the Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah (CPG 4416) partially preserved in Greek, the major part existing in Armenian translation only, and the cycle of six homilies on King Uzziah, ‘In illud: Vidi Dominum’ (Isa. 6:1) (CPG 4417). Although the Greek text of both of them was studied comprehensively by J. Dumortier and their critical edition appeared in the early 1980s, the manuscript tradition of the Oriental versions – Armenian and Syriac, which provide important textual evidence, remains uninvestigated. The article aims to examine the features of Syriac and to some extent of Armenian manuscripts, which have preserved these valuable pieces of patristic thought, and to provide a preliminary solution for some historical and philological puzzles connected with the texts.

"В статье опубликованы избранные письма А.Я. Борисова П.К. Коковцову, хранящиеся в СПбФ АРАН, а также фрагмент письма А.Я. Борисова И.Ю. Крачковскому, посвященного памяти П.К. Коковцова и хранящегося в семейном архиве. В предисловии приводятся биографические сведения об обоих ученых-востоковедах, дается обзор их разносторонней научной деятельности, которая нашла столь яркое отражение в письмах А.Я. Борисова. Первое письмо представляет особый интерес, так как написано на иврите и относится, по-видимому, к 1924 г. – времени прибытия А.Я. Борисова в Ленинград. В других письмах, которые датированы разным временем вплоть до конца 1930-х гг., обсуждаются различные темы в рамках основной области научных интересов обоих ученых – семитологии. Значительное внимание уделено еврейско-арабской литературе, главным образом, в рукописях из собрания А. Фирковича (РНБ), и арамейской эпиграфике (надписи из Ирана и Пальмиры). Последнее письмо, адресованное И.Ю. Крачковскому, написано Борисовым в январе 1942 г. вскоре после смерти П.К. Коковцова. В нем содержатся ценные биографические сведения как о П.К. Коковцове, так и о самом А.Я. Борисове, и раскрываются истоки их научных интересов.

The article contains a publication of selected letters of a notable Russian semitologist Andrey Yakovlevich Borisov (1903-1942) to the Academician Pavel Konstantinovich Kokovtsoff (1861-1942), Borisov’s University teacher and a prominent scholar in the field of Semitic Studies. Both scholars died tragically during the Siege of Leningrad. The introduction contains biographical data and an outline of the fruitful and versatile research of both scholars, which was so vividly presented in the letters of Borisov. The first letter is probably the most interesting of all as it was written in Hebrew in a very high and elaborate style and it can be dated to 1924 when Borisov first came to Leningrad from Tartu and was aspiring to become a student of Kokovtsoff at the Leningrad University. He describes dramatically his learning and his amazing achievements in reading Hebrew literature. Other letters, which are dated to the end of 1930s, discuss various subjects in the general field of Semitic Studies, but mainly Judeo-Arabic literature in manuscripts of the Firkovich Collection in the Russian National Library and the Aramaic inscriptions from the Ancient Iran and Palmyra. The last letter published in the article is addressed to Ignatiy Yulianovich Krachkovskiy (1883-1951) and was written by Borisov in January 1942, a few days after the death of Kokovtsoff and a few months before his own untimely demise. This letter contains valuable information about both Kokovtsoff’s and Borisov’s families and early life and shows the origins of their specific interest in Semitic studies."

Over the last decade, scientists and humanities scholars have been involved in a collaborative effort to decipher the Syriac Galen Palimpsest, a unique manuscript containing the Syriac translation of Galen’s pharmacological treatise On Simple Drugs. In this truly transdisciplinary meeting, the speakers will showcase recent breakthroughs in deciphering this palimpsest by developing new methods in digital philology and imaging. They will highlight the important contribution of Middle Eastern Christians to the development of medicine, and demonstrate how their research is leading to a paradigm shift in revealing and understanding erased texts that remained unreadable to previous generations.
https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/exploring-syriac-galen-palimpsest-ancient-drugs-synchrotron-radiation

The Syriac Galen Palimpsest, a unique, ancient and globally important medical manuscript, will be publicly exhibited in the UK for the first time in Seeing the Invisible, the new exhibition at The John Rylands Library. The exhibition, which runs between 30 October 2019 and 8 March 2020, explores the legacy of the most influential community you may never have heard of - expert Syriac translators of the medieval Middle East.

Curated by Professor Peter E. Pormann and Dr Natalia Smelova in collaboration with The John Rylands Library, the exhibition is based on ground-breaking research resulting from the AHRC-funded project ‘The Syriac Galen Palimpsest: Galen's On Simple Drugs and the Recovery of Lost Texts through Sophisticated Imaging Techniques.’ The international team of scholars working on this project has revealed how medieval Syriac Christians in the Middle East shaped medical knowledge.