The scattered pearls : a history of Syriac literature and sciences = al-Luʼluʼ al-manthūr fī tārīkh al-ʻulūm wa-al-ādāb al-Suryaniyya

This book is an extensive survey of Syriac literature. In his capacity as a Syriac clergyman, the author was able to extensively examine hundreds of Syriac manuscripts throughout the Middle East, many of which did not survive World War I. While most Western accounts of Syriac literature end around the thirteenth century, Barsoum covers almost 2000 years of Syriac literature up to the writers of the early twentieth century. Patriarch Aphram Barsoum's Al-lu'lu' Al Manthur (the Scattered Pearls) Is The Most Extensive Survey Of Syriac Literature Ever Compiled By An Eastern Scholar. Unlike Its European Counterparts, It Covers Syriac Literature Until The Beginning Of The Twentieth Century. The Wealth Of Barsoum's Work Lies In The Fact That It Draws Upon Hundreds Of Manuscripts Which Barsoum Personally Examined Before The Outbreak Of World War I; Many Of These Manuscripts Are Now Unaccounted For. Western Scholarship Has Been Deprived Of This Work For Decades As It Was Available Only In The Original Arabic, And Later In A Syriac Translation By Dolabani (1967). Only Parts Of Its Contents, Particularly The Later Biographies, Were Made Accessible Indirectly Through Rudolf Macuoh's Geschichte Der Spät- Und Neusyrischen Literatur (1976). Matti Moosa's Translation Fills A Gap And Will Be Welcomed By Scholars, Students And General Readers.--jacket. By Ignatius Aphram I Barsoum ; Translated And Edited By Matti Moosa ; With A Foreword By Cyril Aphrem Karim. Translation Of : Kitāb Al-lu'lu' Al-manthur Fi Tārīkh Al'ulūm Wal'Ādāb Al-suryāniyya, Aleppo, 2nd Ed., 1956. Originally Published As A Doctoral Thesis Of Matti Moosa At Columbia University In 1965. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "Patriarch Aphram Barsoum's al-Lu'lu' al Manthur (The Scattered Pearls) is the most extensive survey of Syriac literature ever compiled by an eastern scholar. Unlike its European counterparts, it covers Syriac literature until the beginning of the twentieth century. The wealth of Barsoum's work lies in the fact that it draws upon hundreds of manuscripts which Barsoum personally examined before the outbreak of World War I; many of these manuscripts are now unaccounted for." "Western scholarship has been deprived of this work for decades as it was available only in the original Arabic, and later in a Syriac translation by Dolabani (1967). Only parts of its contents, particularly the later biographies, were made accessible indirectly through Rudolf Macuoh's Geschichte der spat- und neusyrischen Literatur (1976). Matti Moosa's translation fills a gap and will be welcomed by scholars, students and general readers."--BOOK JACKET. The only history of Syriac literature to make use of hundreds of manuscripts from the east.