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Document Details : Title: New Syriac Dormition Fragments from Palimpsests in the Schøyen Collection and the British Library Subtitle: Presentation, Edition and Translation Author(s): SHOEMAKER, Stephen J. Journal: Le Muséon Volume: 124 Issue: 3-4 Date: 2011 Pages: 259-278 DOI: 10.2143/MUS.124.3.2141854 Abstract : These new Syriac fragments (BL syr. Add. 17,137 and Schøyen MS 579) offer early witnesses to the apocryphal traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Both are important for the evidence they provide for the circulation of these apocrypha in the fifth and sixth centuries, for the 'Six Books' apocryphon in the case of the Schøyen fragments, and for the Obsequies of the Virgin in the case of the British Library fragment. The British Library fragment is especially important inasmuch as it confirms the presence of certain elements in the earliest version of this Dormition apocryphon. In fact, the British Library fragment would appear to present one of the earliest witnesses to belief in Marian intercession. The Schøyen fragments, for their part, offer further evidence for the circulation and redactional diversity of the 'Six Books' apocryphon now in several late ancient Syriac manuscripts. This article presents editions and translations of these two fragments. |
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