Copyright ©2011 by Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
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The Gannat Bussāme ‘Garden of Delights’ is an
extensive commentary on the E.-Syr. lectionary. Tradition ascribes the work
to an otherwise unknown ‘Interpreter of the Turks’. The date and place of
the composition are uncertain. Although some modern scholars hold to the
13th cent. as the date of its composition, there may be some arguments for
the assumption that the Gannat Bussāme was composed
in the 10th cent. in the city of
olim
Gannat Bussāme,
however, shows correspondences both with the monastic usage and with the
practice in the Cathedral Church of Kokhe in
Gannat Bussāme was
originally based on a lectionary system that reflected a specific local
usage. The Gannat Bussāme is a very important source
for the E.-Syr. exegetical tradition, since its commentary, apart from its
use of the commentaries of
Gannat Bussāme, containing the
exegesis of passages from Gen., Num., Isa., and the four Gospels. Secondly,
the commentaries of Ṣliba Zkha
Gannat Bussāme. It is, however, very
likely that we may identify Ṣharbokht with Ṣahārbukht b. Māsarjīs, known
from the Arabic-Islamic tradition as a medical author from Beth Lapaṭ, who
lived in the 9th cent. The excerpts from Ṣharbokht in the Gannat Bussāme concern the exegesis of pericopes from the four
Gospels, Acts, and Rom. It appears from these excerpts that Ṣharbokht’s
commentaries are typical representatives of exegetical compilation works
(comparable, for example, with the genre of Ishoʿdad of Merv’s commentaries
on the OT and NT). Unique is the way in which Ṣharbokht incorporates
theoretical medical knowledge in his exegesis. It is possible that he as a
teacher was connected with both the Theological School and the Medical
School in Beth Lapaṭ.