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Fig. 1. Orpheus taming wild animals. Mosaic decorating the tomb of Papa, with Syriac inscription dated 194, and reflecting Greco-Roman culture of the Edessa area under the Abgarids. Dallas Museum of Art. Photo: John F. Healey. See J. F. Healey. ‘A new Syriac mosaic inscription’, JSS 51 (2006), 313–27 as well as U. Possekel, ‘Orpheus among the animals. A new dated mosaic from Osrhoene’, OC 92 (2008), 1–35. See entries: Abgarids of Edessa, Art and architecture, Edessa, and Old Syriac documents.

Fig. 2. King Abgar receiving the portrait of Jesus. Modern relief in the Syr. Orth. Church of St. George in Aleppo. The two inscriptions contain extracts from the epistolary exchange between Abgar and Jesus. From Brock and Taylor, Hidden Pearl, vol. 2, 50 (Photo: Riccardo Grassetti). See entry: Teaching of Addai

Fig. 3c. Alqosh, Iraq. The Monastery of our Lady of the Seeds is at the foot of the mountain and the village is in the distance. The photograph is taken from the mountain of the Monastery of Rabban Hormizd. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entries: Alqosh and Monastery of Rabban Hormizd.

Fig. 4. Alqosh, Iraq. The village in the snow. Photo: Lucas Van Rompay (1971). See entry: Alqosh.

Fig. 5. Amid (Diyarbakır). Syr. Orth. Church of Yoldat Aloho. Photo: Hidemi Takahashi. See entry: Amid.

Fig. 6c. Apamea: general view with central colonnade. Photo: Ute Possekel. See entry: Apamea.

Fig. 7. Armenian inscriptions in the Dayro d-Mor Behnam, main entrance. The upper inscription was left by an Armenian visitor from Sebaste (Sivas) in 1884. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entries: Syriac contacts with Armenian Christianity, and Dayro d-Mor Behnam.

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Fig. 8. Initial page of the Syriac-Armenian lexicon in ms. Yale Syr. 9. Beinecke Library of Yale University. See H. Takahashi and J.J.S. Weitenberg. ‘The Shorter Syriac-Armenian Glossary in Ms. Yale Syriac 9. Part 1’, JCSSS 10 (2010) 68–83. See entries: Syriac contacts with Armenian Christianity, Manuscripts, and Suroac Lexicography

Fig. 9. Basilica of Kharab Shams, Syria, built in the 4th cent. and partially reconstructed in the 5th cent. One of the many abandoned Christian monuments in the region between Aleppo and Antioch. Photo: Annewies van den Hoek. See I. Peña, The Christian art of Byzantine Syria (1996), 64–65. See entry: Art and architecture.

Fig. 10. Bema lectern from Bennawi, near Aleppo. Garden of the National Museum Damascus. From Brock and Taylor, Hidden Pearl, vol. 2, 43 (Photo: Riccardo Grassetti). See entries: Art and architecture and Inscriptions.

Fig. 11. Mosaic with the female name of Symeonis. From a monastery at Tall Biʿa, near Raqqaʿ, Syria. Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, Grabung Tall Biʿa. Photo: Anwar ʿAbd al-Ghafour. See entries: Art and architecture and Inscriptions.

Fig. 12c. Full-page ornamental cross in biblical ms. preserved in the Library of Dayro d-Mor Behnam, Iraq, dated 1653. Courtesy of Amir Harrak. See entries: Art and architecture, Dayro d-Mor Behnam, Manuscripts.

Fig. 13. Bronze incense burner from Tagrit, with scenes from the life of Jesus. In this image the baptism is depicted. Baghdad Iraqi Museum no. 11243/1. Courtesy of Amir Harrak. See A. Harrak, ‘The incense burner of Takrit: An iconographical analysis’, ECA (2006), 47–52. See entries: Art and architecture and Tagrit.

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Fig. 14. Liturgical fan, made for Dayr al-Suryān (Egypt) and containing a Syriac inscription dated 1202/3. Courtesy of the Musée Royal de Mariemont (Morlanwelz, Belgium). See B. Snelders, Identity and Christian-Muslim interaction. Medieval art of the Syrian Orthodox from the Mosul area (OLA 198; 2010), 105–50. See entries: Art and architecture, Inscriptions, and Dayr al-Suryān.

Fig. 15. Modern Syr. Cath. Church in Zaydal, near Ḥimṣ, Syria. The church is decorated with wall paintings by the Maronite artist and scholar Abdo Badwi, who draws much of his inspiration from earlier Syr. Christian art. Photo: Lucas Van Rompay. See also Fig. 86. See entries: Art and architecture and Wall paintings in Syria and Lebanon.

Fig. 16. Bahdeidat, Lebanon, Maronite Church of Mar Tadros. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel. See M. Immerzeel, Identity puzzles. Medieval Christian art in Syria and Lebanon (2009), 101–5. See entry: Bahdeidat.

Fig. 17. Bahdeidat, Lebanon, Maronite Church of Mar Tadros. St. Stephen: detail of the lower part of the wall painting program in the conch of the apse, with Syriac inscription. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel.. See entries: Bahdeidat and Wall paintings in Syria and Lebanon.

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Fig. 18. Autographed ex-libris of Bar ʿEbroyo, preserved in a ms. in Istanbul. Published in A. Sayılı, ‘Khwāja Naṣīr-i Tūsī wa raṣadkhāna-i Marāgha’, Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi 14 (1956), plate opposite p. 16. See entries: Grigorios Bar ʿEbroyo, Manuscripts, and Scribes.

Fig. 19. The Syriac Saint Barṣawmo depicted in the nave of the church of St. Antony’s Monastery, Egypt, with an inscription partly in Syriac and partly in Coptic. Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt. Courtesy of Ahmed Mansour. See Kh. Azab and A. Mansour, Journey of Writing in Egypt (2008), 158 (Fig.10). See entries: Barṣawmo and Syriac contacts with Coptic Christianity.

Fig. 20. The tombs of Grigorios Bar ʿEbroyo and his brother Grigorios Barṣawmo Ṣafī in the Dayro d-Mor Matay, with inscriptions in Garshuni and Syriac, probably dating from the 17th cent. Photo: Amir Harrak. See Harrak, Syriac and Garshuni inscriptions of Iraq, AF.01.05. See entries: Grigorios Bar ʿEbroyo, Grigorios Barṣawmo Ṣafī, Inscriptions, and Dayro d-Mor Matay.

Fig. 21. Portrait of Mor Severius Barsoum, the future Patriarch Ignatius Afram Barsoum. From Brock and Taylor, Hidden Pearl, vol. 3, 205 (Photo: Riccardo Grassetti). See entry: Ignatius Afram Barsoum.

Fig. 22. Barṭelle, Iraq. Syr. Orth. Church of Mart Shmuni. Photo. Amir Harrak. See entry: Barṭelle.

Fig. 23. Barṭelle, Iraq. Syr. Orth. Church of Mart Shmuni: ancient baptismal font with Syr. inscription, dated 1342/43. Photo: Amir Harrak. See Harrak, Syriac and Garshuni inscriptions of Iraq, AB.01.01. See entries: Barṭelle and Inscriptions.

Fig. 24. First page of P. Bedjan’s translation into Neo-Aramaic of Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ (1885). See entry: Paul Bedjan.

Fig. 25. Dayro d-Mor Behnam: entrance to the main building and back side of the martyrium (left). Photo: Lucas Van Rompay (1971). See entry: Dayro d-Mor Behnam.

Fig. 26. Dayro d-Mor Behnam: entrance to the main building, after renovation. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entry: Dayro d-Mor Behnam.

Fig. 27. Dayro d-Mor Behnam: martyrium of Behnam and Sarah (left) and entrance building Photo. Amir Harrak. See entry: Dayro d-Mor Behnam.

Fig. 28. Dayro d-Mor Behnam: outer gate of the church with Syriac and Arabic inscriptions. Photo taken by the University of Michigan Expedition for the Iraqi Department of Antiquities (in the 1930s). Courtesy of Amir Harrak. See Harrak, Syriac and Garshuni inscriptions of Iraq, AE.0105. See entries: Dayro d-Mor Behnam and Inscriptions.

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Fig. 29. Ms. London, Brit. Libr., Add. 14,471. E.-Syr. ms. containing the Four Gospels (the passage reproduced is Luke 11:48–12:10). The ms. was written in Nisibis and is dated only by the regnal year of the Sasanian king Khusrau II (590–628), viz. his 25th year (= 614/5). From Hatch, Album, 212 (Plate CLXI). See S. Brock, ‘Early dated manuscripts of the Church of the East, 7th–13th century’, JAAS. 21.2 (2007), 10–11. See entries: New Testament manuscripts Bible and Manuscripts.

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Fig. 30. Folio from ms. 716 of the Edgar J. Goodspeed Collection of the Special Collections Library of the University of Chicago. Incomplete ms. of the Peshitta New Testament (probably 9th cent.). The passage reproduced is Acts 27:33–28:6, with several (secondary) Arabic glosses in the right-hand margin. See entries: New Testament manuscripts Bible and Manuscripts.

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Fig. 31. Ms. Duke Special Collections Library, Syr. 1. Incomplete ms. of the Four Gospels (10th or 11th cent.). The passage reproduced is Mark 7:23–30, with the lection heading for the fourth Sunday of Lent. See entries: New Testament manuscripts Bible and Manuscripts.

Fig. 32c. Sinai, Monastery of St. Catherine: general view. Photo: Annabel Wharton. See entry: Monastery of St Catherine.

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Fig. 33. The news about the big fire in Chicago as reported in the Neo-Aramaic periodical Zahrīre d-Bahrā 1871/12, printed at the press of the American mission in Urmia. See H. L. Murre-van den Berg, From a spoken to a written language. The introduction and development of Literary Urmia Aramaic in the nineteenth century (1999), 394–97. See entry: Chicago.

Fig. 34. Rubbing of the Luoyang pillar (first half). The pillar was discovered in 2006 and contains Christian texts contemporaneous with the Xi’an stele. Photo: Hidemi Takahashi. See entry: Syriac Christianity in China.

Fig. 35. Bālulan, in the Tergawar district, west of Urmia: single-nave church. Photo: Heleen Murre-van den Berg. See entry: Church of the East.

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Fig. 36. Common verse with which the calligrapher Bp. Çiçek often concluded his writing: ‘Just as the sailor rejoices once his ship has reached the shore, so too does the scribe rejoice at the final line of his book.’ From the facsimile edition of the Šḥimo (4th printing, 1981), the original of which was handwritten by Bp. Çiçek. See S. Brock, ‘The scribe reaches harbour’, Byzantinische Forschungen 21 (1995), 195–202 (repr. in From Ephrem to Romanos. Interactions between Greek and Syriac in Late Antiquity [1999], ch. XVI). See entries: Julius Yeshu Çiçek, Colophons, and Manuscripts.

Fig. 37. Main church of the Coptic Monastery of the Virgin, also known as Dayr al-Suryān, in which for centuries Coptic and Syriac monks lived together. Photo: Lucas Van Rompay. See entries: Syriac contacts with Coptic Christianity and Dayr al-Suryān.

Fig. 38. Coptic and Syriac coexisting on the capital of a pillar inside the main Church of the Virgin, Dayr al-Suryān. Photo: Karel Innemée. See entries: Syriac contacts with Coptic Christianity, Inscriptions, and Dayr al-Suryān.

Fig. 39. Damascus: Bāb Tūmā, one of the city gates around which much of the Christian population and commercial activity are concentrated. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel. See entry: Damascus.

Fig. 40. Bust of Mor Athanasios Yeshuʿ Samuel (1907–1995), Syr. Orth. bp. of Jerusalem and first bp. of the United States (1957–1995), outside St. Mark’s Cathedral in Teaneck, New Jersey. From Brock and Taylor, Hidden Pearl, vol. 3, 119 (Photo: Riccardo Grassetti). See entries: Diaspora and Athanasios Yeshuʿ Samuel

Fig. 41. Syr. Orth. Church of Mor Gabriel in Kirchardt, Germany. From Brock and Taylor, Hidden Pearl, vol. 3, 176 (Photo: Riccardo Grassetti). See entry: Diaspora.

Fig. 42. Aerial view of the Syr. Orth. Monastery of St. Ephrem in Glane-Losser, The Netherlands. Courtesy of Bp. Mor Polycarpus. See entry: Diaspora.

Fig. 43. Tomb of Bp. Dolabani in Dayr al-Zaʿfarān, near Mardin. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entry: Philoxenos Yuḥanon Dolabani.

Fig. 44. Beginning of a Dorekthā by Yawsep of Telkepe, from a manuscript in the Library of the Dominican Fathers in Mosul (Catalogue B. Sony [2006], 81). The pencil note in the margin is by Jacques Rhétoré. Courtesy of Father Najeeb Michaeel and Bruno Poizat. See entries: School of Alqosh, Dorekthā, Manuscripts, Jacques Rhétoré, and Sureth.

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Fig. 45. Aerial view of the side of Dura-Europos with the Euphrates river in the background (taken in 1932). Courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery. See entry: Dura-Europos.

Fig. 46. Eddé, Lebanon, Church of Mar Saba. General view. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel. See entry: Eddé.

Fig. 47. Edessa (Urfa), Pool of Abraham (Birket Ibrahim), with sacred fish. According to legend, the pool is the site where Abraham landed when Nimrod threw him down from the top of the citadel. From Brock and Taylor, Hidden Pearl vol. 2, 51 (Photo: Riccardo Grassetti). See entry: Edessa.

Fig. 48. Eight of the so-called Nine Saints (the missing Saint, Yemʾata, is depicted in an adjacent mural). Cupola, ca. 15th cent., in a small church near the village of Guh (Gheralta district, Tigre province). Photo: Jan Tromp (2005). See entry: Syriac contacts with Ethiopic Christianity.

Fig. 49c. Ephrem ‘the Potter’ (labḥāwi) being blessed by Mary with Child. Cloth mural in the Church of Dabra Samuel in Adil Badil (Wag District, Wallo province), painted in 1909 by Abba Dasta from Goğğam. Photo: Michael Gervers (1993). See entries: Ephrem and Syriac contacts with Ethiopic Christianity.

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Fig. 50. Beginning of Eusebius of Caesarea’s Letter to Carpianus, in which he explains the use of the Gospel canon tables. Ms. Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana, Pluteus I,56, f. 2v. See Rabbula Gospels. See entries: Eusebius of Caesarea, Manuscripts, and Rabbula Gospels.

Fig. 51. Father J-M. Fiey (standing in the second row, third from right) and the French instructors, Dominican Fathers, at the Seminary of St. John, Mosul, in the school year 1963–1964. Courtesy of Amir Harrak. See entries: Jean-Maurice Fiey and Seminary of St. John.

Fig. 52. Bell-tower and entrance (below) of the church in the Monastery of Mor Gabriel. Photo: Helen Brock (ca. 1978). See entries: Monastery of Mor Gabriel and Ṭur ʿAbdin.

Fig. 53. Monastery of Mor Gabriel: view of the house of Malfono ʿIsa Gülten, taken from the Nuns’ quarters. Photo: Helen Brock (1972). See entries: Monastery of Mor Gabriel and Ṭur ʿAbdin.

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Fig. 54. Early evidence of Garshuni from a historical note in ms. Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana, Pluteus I,56 (Rabbula Gospels), f. 7v. See A. Mengozzi, ‘The history of Garshuni as a writing system: Evidence from the Rabbula Codex’, in CAMSEMUD 2007 (Proceedings of the 13th Italian meeting of Afro-Asiatic linguistics) (2010), 297–305. See entries: Garshuni, Manuscripts, and Rabbula Gospels.

Fig. 55. Ruins of Ḥarran. Photo: Hugo Lundhaug. See entry: Ḥarran.

Fig. 56c. Monastery of Rabban Hormizd near Alqosh. The caves under the Monastery were formerly inhabited by ascetics. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entries: Alqosh and Monastery of Rabban Hormizd.

Fig. 57. Monastery of Rabban Hormizd near Alqosh. Burial place with tomb stones of several patriarchs. Photo: Amir Harrak. See A. Harrak, ‘Patriarchal funerary inscriptions in the Monastery of Rabban Hormizd: Types, literary origins, and purpose’, Hugoye 6.2 (2003). See entries: Alqosh and Monastery of Rabban Hormizd.

Fig. 58. ‘Mirror inscription’ in the main church of Dayr al-Suryān, mentioning the name of ‘Quryaqos, patriarch of Antioch’, whose tenure was 793–817. Photo: Karel C. Innemée. Drawing by Lucas Van Rompay. See entries: Syriac contacts with Coptic Christianity, Inscriptions, Quryaqos, and Dayr al-Suryān.

Fig. 59. Syriac inscription on a pillar at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, mentioning ‘Sargis the monk, from Ḥaḥ’. This Sargis is also known as a scribe, and he became metropolitan bp. of Ḥaḥ in 1505. Above Sargis’s name are Armenian inscriptions. Photo: Lucas Van Rompay. See S. Brock, H. Goldfus, and A. Kofsky, ‘The Syriac inscriptions at the entrance to the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem’, ARAM 18–19 (2006-2007), esp. 417–18. See entries: Inscriptions and Jerusalem.

Fig. 60. Mosaic inscription from a hermitage near Jericho. The inscription gives the names of the E.-Syr. founders of the hermitage, two of whom are known to belong to the 7th cent. From Brock and Taylor, Hidden Pearl, vol. 2, 46 (Photo: Riccardo Grassetti). See J.-M. Fiey, Rabban Bûya de Shaqlâwâ et de Jéricho”, POC 33 (1983), 34–38. See entries: Inscriptions and Jerusalem.

Fig. 61. Dayr Kaftun, near Kaftun, Lebanon. Greek-Orthodox Church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel. See entry: Dayr Kaftun.

Fig. 62. Dayr Kaftun, near Kaftun, Lebanon. Greek-Orthodox Church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus. Detail of 13th-cent. wall painting representing the Communion of the Apostles: Philip and Mark, with Syriac inscriptions. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel. See entries: Art and architecture, Inscriptions, Dayr Kaftun, and Wall paintings in Syria and Lebanon.

Fig. 63. Maʿad, Lebanon, Church of Mar Charbel. Wall painting depicting the Dormition of the Virgin, detail: mourning apostle. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel. See M. Immerzeel, Identity puzzles. Medieval Christian art in Syria and Lebanon (2009), 105–8. See entries: Art and architecture, Maʿad, and Wall paintings in Syria and Lebanon.

Fig. 64. Wooden reliquary cross in the Malabar Catholic (or Syro-Malabar) Church of Pallippuram. According to tradition the cross was carved by St. Thomas and has miraculous power. This type of cross may be called the St. Thomas cross in contrast to the Persian cross. The cross is being held by Fr. Ignatius Payyappilly Photo: István Perczel. See entries: Art and architecture, Malabar Catholic Church, and Thomas Christians.

Fig. 65. Baptismal font in the church of Kanjoor (Malabar Catholic). Photo: István Perczel. See entries: Art and architecture, Malabar Catholic Church, and Thomas Christians.

Fig. 66. Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of Thiruvithancode (the present construction is probably from the 16th cent.): the nave. Photo: István Perczel. See entries: Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and Thomas Christians.

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Fig. 67c. Folio from ms. London, Brit. Libr., Add. 12,150, dated 411 and written in Edessa. The image shows a section from the ‘Recognitions’, a work attributed to Clement of Rome. See ‘Clement of Rome and Pseudo-Clementine literature’. © The British Library Board. See entry: Manuscripts.

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Fig. 68. Ms. London, Brit. Libr. Add. 17,236. Melkite ms. of an Eklogadion, or collection of verse texts for select fixed commemorations in the liturgical year (here, St. Peter and St. Paul, 29th June). The ms. is dated 1283/84 and was written in the Monastery of Mary, the Mother of God, on the Kaftun river. From Hatch, Album, 241 (Pl. CXC). See entries: Dayr Kaftun and Manuscripts.

Fig. 69. Jerusalem, Old City, entrance to the Syr. Orth. Monastery of St. Mark. From Brock and Taylor, Hidden Pearl, vol. 2, 55 (Photo: Riccardo Grassetti). See entries: Jerusalem and Monastery of St. Mark.

Fig. 70. Tombs of Priest Ragheed Ganni and Bp. Bulus Faraj Rahho (Chaldean bishop of Mosul), who fell victim to violence against Christians in Iraq in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Karamlish, Chald. Church of Mar Addai. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entry: Martyrs and persecutions.

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Fig. 71c. Mary and the apostles at Jesus’ Ascension. Ms. Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana, Pluteus I,56 (Rabbula Gospels), f. 13v. See entries: Art and architecture, Manuscripts, Mary, and Rabbula Gospels.

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Fig. 72. Ms. London, Brit. Libr. Add. 12,138. E.-Syr. Masora. The ms. was written in Ḥarran in 899. From Hatch, Album, 217 (Plate CLXVI). See S. Brock, ‘Early dated manuscripts of the Church of the East, 7th–13th century’, JAAS 21:2 (2007), 18–20. See entry: Masora.

Fig. 73. Dayro d-Mor Matay after its recent renovation: front façade with main entrance. Photo. Amir Harrak. See entry: Dayro d-Mor Matay.

Fig. 74. Beth Qadishe in Dayro d-Mor Matay, with several tombs. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entry: Dayro d-Mor Matay.

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Fig. 75. Note written by Michael Rabo on the last folio of ms. London, Brit. Libr. Add. 14,599. This ms. (dated 568/9) contains Cathedral Homilies 31–59 of Severus of Antioch and was borrowed by Michael from Egypt and kept in his patriarchal cell, where it was made available to the monks for reading. See F. Nau, ‘Sur quelques autographes de Michel le Syrien, patriarche d’Antioche de 1166 à 1199’, ROC 19 (1914), 394–95. © The British Library Board. See entries: Manuscripts, Michael I Rabo, and Scribes.

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Fig. 76c. Folio from the Edessa-Alepo ms. (dated 1598) of the Chronicle of Michael Rabo, showing the beginning of Book 3. See G. Y. Ibrahim (ed.), The Edessa-Aleppo Syriac codex of the Chronicle of Michael the Great (Texts and Translations of the Chronicle of Michael the Great 1; 2009). See entries: Manuscripts and Michael I Rabo.

Fig. 77c. Syriac illuminated ms. (showing Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem) in the Syr. Orth. Church of Mort Shmuni in Midyat. Photo: Hidemi Takahashi. See entries: Art and architecture, Manuscripts, and Midyat.

Fig. 78. Monastery of Mor Abrohom, in the vicinity of Midyat. Photo: Hidemi Takahashi. See entry: Midyat.

Fig. 79c. Bell-tower of the Church of Mor Sharbel, Midyat. Photo: Helen Brock (1978). See entry: Midyat.

Fig. 80. Syr. Orth. monk depicted on the Gate of double baptism (i.e., by water and blood) in the Church of Mor Behnam’s Monastery. Photo: Amir Harrak. See B. Snelders, Identity and Christian-Muslim interaction. Medieval art of the Syrian Orthodox from the Mosul area (OLA 198; 2010), 310–18. See entries: Art and architecture, Dayro d-Mor Behnam, and Monasticism.

Fig. 81. Syr. Orth. nuns in Ṭur ʿAbdin, in the village of Kfarbe (in the vicinity of the Monastery of Mor Gabriel). Photo: Naures Atto. See entries: Monasticism and Ṭur ʿAbdin.

Fig. 82. Mosul, Syr. Orth. Church of Mar Tumo. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entry: Mosul.

Fig. 83. Mosul, Syr. Cath. Church al-Ṭāhira (Old Church): Iconostasis with inscription dated 1744. Photo: Amir Harrak. See Harrak, Syriac and Garshuni inscriptions of Iraq, AA.08.06. See entries: Inscriptions and Mosul.

Fig. 84. Mosul, Chaldean Church of al-Ṭāhra: tripartite arcade of the sanctuary. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entry: Mosul.

Fig. 85c. Dayr Mār Mūsā al-Ḥabashi, near Nabk, Syria. General view. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel. See entry: Dayr Mār Mūsā al-Ḥabashī.

Fig. 86. Dayr Mār Mūsā al-Ḥabashī: an angel belonging to the scene of Jesus’ Baptism, in the north aisle of the church (layer 2, 1095). Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel. See also Fig. 15. See entries: Art and architecture, Dayr Mār Mūsā al-Ḥabashī, and Wall paintings in Syria and Lebanon.

Fig. 87. Dayr Mār Mūsā al-Ḥabashī: south-eastern pier spandrel in the nave of the church. The evangelist Matthew is writing the first words of his Gospel, which he copies from a tablet in heaven (layer 3, ca. 1200). Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel. See E. Cruikshank Dodd, The Frescoes of Mar Musa al-Habashi (2001), 57, as well as J. den Heijer et al., ‘Deir Mar Musa. The inscriptions’, ECA (2007), 144–46. See entries: Inscriptions, Dayr Mār Mūsā al-Ḥabashī, and Wall paintings in Syria and Lebanon.

Fig. 88c. Dayr Mār Mūsā al-Ḥabashi: west wall of the nave (layer 3, ca. 1200). Last Judgment. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Mat Immerzeel. See entries: Art and architecture, Dayr Mār Mūsā al-Ḥabashī, and Wall paintings in Syria and Lebanon.

Fig. 89. The name of Mushe of Nisibis written in an inscription on a wooden door in the main church of Dayr al-Suryān. The inscription refers to the building of the altar space under Mushe’s tenure and is dated 926/27. Photo: Lucas Van Rompay. See entries: Syriac contacts with Coptic Christianity, Inscriptions, Mushe of Nisibis, and Dayr al-Suryān.

Fig. 90. Coptic inscription in the central dome above the khurus of the main church of Dayr al-Suryān, mentioning, ‘Papa Moses the hegoumenos’, who may possibly be identified as Mushe of Nisibis. Photo: Karel Innemée. See J. van der Vliet, ‘History through inscriptions: Coptic epigraphy in the Wadi al-Natrun’, in Christianity and monasticism in Wadi al-Natrun, ed. M. S. A. Mikhail and M. Moussa (2009), 336–37. See entries: Syriac contacts with Coptic Christianity, Mushe of Nisibis, and Dayr al-Suryān.

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Fig. 91. The city of Nineveh as background for the sleeping prophet Jonah. Ms. Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana, Pluteus I,56 (Rabbula Gospels), f. 6r (detail). See entries: Manuscripts, Nineveh, and Rabbula Gospels.

Fig. 92. Nusaybin (Nisibis): the Syr. Orth. Church of Mor Yaʿqub, which houses the baptistery that contains a Greek inscription dated 359 as well as the tomb of Yaʿqub of Nisibis. Photo: Hidemi Takahashi. See entry: Nisibis.

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Fig. 93. Malfono Abrohom Nuro (lower corner on the right) with students of the Syriac evening school in Aleppo, and some guests (in the 1960s). From A. Nuro, My tour in the parishes of the Syrian Church in Syria and Lebanon (1967), 84. See entry: Abrohom Nuro.

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Fig. 94. Front of P. Dura 28, describing the sale of a female slave dated 9 May 243. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. See entries: Dura-Europos, Manuscripts, Old Syriac documents, and Scribes.

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Fig. 95. Ms. London, Brit. Libr. Add. 14,512, a famous palimpsest ms. containing in its lower writing portions from the biblical book of Isaiah (Leiden Peshitta Institute: 5ph1), dated 459/60 (which makes this ms. the oldest dated biblical ms. that is known) and in its upper writing services for the feasts of the liturgical year. At the top right the middle of Is. 16:8 is clearly visible. From Hatch, Album, 53 (Plate II). See entries: Old Testament Bible manuscripts, Manuscripts, and Palimpsests.

Fig. 96. Papyrus fragment preserved in Dayr al-Suryān, Egypt, probably 9th cent. Photo: Lucas Van Rompay. See Fr. Bigoul El-Souriany and L. Van Rompay, ‘Syriac papyrus fragments recently discovered in Deir al-Surian (Egypt)’, Hugoye 4.1 (2001). See entries: Manuscripts, Syriac Papyri, and Dayr al-Suryān.

Fig.97. Pawlos of Kallinikos, mentioned as bp. in an inscription, dated 509, uncovered in Tall Biʿa, near Raqqaʿ, Syria. Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, Grabung Tall Biʿa. Photo: Anwar ʿAbd al-Ghafour. See entries: Inscriptions and Pawlos of Kallinikos

Fig. 98. Table of the alphabet from J. A. Widmanstetter, Syriacae linguae prima elementa (1556), published shortly after his first edition of the Syriac New Testament (1555). See entry: Printing.

Fig. 99. Bible in Neo-Aramaic. Printed on the press of the American missionaries in Urmia (edition of 1893). The image shows Psalm 1. See entries: Printing and Urmia.

Fig. 100. Title page of E.-Syr. missal: the proper of the mass. Printed on the press of the Dominican Fathers in Mosul (1901). See J. F. Coakley and D. G. K. Taylor, ‘Syriac books printed at the Dominican Press, Mosul’, in Malphono w-Rabo d-Malphone, ed. Kiraz (2008), 101–2 (no. 58). See entries: Mosul and Printing.

Fig. 101. Qara, Syria, Church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus. Detail of wall painting: the nursing Virgin, with Greek and Syriac inscription. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Photo: Bas ter Haar Romeny. See entries: Art and architecture, Inscriptions, Qara, and Wall paintings in Syria and Lebanon.

Fig. 102. Qara, Syria: Dayr Mar Yaʿqub, main entrance. Paul van Moorsel Centre for Christian Art and Culture in the Middle East, Leiden University. Courtesy of Mat Immerzeel. See entry: Qara.

Fig. 103. Qaraqosh, Syr. Cath. Church of the Mother of God. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entry: Qaraqosh.

Fig. 104c. Qaraqosh, Syr. Cath. Church of the Mother of God. Silver cross with Syriac inscription, dated 1629/30. Photo: Amir Harrak. See Harrak, Syriac and Garshuni inscriptions of Iraq , AD.01.1. See entries: Art and architecture, Inscriptions, and Qaraqosh.

Fig. 105. Recently discovered inscription containing the name of Bp.. Rabbula, dated 425/26 (‘In the year 737, in the days of Mar Rabbula the Bishop’). Courtesy of Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Alain Desreumaux, and Joseph Moukarzel. See their ‘Découverte d’une inscription syriaque mentionnant l’évêque Rabbula’, in Malphono w-Rabo d-Malphone, ed. Kiraz (2008), 19–28. See entries: Inscriptions and Rabulla of Edessa.

Fig. 106. Portrait of Syr. Cath. Patr. Ignatius Ephrem II Raḥmani in the reception hall of the Monastery of Sharfeh, Lebanon. Photo: Jean Fathi. See entry: Ignatius Ephrem II Raḥmani

Fig. 107. Dayr al-Ṣalīb, monastery 30 km. northeast of Midyat: general view. Photo: Hidemi Takahashi. See entries: Dayr al-Ṣalīb and Ṭur ʿAbdin.

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Fig. 108. Addai Scher, Chald. bp. of Siirt, and Syriac scholar, assassinated in 1915. From A. Nuro, My tour in the parishes of the Syrian Church in Syria and Lebanon (1967), 84. See entry: Addai Scher.

Fig. 109. Father Joseph Omez and a class of students in the Seminary of St. John, Mosul, in 1963–64. Courtesy of Amir Harrak. See entry: Seminary of St. John.

Fig. 110. Severus of Antioch, as depicted in inlaid ivory (most of which is lost) and identified with his Greek name, on a panel of the wooden door that separates the altar space from the khurus in the main church of Dayr al-Suryān (dated May 914, under abbot Mushe of Nisibis). Photo: Karel Innemée (after 2010 conservation). See entries: Severus of Antioch and Dayr al-Suryān.

Fig. 111. Syr. Cath. Monastery of Sharfeh, to the northeast of Beirut. Entrance of the Monastery. Photo: Jean Fathi. See entry: Sharfeh and Syriac Catholic Church.

Fig. 112. Qalʿat Simʿān (northern Syria): the basilica built around Shemʿun the Stylite’s pillar. Photo: Lucas Van Rompay. See entries: Art and architecture and Shemʿun the Stylite

Fig. 113. Dayr al-Suryān, Wadi al-Natrun, Egypt, in winter. Photo: Lucas Van Rompay. See entries: Syriac contacts with Coptic Christianity and Dayr al-Suryān.

Fig. 114. Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Residence and Seminary in Maʿarrat Ṣaydnāyā, 35 km. north of Damascus. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entries: Damascus and Syriac Orthodox Church

Fig. 115. Seal of Athanasios, metropolitan of Tagrit (late 9th cent), in the form of a cross, of which three edges contain a Syriac inscription, found in Athanasios’s tomb in Tagrit. Baghdad, Iraqi Museum. Courtesy of A. Harrak. See A. Harrak, ‘Recent archaeological excavations in Takrit and the discovery of Syriac inscriptions’, JCSSS 1 (2001), esp. 23–24 as well as Harrak, Syriac and Garshuni inscriptions of Iraq, FA.01.04. See entries: Art and architecture, Inscriptions, and Tagrit.

Fig. 116. Representation of a reliquary St. Thomas cross flanking the entrance to the Malabar Catholic Church at Kanjoor. It is carved in granite. Photo: István Perczel. See entries: Art and architecture, Malabar Catholic Church, and Thomas Christians.

Fig. 117. Teaching infant Jesus. Rare teak-wood statue from St. Mary’s Church at Kanjoor (Malabar Catholic). The sculpture, a fine product of Indo-Christian art and reflecting Buddhist influence as well, is difficult to date. Catholic Art Museum, Ernakulam. Courtesy of the museum’s curator, Fr. Ignatius Payyappilly. Photo: István Perczel. See entries: Art and architecture, Malabar Catholic Church, and Thomas Christians.

Fig. 118. Granite columns from the façade of the Kanjoor Malabar Catholic church. The columns closely resemble those of Hindu temples but contain Christian symbols. Photo: István Perczel. See entries: Art and architecture, Malabar Catholic Church, and Thomas Christians.

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Fig. 119. Ms. Piramadam Syr. 25, f. 41v–42r. Colophon of a copy of the Revelations of Gregory the Theologian (= Pseudo-Gregory of Nazianzus), translated from Arabic into Syriac by Mor Ivanios Ḥidayatallah, bp. of Nineveh and Antiochian Patriarchal Delegate in Malabar, in Kadamattam, in the year 1689/90. This is one of the two copies of this work known to date. Courtesy of the Project for Preserving the Manuscripts of the Syrian Christians in India (SRITE). See entries: Colophons, Malabar Catholic Church, Manuscripts, and Thomas Christians.

Fig. 120c. General view of the village of Beth Sbirino (Basibrin) in Ṭur ʿAbdin. Photo: Helen Brock (1978). See entry: Ṭur ʿAbdin.

Fig. 121. Beth Ṣlutho in Ḥaḥ, Ṭur ʿAbdin. Photo: Helen Brock (1978). See entry: Ṭur ʿAbdin.

Fig. 122c. ʿArdnas, Ṭur ʿAbdin, Beth Ṣlutho of the Church of Mor Quryaqos. For the inscription, reused in the adjacent wall, see the next illustration. Photo: Sebastian Brock (1985). See entry: Ṭur ʿAbdin.

Fig. 123c. ʿArdnas, Ṭur ʿAbdin, inscription reused in a wall adjoining the Beth Ṣlutho of the Church of Mor Quryaqos. The text, dated 1206/7, was published by A. Barsoum, Maktbonuto d-ʿal atro d-Ṭur ʿAbdin (1964), 136 and reads: ‘For the glory of God and for the honor of His holy name, and for the commemoration of Mor Quryaqos, the glorious martyr. Gabriel the sinner, son of Masʿud, took care to have this altar (stone) made. Let everyone who reads pray for him and his parents. This took place in the year 1518 of the Greeks. The sinner Mushe inscribed it.’ Photo: Helen Brock (1985). See entries: Inscriptions and Ṭur ʿAbdin.

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Fig. 124. Children’s poem about the rain. Ṭuroyo in Latin transcription. From Y. Ishaq, Toxu Qorena (1983), 49. See entries: Ṭur ʿAbdin and Ṭuroyo.

Fig. 125. The Assyrian Missionary Cemetery, situated on a mountain overlooking Urmia. Photo: Heleen Murre-van den Berg. See entry: Urmia.

Fig. 126. Urmia, Iran: Church of Mart Maryam. Photo: Heleen Murre-van den Berg. See entry: Urmia.

Fig. 127. Detail from the Xi’an stele (right side), with names of Church officials, in Syriac and Chinese. After the rubbing included in H. Havret, La stèle chrétienne de Si-ngan-fou (Variétés sinologiques 7; 1895). See also P. Pelliot, J. Dauvillier, and A. Guillaumont, Recherches sur les Chrétiens d’Asie Centrale et d’Extrême-Orient, II.1. La stèle de Si-gnan-fou (Œuvres posthumes de Paul Pelliot; 1984), esp. p. 60 (text and FT) and 73–74 (commentary). On the second line (left), the last word in Syriac script is a transliteration in Syriac of a Chinese term. Pelliot argued that the underlying Chinese term is shàng-zuò, ‘upper seat’, the name used for an elder in Chinese Buddhist literature, which may be the equivalent of ‘abbot’. See H. Takahashi, ‘Transcribed proper names in Chinese Syriac Christian documents’, in Malphono w-Rabo d-Malphone, ed. Kiraz (2008), 643. See entries: Syriac Christianity in China, Inscriptions, and Xi’an.

Fig. 128. Yaʿqub Burdʿoyo as imagined by Elias Zayat, a modern painter in Damascus. Courtesy of Elias Zayat. See entry: Yaʿqub Burdʿoyo.

Fig. 129c. Dayr al-Zaʿfarān: general view. Photo: Amir Harrak. See entry: Dayr al-Zaʿfarān.

Fig. 130c. Dayr al-Zaʿfarān: view of the church and bell-tower from an upper story. Photo: Helen Brock (ca. 1978). See entry: Dayr al-Zaʿfarān.

Fig. 131c. Iwan in the grounds of Dayr al-Zaʿfarān, taken from the Monastery. Photo: Helen Brock (1972). See entry: Dayr al-Zaʿfarān.