The Syriac version of the Alexander Romance

Museon

Volumn 114, Issue 1-2, 2001, Pages 121-140

  Ciancaglini, Claudia A ^a  

^a NONE   (Italy)

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EID: 66449090153     PISSN: 07716494     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2143/MUS.114.1.302     Document Type: Review

References (67)

1. and R.N. FRYE, Two Iranian Notes, in Papers in Honour of Professor Mary Boyce, vol. I, Leiden, 1985, p. 185-188 (= FLRYE, Two Iranian Notes)
2. Cfr, for example, K. BROCKELMANN (et al.), Geschichte der christlichen Litteraturen des Orients, Leipzig, 1909, p. 45
3. A. BAUMSTARK, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, Bonn, 1922, p. 125 (= BAUMSTARK, Geschichte)
4. CA. NALLINO, Tracce di opere greche giunte agli Arabi per trafila pehlevica, in A Volume of Oriental Studies presented to E.G. Browne, Cambridge, 1922, p. 345-363 (= NALLINO, Tracce di opere greche)
5. E. YARSHATER, Iranian National History, in The Cambridge History of Iran, III/l, Cambridge, 1983, p. 472
6. S. BROCK, Syriac Perspective on Late Antiquity, London, 1984, II, p. 8 (= BROCK, Syriac Perspective)
7. M. BOYCE - F. GRENET, A History of Zoroastrianism, vol. III, Leiden-Köln, 1991, p. 60 n. 40 (= BOYCE - GRENET, A History)
8. P. ZIEME, Alexander According to an Old Turkish Legend, in La Persia e l'Asia centrale da Alessandro al X secolo. Atti del convegno dei Lincei, Roma 9-12 Novembre 1994, Rome, 1996, p. 25 and n. 2, etc
9. NÖLDEKE, Beiträge, p. 14
10. In actual fact, the Pahlavi grapheme to which Nöldeke alludes, that can stand for both l and r, mostly represents r. When it represents l, in the manuscripts this sign has a diacritic sign added to it (a little dash in the Iranian manuscripts, a little circle in those from India) or the grapheme is written twice: cfr H.S. NYBERG, A Manual of Pahlavi, vol. I, Wiesbaden, 1964, p. 131 (= NYBERG, A Manual). As regards r, it can also be represented by another grapheme, namely the sign that also stands for n, w or is used to indicate the end of a word
11. On this subject and, in particular, on the type of translation called "by two interpreters" cfr M. MANCINI, L'esotismo nel lessico italiano, Viterbo, 1992, p. 71-75 (from Arab into scientific Latin via a Romance language) and bibliography, and M.-Th. d'ALVERNY, Les traductions à deux interprètes, d'arabe en langue vernaculaire et de langue vernaculaire en latin, in Traduction et traducteurs au Moyen Âge. Actes du Colloque international du CNRS, organisé à Paris, les 26-28 mai 1986, Paris, 1989, p. 193-206
12. See also W.B. HENNING, Mitteliranisch, in Handbuch der Orientalistik, Iranistik, I, Leiden, 1958, p. 33 (= HENNING, Mitteliranisch)
13. See also F. JUSTI, Iranisches Namenbuch, Marburg, 1985 (reprint. Hildesheim, 1963), p. 243, s.v. Pariowk
14. Parth. paryō γ/paryō ž means 'victory' (see A. GHILAIN, Essai sur la langue parthe, Louvain, 1939, p. 63)
15. BUDGE, History, 107, 4
16. cfr Pahlavi naxcīr (NYBERG, A Manual, vol. II, 1974, s.v.)
17. 2 (photographie reprint, Hildesheim, 1995
18. = BROCKELMANN, Lexicon Syriacum), p. 424a
19. and P. DE LAGARDE, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, Leipzig, 1866, p. 65 nr. 168 (= DE LAGARDE, Gesammelte Abhandlungen)
20. BUDGE, History, p. 63, 1 and elsewhere
21. cfr Pahlavi payg (D.N. MACKENZIE, A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary, London, 1971, s.v. = MACKENZIE, Pahlavi Dictionary; and NYBERG, A Manual, vol. II, s.v. padak) and New Persian paig 'messenger'
22. DE LAGARDE, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, p. 74 nr. 188
23. and NöLDEKE, Beiträge, p. 14 n. 3
24. this is a Persian title pointed out by FRAENKEL (Recension, p. 319) and glossed in Syriac manuscript C with the Persian sardär 'head, commander'
25. F. PENNACCHIETH, Qundâkôr: un hapax siriaco del Romanzo di Alessandro tra filologia e archeologia, in M. LAMBERTI - L. TONELLI (eds.), Afroasiatica Tergestina. Contributipresentati al IXIncontro di Linguistica afroasiatica (camito-semitica), Trieste, 22-24 Aprile 1998, Padua, 1999, p. 71-82, believes that Syriac qundā qör derives from a Middle Persian kondā k-ā var 'he who bears the sceptre', in its turn a loan word from the Greek literally ' stick, staff
26. The Middle Persian xarbuz («hlbwc») is found, for example, in Bundahišn 13, 12 and 24, 36 (ed. Anklesaria), and in the Manichean Book of Giants, as «xrbwz»: cfr P.O. SKJÆRVØ, Iranian Epic and the Manichean Book of Giants. Irano-Manichaica III, in Acta Orientalia Acad. Scient. Hung., 48 (1995), p. 217-218
27. W.B. HENNING, The Book of Giants, in B.S.O.A.S, 11 (1943), p. 57 and p. 61
28. MACKENZIE, Pahlavi Dictionary, s.v
29. We must remember that in Persian, and above all in New Persian, the term xar 'ass', when it is the first part of a compound, very often means 'big' and functions as an augmentative of the second component, in a similar way to what occurs in the case of the Greek term which in the form becomes an intensive or augmentative prefix. For (New) Persian cfr xar-gā h 'spacious place, curtain, pavilion', xar-sang 'big stone', xar-pul 'very rich' xar-zur 'full of strength, vigorous' etc. See STEINGASS, Persian-English Dictionary, s.w.; A. COLETTI - H. COLETTI GRÜNBAUM, Dizionario persiano-italiano, Rome, 1978, s.w.
30. G. LAZARD, Le persan, in R. SCHMITT (ed.), Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, Wiesbaden, 1989, p. 284-285. In our case, it is likely that xar- should be interpreted as an augmentative prefix, rather than as 'ass', since an antelope is more like a large goat than a cross between an ass and a goat
31. The list of Candace's gifts, particularly as regards the animals and African boys, is very similar to the list made by Callixeinos and related to by Athena eus (5, 201) of the animals and youths in the grand procession in honour of Ptolemy Philadelphus : cfr E.E. RICE, The Grand Procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Oxford, 1983, p. 98
32. Cfr NÖLDEKE, Beiträge, p. 16 n. 9: «Unser Text bietet zwei verschiedene Entstellungen dieses Wortes; eine davon wird aus der Corrector eines späteren Lesers wieder verderbt sein. Oder gab der Uebersetzer selbst die beiden möglichen Aussprachen karkadan und kargadan an?»
33. For an exhaustive analysis of Greek loans in Syriac see A. SCHALL, Studien über griechischen Fremdwörter im Syrischen, Darmstadt, 1960
34. Cfr A. PANAINO, Tištrya, II. The Iranian Myth of the Star Sirius, Rome, 1995, p. 61-86 (= PANAINO, Tistrya)
35. BOYCE - GRENET, A History, III, p. 279-280 (and II, Leiden-Köln, 1982, p. 204-206; 248)
36. Cfr PANAINO, Tištrya, p. 72
37. and F. PENNACCHIETTI, Una frase neoaramaica nella versione siriaca del Romanzo di Alessandro, in C. BAEFIONI (ed.), Atti del Convegno di Napoli-Sorrento, 28-31 ottobre 1998, Alessandria, 2000, p. 73-77
38. Cfr also C.A. CIANCAGLINI, Alessandro e I'incendio di Persepoli nelle tradizioni greca e iranica, in A. VALVO (ed.), La diffusione dell'eredità classica nell'età tardo antica e medievale, Atti del Convegno di Trieste, 19-20 settembre 1996, Alessandria, 1997, p. 78 and n. 51 ( = CIANCAGLINI, Alessandro e I'incendio di Persepoli)
39. On the way in which Alexander is represented in Pahlavi literature cfr CIANCAGLINI, Alessandro e I'incendio di Persepoli, p. 66-11
40. Cfr Synod. Orient., ed. J.B. CHABOT, Paris, 1902, p. 68-69 and p. 121
41. and bibliography, as well as the classic J. LABOURT, Le christianisme dans l'empire perse sous la dynastie sassanide, Paris, 1904 (= LABOURT, Le christianisme)
42. Evagrius, Hist. eccl. 6,21 (ed. J. BIDEZ - L. PARMENTIER, London, 1898, p. 235,llff.)
43. M.J. HIGGINS, Chosroes II's votive offerings at Sergiopolis, in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 48 (1955), p. 89-102
44. LABOURT, Le christianisme, p. 209
45. 2, p. 487-489
46. Cfr BROCK, Syriac Perspective, VI, p. 17-18
47. HENNING, Mitteliranisch, p. 77
48. On Greek texts translated into Syriac from Pahlavi, cfr NAL-LINO, Tracce di opere greche; W.H. BAILEY, Zoroastrian Problems in the Ninth-Century Books, Oxford, 1943, p. 158
49. A. PAGLIARO, Letteratura della Persia preislamica, in A. PAGLIARO - A. BAUSANI, Storia della letteratura persiana, Milan, 1960, p. 89-90
50. e siècle), in P. GALLAIS - Y.-J. RIOU (eds.), Mélanges offerts à René Crozet, Poitiers, 1966, vol. I, p. 13-22
51. M. ULLMANN, Die Medizin in Islam (Handbuch der Orientalistik, Ergänzungsband VI, 1), Leiden, 1970, p. 103-107
52. Cfr Agathias, II 28, 1 on the translations of Greek works into Middle Persian that were commissioned by Chosroes I; cfr also D. GUTAS, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture, London-New York, 1998, p. 25
53. Artaxerxes I, Šā hpuhr I and Chosroes I are the three Sasanian sovereigns who had scientific Greek and Indian works translated into Persian, according to the Kitā b al-Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadīm (238 f.)
54. cfr NALLINO, Tracce di opere greche, p. 362-363
55. Ed. and trans, in BUDGE, History, text p. 255-275, trans, p. 144-158
56. cfr G.J. REI-NINK, Die Entstehung der syrischen Alexanderlegende als politisch-religiöse Propagandaschrift für Herakleios' Kirchenpolitik, in C. LAGA - J.A. MUNTIZ - L. VAN ROMPAY (eds.), After Chalcedon: Studies in Theology and Church History, Offered to Professor Albert van Roey (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 18), Leuven, 1985, p. 263-281
57. G.J. REININK, Alexandre et le dernier empereur du monde: les développements du concept de la royauté chrétienne dans les sources syriaques du septième siècle, in Alexandre le Grand dans les littératures occidentales et proche-orientales. Actes du Colloque de Paris, 27-29 novembre 1997, Paris, 1999, p. 149-159 (= REININK, Alexandre)
58. K. CZEGLÉDY, The Syriac Legend concerning Alexander the Great, in Acta Orientalia, 1 (1957), p. 231-249
59. Cfr GJ. REININK, Das syrische Alexanderlied. Die drei Rezensionen {Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 454-455
60. Script. Syri, 195-196), Leuven, 1983
61. J.-B. CHABOT (ed. and trans.), Incerti autoris Chronicon Pseudo-Dionysianum vulgo dictum, I (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 91, p. 121
62. cfr REININK, Alexandre, p. 151 n. 8
63. Edited by P. DE LAGARDE, in Analecta Syriaca, London, 1855, p. 205-208
64. cfr BAUMSTARK, Geschichte, p. 125 n. 4
65. On this copyist, cfr R. MACUCH, Geschichte der Spät- und neusyrischen Literatur, Berlin - New York, 1976, p. 49 (= MACUCH, Geschichte)
66. On the school of Alqō š cfr MACUCH, Geschichte, p. 48-49
67. Cfr J.M. FIEY, Assyrie chrétienne. Contribution à l'étude de l'histoire et de la géographie ecclésiastiques et monastiques du nord de l'Iraq, vol. I, Beyrouth, 1965, p. 315-317; I wish to thank Prof. R. Contini and Prof. F. Pennacchietti for this information