Introduction to Classical Syriac

3 credits · Divinity School

Classical Syriac (also called "literary" Syriac --ktabanaya) is a dialect of Aramaic that flourished for over a millennium in the Middle East and Asia. Today, perhaps more than ten thousand manuscripts written in Classical Syriac survive; many are unique sources for the history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Reading classical Syriac literature is thus of interest to a variety of scholars including ancient and medieval historians, classicists, scholars of religious studies, biblical scholars, and comparative linguists. In this course students will learn the basic structure of Classical Syriac grammar and learn to read simple texts from the Syriac translations of Christian and Jewish scriptures. Students will learn Syriac using J.F. Coakley's revision of Robinson's Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar, rev. ed. (2013). No specific linguistic pre-requisites are required but students must have previously studied at least one language beside their native language. [3]