Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2018, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

The Rare Books Collection at the Ohio State University's Thompson Library contains two Syriac manuscripts, neither of which has been extensively investigated or properly identified until now. There is no record of where they came from or how they came to be at Ohio State. Both manuscripts are written in the East Syriac script. The larger, Ms. B, is a collection of East Syriac Christian liturgy, including the Psalms, a variety of hymns, and excerpts from the Hudra, the yearly cycle of feast and fast days. Two smaller texts have been inserted into the codex of Ms. B. One, inside the front cover, is a fragmentary collection of metrical homilies, at least one of which is by the famous fifth-century poet Narsai. The other, inside the back cover, is a description of the Creation, written in the Neo-Aramaic dialect of Alqosh (in modern Iraq). The smaller manuscript, Ms. C, also contains excerpts from the Hudra. There are more entries than in Ms. B, although each is shorter, and while the two manuscripts naturally feature many of the same feast days, the liturgies themselves are entirely different. This paper includes descriptions and discussion of the manuscripts, updated catalog entries, and text and translation of the metrical homilies inserted inside the front cover of Ms. A.

Committee: Sam Meier (Advisor); Hadi Jorati (Committee Member) Subjects: Near Eastern Studies