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literature have already been considered in separate articles, it is sufficient here merely to allude to them, giving in addition the latest literature upon them.

The chief representatives of the earliest original Syriac literature are Aphraates and Ephraem Syrus (qq.v.), the " Homilies " of Aphraates have been edited afresh by J. Parisot in Patrologia Syriaca ii (Paris, 1894 sqq.), while his theological point of view is discussed by P. Schwen, in his Afrahat, seine Person and sein Verstdndnis des Christentums (Berlin, 1907; cf. TJB, 1907, pp. 322, 327, 330; cf. further, H. Koch, " Taufe and Askese in der alten syrischen Kirche," in ZNTW, xii. 37-69). Ignatius Ephraem II. Rahmani's Sancti Ephraemi Syri Hymni de Virginitate (Beirut, 1906) is, despite its full title, only in part a first edition (cf. TJB, 1907, pp. 324-325). Minor successors and imitators of Ephraem were Cyrillona (c. 396; cf. Zahn, Kanon, ii. 252; G. Bickell, in ZDMG, xxvii. 566-625, xxxv. 357) and Balai (c. 420), whose works were edited, together with some of Ephraem and others, by J. J. Overbeck, in his S. Ephrami Syri, Rabulw Episcopi Edesseni, Balcei aliorumque opera selects (Oxford, 1865; on Balai cf., further, K. V. Zetterstden, Beitrdge zur Kenntnis der religivsen Dichtung Balm's, Leipsic, 1902; BrGr).

For the second period of Syriac literature, that under Greek influence, general reference may be made to F. C. Burkitt's Early Eastern Christianity, ut sup., and to J. Tixeront's " Th6oldgie de langue syriaque au iv. siecle " (Histoire des dogmes, vol. ii., chap. vii., Paris, 1909). Here the most prominent figures are Rabbula of Edessa, Isaac of Antioch (qq.v.), and Barsauma of

Literature recently been edited by P. Bedjan, under Greek Paris, 1908; while the letters of Bar-

The literary importance of Narsai (Verses) the Great (see VERSES) is attested both by his surname and by the publication of Sancti Nersetis Preces xxxiii linguis editce (Venice, 1862). To the works of Feldmann, Martin, Sachau, and Weil listed in BrGr, p. 135, and besides those mentioned in the bibliography of NERsEs, allusion may be made to V. Grabowski, Die Geschichte Josefs von Mar Narses 1. (Leipsic, 1889), and to A. Mingana's edition, Narsai Doctoris Syri homilicv et carmina primo edita (2 vols., Mosul, 1905). The fifth volume of the Hom-ilice Selecttv of Jacob of 9arug (q.v.) has been edited by P. Bedjan (Paris, 1910), this part containing homilies cxlvii.-excv., only one of which had previously been edited. Philoxenus of Mabug (see PHILOXENUS), whom Brockelmann calls " the greatest prose writer of Syria," has recently received further study. The edition of his Discourses by E. A. W. Budge (London, 1894). has been discussed in a Russian criticism by A. Spassky, in Bogoslavsky Vestnik, Oct., 1896, pp. 143-149; while A. A. Vas-

chalde's edition of certain letters (Rome, 1902) has been further considered by R. Duval, in JA, Jan.Feb., 1903, pp. 168-170, and by A. Baumstark, in OChr, ii. 447150. Stephen bar Zudhaile (q.v.) is of importance chiefly because of his connection with the literature which gathered around Dionysius the Areopagite (q.v.), the latest contribution to this subject being P. Peeters, " La Vision de Denys 1'Ar6opagite h. Hdliopolis," in AB, xxix. 3. Very little was known concerning Martyrius-Sahdona (c. 650) until H. Goussen published his Martyrius-Sahdona's Leben and Werke (Leipsic, 1897) and P. Bedjan edited his writings (Sancti Martyrii qui et Sahdona quce supersunt omnia, Paris, 1902; cf. R. Duval, JA, Jan.Feb., 1903, p. 166). When Sahdona abandoned Nestorianism, he found a bitter opponent in Ishoyabh III., the author of Acts Martyrii 11o'sabran (ed. J. B. Chabot, in Nouvelles archives des missions scientifiques, viii. 486) and The Book of Consolations, or the Pastoral Epistles of Mar Isho-Yahb (ed. P. Scott-Moncrieff, part i., London, 1904; these epistles have also been edited, with a Latin transl., by R. Duval, in CSCO, II., lxiv., 1905). Another writer whose very name was almost unknown until the present century was Theodorus bar Koni (or, perhaps, Kewanai), who left a large-collection of annotations on the Bible (cf. J. B. Chabot, " Th6odore bar Khouni et le livre des scholies," in JA, Jan.Feb., 1901, pp. 170-179), the first part of which has been edited by Addai Scher in CSCO, II., 1xv., 1910. An author long known and justly famous was Jacob of Edessa (q.v.), new fragments of whose correspondence have been published by F. Nau (ROC, 1901, pp. 1-9, 1905, pp. 3-4); and to this same period belongs George, bishop of the Arabians (q.v.), who worked over the " Chronicle " of Eusebius, and some of whose fragments are quoted in BrGr.

A new period began with the rise of Islam and the establishment of the califate in Babylonia; and Syriac literature as a whole soon yielded place to Arabic. Theological literature fell into the background, and secular branches were cul-

7. Rise of tivated, treatises now being written History on astronomy, on astrology, on philosunder Islam. ophy, on logic, and on rhetoric. The· ophilus of Edessa is said to have corresponded with the calif Al-Mahdi on astrological problems, and he even attempted to translate the Iliad and the Odyssey for his countrymen, although only a few fragments of his version have survived. After Paul the Persian had written on logic, Antonius the Rhetor; of Tagrit, adapted Greek rules to the Syriac language; while by translating the works of Aristotle the Syrians became the teachers of the Arabs, and thus, through them, the instructors of medieval Europe [cf. I. Pizzi, " Dells Cultura creduta araba," in Giornale arcadico, ser. III., vol. v.]. A historical work written about 775 A.D., and embodying extracts. from Eusebius, Socrates, and John of Ephesus, has preserved the chronicle of Joshua the Stylite, a chronicle which was long believed to be the.mork of Dionysius of Tell-Mabre, but of Dionysius' own history only a portion has survived. Moses bar Kepha (b. about 813; d. 903; bishop of Mosul, under the name of Severus, in 863) was a prolific author, although scarcely any of