This book provides a re-edition and translation of the Syriac legal parchments of the mid 3rd century CE from Upper Mesopotamia, along with extensive commentary. These documents constitute our earliest significant evidence of the Syriac language and script, since only short epigraphs on stone and in mosaics survive otherwise. The texts are reproduced in Syriac script and in transliteration, while plates of the documents and script charts are also included, along with chapters devoted to script and language (in the context of the development of the later Classical Syriac forms) and to law (in the context of the adaptation of Aramaic law to Romanization).
John F. Healey, Professor Emeritus of the University of Manchester, specialises on Middle Aramaic epigraphy (Nabataean, Palmyrene, Syriac). His publications include, with the late Professor Han Drijvers as co-author, The Old Syriac Inscriptions of Edessa and Osrhoene (Brill, 1999).
Acknowledgements List of Figures and Tables Abbreviations
Introduction
1 The Debt-Transfer of 240 CE (P. Euphr. 18)
2 The Lease of 242 CE (P. Euphr. 19)
3 The Slave-Sale of 243 CE (P. Dura 28)
3.1 Excursus: P. Dura 152
4 Aramaic/Syriac in Greek Documents from the P. Euphr. and P. Dura Archives
4.1 P. Euphr. 1
4.2 P. Euphr. 3 and 4
4.3 P. Euphr. 6 and 7
4.4 P. Euphr. 9
4.5 P. Euphr. 10
4.6 P. Euphr. 12
4.7 P. Dura 27
5 The Scripts of the Documents
5.1 Excursus: Numerical Signs
6 The Aramaic/Syriac of the Documents
7 The Legal Language of the Documents
Concluding Remarks
The Texts in Syriac Script Script Charts (Figures 1–40) Plates Bibliography Index of Words Index of Personal Names
Academic libraries, research specialists, postgraduate students in Aramaic Studies, Jewish Studies, Semitic Languages, Oriental Christianity, Ancient History, Eastern Roman Empire, legal history of Mesopotamia, local law under the Roman Empire