Nestorian Syriac Manuscript, 16th Century

Specimens of Oriental MSS and Printing

G.M.L. Brown 1.5b



From a Nestorian Syriac Manuscript of the 16th Century- a Book of Prayers. Written with a reed pen on a semi-waterproof paper (in the manufacture of which Damascus was once famous), and distinguished for its bold, clear characters and interesting rubrications. Syriac, a Semitic language, originally a dialect of Aramaic, which in turn sprang from the Phoenician, was the spoken and written language of a vast region East of Antioch, and for a time was the cultural language of Persia. In fact, it ranked in importance second only to Greek throughout the Eastern Roman Empire. Its characters seem to have been derived from Cufic, or monumental Arabic, used in rock inscriptions, coins and seals, rather than from the cursive Naskhi, used on papyrus and parchment. Syriac has now been almost entirely superseded by modern Arabic, except in a few isolated communities and among the clergy, and may be considered a dead language. A printed leaf from a New Testament (dated 1843), has been added, in which ancient and modern Syriac are shown in parallel columns.