The twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920) were pioneering biblical scholars who became experts in a number of ancient languages. Travelling widely in the Middle East, they made several significant discoveries, including one of the earliest manuscripts of the Four Gospels in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language probably spoken by Jesus himself. First published in 1902 as part of the Studia Sinaitica, this text is transcribed and translated by Lewis from a Syriac manuscript she acquired in Suez in 1895. As well as featuring pages of the Septaguint and the Peshitta Gospels, the palimpsest includes some Arabic pages including a very early version of the Qur'an (estimated by Lewis as seventh-century). Illustrated with reproductions of the leaves of the various texts, this is a valuable resource for scholars of Syriac, but also of interest for historians of Christianity and Early Islam.
| ISBN: | 9781108043489 |
| Publication date: | 23rd February 2012 |
| Author: | Agnes Smith Lewis |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 326 pages |
| Series: | Cambridge Library Collection - Biblical Studies |
| Genres: |
Christianity Criticism and exegesis of sacred texts |