Speaker: Timothy B. Sailors, Mitarbeiter, Asien-Orient-Institut & Seminar für Alte Geschichte, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, ARISC Fellow
Date & Time: Friday, October 4, at 7pm Yerevan, 11am US EDT
Zoom: https://bit.ly/3XKDiPe
(Registration required)
Over 130 years of research by Armenologists and biblical scholars notwithstanding, uncertainties surrounding the most ancient translations into classical Armenian persist. This literary activity initially took place in the early fifth century and involved complex interrelations with two neighboring cultures and languages: Greek and Syriac, both of which exerted a profound religious and literary impact upon Armenia. These earliest translations included parts of the Christian Bible. The respective influence of Syriac and Greek Christianity upon the Armenian biblical tradition is both unmistakable as well as the result of intertwined processes of translation, (re)interpretation, and canon formation that took place over centuries, thereby presenting historians and philologists with a challenging task. Producing critical editions of Armenian biblical books has long been recognized as essential, but began in earnest only in the 1980s and 1990s. A survey of this history of scholarship helps to orient current scientific study and suggests paths forward for future academic work.
As an ARISC Graduate/Postdoctoral Fellow in Yerevan, Timothy B. Sailors, who specializes in the academic study of ancient Christianity and its literature, began a short project to reassess classical Armenian translations of biblical materials. Sailors carried out his research primarily at the Matenadaran, i.e., the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts. Among his interests are the broader literary-historical context in which early Christian literature was transmitted from Syriac and Greek into Armenian and the geographical centers related to this activity, namely, Constantinople and Edessa. In his academic work, Sailors has also focused on the Diatessaron (a second-century gospel harmony), on the so-called Apostolic Fathers, and on the New Testament.
Funding for this fellowship is provided by ARISC General Funds and private donations. This event is sponsored by the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC). The lectures are free and open to the public. Learn more at www.arisc.org
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