Treatise on Natural History

This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections

Reference
- GB 59 Add MS 25878
Dates of Creation
- 17th century
Language of Material
- Arabic Syriac
Physical Description
- 1 item 70 fols.

Scope and Content

This volume contains a treatise on natural history resembling the Physiologus Syrus, but greatly expanded. It also contains fragments of the Psalms as found in the Pešiṭṭā, arranged for the sevices of the canonical hours.Paper, about 61 in. by 44, consisting of 70 leaves. This manuscript is written in a small, angular hand of the 17th century CE.

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Archive Record|Table of contents

British Library Syriac Manuscript CollectionBritish Library Syriac Manuscript Collection

Polyglot BibleAdd MS 5242

Ktābā Dawíd - ܟܬܒܐ ܕܘܝܕ.Add MS 7154

Púrāš qeryānā d-ṭeṭrā ᵓewangelion qadišā. - ܦܘܪܫ ܩܪܝܢܐ ܕܛܛܪܐ ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ܩܕܝܫܐAdd MS 7169

Syriac Lectionary.Add MS 7170

Iwangiliún - ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢAdd MS 7174

PONTIFICAL OF THE MARONITE CHURCH; 1723. Syriac, Arabic and Latin. The Pontifical was written in 1683 in the Patriarchal Monastery of St. Mary, Kanubin, Mount Lebanon, by Stephen Doueihi, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch (1670-1704). As explained in the preface (ff. 4-6v), Doueihi''s text is a revision of the original Pontifical by Jeremiah (Ermiya) al-Amshiti, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch (1209-1230), based on a comparison with a ritual written in 1295 by Theodore, Archbishop of Akourah, and other manuscript Pontificals dated 1311, 1495, 1581, and 1584. Patriarch Doueihi sent his work to Rome in 1683 to be printed, but the text remained unpublished, despite its solemn approval by the Synod of the Maronite Church in 1736. In the present MS. the original text in Syriac is flanked by its translation into Latin by Andrea Scandar, Professor of Arabic at the Maronite College at Rome, dated 1723: see note added by a later hand on f. 2; for Scandar see T. Anaissi, Collectio documentorum Maronitarum (Leghorn, 1921), p. 139, and P. Raphael, Le rôle du Collège Maronite Romain dans l''Orientalisme au XVIIe and XVIII siècles (Beirut, 1950), pp. 48, 151. The MS. is described, with details relating to the text division, in Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur, ed. by F. Rosen and J. Forshall, part I, Codices Syriacos et Carshunicos amplectens (London, 1838), no. XL, pp. 63b-64a; also mentioned with a short note by W. Wright in Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, vol. 3 (London, 1872), p. 1205a. The language of the preface (ff. 4-6v) is Arabic in Syriac characters. Title in Syriac (f. 7); Syriac text begins on f. 8, col. a, and ends on f. 135v, col. b; Latin transation inc. (f. 8, col. b) ''Ordinatio Psaltis seu Cantoris / Primo offertur oblatio Mysteriorum Sanctorum'', expl. (f. 135v, col. a) ''Patriarcha finem det Missae, et decanus caetera absolvat / Explicit Ordo Patriarchae''. With sparse marginal notes added throughout by a later hand, occasionally trimmed away by the binder. Table of contents (f. 3) added by the same later hand as note on f. 2. A second later hand added another title on f. 1, ''Pontificale Ecclesiae Antiochenae Syro-Latinum / Tom. I / No. 36.o''; gilt-title on second spine compartment ''Pontificale Ecclesiae Antiochenae Syr. Lat. Trad. And. Scandar''. Ownership note on upper right corner of f. 1, ''Ad usum Jacobi Cavalli'', to be possibly identified with Giacomo Cavalli (1678-1758), a Catholic convert of Jewish descent from Verona, later Professor of Hebrew at Rome: see DBI, 22 (1979), pp. 733-734. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. Purchased from R. H. Evans, 8 December 1830, lot no unknown. Paper; ff. 135+iii. Original pagination in ink ''1-262'' (ff. 4-135), omitting f. 7. 270 x 195mm. Horizontal catchwords used erratically in lower margins of columns for the Latin translation. Two columns of between 24 and 32 lines. One hand responsible for both the original text in Syriac (in the inner column of each page) and the Latin translation (in the outer column). 18th-cent. Italian binding of mottled brown leather with gilt-tooled spine in compartments; edges mottled in light red and green. MS. held in the Oriental collection.Add MS 8246

GREGORII BAR HEBRÆI Grammatica Syriaca brevior; sec. xviii. Syriace. Quarto. 10,021.Add MS 10021

MISSALE SYRIACUM juxta ritus ecclesiæ Antiochenæ, nationis Maronitarum, exaratum manu D. Gabrielis Maspani, Damasceni, olim colleglii Maronitarum de urbe alumni, A.D. 1737; Syriace. Quarto. [10,042.].Add MS 10042

FRAGMENTA duodecim biblica et liturgica, quorum unum tribus constat foliis, alterum duobus, et reliqua decem uno tantum singula; Syriace. Quarto. [10,967.].Add MS 10967

Manuscripts in Syriac, obtained from the Monastery of the Syrians dedicated to St. Mary Deipara, in the Desert of Nitria, or Scete, about seventy miles north-west of Cairo..Add MS 12133-12181

A NESTORIAN Lectionary from the Gospels. Syriac. Vellum; written in the convent of Rabbah Hormizd, in the XIth cent. Folio. [Add. 17,923.].Add MS 17923

Peshíṭtā - ܦܫܝܛܬܐ.Add MS 17983

BAR-HEBRÆUS, Ethics; with several short tracts. Syriac. Paper; written in the year of the Greeks 1914 (A.D. 1603). Small Quarto. Add. 18,295.Add MS 18295

BAR-HEBRÆUS, theological work intitled, the Lamp of Holy Things for the improvement of the senses. Arabic, in Syriac characters. Paper; written in the year of the Greeks 2025 (A.D. 1714). Small Quarto. Add. 18,296.Add MS 18296

SELECTIONS from the Fathers, comprising discourses of Gregory Nazianzen, Athanasius, Julius of Rome, and Basil; excerpts from the Ancoratus of Epiphanius; and demonstrations from the Scriptures and the Fathers regarding the state of the soul after death. Syriac. (Imperfect.) Vellum; VIIIth cent. Octavo. Add. 18,813.Add MS 18813

SELECTIONS from the Fathers, comprising sermons, letters and treatises, of John the Monk, Nilus, Jacob of Batnae, Ammonius, Basil, and Macarius; the history of Dionysius the presbyter; and the history of Malchus by John of Asia. Syriac. (Imperfect.) Vellum; IXth cent. Quarto. Add. 18,814.Add MS 18814

GREGORY NAZIANZEN, Sermons. Syriac. (Imperfect.) Vellum; IXth or Xth cent. Quarto. Add. 18,815.Add MS 18815

THE HYMNS of Severus and others. Syriac. Vellum; VIIIth or IXth cent. Quarto. [Add. 18,816.].Add MS 18816

SELECTIONS from the Fathers, comprising sermons and treatises of Evagrius, Xystus, John the Monk, Jacob of Batnae, and Ephraim. At the end are some palimpsest leaves in a later hand, containing two sermons of John the Monk and Marcus the Monk, and a letter of Philoxenus. Syriac. (Imperfect.) Vellum; VIIIth or IXth cent. Quarto. Add. 18,817.Add MS 18817

CYRIL of Alexandria on Worship in spirit and in truth, books I.-VIII. Syriac. (Imperfect.) Vellum; VIIIth cent. Quarto. [Add. 18,818.].Add MS 18818

THE HYMNS of Severus and others. Syriac. (Imperfect.) Vellum; written in part in the year of the Greeks 1195 (A.D. 884). Duodecimo. Add. 18,819.Add MS 18819

FRAGMENTS of two Service-books. Syriac. Vellum; XIIth cent. Folio and Large Quarto. [Add. 18,820.].Add MS 18820

FRAGMENTS of a volume containing the Poems and Epistles of Gregory Nazianzen, and Scholia of Olympiodorus of Alexandria on Aristotle. Syriac. Vellum; IXth or Xth cent. Large Quarto. [Add. 18,821.].Add MS 18821

Me'arat GazzeAdd MS 25875

Syriac grammars and other textsAdd MS 25876

Treatise on Natural HistoryAdd MS 25878

GospelsArundel Or 20

OFFICIUM Matrimonii, etc. Syriace. Quarto. [Bibl. Eg. 703.].Egerton MS 703

VETUS Testamentum cum libris Apocryphis. Syriace. Codex bombycinus, sec. xvii. Folio. [Bibl. Eg. 704.].Egerton MS 704

Opus chemicum, partim Syriace et partim Arabice, sed literis Syriacis. Octavo. Bibl. Eg. 709.Egerton MS 709

al-Mughnī fī tadbīr al-amrāḍ wa-maʿrifat al-ʿilal wa-al-aʿrāḍ المغني في تدبير الأمراض ومعرفة العلل والأعراض. Saʿīd ibn Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn سعيد بن هبة الله بن الحسين.IO Islamic 3810

Works of Grigorius Bar-HebraeusOr 1017

Treatise on chemistry and natural philosophyOr 1593

GospelsOr 2291

Ktābā d-PardesāOr 2302

John Bar Zu'bi GrammarOr 2314

History of Convent of Beth 'AbeOr 2316

Liber Splendorum Grammar of The Syriac lang. by Gregory Bar- HebraeusOr 3335

Púrāš qeryānā d-ṭeṭrā ᵓewangelion qadišā. - ܦܘܪܫ ܩܪܝܢܐ ܕܛܛܪܐ ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ܩܕܝܫܐOr 3372

Psalter and Bar-Hebraeus' On perfectionOr 4054

Kitāb al-HidāyahOr 4090

Minārat al-aqdās - ܡܢܐܪ̈ܗ ܐܠܐܩܪܐܣ.Or 4410

ProphetsOr 5918

Gospel LectionariesOr 6243

Ktābā d-huddāyā - ܟܬܒܐ ܕܗܕܝܐ.Or 6673

Púraš qeryāne d-ᵓevangilion qadeš d-qúdāš ᶜidtā birmaši - ܦܘܪܫ ܩ̈ܪܝܢܐ ܕܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ܩܕܫ ܕܩܘܕܫ ܥܕܬܐ ܒܪܡܫܐ.Or 8729

Discourses of Gregory NazanzianusOr 8730

First 30 discourses of Gregory NazanzianusOr 8731

Books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Isaiah IV-to endOr 8732

Tegúrtā d-Heraqlídús - ܬܐܓܘܪܬܐ ܕܗܪܩܠܝܕܘܣOr 9046

Letters and Other Neo-Aramaic Documents Sent to Eduard SachauOr 9326

Metrical discourses and responsaOr 9363

Treatise of Moses bar Kepha on the soul and of Mār Yo'annesOr 9374

Epistles, discourses, responsa, etc.Or 9378

Three works of Yōḥannān bar PenkāyeOr 9385

Taš'ītā d-AliksāndrosOr 9392

Taš'ītā d-AliksāndrosOr 9393

Magical prayers with invocationsOr 11370

Takhsā d-burrāke or Marriage Service according to the Nestorian RiteOr 12073

[Kitab-i tıbb-i cevheri cild-i evvel] - [كتاب طب جوهرى جلد اول]Or 12108

Peshitta - ܦܫܝܛܬܐ.Or 13465