One of the ways through which Hellenism spread in the Middle East was through translations of Greek texts into oriental languages. Over the course of the first millennium AD an enormous number of translations were made into Syriac, covering biblical, patristic, liturgical, medical, and philosophical texts; in some cases Syriac then served as a stepping stone to other languages. The talk will focus on some of the main trends, with particular attention paid to changing attitudes to translation over the course of time. Translations from Syriac into Greek are very much rarer, but they include some influential texts and authors, and the talk will conclude by considering two of these, Ephrem and Isaac the Syrian.
Dr Sebastian Brock is Emeritus Reader in Syriac Studies in the University of Oxford, having taught Aramaic and Syriac there from 1974-2003. He has published extensively in the field of Syriac literature, concentrating (though not exclusively) on the period 4th to 7th centuries. His Luminous Eye: the Spiritual World Vision of St Ephrem (1985) and his The Bible in Syriac Tradition (2006) have been translated into several different languages. He is the editor of three-volume The Hidden Pearl: the Syrian Orthodox Church and its Ancient Aramaic Heritage (2001) and the co-editor, with A. Butts, G.A. Kiraz and L. van Rompay, of The Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (2011). His interest in translations goes back to his doctoral research on the textual history of the Septuagint, but he has subsequently concentrated on the Syriac area, with a particular interest in the changes in attitudes to translation practice over the course of time.