Receuil des inscriptions syriaques, vol. 2: Iraq: Syriac and Garshuni Inscriptions.

• Author: Reymond, Eric D.
• Position: Book review

Receuil des inscriptions syriaques, vol. 2: Iraq: Syriac and Garshuni Inscriptions. 2 vols.: text and plates. By AMER HARRAK. Paris: ACADEMIE DES INSCRIPTIONS ET BELLES-LETTRES, 2010. Pp. 735, 285 (paper).

This book represents the second installment of a series that promises to document the Syriac inscriptions found in every region from India (already published as the first volume of the series) to Europe. By "Syriac inscription" is meant not only the inscriptions in the Syriac language, but also those that are in another language, but written with the Syriac alphabet. Here Garshumi texts are included, that is, texts in Arabic, but written with the Syriac script. The author of the present book was able to photograph and study many of the inscriptions in situ himself during the late 1990s. The hundreds of inscriptions (dating from ca. 700 C.E. to 2000 C.E.) offer a wealth of information on a variety of topics. Below, after the description of the book's structure. I will first isolate some points of general interest and then note minor criticisms relating to the translations.

The book's first volume contains the introduction and texts. The introduction describes the different regions of Iraq where the inscriptions are found, the nature of the major groups of inscriptions, the literary genres, their formulaic phrasings, as well as something about the Syriac scripts evidenced in the inscriptions. The inscriptions are organized according to region and, within each region. according to the church or building to which they belong. Each inscription is accompanied by a description of its provenance, a bibliography, a description of the stone or surface on which it is written, a mention of the script (sometimes more than one), and a date (if the text contains an explicit date or implies one), followed by a transliteration, a translation, and notes on the text. Where appropriate the author has also included diagrams of the inscriptions in order to make clear their organization and orientation. This last element is particularly helpful and illuminating. The second volume, containing the photographs, will be useful for historians of art and architecture and to epigraphers, though unfortunately the photos sometimes do not allow one to easily read the actual texts. Sometimes this is due to an inscription being partially preserved. In other cases, the photograph is not large enough to allow one to make out the letters or sometimes contains a shadow or some...