Sententiae Syriacae

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Fragment of the Sententiae Syriacae from the 8th century: manuscript Vat. Syr. 560, sheet 27 v

The Sententiae Syriacae are a collection of legal texts from late antiquity .

They are written in the Syrian language. In the handwritten sources, your text bears the later designation "Laws of Christian and Just Kings" several times, in one handwriting with the addition "in short version". It is not known how the work was originally named, what its purpose was and whether its first version even had a name. Its current name is based on scientific consensus.

content

The Sententiae Syriacae comprise 102 text passages on Roman law from the third to fifth centuries AD, mainly from the time of Diocletian (early post- classical stage of development). These passages are sentences, brief descriptions of the essential content of legal provisions. Roman law is dealt with, without Hellenistic or other provincial law developments: personal law, family law, property law, law of obligations, inheritance law, procedural law (process and execution), criminal law and the legal effects of public honors and offices. A focus on the content (which could give indications of the purpose of the collection) is not recognizable, nor is there any indication that the work in the traditional version is complete or fragmentary. A well-trained lawyer is accepted as the author; the final version of the work is associated with teaching at the Beryt Law School .

In his book review, Reuven Yaron published some comments on Walter Selb's multiple references that the Sententiae Syriacae contained “pure” Roman law, according to which in individual cases oriental influences (e.g. a prohibition from the Talmud on engagement and marriage law, § 14 , §§ 71–73) cannot be excluded.

The dating of individual parts of the collection is partly possible based on the respective legal situation: For example, if the text of the Sententiae in §§ 33, 45, 91 and 97 describes a legal status from the time of Emperor Hadrian , although it is known from other sources that this If the legal situation was changed in the year 321 AD, it can be assumed that the template from which the Sententiae arose was written before this year. It was found that, of the 102 passages of Sentences Syriacae 31 points with the utmost security as an imperial rescript to identify the years 293 and 294 AD, and Diocletian and Maximian be allocated . There are a number of indications in the text that more than half of the texts of the Sententiae Syriacae come from legal collections of the late third century: the Codex Hermogenianus and the Codex Gregorianus . Five passages in the text come from the regulations (constitutions) of Constantine I and a constitution of the emperors Leo and Anthemius from AD 472.

Since the use of the older codices was banned in the year 529 as part of the new codification of the Corpus iuris civilis , the time between 472 and 529 is assumed to be the time of the final version of the Sententiae Syriacae (in the version known at the beginning of the 21st century).

Lore

The oldest known text of the Sententiae Syriacae contains a manuscript from around the 8th century. This manuscript on parchment, which had previously been in Baghdad , arrived in 1937 as a gift from the Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan of Mosul to Pope Pius XI. in the library of the Vatican : Vat. Syr. 560. Sheet 27 of this manuscript contains the first thirty passages from the Sententiae Syriacae on its front and back. It is written in the oldest Syriac script , the Esṭrangelā. Other manuscripts come from the holdings of the former Syrian Orthodox Archbishopric in Mardin am Tur Abdin (manuscripts M 323 and M 326/9) and from the collection of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus (manuscript Dam. 8/11). There are also manuscripts from the 20th century in Vienna (Aydin 2) and Munich (K). In addition to the Syrian versions, there are around forty Armenian versions that have been translated from Syrian templates.

According to the state of science at the beginning of the 21st century is in the Sententiae Syriacae a translation of one or more Greek -written templates which in turn translations or paraphrases ( paraphrases ) Latin texts contained. The Syrian translation is not adapted to the Syrian language, but adheres very closely to the Greek model in terms of style, sentence structure and choice of words, sometimes slavishly. This made it possible in many cases and down to the last detail to determine by comparing other, long-known texts which text passages were treated by the translation and also to correct misleading spellings. Greek and Latin originals are not known. Whether and to what extent an original Latin original was revised and supplemented during the Greek revision and perhaps again during the Syrian translation cannot be proven.

The manuscripts in which the Sententiae Syriacae are handed down are teaching and decision-making collections (Synodica) of the Syrian Orthodox Church. They contain theological and legal texts of this church, such as decisions of synods, the Didaskalie , a collection of inheritance law, the Syriac-Roman law book and rules for clerics. The Sententiae Syriacae always appear in the manuscripts immediately before the text of the Syriac-Roman Law Book (SRRB). This led to the Sententiae not being recognized as an independent work on several occasions, but being treated as part of the SRRB. From the order in which the SRRB and the Sententiae appear in the Synodica of the Syrian Orthodox Church, it is assumed that these legal works were handed down independently until the 8th century and only then became part of the Synodica.

The text of the Sententiae Syriacae has been published in several publications. The first edition took place in 1968 by Walter Selb in the Savigny- Zeitschrift für Rechtsgeschichte. This publication deals with the fragment of the Sententiae in the manuscript Vat. Syr (following a reference by Hubert Kaufhold). 560. Then the text of the Sententiae was treated in several publications by the theologian Arthur Võõbus as part of the Syrian-Orthodox Synodica and the Syriac-Roman Law Book and published in facsimile. These publications also contain English translations, which, however, do not always accurately reflect the legal statements of the texts and are not usable for the study of Roman law. A detailed Roman law publication including a critical text edition and commentary using the relevant specialist vocabulary (including any corrections of spelling errors in the original text) was carried out in 1990 by Walter Selb in the publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The text of the manuscripts used for this was verified with the support of the Patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church Ignatius Zakka I. Iwas and other officials of this church in several trips to the locations of the manuscripts.

Continue to work

Until the middle of the 20th century, the Sententiae Syriacae were unknown to European science. However, new manuscripts of their text were created by the ancient Near Eastern churches , although there is no documentation of the effects resulting from it. That the Sententiae Syriacae form an independent work was only published in 1965 (without further identification) in a manuscript catalog. The Sententiae Syriacae were used in some canonical publications of the 20th century, but not as a separate work, but as part of the Syriac-Roman legal code, for example in the context of the codification of the law of the oriental churches. The work was not used in legal literature until the 1990s. It then served as a source for work, particularly on personal and family law. Paragraphs 77 and 98 are referred to as milestones in research on the legal status of the foundling under Roman law . The publication by Selb in 1990 contributed in a number of details to a better understanding of Roman law before the time of Justinian, for example through a suggestion to improve the text in Codex Justinianus 7,16, 10 or as an informative new source on the legal status before the time of Constantine I. .

expenditure

  • Walter Selb: Sententiae syriacae. With 2 facsimiles and 9 pages of Syrian text between pages 400/401. In: Zeitschrift für Rechtsgeschichte - ZRG, Volume 98 (Savigny-Zeitschrift Volume 85), Romance Department, year 1968. ISSN  0323-4096 . Pages 400-404.
  • Arthur Võõbus: The Synodicon in the West Syrian tradition. Volume I / 1: Syriac text. In: Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (CSCO) 367, Scriptores Syri 161. Peeters Publishing, Leuven / Louvain 1975. ISBN 978-90-429-0408-8 (ISBN subsequently assigned, not generally applicable). Volume I / 2: English translation. CSCO 368, Scriptores Syri 162. Peeters Publishing, Leuven / Louvain 1975. ISBN 978-90-429-0409-5 . Volume II / 1: Syriac text. CSCO 375, Scriptores Syri 163. Peeters Publishing, Leuven / Louvain 1976. ISBN 978-90-429-0416-3 . Volume II / 2: English translation. CSCO 376. Scriptores Syri 164, Peeters Verlag, Leuven / Louvain 1976. ISBN 978-90-429-0417-0 .
  • Arthur Võõbus: The Syro-Roman lawbook. The Syriac text of the recently discovered manuscripts accompanied by a facsimile edition and furnished with an introduction and translation. Volume I: The Syriac text with an introduction. Eesti Usuteadlaste Selts Paguluses toimetused = Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile - PapETSE. Scholarly series. Volume 36. Stockholm 1982. Volume II: A translation with annotations. PapETSE, Scholarly series. Volume 39. Stockholm 1983.
  • Walter Selb: "Sententiae Syriacae". Session reports of the philosophical-historical class of the Austrian Academy of Sciences - OeAW, Volume 567. Publications of the Commission for Ancient Legal History, Volume 7. Verlag der OeAW. Vienna 1990. ISBN 3-7001-1798-1 . (Suggestions for some translation alternatives are included in Reuven Yaron's book review).

literature

  • Arthur Võõbus : Discoveries of very important manuscript sources for the Syro-Roman Lawbook. The opening of a new epoch of research in this unique monument of jurisprudence. Eesti Usuteadlaste Selts Paguluses toimetused = Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile - PapETSE. Scholarly series. Volume 21. Stockholm 1971.
  • Arthur Võõbus: New Light on the Textual History of the Syro-Roman Lawbook. In: Labeo. Rassegna di diritto romano. Napoli. Volume 19, born in 1973.
  • Arthur Võõbus: An unknown recension of the Syro-Roman lawbook: a facsimile edition of three Syriac manuscripts with a translation. Eesti Usuteadlaste Selts Paguluses toimetused = Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile - PapETSE. Scholarly series 28. Stockholm 1977.
  • Arthur Võõbus: Discovery of an Unknown Recension of the Syro-Roman Lawbook. In: Labeo. Rassegna di diritto romano. Napoli. Volume 23, born in 1977.
  • Peter E. Pieler: Legal literature. Practical literature: legal books and forms. β) Sententiae Syriacae. Page 394–395. In: Herbert Hunger : The high-level profane literature of the Byzantines . Philology, profane poetry, music, mathematics and astronomy, natural sciences, medicine, war science, legal literature. With contributions by Christian Hannick and Peter E. Pieler. Second volume, 13th chapter. In: Byzantine Handbook. Volume 12,5,2 of the Handbook of Ancient Studies . Verlag CH Beck Munich 1978. ISBN 3-406-01428-3 .
  • Hubert Kaufhold: The tradition of the Sententiae Syriacae and their historical and literary context. In: Dieter Simon (ed.): Files from the 26th German Legal Historians' Day, Frankfurt am Main, September 22 to 26, 1986. ISBN 3-465-01761-7 . Pages 505-518.
  • Walter Selb : The content of the Sententiae Syriacae and their legal historical significance. In: Dieter Simon (ed.): Files from the 26th German Legal Historians' Day, Frankfurt am Main, September 22 to 26, 1986. ISBN 3-465-01761-7 . Pages 519-525.
  • Hubert Kaufhold: Syrian manuscripts with legal content in south Indian libraries. Session reports of the philosophical-historical class of the Austrian Academy of Sciences - ÖAW, Volume 535. Publications of the Commission for Ancient Legal History, Volume 5. Verlag der ÖAW. Vienna 1989. ISBN 3-7001-1632-2 .
  • Hubert Kaufhold: Book review Sententiae Syriacae. In: Oriens Christianus . Booklets for the knowledge of the Christian Orient. On behalf of the Görres Society , edited by Hubert Kaufhold and Manfred Kropp. Harrassowitz publishing house. Year 1990, Volume 75. Pages 269-271.
  • Reuven Yaron: Book review for the edition of Walter Selb from 1990. In: Journal for legal history - ZRG Volume 122 (Savigny-Zeitschrift Volume 109). Romance Department. Born in 1992. ISSN  0323-4096 . Pages 602-615.
  • Michael Memmer: "Ad servitutem aut ad lupanar ..." A contribution to the legal status of foundlings according to Roman law - with special consideration of §§ 77, 98 Sententiae Syriacae. In: Journal for Legal History - ZRG Volume 121 (Savigny-Zeitschrift Volume 108). Romance Department. Born in 1991. ISSN  0323-4096 . Pages 21-93.
  • Walter Selb: Ancient rights in the Mediterranean area. Rome, Greece, Egypt and the Orient . Böhlau Verlag Vienna 1993. ISBN 3-205-98089-1 . Pages 70-71, 180.
  • Hubert Kaufhold: The Armenian translations of Byzantine legal books. First part: general. Second part: The “Short Collection” (“Sententiae Syriacae”). Research on Byzantine legal history, Volume 21. Verlag der Löwenklau-Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main 1997. ISBN 3-923615-17-5 . Pp. 9, 75-216.
  • Hubert Kaufhold: Armenian translations of Byzantine legal books. In: Armenuhi Drost-Abgarjan , Hermann Goltz : Armenology in Germany. Contributions to the First German Armenologist Day, Münster 2005. Studies on Oriental Church History, Volume 35. Lit-Verlag Berlin 2005. ISBN 3-8258-8610-7 . Pages 47-55.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , pp. 18-20.
  2. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , p. 32.
  3. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , pp. 190–192.
  4. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , page 16.
  5. ↑ a b Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , page 202.
  6. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , page 95.
  7. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , pp. 209–210.
  8. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , p. 210.
  9. ^ Yaron, Book Review , 614.
  10. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , pp. 128–129.
  11. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , pp. 189–190.
  12. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , page 192.
  13. ↑ Selb, first publication of the Sententiae Syriacae in the Zeitschrift für Rechtsgeschichte ZRG Volume 98 (1968). Page 401.
  14. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , page 27.
  15. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , page 31.
  16. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , pp. 16, 62 (footnote 150), 183, 190, 196.
  17. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , pp. 13-23.
  18. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , p. 212.
  19. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , page 16.
  20. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , page 13, footnote 1 refers to: Arnoldus van Lantschoot (1889-1969): Inventaire des manuscrits syriaques des fonds Vatican (490-631), Barberini Oriental et Neofiti. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Studi e testi 243. Città del Vaticano 1965. Page 78.
  21. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae, page 13, footnote 2 refers to: Paul Hindo: Codificazione Canonica Orientale. In: Sacra Congregazione per la Chiesa orientale, Pontifica Commissio ad redigendum codicem iuris canonici orientalis. Codificazione canonica orientale - CCO Fonti II, XXVII. Typografia Polyglotta Vaticana, Roma 1941. page 261 and page 268.
  22. ↑ Alfred Söllner: Bona findes - good faith? In: Journal for Legal History - ZRG Volume 135 (Savigny-Zeitschrift Volume 122). Romance Department. Year 2005. ISSN  0323-4096 . Pp. 51, 58.
  23. ↑ Memmer, “Ad servitutem…” , pp. 91–93.
  24. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , page 143.
  25. ↑ Selb, Sententiae Syriacae , page 150.