The Syriac Aḥiqar, Its Slavonic Version, and the Relics of the Three Youths in Babylon

Basil Lourié

The Syriac Aḥiqar, Its Slavonic Version, and the Relics of the Three Youths in Babylon

Basil Lourié

Abstract

The author argues that the earliest recension of the Slavonic Aḥiqar (Povestʹ ob Akire Premudrom) was produced in Bulgaria as a direct translation from Syriac, whereas the original Christian (Syriac) recension was created in the Syriac-speaking anti-Chalcedonian milieu within the Sassanid Iranian Empire in the late fifth century; in this latter context, it originated as a hagiographic legend inaugurating a new cult directed against the pro-Chalcedonian Ctesiphon cult of the Three Youths in Babylon. This anti-Chalcedonian and anti-Byzantine work was never accepted in Byzantine culture.

Keywords

Aḥiqar; Povestʹ ob Akire Premudrom; Old Testament pseudepigrapha; Danielic pseudepigrapha; Old Church Slavonic translations; Armenian literature of translations; Old Bulgarian translations; Old Russian translations; Slavonic pseudepigrapha

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