Syrische Handschriften

This volume is the second volume of the VOHD-series dedicated to the collection of Syriac fragments housed in several institutions in Berlin, viz: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz [Orientabteilung]; Turfanforschung [Berlin-Brandenburg Akademie der Wissenschaften], Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Dahlem.

The volume contains the analytical description of 519 fragments that were discovered by the 2nd and 3rd German Turfan Expeditions between 1904 and 1907. The majority came from the Church of the East monastery site of Bulayïq, on the outskirts of Turfan, but small quantities were also found at other sites in the oasis. The fragments embrace a broad range of genres, all indicative of a monastic community. Most can be classified as being either liturgical or biblical, the former including many texts from the ?udra, the latter incorporating bilingual lectionaries with alternating Syriac-Sogdian text.

In the absence of entire manuscripts and with no extant colophon data, particular attention has been paid to the description of each fragment as a single codicological unit. In addition to identifying the contents, the entries record physical details, palaeographic and orthographic information, proper names and supplies sample texts.