Short Report on the Symposium:
"East Syrian Christians in the Ottoman Empire (c. 1600-1800)"
Leiden University, 17-18 October 1997

Heleen L. MURRE-VAN DEN BERG
hlmurre@rullet.leidenuniv.nl
Department of Near Eastern Studies (TCNO)
University of Leiden
P.O. Box 9515
NL - 2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands

[1] The history, language, and literature of the East Syrian Christians in the Ottoman Empire constituted the subject of this Symposium. Since 1996 a research project has been running in Leiden, in which Alessandro Mengozzi and Heleen L. Murre-van den Berg are cooperating in the study of the language and literature of the East Syrian Christians in northern Iraq between 1600 and 1800. Special attention is being paid to Neo-Aramaic poetry, which makes its first appearance in this period.

[2] As this period of East Syrian history is relatively unknown, it was deemed important to bring together various scholars whose research touches on the field of study under discussion. Four interrelated themes were dealt with at the symposium: (i) Neo Aramaic literature and language; (ii) Classical Syriac literature in the 17th and 18th centuries; (iii) the transmission and reception of earlier Classical Syriac literature; (iv) broader historical context, including the growing influence of Roman Catholicism in the region.

[3] Papers were delivered by A. Mengozzi (Leiden University): `Israel Alqoshaya and Yausip Tilkepnaya at the Beginning of Sureth Literature', F.A. Pennacchietti (Università di Torino): `Neo-Aramaic and Persian Glosses in the Syriac Translation of the Pseudo-Callisthenes and the Literary Traditions around the School of Alqosh', G. Goldenberg (Hebrew University, Jerusalem): `Early Neo-Aramaic and Present-day Dialectal Diversity', J.F. Coakley (Harvard University, Cambridge MA): `The East Syrian Patriarchate in the 17th Century According to Mar Elia of Alqosh', G.J. Reinink (Groningen University): `A Chaldean taksâ d-kahnê in an East-Syrian Ms. from the University Library of Groningen', H. Teule (Catholic University, Nijmegen): `The Ascetic Florilegium in Ms. Charfeh 86 and its Connections with East-Syriac Ascetic/Monastic Literature', C.A. Ciancaglini (La Sapienza, Rome): `La rédaction syriaque du Roman d'Alexandre: les éléments persans entre histoire et philologie', B. Poizat (Université Claude Bernard, Lyon 1): `Les trésors perdus de l'antique Ninive', B. Heyberger (Strasbourg, Université des Sciences Humaines): `Pour une étude de l'échange culturel entre chrétiens orientaux et catholicisme latin: problèmes et méthodes', A.H. de Groot (Leiden University): `Ottoman Administration and its Christian Subjects: Changes in the Millet System under Influence of Western Missions', L. Van Rompay (Leiden University): `Alqosh as a Channel of Transmission of Syriac Literary Culture', and H.L. Murre-van den Berg (Leiden University): `The Church of the East in the 17th and 18th Centuries: Bet Israel Alqoshaya and the Periodization of History'.

[4] For more information, please contact one of the organizers: