Süryani Kaynakları

Syriac sources are one of the fundamental written source groups for pre-Islamic Kurdish history. Syriac works, authored between the fifth century BC and the seventh century AD and containing unique information for ancient Kurdish history, are discussed in six separate sections in the first part of the first volume of the series "Main Written Sources of Kurdish History," along with Greek, Latin, Old Persian, Pahlavi, and Armenian sources (Volume 1, p. 13).

Scope and Nature

This corpus is not only related to the geography of the Near East such as Küçük Asya, Mezopotamya, Suriye, and İran; it also contains insightful information on topics such as the history, origins, religious beliefs, and historical geography of the Kurds from the ancient period to the Islamic period (Volume 1, p. 13). The distinctive characteristic of Syriac sources is that they predominantly dedicate their content to religious topics. While Greek and Latin sources mostly deal with political events and sometimes repeat each other in terms of content, Syriac sources, which focus on religious topics, concentrate on how Christianity spread in a wide geography, including among the Kurds, and offer exceptional information about Pagans, Zoroastrians, and other religious beliefs not found in other source groups (Volume 1, pp. 21, 81).

These sources provide information about the peoples living in the same geography in ancient times, sometimes without naming the tribe, from their religious beliefs to their daily practices. Some Syriac sources mention groups living around Şengal/Sincar Dağı with "strange" beliefs (Volume 1, p. 19). These religious and folkloric information mentioned in pre-Islamic sources, alongside data directly pointing to Kurdish history, are materials that researchers wishing to write the Kurdish history of that period should carefully evaluate (Volume 1, p. 22).

Translation Relations

Translation relations between Syriac and Greek-Latin traditions are characteristic of this source group. Eusebius's Kronik (Chronography / Chronicon), which he originally wrote in Greek, was translated from Armenian into Syriac; his other important work, Kilise Tarihi, was translated from Syriac into Armenian. Eusebius's Kronik is important as it is the first systematic and universal history of the ancient world and deals with peoples such as Keldaniler, Asurlular, and Medler (Volume 1, p. 36).

Principal Works and Figures

Concrete examples of Syriac historiography shed light on the Sasani-Roma conflicts of the period. Mar Yeşua's Vekayinamesi thoroughly describes the events between AD 494-506/7, especially the attacks of Sasani Shah I. Kawad on Amida and Edessa, and the damage caused to the populace by the famine in these regions. The work's survival to the present day is thanks to the Yakubi patriarch Tell-Mahreli Dionysius (d. 845), and its single manuscript is preserved in the Vatikan library (Volume 1, p. 53). Similarly, Yuhanna's work refers to the Pers-Roma wars of his time; it provides detailed information about the geography between the Fırat and Dicle rivers and discusses the region referred to as Kardukhia or Corduene in classical sources (Carkh/Karkh) (Volume 1, p. 56).

Leading representatives of Syriac Christianity are also principal figures of this tradition. Edessalı rahip Yakub is a scholar who translated holy books, engaged in grammar and philosophy, and authored Kronik, one of his most famous works; his works written in Greek were also translated into Syriac. The single damaged copy of his Kronik is preserved in the British Museum, and the final years of the work were likely added by someone else after his death (Volume 1, pp. 56-57).