View source for Book of the Bee

{{Short description|13th-century Syriac Christian text}}
{{for|the Arabic ''Book of the Bee'' published in 1666|Macarius III Ibn al-Za'im}}
{{italic title}} __NOTOC__
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=June 2024}}
The '''''Book of the Bee''''' ({{langx|syr|ܟܬܒܐ ܕܕܒܘܪܝܬܐ|Kṯāḇā ḏ-debboriṯā}}) is a [[historiographic]] and [[Christian theology|theological]] compilation, containing numerous [[Christian Bible|biblical]] stories. It was written around 1222, by Solomon of [[Akhlat]], who was [[Bishop]] of [[Basra]], within the [[Church of the East]]. It is written in the [[Syriac language]].{{sfn|Budge|1886|p=III–X}}{{sfn|Teule|2012|p=193–195}}

The book is a collection of theological and historical texts and consists of 55 chapters discussing various topics including the creation, heaven and earth, the angels, darkness, paradise, [[Old Testament]] patriarchs, [[New Testament]] events, lists of kings and patriarchs, and the final day of resurrection. The book was very popular among local Christian communities, and it was transmitted up to the 19th century.{{sfn|Baumstark|1922|p=309}}{{sfn|Weltecke|Younansardaroud|2019|p=705}}

The author, Solomon of [[Ahlat|Akhlat]],{{sfn|Loopstra|2011|p=378}} was a bishop of the [[Church of the East]] during the first half of the 13th century. He was a diocesan bishop of [[Basra]], now in [[Iraq]], and was present at the consecration of the [[Patriarch of the Church of the East]], [[Sabrisho IV]], in 1222.{{sfn|Wright|1894|p=282}} He dedicated the book to his friend, bishop Narsai of Beth Waziq.{{sfn|Fiey|1993|p=68}}

The book was written in Syriac, a literary form of [[Eastern Aramaic languages|Eastern Middle Aramaic]], and it was also translated into [[Arabic]]. The author held his native Syriac language in high regard and adopted the notion of some older authors that it was the oldest language.{{sfn|Budge|1886|p=36, 39, 42}}

The book was translated into Latin and published in 1866, by Joseph Schönfelder (d. 1913).{{sfn|Schönfelder|1866|p=}} In 1886, Syriac text was published with English translation, by British orientalist [[Ernest A. Wallis Budge]] (d. 1934).{{sfn|Budge|1886|p=}}

== See also ==
* [[Syriac literature]]
* [[Syriac Christianity]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Sources ==
{{Refbegin|2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Baumstark|first=Anton|author-link=Anton Baumstark|title=Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, mit Ausschluss der christlich-palästinensischen Texte|year=1922|location=Bonn|publisher=A. Marcus und E. Weber Verlag|isbn=9783110821253 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNiHTNpJ0aAC}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Brock|first=Sebastian P.|author-link=Sebastian P. Brock|title=Three Thousand Years of Aramaic Literature|journal=ARAM Periodical|year=1989|volume=1|number=1|pages=11–23|url=https://www.aramsociety.org/periodical/published-papers}}
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Budge|editor-first=Ernest A. Wallis|editor-link=E. A. Wallis Budge|title=The Book of the Bee: The Syriac Text Edited from the Manuscripts in London, Oxford, and Munich with an English Translation|year=1886|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ssg3AQAAMAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Fiey|first=Jean Maurice|author-link=Jean Maurice Fiey|title=Pour un Oriens Christianus Novus: Répertoire des diocèses syriaques orientaux et occidentaux|year=1993|location=Beirut|publisher=Orient-Institut|isbn=9783515057189 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cE5tAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Loopstra|first=Jonathan A.|chapter=Shlemon of Baṣra|title=Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage|year=2011|location=Piscataway, NJ|publisher=Gorgias Press|pages=378|chapter-url=https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Shlemon-of-Basra}}
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Schönfelder|editor-first=Joseph M.|title=Salomonis episcopi Bassorensis liber Apis: Syriacum Arabicumque textum Latine vertit notis illustravit|year=1866|location=Bamberg|publisher=Reindl|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GNplAAAAcAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Teule|first=Herman G. B.|chapter=Solomon of Basra|title=Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History|volume=4|year=2012|location=Leiden-Boston|publisher=Brill|pages=193–195|isbn=978-9004228542 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wXDXv-h7K58C&pg=PA193}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Weltecke|first1=Dorothea|last2=Younansardaroud|first2=Helen|chapter=The Renaissance of Syriac Literature in the Twelfth–Thirteenth Centuries|title=The Syriac World|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=698–717|isbn=9781138899018 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E48JswEACAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Wright|first=William|author-link=William Wright (orientalist)|title=A Short History of Syriac Literature|year=1894|location=London|publisher=Adam and Charles Black|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zhlKAQAAMAAJ}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://sacred-texts.com/chr/bb/index.htm ''The Book of the Bee'', translated by E. A. Wallis Budge (1886)]

[[Category:13th-century books]]
[[Category:13th century in the Mamluk Sultanate]]
[[Category:13th-century Christian texts]]
[[Category:Texts in Syriac]]
[[Category:Medieval Christian texts]]
[[Category:Church of the East texts]]

{{Christian-book-stub}}
{{Church-East-stub}}