Select Narratives of Holy Women from the Syro-Antiochene or Sinai Palimpsest….
As Written Above the Old Syriac Gospels by John the stylite, of Beth-Mari-Qanun in A.D. 778. Edited and translated by Agnes Smith Lewis. Studia Sinaitic No. X Two Volumes. London: C.J. Clay and Sons, 1900.
First Editions. 4to; Vol. I Syriac Text. Introduction [i-v] vi-xxiv; [23] 24-46; including as appendix VII, Fragments of the Acts of Judas Thomas from the Sinaitic palimpsest by F.C. Burkett in Syriac and English; Sytiac section [1], 312pp; 8 halftone facsimiles. Vol. II Translation [i-ix] x-xxxi; 21 lpp; including Index of Names, one halftone facsimile. Includes the lives of Eugenia, Mary=Marinus, Euphrosyne, Onesima, Drusis, Barbara, Mary (slave of Tertullian), Irene, Euphemia, Sophia and of Cyprian and Justa; hymn of MarEphraim. Both copies are in original blue wrappers, printed in black, bottom and fore edges untrimmed, largely unopened copies, near fine. A scarce set with only 11 copies located on RLIN/OCLC.
In 1998 the PBS in-depth news show "Frontline" presented a series called "From Jesus to Christ" a scholarly look at the early development of the Christian church. It was not an anomaly. Rather the thinking of feminist Biblical scholars had placed increasing importance on a revisionist look at the supposedly male-dominated early church hierarchy. The discovery in 1890 and later translation and publication by an "amateur" - and a woman - of the Sinai Palimpsest or SELECT NARRATIVES OF HOLY WOMEN were of major importance in this re-evaluation of the role of women in the early Christian Church.
Dr. Agnes Smith Lewis (PhD., LL.D., D.D., Litt.D.) and her sister Dr. Margaret Dunlop Gibson (LL.D., D.D., Litt.D.) were born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1843, the twin daughters of a solicitor. Upon the death of their father they inherited a legacy in excess of a quarter of a million pounds. Agnes and Margaret went to Greece in 1866 and Agnes devoted herself to learning Greek; she later learned Syriac, Arabic and Hebrew (among other languages). In 1890, both sisters now widowed. they traveled to St. Catherine's Monastery at Mt. Sinai (10 days by camel from Cairo). There they discovered a version of the Old Syriac Gospels (5th century AD) - the Sinai Palimpsest. The sisters continued their travels in the Middle East and made even greater discovers. During one of their trips they purchased a Hebrew manuscript that was the Hebrew version of the Apocryphal book of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) previously known only the Green and Syriac translations. This manuscript eventually led to the synagogue of Ben Ezra and the renowned Genizah Collection. Mrs. Lewis died in 1926 and Mrs. Lewis in 1920.
OCLC -43 copies
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