Select Narratives of Holy Women: Syriac Text | Agnes Smith Lewis

The sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920) were pioneering biblical scholars who became experts in a number of ancient languages. Travelling widely in the Middle East, they made several significant discoveries, including one of the earliest manuscripts of the Four Gospels in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language probably spoken by Jesus himself. Their chief discoveries were made in the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai. This fascicule, a useful resource for scholars of Syriac, and originally published as part of the Studia Sinaitica series, is the text of a Syriac manuscript from the monastic library at St Catherine's. Transcribed by Lewis and first published in 1900, the manuscript recounts the tales of a number of saintly women including Pelagia, a rich courtesan who converted to Christianity, and Eugenia, a holy woman who lived as a man and became the abbot of a monastery.