6 Maccabees

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6 Maccabees, or the Sixth Book of Maccabees, [1] is an anonymous Classical Syriac narrative poem about the martyrdom of Eleazar and the woman with seven sons under Antiochus IV as described in the prose Greek works 2 Maccabees and 4 Maccabees . [2] 6 Maccabees is a conventional title based on the theory that it is an Old Testament pseudepigraphal work of Jewish origin. [3]

6 Maccabees was originally written in Syriac and only a Syriac text is known, preserved in at least three manuscripts. [2] The whereabouts of only one of these is currently known: Bodleian, Or. 624 (Syr. 134), an 18th- or 19th-century copy in Nestorian script from the Christian community of Malabar in India. [4] The manuscript tradition and the final form of the text are certainly Christian. [5] The work itself may be of a very late date. Sebastian Brock proposed the 12th or 13th century. [2] Sigrid Peterson, on the other hand, argues that the earliest, unembellished form of the text must be earlier than 4 Maccabees (1st–2nd century). [5] The text as we have it, however, makes reference to 4 Maccabees when it says that Josephus wrote the martrys' history, since 4 Maccabees was commonly if erroneously attributed to Josephus. [6]

6 Maccabees contains 678 lines of verse. [1] Its use of rhyme is indicative of a medieval, as opposed to ancient, origin. Its dodecasyllabic metre is strongly associated with Jacob of Serugh (died 521). [2] The genre of the piece, mēmrē, is that of a homily in narrative verse, [5] with characteristics of a dramatic dialogue and perhaps even of Jewish piyyutim . [7] Much of it consists of the speeches given by the woman, Martha Shamoni (Marty Shmuni), before the execution of each of her sons. [4] The names of the sons in 6 Maccabees are Gadday, Maqqbay, Tarsay, Hebron, Hebson, Bakkos and Yonadab, which are the names known in both the East and West Syriac traditions. [6]

The content of 6 Maccabees is a mix of Jewish and Christian. There is an emphasis on keeping the Jewish law, [5] but also references to Jesus, Paul and Stephen, to the intercession of saints and to the construction of churches commemorating the Maccabean martyrs. [2] Although forceful arguments have been made for a Jewish original in Syriac, there is no clear evidence of the use of that literary language among Jews. [2]

The Syriac text with an English translation was published by Robert Lubbock Bensly in 1895. [8] A revised translation can be found in Peterson's dissertation. [9]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Peterson 2006, p. 2.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Minov 2019, p. 122.
  3. ↑ Minov 2019 , p. 122, and Peterson 2006 , p. 2, but Witakowski 1994 , p. 161, calls it On the Maccabees.
  4. 1 2 Bensly & Barnes 1895, pp. xxiv–xxv.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Peterson 2006, p. 3.
  6. 1 2 Witakowski 1994, pp. 161–162.
  7. ↑ Peterson 2006, pp. 5–6.
  8. ↑ Bensly & Barnes 1895, pp. 125–154 (Syriac) and xlviii–lxxii (English).
  9. ↑ Peterson 2006.

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