Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Jan van Ginkel, will be giving a presentation on the Syriac Life of Burzoy as part of the 13th Symposium Syriacum and the 11th Conference of Christian Arabic Studies.

Abstract:

One of the most intriguing chapters of Kalīla and Dimna is the “Life of Burzoy”, the Persian physician and ambassador of the Sixth century, who – supposedly – brought the fable material from India and translated it into Middle Persian. Nöldeke assumed that the Life – at least in part –goes back to a Middle Persian Vorlage, even though it can only be found in the Arabic tradition – and traditions that are based on an Arabic version. One early translation and adaptation can be found in the Second Syriac Version of Kalila wa Dimna.

In the presentation I will discuss a few aspects of the life of Burzoy as depicted in the aforementioned Syriac translation and adaptation. The most obvious aspect is the “Christianization” of the text, but there are other unique features – linguistically and socio-historically. In addition, attention will be drawn to the translator's role as a “creator” of a text.

The Symposium/Conference will take place between July 04 and July 09.

Click here to see the full program.