Jacob of Edessa was one of the most distinguished of Syriac writers.
Life
Jacob of Edessa was born in Aindaba at 50 km west of Aleppo, around 640. He studied at the famous monastery of Qenneshre, one of several Syriac Orthodox monasteries on the 'mountain of Edessa', where he spent nine years in revising and amending the Peshitta version of the Old Testament with the aid of the various Greek versions. Jacob played a prominent part in the synod Julian convened in 706. He was finally recalled to the bishopric of Edessa in 708, but died four months later.
Doctrinal allegiance
Jacob belonged to the Syriac Orthodox Church and his writings have a definite Miaphysite character. In the literature of his country he holds much the same place as St. Jerome does among the Latins. Assemani tried hard to prove him orthodox but changed his opinion on reading his biography by Barhebraeus. See especially Lamy, Dissert. de Syrorum fide, pp. 206 sqq. i Text at Leipzig 1889 : translation at Strassburg 1893.
Writings
Most of his works are in prose. Few have been published. In 1911 most of the information available was to be found in Giuseppe Simone Assemani's Bibliotheca Orientalis and Wright's Catalogue of Syriac MSS in the British Museum.
Biblical works and commentaries
Jacob produced a revision of the Bible, based on the Peshitta. Wright calls this a curious eclectic or patchwork text. Five volumes survive in Europe. This was the last attempt at a revision of the Old Testament in the Syriac Orthodox Church. Jacob was also the chief founder of the Syriac Massorah among the Syrians, which produced such manuscripts as the one described by Wiseman in Horae syriacae, part iii. He also wrote commentaries and scholia on the Bible. Specimens of these are given by Assemani and Wright. They are quoted a lot by later commentators, who often refer to Jacob as the "Interpreter of the Scriptures". He also wrote a Hexahemeron, or treatise on the six days of creation. Manuscripts of this exist at Leiden and at Lyon. It was his last work, and being left incomplete was finished by his friend George, bishop of the Arabs. He translated the apocryphal History of the Rechabites composed by Zosimus from Greek into Syriac.
Canons and Liturgy
Jacob made a collection of ecclesiastical canons. In his letter to the priest Addai we possess a collection of canons from his pen, given in the form of answers to Addai's questions. These were edited by Lagarde in Reliquiae juris eccl. syriace, pp. 117 sqq. and Thomas Joseph Lamy in Dissert. pp. 98 sqq. Additional canons were given in Wright's Notulae syriacae. All of them have been translated and expounded by Carl Kayser, . He also made many contributions to Syriac liturgy, both original and as translations from Greek. As a liturgical author, Jacob drew up an anaphora, or liturgy, revised the Liturgy of St. James, wrote the celebrated "Book of Treasures", composed orders of baptism, of the blessing of water on the eve of the Epiphany, and of the celebration of matrimony, to which may be added his translation of Severus's order of Baptism.
Philosophy
Jacob's chief original contribution was his Enchiridion or Manual, a tract on philosophical terms. Translations of works of Aristotle have been attributed to him. However these are probably by other hands. The treatise De cause omnium causarum, which was the work of a bishop of Edessa, was formerly attributed to Jacob; but the publication of the whole by Kayser has made it clear that the treatise is of much later date.
History
Jacob also wrote a Chronicle, as a continuation of the Chronicon of Eusebius. This is described and quoted from by Michael the Syrian in book 7 of his own Chronicle. John of Litharb wrote a continuation of Jacob's chronicle down to 726, also described by Michael. The original text of Jacob's continuation has unfortunately perished apart from 23 leaves in a manuscript in the British Library. Of these a full account is given in Wright, Catalogue 1062, and an edition of these has been published in CSCO by E.W.Brooks.
Grammar
Jacob is most famous because of his contributions to the Syriac language and the West Syriac script. In early Syriac vowels are either not shown, or else shown by a system of dots, used erratically. Jacob borrowed five vowel signs from Greek, which he wrote above the line as miniature symbols. This caught on, and is a feature of West Syriac writing even today. He also elaborated the system whereby some consonants could stand for vowels. Jacob also tried to introduce the Greek practice of writing the vowels on the line, the same way as is done for the consonants. This was resisted by his countrymen and did not come into effect. In his letter to George, bishop of Serugh, on Syriac orthography he sets forth the importance of fidelity by scribes in the copying of minutiae of spelling.
Other
As a translator Jacob's greatest achievement was his Syriac version of the Homiliae cathedrales of Severus, the monophysite patriarch of Antioch. This important collection is now in part known to us by E. W. Brooks's edition and translation of the 6th book of selected epistles of Severus, according to another Syriac version made by Athanasius of Nisibis in 669. A large number of letters by Jacob to various correspondents have been found in various MSS. Besides those on the canon law to Addai, and on grammar to George of Serugh referred to above, there are others dealing with doctrine, liturgy, and so forth. A few are in verse.
