Project description
Syriac Christian intellectual education under the Abbasid caliphs
From the 8th to the 10th centuries, Syriac Christian intellectuals bridged a substantial cultural gap by translating Greek science and philosophy into Arabic. Despite this significant contribution, their own education remains a mystery. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SEAT project is exploring how monastic schools trained these Syriac-speaking students in philosophy, grammar, and rhetoric. Focusing on the 9th century, a pivotal transition between the Golden Age and the Syriac Renaissance, the project spotlights a group of long-overlooked intellectuals. By analysing diverse Syriac texts, the research team will reconstruct the historical curriculum to finally reveal how this minority community shaped intellectual life under the Abbasid caliphs.
Objective
Syriac Christian intellectuals played a crucial role in translating Greek science and philosophy into Arabic between the 8th and 10th centuries. Syriac groups had been translating the “wisdom of the Greeks” into their Late Aramaic variety, Syriac, since the late 5th century. Therefore, when the Abbasids took control over West Asian regions inhabited by Syriac-speaking Christians, these locals were called to action alongside other minorities living in the Empire, such as Zoroastrian Persians, to translate Greek texts. Although the role of translators played by Syriac Christians is starting to be recognised in scholarship, almost nothing is known about the kind of education these intellectuals received, which enabled them to hold prestigious intellectual positions in Abbasid Iraq.
This project shifts the focus away from the product — translations of Greek works into Syriac and Arabic — and onto the people responsible for this massive intellectual achievement. Specifically, it investigates the education received by Syriac-speaking students in monastic schools, particularly on philosophical, grammatical and rhetorical training. Syriac curricula have been investigated in some recent studies (Becker 2006, Tannous 2018), but most scholarship stops at the 7th or 8th century, when the Islamic conquests changed the socio-political makeup of West Asia. My project investigates neglected intellectuals in a neglected period in Syriac history: the 9th century, a transitional but pivotal period between the Golden Age (4th to 7th c.) and the Syriac Renaissance (10th to 13th c.). By investigating a rich array of Syriac texts and through combined approaches from various disciplines, the project reconstructs the scholastic curriculum available to Syriac students, aiming to bring to the fore a crucial piece of the intellectual history of a minority living under the Abbasid caliphs.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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95131 Catania
Italy
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