Syriac_Gospels,_Vatican_Library,_Syr._559
Vatican Library, Syr. 7170 is a Syriac manuscript dated to circa 1220 CE. This is one of the few highly illustrated Middle-Eastern Christian manuscripts from the 13th century.
There is some dispute about the reading of the date, some scholars arguing for 1220, while others argue for 1260.[4]
The location where the manuscript was created is the Jazira region near Mosul, at the monastery of Deir Mar Mattai.[5]
The manuscript is writing in the Syriac language, in Estrangela script.[6] It is considered as a near twin of Syriac Gospels, British Library, Add. 7170 manuscript, also attributed to the northern Iraq (Jazira region).[6]
The manuscript is derived from the Byzantine tradition, but stylistically has a lot in common with Islamic illustrated manuscripts such as the Maqamat al-Hariri, pointing to a common pictorial tradition that existed since circa 1180 CE in Syria and Iraq.[6] Some of the illustrations of these manuscript have been characterized as "illustration byzantine traitée à la manière arabe" ("Byzantine illustration treated in the Arab style").[6]
Notably, Constantine and Helena are shown in post-Seljuk clothing, a style attributable to the influence of local Turkic polities.[1][7]
- Twenty of the XL Martyrs of Sebaste
- Massacre of the Innocents.
- Massacre of the Innocents.