Historical Sources

e- Gedesh - Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition

Brock, S.B. (1979). "Syriac Historical Writing: A Survey of the Main Sources." Journal of the Iraqi Academy, Syriac Corporation 5.

Brock, S.B. (1976). "Syriac Sources for Seventh-Century History." Byzantine and modern Greek studies 2.

Historiography in the Syriac-speaking world, 300-1000

syri.ac - An annotated bibliography of Syriac resources online

Beth Mardutho - The Syriac Institute

Roger Pearse notes the following

If you want to know what texts exist in Arabic, then the classic resource is Carl Brockelmann’s Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, published in seven volumes, in a terrible, disorganised, highly abbreviated format, starting in the 19th century. This is essentially unreadable, even if you have good German. The first 2 volumes are the original edition; there are 3 volumes of supplements; and then 2 volumes of a revised edition which refers to both the original and the supplements. It is a monster work of scholarship, but quite unusable. Paula Skreslet wrote:

Specialists in Islamic literature must make the effort to become conversant with Carl Brockelmann’s classic of Orientalist scholarship, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur. It is partly a narrative history, but chiefly an encyclopedia of entries on individual Arab writers and their work. Vol. 1 is organized chronologically, then by type/genre of literature (or subject matter), then geographically; vol. 2 organizes first by chronology, then geography, then genre or subject. Indexes for authors, titles, and the European editors of texts arc found in the third supplemental volume (after the entries on the modern era up to 1939). Even those who read German easily find Brockelmann’s work challenging to use, thanks to his difficult systems of abbreviation and transliteration, the lack of cross-references, the relationship between the supplements and the original volumes, and the proliferation of addenda and corrigenda.[1]

... Dutch translator Joep Lameer ... translated the lot into English, reorganised it, de-abbreviated the text, and generally cleaned it up and brought it up to date. ... His translation is titled, “History of the Arabic Written Tradition”, and is available from Brill here, for about $50 a volume.

Brockelmann, C. and J. Lameer (2023). History of the Arabic Written Tradition Volume 1, Brill.

Brockelmann, C. and J. Lameer (2023). History of the Arabic Written Tradition Supplement Volume 1, Brill.

Brockelmann, C. and J. Lameer (2023). History of the Arabic Written Tradition Volume 2, Brill.

Brockelmann, C. and J. Lameer (2023). History of the Arabic Written Tradition Supplement Volume 2, Brill.

History of the Arabic Written Tradition Supplement Volume 3 - ii

Note: I have copies of all above books on my hard drive

Brockelmann, C., 1909, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur - open access at archive.org

Clément, H. and Loyd, M.S., 1901, A history of Arabic literature - open access at archive.org

from Roger Pearse

This is for all you non-German speakers out there. Yes, it is indeed possible to download a PDF of manuscripts at the ONB in Vienna!

All the fully-digitised manuscripts for the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek are listed on a page here:. (The link doesn't look very permanent, so you might have to search at manuscripta.at).

But it is very useful to have them all on one page! Ctrl-F to find the manuscript you want by number.

Here's a screen-grab of the top of the page:

Click on the manuscript you want. I've highlighted ONB 6. Here's the next page:

What you want is the "Volldigitalisat" - "Fully digitised". Click on the "Quicksearch" link:

I had to use Chrome's automatic translate facility to work out which, if any of this, was relevant. It's "Online-Zugriff". Click there. That will take you down the page, to somewhere seemingly random:

Clicking on "Digitales Objeckt" will, at last, take you to the online manuscript.

Right-click on the image, and the menu above will appear. This contains the exciting words "Objekt herunterladen" - "Download Object". If you click on this, you will be prompted to download a PDF of the "Gesamtes Objekt" - the whole thing.

Marvellous! Well done the ONB. Now I can mark up the PDF and do some work on the manuscript.

British Museum - London

Bodleian Library - Oxford

Cambridge University Library - Cambridge

Vatican Library - Rome

National Library of France

National Library of Russia

Abdallah Guennoun Library in Tangier, Morocco

Modern Language Translations of Byzantine Sources

Digitized Greek Manuscripts

Patroligia Latina online (Roger Pearse)

Jacques Paul Migne. Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Latina.

Patroligia Graeca online (Roger Pearse)

Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae online (Roger Pearse)

Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae online (Les Cigales éloquentes)

List of CSEL (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum) at Google Books

al-Maktaba al-Shamila - a database of medieval texts

links to collections of digitized manuscripts available online - University of Michigan

Arabic manuscripts - British library

Digitized Arabic manuscripts - American University of Beirut

Arabic manuscripts at BYU

Slane, M (1883), Catalogue des manuscrits arabes by Bibliothèque nationale (France). Département des manuscrits

Islamic manuscripts reference library

waqfeya (Arabic manuscripts) site is in Arabic

epub to pdf converter (max file size 200 Mb)

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Good online djvu to pdf converter

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pdf repair at pdf4me.com - file size limit on free tier (possibly 100 Mb)

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Translators (non literal)

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Meanings of words including proverbs and ldioms

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Correct Writing

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prowritingaid.com

Quick Latin translator software

Beginners Latin

Transliterate English to Greek

Transliterate Greek and Hebrew

Enigma - offers possible resolutions of words for which only some letters can be read

Juxta - an aid to comparing variant texts

Chrysocollate - fairly new, automates many collation and editing tasks

Logeion - offers free integrated access to a large number of Latin and Greek dictionaries, including the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, very useful for Christian Latin in general, especially after AD 600, where Lewis & Short stops

• Roman Numerals
  Roman Numerals

Syriac at Omniglot.com

Aramaic at Omniglot.com

• The Arabic Numbers
  Arabic numbers

Arabic to Latin Script conversion

Steps to Convert Your Scanned Arabic Text to Microsoft Word

• The Hebrew Numbers
  Hebrew numbers

Hebrew OCR document converter (10 pages free)

Transliterating English to Hebrew in One Step

Transliterate Greek and Hebrew

html - Structural markup and right-to-left text in HTML

Coptic in unicode when you don’t know the alphabet

Online Etymology Dictionary

Hellenistic and Roman Near East

Description	Image	Source
Hellenistic and Roman Near East	Map I The Hellenistic and Roman Near East Sources: Esri USGS NOAA. Made with Natural Earth. All adjustments © T. Kaizer. Kaizer et al (2022)	Map I - Kaizer et al (2022)
The Decapolis	Map II The Decapolis Sources: Esri USGS NOAA. Made with Natural Earth. All adjustments © T. Kaizer. Kaizer et al (2022)	Map II - Kaizer et al (2022)
Commagene and Osrhoene	Map III Commagene and Osrhoene Sources: Esri USGS NOAA. Made with Natural Earth. All adjustments © T. Kaizer. Kaizer et al (2022)	Map III - Kaizer et al (2022)
Phoenician coast	Map IV The Phoenician coast and its hinterland. Sources: Esri USGS NOAA. Made with Natural Earth. All adjustments © T. Kaizer. Kaizer et al (2022)	Map IV - Kaizer et al (2022)
Judaea Palestinian coast the Galilee Idumaea Samaria.	Map V Judaea, the Palestinian coast, the Galilee, Idumaea, and Samaria. Sources: Esri USGS NOAA. Made with Natural Earth. All adjustments © T. Kaizer. Kaizer et al (2022)	Map V - Kaizer et al (2022)
Nabatea	Map VI The Nabataean kingdom Sources: Esri USGS NOAA. Made with Natural Earth. All adjustments © T. Kaizer. Kaizer et al (2022)	Map VI - Kaizer et al (2022)
Northern Syria	Fig. 17.1 Map of northern Syria Courtesy of A. Bousdroukis. Bousdroukis in Kaizer et al (2022)	Fig. 17.1 - Bousdroukis in Kaizer et al (2022)

Ambraseys (2009)

Description	Image	Source
Thrace	Map 2 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 2 - Ambraseys (2009)
Bithynia	Map 3 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 3 - Ambraseys (2009)
Pontus	Map 4 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 4 - Ambraseys (2009)
Cappadocia Armenia	Map 5 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 5 - Ambraseys (2009)
Jazira (N Mesopotamia)	Map 6 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 6 - Ambraseys (2009)
N Mesopotamia Kurdistan	Map 7 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 7 - Ambraseys (2009)
Sinai Palestine Moab	Map 8 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 8 - Ambraseys (2009)
Cyrenaica	Map 9 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 9 - Ambraseys (2009)
Nile Delta	Map 10 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 10 - Ambraseys (2009)
Greece Macedonia	Map 11 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 11 - Ambraseys (2009)
Crete	Map 12 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 12 - Ambraseys (2009)
Ionia	Map 13 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 13 - Ambraseys (2009)
Pamphylia Lycia	Map 14 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 14 - Ambraseys (2009)
Cyprus Galatia	Map 15 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 15 - Ambraseys (2009)
N Levant	Map 16 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 16 - Ambraseys (2009)
Phoenicia	Map 17 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 17 - Ambraseys (2009)
Jordan Valley and to the N	Map 18 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 18 - Ambraseys (2009)
Dead Sea and to the S	Map 19 Ambraseys (2009)	Map 19 - Ambraseys (2009)

Guidoboni et al (1994)

Description	Image	Source
760 to 303 BC	Summary Maps 760 to 303 BC Guidoboni et al (1994)	760 to 303 BC - Guidoboni et al (1994)
278 BC to 100 AD	Summary Maps 278 BC to 100 AD Guidoboni et al (1994)	278 BC to 100 AD - Guidoboni et al (1994)
201 to 499 AD	Summary Maps 201 to 499 AD Guidoboni et al (1994)	201 to 499 AD - Guidoboni et al (1994)
501 to 995 AD	Summary Maps 501 to 995 AD Guidoboni et al (1994)	501 to 995 AD - Guidoboni et al (1994)

Late Antiquity/Early Islamic

Description	Image	Source
Near East in Late Antiquity	Map 1 The Near East in Late Antiquity Hoyland (2011)	Map 1 - Hoyland (2011)
Early Islamic Middle East	Map 2 Provinces of the Early Islamic Middle East Hoyland (2011)	Map 2 - Hoyland (2011)
Syro-Mesopotamia 6th-8th centuries	Map 3 Syro-Mesopotamia in the Sixth-Eighth Centuries Hoyland (2011)	Map 3 - Hoyland (2011)
Map of Early Islamic Jordan and Palestine	Figure 1 Map of Early Islamic Jordan and Palestine Rattenborg and Blanke (2017)	Figure 1 - Rattenborg and Blanke (2017)
Map of southern Bilad ash-Sham in early Islamic times	Figure 1 Map of southern Bilad ash-Sham in early Islamic times Barnes et al (2006)	Figure 1 - Barnes et al (2006)
Map of Late Roman/Early Islamic territories - Gaza to Damascus	Figure 4.1 Map of the territories around Baysān/Scythopolis, Fiḥl/Pella and Jarash/Gerasa, showing late Roman and early Islamic provincial structures (Alan Walmsley). Blanke and Walmsley (2022)	Figure 4.1 - Blanke and Walmsley (2022)
Map of the provinces of Palestine and Arabia in the sixth century	Figure A Map of the provinces of Palestine and Arabia in the sixth century (after Tsafrir, Di Segni, and Green, TIR, fig. 4) Tsafrir and Foester (1997)	Figure A - Tsafrir and Foester (1997)
Roman roads to Scythopolis	Figure B The Roman roads to Scythopolis (after Tsafrir, Di Segni, and Green, TIR, map of northern Palestine; roads drawn by I. Roll) Tsafrir and Foester (1997)	Figure B - Tsafrir and Foester (1997)
The provinces of Palaestina and Arabia in the Byzantine Period	The provinces of Palaestina and Arabia in the Byzantine Period Meimaris and Kritikakou (2005)	Map - Meimaris and Kritikakou (2005)

• “Maps,” in Back Matter, edited by Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz and Lucas Van Rompay
• from e-GEDSH

Ambraseys, N. (2009). Earthquakes in the Mediterranean and Middle East: a multidisciplinary study of seismicity up to 1900. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.

BARNES, H. et al. 2006 From ‘Guard House’ to Congregational Mosque. Recent Discoveries on the Urban History of Islamic Jarash, in: Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 50, 285 – 314.

Guidoboni, E., et al. (1994). Catalogue of Ancient Earthquakes in the Mediterranean Area up to the 10th Century. Rome, Istituto nazionale di geofisica.

Hoyland, R. G. (2011). Theophilus of Edessa's Chronicle and the Circulation of Historical Knowledge in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, Liverpool University Press.

Kaizer, T. ed. (2022). A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East, Wiley.

Meimaris, Y. E. and K. Kritikakou (2005). Inscriptions from Palaestina Tertia, National Hellenic Research Foundation.

Rattenborg, R. and L. Blanke (2017). "Jarash in the Islamic Ages (c. 700–1200 CE): a critical review." Levant 49(3): 312-332.

Blanke, L. and A. Walmsley (2022). Resilient cities: Renewal after disaster in three late antique towns of the East Mediterranean. Remembering and Forgetting the Ancient City, Oxbow Books: 69-109.

Tsafrir, Y. and G. Foerster (1997). "Urbanism at Scythopolis-Bet Shean in the Fourth to Seventh Centuries." Dumbarton Oaks Papers 51: 85-146.

“Maps,” in Back Matter, edited by Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz and Lucas Van Rompay,

terminus post quem - the earliest possible date for something.
terminus ante quem - the latest possible date for something..
terminus a quo - the earliest possible date for something.
terminus ad quem - the point at which something ends or finishes.

MS - Manuscript (written by hand)

MSS - Manuscripts

Autograph - A manuscript in an author's hand that includes the author's signature

Colophon - A statement providing the details of publication, sometimes found at the end of a book, but more often at the bottom of a printed book's title page

Titulus (plural tituli) - Title of a book - derived from ancient inscriptions which labeled items such as sculptures, art, boundaries, etc.

Folio - From the Latin word for leaf, a paper size designating one-half of a standard-size sheet of paper. Achieved by folding the sheet in half once. The front and back of a folio are referred to as recto and verso. Also the size of the book or manuscript comprising such sheets, sometimes abbreviated 2o. Shakespeare's plays were first collected in the famous First Folio of 1623.

Leaf - A single sheet of paper or vellum, each side of which constitutes a page.

Page - A single side of a leaf, and part of a system of enumerating the leaves in a book.

Recto - The front or obverse of a page, leaf, or sheet of paper, vellum, or other surface designed for writing.

Verso - The back or reverse of a leaf or sheet of paper, vellum, or other surface designed for writing.

Stemma - (pl. stemmata) The genealogy of multiple transcriptions of a work.

Archetype - an older manuscript from which younger manuscripts were copied

Palimpsest - a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document.

Glossary of Manuscript terms

• from convert-me.com

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