The Life of Rabban Bar 'Edta: a Syriac Saint as a Historical and Literary Figure

The Life of Rabban Bar ʿEdta is a hagiographical text written in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, and a product of the East Syriac Church, or Church of the East, and it revolves around the figure of Bar ʿEdta, a monk and monastic founder of the late VI-early VII century AD, from what is today northern Iraq. It is a metrical summary of a currently lost, prose text. It has often been used as a source in broader scholarly research since its introduction in the academic world in the late XIX century. A dedicated study of this work, however, was never done. The purpose of this thesis is to attempt to fill this gap and provide an analysis of the Life both as a literary product of the East Syriac milieu and as an invaluable historical source. As a first step, this involves researching the manuscript tradition of the text, followed by an analysis of the paratextual elements, to provide a setting for its production and reception. With this basis, the saint is placed at the centre, under the lens of the decades-long debate on the “holy man”, inaugurated by Peter Brown, so as to understand Bar ʿEdta in his multiple facets, and how the dynamics of his cult after his death. The following step is to provide a space, albeit smaller, to secondary characters within the Life, to understand their roles in the story and the reasoning behind their portrayal, be it due to historical reasons, such as the desires of the author or his patrons, or to literary topoi. Finally, specific sections of the text are analysed for their Christological contents and their themes concerning Christian anthropology. In addition, the use of Biblical passages is studied to try to pinpoint potential references to specific Syriac exegetical traditions.