Translation, Amplification, Paraphrase. Some Comments on the Syriac, Greek and Coptic Versions of the Abgar Letter.

Abstract

The paper discusses certain grammatical structures of a number of the selected Coptic, Syriac and Greek texts and assesses them as translations and versions. It focuses mainly on Eusebius of Caesarea’s Greek Abgar/Jesus correspondence, a relevant passage from the Syriac Doctrina Addai, and a couple of Coptic texts with the Leyden Papyrus Anastasy 9 and Papyrus Régnier 3151 from Vienna, and refer them to the Greek inscriptions from Ephesus, Pontus (Gurdju, Hadji Keui), Edessa, and Philippi (4-6th centuries).