The Forty Martyrs of the Sinai Desert

The twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920) were pioneering biblical scholars who became experts in a number of ancient languages. Travelling widely in the Middle East, they made several significant discoveries, including one of the earliest manuscripts of the four gospels in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language probably spoken by Jesus himself. Originally published in the Horae Semitica series, this fascicule features a text in Arabic and Syriac which tells the story of the massacre of monks at the Sinai monastery in the fourth century. It is a mournful account of extreme suffering for the Christian faith. Edited and translated by Agnes Lewis, the volume also includes the tale of Eulogius, a hubristic stone-cutter. Rewarded by God for his charity, Eulogius was corrupted by wealth, returning to his humble position a broken man. Both documents are of great historical and linguistic interest.