Page 56 - Edessa, 'The Blessed City'-01, by J. B. Segal (Oxford, 1970). Chapters 1-3

RELIGION 43

the possibility that it was at Edessa that the Bible was translated into Syriac.
Some passages certainly reflect orthodox Jewish interpretation. Through the
medium of these admirable renderings into the local speech, monotheism and
the stories of Israel were spread among the people.
The traditional account of the evangelization of Edessa1 makes brief
acknowledgement of the part played by Jews. 'The Jews also', it declares,
'conversant with the Law and the Prophets, who sold soft [stuffs], were also
persuaded and became disciples and made the Christian confession.' Further
evidence of the influence of the Jews at Edessa may be provided by a strange
passage in a Syriac treatise of the third century. It states that, 'the people of
Mesopotamia also worshipped the Hebrew [woman]2 Kuthbi, who saved
Bakru3 the patrician of Edessa from his enemies.'4
We have no record elsewhere of this incident, and it can scarcely be
regarded as historical. It has been suggested that the name Kuthbi is derived
from the common Semitic root ktb—to write, and that the word does not
refer to a 'Hebrew woman' but should instead be interpreted as 'Hebrew
writing'. We now know that the Nabataeans worshipped a deity Kuthba
or Kuthbai presumably 'writing'; and writing is regarded by Arabs as a
special skill of the Nabataeans. The rulers of Edessa were, we have deduced,
Nabataeans. But here writing is associated with Jews. We may assume that the
Edessans knew of the Jewish practice of affixing a Biblical text to the doors of
a house or the gates of a city (mezuzdh); this practice was certainly observed
by the Jews of Palmyra.5 And, indeed, the Talmud informs us that the Jews
of Adiabene were so devoted to the practice that they placed the mezuzah
outside their lodgings wherever they travelled. It may, then, have been from
the Jews that Edessans derived their deep regard for the sacred letter which
they affixed to the gate of their city, as we shall observe in a later chapter.6

The last hundred years of the monarchy at Edessa was a time of religious
ferment throughout the Near East. Orthodox Christianity contended with
the theories of the followers of Marcion; the Gnostic schools, notably that of

1 Doctrine of Addai. * The passage here, from the text incorrectly
2 The late variant, 'Arab (woman)', should ascribed to Melito (p. 35 above), is difficult,
be rejected. The term for 'saved' is unusual, although it is
J It has been suggested that Bakru is to be found elsewhere; the word 'patrician' (Syriac
identified with Paqor who reigned at Edessa abayd) occurs nowhere else, but cf, p. 69
in 34-29 B.C. In 40 B.C., shortly before he came below. The words 'Bakru the patrician" could
to the throne, another Paqor, king of Parthia, be a misreading of the Syriac letters of 'Ab-
invaded Syria and intervened in the domestic gar Ukkama'—but one would expect the
quarrels of the Maccabean rulers of Palestine, reverse process, for the name of Abgar Ukkama
The Parthians opposed Herod of Judea; and was too well known to invite 'correction',
this is reflected in the tradition of Edessa that 5 Bible texts, notably Deut. 6 : 4-9, have
it was their king Paqor who carried out a been found affixed to the lintels of doorposts
campaign against Herod. The passage in at Palmyra.
'Pseudo-Melito', however, is too obscure to 6 pp. 75 f.
admit of historical explanation.

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