Abstract

Antony of Tagrit was a Ninth Century, Syriac speaking, Christian Monophysite monk in northern Iraq. Among his writings is a Treatise on Rhetoric in five books written in Syriac. Book One is a Handbook on Rhetoric in thirty chapters. The style is florid and complex. The thought draws from Byzantine Greek rhetoric, with its Neoplatonic elements, and from the Cappadocian Fathers. The book delineates the ways to achieving persuasive speech for teaching, preaching, or debate. The model orator is an ascetic philosopher/prophet. The aim is to validate the quality of the Syriac language against its Greek detractors. ;This thesis is an attempt to make Antony's book available in translation. An introduction provides background materials, Syriac and Arabic milieu, possible sources, parallels, connections, suggestions for future research, and descriptive outline and charts of the structure and contents of the book. ;The translation includes summary, outline and notes for each of Chapters One through Fifteen. The translation is keyed to the outlines. Notes are primarily linguistic. Chapters Sixteen through Twenty-Nine are given in interpretative outline, with translation wherever possible. Chapter Thirty, about Demosthenes and the value of hard work, is given in translation. Reproduction of the Harvard Syriac manuscript is appended