ORIENTAL MANUSCRIPTS
By William F. Macombeb, S. J., Rome
Four years ago at the 17th Deutscher Orientahstentag, I spoke about the
urgent need for a microfilming expedition to the Middle East to preserve for
posterity the precious treasures contained in the manuscripts, especially the
Syriac manuscripts, of the area'. Since that time I have discovered two
projects for microfilming that include at least some of the oriental manu¬
scripts of the Middle East.
Both projects are American, but their scope and achievements thus far are
so different that I it will be necessary to treat each separatelj'. Both,
however, have this feature in common, that they are at present seriously
hampered by a lack of funds. It seems that interest in such scholarly projects
in the United States at this time is truly disappointing. One of my motives
for dehvering this paper is the hope that German and other European
institutions of learning may interest themselves actively in either or both of
the projects and reacue them from the fate to which American apathy is
apparently in danger of condemning them. Both projects seem to me to be
worthy of your interest and support.
The first project that I encountered is sponsored jointly by Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, Tennessee and the Monastic Manuscript Microfilm
Library of St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota. The latter institu¬
tion is interested in microfilming manuscripts in monasteries in any part of
the world and has already done a considerable amount of microfilming in
European monasteries. Thus it has both the equipment and the technical
experience necessary for microfilming work of professional quality. Now it
proposes to extend its operation to the Middle East. It has already attempt¬
ed to negotiate for this purpose with leaders of the Coptic Church in Egypt,
but met with so little encouragement that it has abandoned this area for the
moment.
Instead, it has been decided to concentrate on Ethiopia, and an agreement
has been successfully negotiated with the newly elected Patriarch, His
Holiness, Abuna Tcwofelos. An international committee has been formed
under the chairmanship of Dean Walter Harrelson of Vanderbilt University
1 W. F. Macombeb, New Finds of Syriac Manuscripts in the Middle East, in
ZDMG supplementa I: XVII. Deutscher Orientalistentag vom 2L bis 27. Juli in
Würzburg, Wiesbaden 1968, p. 482.
Two new Projects for Microfilming Oriental Manuscripts 83
that includes several Ethiopian scholars such as Dr. Tadesse Tamrat and Dr.
Sergew Hable Sellassie of the Haile Sellassie I University in Addis Ababa.
Prof. Julian Plante of St. .John's University has the difficult task of orga¬
nizing the financing of the project. Already they have held three meetings
and have begun such operations as are possible with the very limited funds
now at the disposal of the committee.
The principal achievement thus far has been to make an extensive survey
of the libraries of Ethiopic manuscripts kno^vn to exist in Ethiopia. I had
myself done some investigations in this regard during a stay of five months in
Ethiopia in 1970, but this group has, I am informed, very largely surpassed
my modest results. They now have a long list of libraries, their locations,
copies of any catalogues or checklists known to exist and information con¬
cerning existing microfilms. I had discovered lists of manuscripts for a num¬
ber of libraries in the Addis Ababa area*, Shoa province* and Eastern
Gojjam*, plus the very important library in the Monastery of Gunda Gun-
die*. There was also the microfilming work done in the Lake Tana region by
Prof. Hammer Schmidt and other German scholars. Likewise to be noted is a
UNESCO microfilming project that operated in Addis Ababa and Eastern
Gojjam for a single season in 1969-70 and produced some 83 reels of film";
one copy is now available at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Haile
Sellassie I University, Addis Ababa'. The committee has increased this mate-
* 299 MSS. of the National Library have been described in Amharic on filing
cards by Ato Mengistu Abegaz (Mangestu Abagäz), the Assistant Keeper of
Manuscripts there. A checklist of the contents of 206 MSS. in tbe Library of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies has been drawn up in English, also on filing cards, by myself. 508 MSS. in 29 other libraries, mostly ecclesiastical, of Addis Ababa
and its immediate surroundings have been described by Dr. Haile Gabriel Dagne
of Haile Sellassie I University; a copy of his list, which does not include tho
Patriarchate Library, is kept in the Institute of Ethiopian Studies.
3 A description in Amharic of 519 MSS. in 26 libraries was prepared by Dr.
Sorgevv Hable Sellassie and Ato Mengistu Abegaz, boing based on visits to these libraries in 1962-63. Ato Mengistu very kindly allowed me to make use of his copy.
* A checklist in Amharic of 556 numbers (occasionally single MSS. are divided
among two or more numbers) in 9 libraries was drawn up by Alaqa Mal'aka
Berhän Admäsu öanbare of the Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchate in 1968. It is
contained in MSS. 196-203 of tho Library of tho Institute of Ethiopian Studies.
5 Dr. Roger Schneider, tho head of the National Archaeological Institute in
Addis Ababa, kindly showed me his checklist of 196 MSS. It includes over forty
MSS. older than 1600 AD.
" 358 MSS. in 10 libraries were photographed. 4 of the libraries are in Addis
Ababa: Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchate, National Library, Trinity Cathedral
and the private library of Belatta Marse'e Hazan Walda Qerqos ; the other 6 are
in Eastern Gojjam: Dabra Marqos (Dabra Zehay), Öolomit (Qerelos), Beööenä
(Giyorgis), Dabra Dimä (Giyorgis), Waynä (Kidäna Mehrat) and Dabra Warq
(Märyäm).
' The UNESCO team drew up and mimeographed a checklist of the contents
rial very substantially, especially with information on libraries in Eritrea,
Tigre and other provinces that were terra incognita in 1970.
As for actual microfilming operations, it has not yet been possible to begin
for lack of funds. The National Endowment for the Humanities has pledged
$ 100,000, which would evidently be sufficient to accomplish much of what is
projected, but the money has been offered in the form of a matching grant.
This means that the project will receive, up to a limit of $ 100,000, only as
much money as they can match from other sources. Alas ! until now no other
source has lieen found willing to match any of this sum, so that the $ 100,000 grant remains dormant*.
The second project, on the other hand, has already done actual micro¬
filming. It has been organized by the Catholic Microfilm Center, an adjunct
of the Graduate Theological Union Library, 2451 Ridge Road, Berkeley,
California, 94709; the principal organizer is the Rev. John J. Alhadef, S. J.
Again the scope of the organization is not limited to oriental manuscripts.
Besides what has been accomplished in the Middle East, much has been done
in European libraries on printed books that concern principally the Bible
and the Reformation.
They have sent one expedition to Lebanon and Syria and have micro¬
filmed manuscripts in 13 libraries : the National Library, the Jafet Library of
the American Umversity and the Oriental Library of the University of St.
Joseph in Beirut, plus the libraries of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate (pre-
Chaleedonian) in Damascus, the Maronite and Greek Catholic' episcopal
residences in Aleppo and seven Maronite and Greek Catholic monasteries in
Lebanon, Deir al-Kreim, the Missionaries of St. Paul at Harissa, Deir ash-
Shir, Deir al-Banat, Deir Mar Douniit, Deir Balamond and Notre-Dame de
Louaize. Unfortunately, they were not always able to photograph all of the
valuable manuscripts in these libraries because of circumstances beyond
of the film in English; a copy of it is kept in the Library of the Institute of
Ethiopian Studies. I made a more detailed description and entered it on filing
cards kept there. Unfortunately, the Institute's copy of the film lacks one entire reel and part of another.
8 Since delivering this paper, 1 have been informed that the National Endow¬
ment for the Humanities has, while reducing the offered matching grant to
$ 67,342, made an outright grant of $ 55,000, which will suffice for the first year of actual microfilming operations and the researches necessary for planning future operations. Furthermore, the scope of the project has been expanded to include public and private collections of Ethiopic manuscripts outside of Ethiopia, and a modest beginning with collections in Austria and the United States has already been made.
9 In the checklist it is called the "library of the Orthodox", but the works
microfilmed are mostly by Greek and Latin Catholic authors. There must have
been some misunderstanding.
Two new Projects for Microfilming Oriental Manuscripts 85
their control. This was particularly true of the library of the Syrian Ortho¬
dox Patriarchate, which is known to possess many precious manuscripts that
were not photographed", but it is also true of the Oriental Library of the
University of St. Joseph.
The concrete result of the microfilming expedition is 110 reels of film, each
30 meters long and containing up to 3000 manuscript pages. In all some 1020
manuscripts were photographed. A checklist of the contents has been enter¬
ed on filing cards, and it is possible to obtain a Xerox copy. The list is based
on descriptions found in existing catalogues'' or on information provided by
local scholars. As a result, the quality of the descriptions is rather uneven,
although most of them arc good or at least adequate.
The material photographed is largely religious. Christian and Arabic, but
by no means exclusively so. Manuscripts wholly or partially in Syriac num¬
ber about 100, and there are two in Turkish, one in Persian, one in Coptic
and one partially in Greek. There are over 80 manuscripts that are specifi¬
cally Muslim in character that deal with their theology, their spirituality and
especially their jurisprudence; of these several are medieval in date. Also to
be noted are 7 other manuscripts that treat of the doctrines of the Druzes.
Turning to those of profane contents, philosophy is represented by 58
manuscripts, medicine by 11, astrology and divination by 8 and the natural
sciences also by 8. As for the Christian manuscripts, the largest category is
liturgy (158), followed by apologetics and controversy (134), history (123),
theology (110), Scripture (86), the Fathers (69), canon law (45), spirituality
(38), hagiography (34) and so on. Most of the manuscripts are recent, but
medieval manuscripts arc not lacking. Thus there is one manuscript sup¬
posed to be of the 1 1th century, 2 of the 12th, 7 of the 13th, 20 of the 14th, 26
of the 15th, 49 of the 16th, 111 of the 17th, 228 of the 18th, 278 of the 19th
and 39 of the 20th, plus some 250 for which no date is indicated.
'" I have seen some of those myself. Others are kno^vn from the list of the MSS.
formerly at St. Mark's Monastery in Jerusalem utilized in A. Baumst.\iik,
Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, Bonn 1922. A. Vööbus, Syrische Kanones-
sammlungon, vol. I: Westsyrische Originalurkunden part 1,B (CSCO 317/subsi-
dia 38), Louvain 1970, pp. 564-5, has reported the existence of many others.
" J. Nasrailah, Catalogue des manuscrits du Liban, 4 vols., Harissa 1958- 70, for the Library of the Missionaries of St. Paul at Harissa (vol. I), Deir al- Kreim and Deir al-Banat (vol. II) ; B. Fahd, Memorial of the First Century of the
Monastery of Mar-Doumit, Faitroun (in Arabic), Jounieh 1962; and L. Cheikho,
I.-A. Khalife and F. Baissari, Cataloguo raisonne des manuscrits do la Biblio¬
theque Orientale, in Melanges do l'Universite de Saint-Joseph, vols. 6, 7, 9-11,
14, 29, 31, 34, 39, 40 (1913-64). The librarian of the Jafet Library of the
American University of Beirut has drawn up checklists for that library and for
those of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus and the Maronite and
Greek Catholic episcopal residences in Aleppo. There is also a printed catalogue available for most of the MSS. of the National Library in Beirut.
The selection of the manuscripts to be photographed was made by local scholars, and it is not clear by what criteria they were guided. There is much
uneveimess in the value of the material chosen. Many items are clearly of
considerable value, whereas the value of some others is open to question.
Nonetheless, the worthwhile material microfilmed, at least in my opinion, is
easily sufficient to justify the effort and expense of the expedition. I have
checked a number of the Christian Arabic items and find that a good
proportion consists of unedited works, especially those composed during the
last four centuries, and that there are very often no manuscripts of these
works available in the West.
The expenses of the expedition were, in fact, remarkably modest, being on
the order of | 8000. This project is able, because of its different circumstan¬
ces, to operate on a much smaller budget than is possible for the Ethiopian
project. However, if they are to make a second expedition, which they would
be most ready to undertake, they must receive new funds. They were hoping
to do this by selling to libraries copies of the microfilms that they have
already made, but the demand for them in America has been discouraging
thus far. This is surely a great pity, for the price that is being asked seems to me, at least, ridiculously low, namely, $ 15 per reel. What library in Europe or
America would be willing to make 1500 frames of microfilm for $ 15 ? Father
Alhadef informs me that they can also furnish copies of individual items in a
particular reel. To buy a copy of all the material photographed, since there
are 110 reels in all, would cost $ 1650. If they succeed in selling only five
complete copies, they will have enough to set out on a second expedition.
UNE FAMILLE MELKITE CATHOLIQUE DE SMYRNE:
LES PHARAON ET LEUR DESCENDANCE INTERNATIONALE
Von Livio Amedeo Missm, Brüssel
Mit 2 Tafeln
(Contribution k I'histoire de la chretiente de Smyme presentee par le Dr. Livio Amedeo Missir
au XVIIIe. Deutscher Orientalistentag, Lübeck, le 3 octobre 1972)
Raisons et cadre de l'etude
Ce qui nous preoccupe n'est pas tellement l'aspect genealogique d'une teile
6tude - qui semblerait par ailleurs mal cadrer avec un Congres Orientaliste -,
mais I'importance que peut avoir I'histoire des families chretiennes, et no¬
tamment latines ou «levantines»' (o'est-ä,-dire europdennes mais etablies
depuis des siöcles dans le Levant, ou bien d'origine Orientale mais latinis6es
ou <(occidentalis6es»), pour une meilleure comprehension de I'histoire de
l'Empire Ottoman ainsi que des relations entre cet Empire et les Puissances
occidentales.
Nous disposons en effet de quelques etudes sur le röle de certaines families
ottomanes chretiennes tels que les Mavrocordato* et les Mavrogheni*. Mais il
s'agit en general de families grecques et phanariotes ; des etudes sur des
families armeniennes existent aussi, mais elles sont moins connues. Par
contre des etudes sur des families latines ou levantines de l'Empire Ottoman
n'existent presque pas. Et si quelques rares savants occidentaux tels que
1 Quel que soit le sens attribue par les dictionnaires ä l'adjectif «levantin», nous
ne l'employons que dans le sens litteral et etymologique que lui donne le
Larousse, a savoir «natif des pays du Levant».
2 Les Mavrocordato ont donne, entre autres, un ambassadeur ottoman, le
prince Alexandre Mavrocordato (1641-1709) ainsi que son homonyme Alexandre
Mavrocordato (1791-1865), un des chefs de l'insurrection grecque en 1821. Sur
cette famille on pourra consulter notamment trois ouvrages: Emile Legrand,
Genealogie des Maurocordato de Constantinople, Paris 1886 et 1900, Alexandre
Stourdza, L'Europe Orientale et le role historique des Maurocordato (1660-
1830), Paris 1914 et Philip P. Abgenti, Libro d'Oro de la Noblesse de Chio, 2
vol., Londres 1955. Aussi N. Camariano, Le grand drogman, Salonique 1970.
3 Sur les Mavrogheni on verra l'article y relatif dans le Larousse grec (Gheniki
Pangosmios Enghyklopaidhia Papyros-Larous, Athenes 1964). Ce Larousse con-
sacre un long article egalement aux Mavrocordato. Cf. aussi Th. Blancard, Les
Mavroyeni, Paris 1909.
