The Syriac Version of the Hexaemeron by Basil of Caesarea

The Syriac version of the Hexaemeron by St. Basil of Caesarea survives in Ms no. 9 of the Syriac collection in the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai (written before 734 AD), and in fragments, of which the earliest dates from the fifthe century. It predates the surviving Greek manuscripts by four centuries. It is not a literal translation, but expands the text in a discursive manner - as is not uncommon in Syriac. The Armenian version was made from this Syriac text by the seventh century. The Syriac version of the Hexaemeron is thus valuable as a witness to the original, as a text of importance for Syriac literature, and as the intermediary for the wide diffusion of the Hexaemeron in Armenia.