Matthias Henze

The Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel: Introduction, Text, and Commentary - Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity Matthias Henze

The author has prepared the editio princeps of the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel, a hitherto unknown apocalypse composed in the early seventh century A. D. in Syriac and preserved in a single manuscript only. Following an introduction, the book includes an edition of the Syriac text, an English translation, and a detailed commentary. Like the Biblical Daniel on which it is closely modeled, the Syriac text is an 'historical' apocalypse, i. e. it has two parts: the 'historical' first part relates the adventures of Daniel in midrashic form, from his deportation by Nebuchadnezzar until his return to Persia. Upon returning, Daniel has a sequence of apocalyptic visions which are recorded in the latter, eschatological part of the text and which describe the gradual unfolding of the end of time.