Alqosh, School of (2nd half of the 16th cent. onwards)

A group of E.-Syr. authors and scribes, most of them priests, who brought about a remarkable revival of literary activities among E.-Syr. communities in N. Iraq.

E.-Syr. authors and scribes, most of them priests, who brought about a remarkable revival of literary activities among E.-Syr. communities in N. Iraq. Israel of Alqosh is considered the founder of this School. Baumstark limited the school to the poets of Alqosh , whereas Macuch included writers and copyists of a wider area encompassing centers such as Gazarta, Beth Slokh, Amid , Telkepe , and Mosul .

Authors wrote liturgical poetry in Classical Syriac and also occasionally in Sureth. Historical and theological prose was produced as well. Some authors had Catholic sympathies and were involved in the Uniate movement. These include ʿAbdishoʿ of Gazarta , Adam of ʿAqra (who wrote a hymn on Rabban Hormizd and a theological book), Yawsep II , and the priest Khidr of Mosul (1679–1751), who spent much of his life in Rome.

The following authors wrote dorekthā poems in Sureth: Hormizd and Israel of Alqosh, Yawsep of Telkepe , Yoḥannan bp. of Mahwana (17th cent.), Haydeni of Gessa, Ḥenanishoʿ of Rustaqa, Ṣomo of Piyoz (who was also a translator from Latin and Arabic into Classical Syriac, 18th cent.), Hayden and Yonan of Tḥuma (Ch. of E.), Thomas Tektek Sindjari, David Kora of Nuhadra, David of Barzane, Damyanos of Alqosh , Stephen of Alqosh (Chald., 19th cent.); Anne of Telkepe, Yawsep ʿAbbaya of Alqosh, Thomas Ḥanna of Karamlish (Chald., end 19th–first half 20th cent.).

See Fig. 44.