Bardaiṣan
Bardaiṣan
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Bardaiṣan (154–222)
巴尔代桑 (Bardaiṣan, 154–222)
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Earliest known Syriac author who flourished at the court of King Abgar of Edessa .
已知最早的叙利亚语 (Syriac) 作者，活跃于埃德萨 (Edessa) 阿布加尔国王 (King Abgar) 的宫廷。
Earliest known Syriac author. He was active at the court of Abgar VIII (177–212) in Edessa , where the chronicler Julius Africanus met him in 195 (Kestoi I.20), and recorded his skill at archery. Bardaiṣan’s name derives from that of the river Daiṣan (Greek Skirtos ‘Leaper’) which in his day flowed through Edessa. His own writings, which included works against Marcion and the Chaldeans (that is, astrologers), are unfortunately lost, since his views on cosmology were later considered unorthodox. What survives is a philosophical dialogue on fate and freewill in which Bardaiṣan is the protagonist; this work, probably by his pupil Philip, is generally known as the ‘Book of the Laws of the Countries’, due to a section on ethnography (whose accuracy in the passage on Ḥaṭra is now confirmed by a Ḥaṭran inscription, no. 281). The work was translated into Greek, and quotations from it are given in Eusebius ’s ‘Preparation for the Gospel’ (VI.10.1–48) and the ‘Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions’ (IX.19–29). His teaching, some of which was conveyed in verse as well as in prose, has to be reconstructed from later hostile sources (above all, Ephrem ); it was evidently syncretistic in character, with elements drawn from Greek philosophy and Iranian and Gnostic cosmology; it may have served Mani as a partial model. The teaching on freewill in the ‘Book of the Laws of the Countries’ has been shown to be largely dependent on Alexander of Aphrodisias.
已知最早的叙利亚语 (Syriac) 作者。他活跃于埃德萨 (Edessa) 的阿布加尔八世 (Abgar VIII)（177–212 年在位）宫廷，编年史家朱利叶斯·阿非利加努斯 (Julius Africanus) 于 195 年在那里会见了他（《凯斯托伊》(Kestoi) I.20），并记录了他的射箭技艺。巴尔代桑 (Bardaiṣan) 的名字源于代桑河 (Daiṣan)（希腊语 (Greek) 称斯基尔托斯 (Skirtos)，意为‘跳跃者’），该河在他那个时代流经埃德萨 (Edessa)。他自己的著作不幸已佚，其中包括反对马西昂 (Marcion) 和迦勒底人 (Chaldeans)（即占星术士）的作品，因为他的宇宙论观点后来被视为非正统。现存作品是一部关于命运与自由意志的哲学对话录，巴尔代桑 (Bardaiṣan) 是其中的主角；这部作品可能出自其弟子菲利普 (Philip) 之手，通常被称为《列国律法书》(Book of the Laws of the Countries)，这是因为其中有一部分关于民族志的内容（其中关于哈特拉 (Ḥaṭra) 段落的准确性现已得到一块哈特拉铭文（no. 281）的证实）。该作品被译为希腊语 (Greek)，其中的引文见于优西比乌 (Eusebius) 的《福音预备》(Preparation for the Gospel)（VI.10.1–48）和《伪克莱门特认信录》(Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions)（IX.19–29）。他的教义（部分以诗歌而非散文传达）必须从后来的敌对资料（尤其是埃弗雷姆 (Ephrem)）中重构；其性质显然是折衷主义的，汲取了希腊 (Greek) 哲学以及伊朗 (Iranian) 和诺斯替 (Gnostic) 宇宙论的元素；它可能部分地成为了摩尼 (Mani) 的范本。《列国律法书》(Book of the Laws of the Countries) 中关于自由意志的教义已被证明很大程度上依赖于阿弗罗迪西亚的亚历山大 (Alexander of Aphrodisias)。
References
H. J. W. Drijvers, The Book of the Laws of Countries (1965; repr. 2007). (Syr. with ET)
T. Krannich and P. Stein, ‘Das “Buch der Gesetze der Länder” des Bardesanes von Edessa’, in ZAC 8 (2004), 203–29. (GT)
J. A. Lund, The Book of the Laws of Countries. A Key-Word-in-Context Concordance (2007).
F. Nau, Bardesanes. Liber legum regionum (PS I.2; 1907), 490–697. (Syr. with LT)
E. Beck, ‘Bardaisan und seine Schule bei Ephräm’, LM 91 (1978), 271–333.
A. Camplani, ‘Rivisitando Bardesane’, Cristianesmo nella Storia 19 (1998), 519–96.
, ‘Bardesane et les bardesanites’, Annuaire, École Pratique des Hautes Études 112 (2003–4), 29–50.
H. J. W. Drijvers, Bardaisan of Edessa (1965).
, in TRE , vol. 5 (1979), 206–12.
F. J. A. Hort, ‘Bardaisan’, in DCB , vol. 1 (1911), 250–60. (still useful, even though outdated in several respects)
T. Jansma, Natuur, lot en vrijheid. Bardesanes, de filosoof der Arameeërs en zijn images (1969).
G. Levi Della Vida (ed. R. Contini), Pitagora, Bardesane e altri studi siriaci (1989).
P. O. Skjaervo, in EIr , vol. 3 (1989), 780–5.
P. Poirier and E. Crégheur, ‘Foi et persuasion dans le Livre des Lois des Pays’, LM 116 (2003), 329–42.
U. Possekel, ‘Bardaisan of Edessa on the resurrection’, OC 88 (2004), 1–28.
eadem, ‘Bardaisan of Edessa, philosopher or theologian?’, ZAC 10 (2006), 442–61.
eadem, ‘Die Schöpfungstheologie des Bardaisan von Edessa’, in Edessa in hellenistisch-römischer Zeit. Religion, Kultur und Politik zwischen Ost und West, ed. L. Greisiger et al. (BTS 116; 2009), 219–229.
J. Teixidor, Bardésane d’Édesse. La première philosophie syriaque (1992).
, in Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques, ed. R. Goulet, vol. 2 (1994), 54–63. (incl. further references)
F. Winter, Bardesanes von Edessa über Indien (1999).
Citation
Sebastian P. Brock. 2011. “Bardaiṣan.” In Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage. Beth Mardutho. https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Bardaisan.