Elias, Ghaṭṭās (Danḥo) Maqdisī (1911–2008) [Syr. Orth.]

Author, especially of poetry, and translator.

He was born in Midyat , and joined Taw Mim Simkath in Adana where he studied under Dolabani , then in Beirut when the school moved there until he graduated in 1930. He also completed the French high school curriculum in Damascus in 1932, and taught in Bāb Tūmā for two years. In 1933 he worked for the Syrian Customs. In 1979 he emigrated to Brazil. He wrote the following: 1. (With Fawlos Gabriel ) a translation of Bernardin de Saint Pierre’s romantic novel Paul et Virginie (Beirut 1955); 2. poems and anthems many of which were published in al-Našra al-Suryāniyya (Aleppo), Beth Nahrin (NJ, ed. Naʿʿum Fāʾiq), Ḥuyada (NJ, ed. Naʿʿum Fāʾiq), Leshono d-Umto (Beirut, ed. Ibrahim Hakwerdi), and Ḥdonoyutho Suryoyto (Buenos Aires, ed. Farīd Nozha). The most popular of his anthems is taw netkanaš, put to music by his cousin Gabriel Asʿad ; 3. collections of poems, letters, and other writings were edited by Gregorius Yūḥannā Ibrāhīm and published by Dar Mardin.