After Barhebraeus, Dionysius bar Ṣalībī (d. 1171) was the most important Syrian Orthodox author in the period of the ‘Syriac Renaissance’, his two best known works being a commentary on all the books of the Bible and a series of polemical treatises, against the Jews, Muslims, Nestorians, Armenians (including one specifically against their Patriarch Kewark), Chalcedonians and Idolators. Most of these still remain unpublished, though this does not apply to Against the Jews, whose text (alone) was published by de Zwaan in 1906 from a single late manuscript. This re-edition, with a facing English translation is most welcome: the critical edition of the text is based on seven manuscripts, the oldest of which was copied circa 1207, and the apparatus is clearly set out. The translation is carefully done and it is good to have the numerous biblical references and allusions (over 400) properly identified. The introduction gives a brief outline of Dionysius bar Ṣalībī's life and works before discussing the treatise itself, with a good discussion of the structure and method of the argument. The manuscripts are then presented and described. Since longer headings for each of the work's nine chapters are only found in three of the manuscripts, these are given separately, and do not feature in the edition of the text. A valuable feature at the end of the book is the provision of colour images with samples from the manuscripts used. Anyone who knew the late Lionel Wickham, Rifaat Ebied's collaborator in numerous publications over the years, will be delighted to find a very nice photograph of him at the beginning of the book. It is good, too, to have a separate listing of all the books and articles which their long and fruitful collaboration has produced; on occasion this has also been in conjunction with other scholars, and this indeed is also the case in the present volume too, Mar Malatius being another learned Syrian Orthodox bishop, this time of Australia and New Zealand.

There are two things which this volume deliberately does not set out to provide: firstly, any introduction to the wider background to Dionysius’ polemical writings, and secondly, further annotation, beyond that of provision of the biblical references. The reason for the first omission is likely to be because the present volume is part of a larger project concerning all Dionysius’ polemical works, which Ebied has outlined in several articles, notably in the collective volume edited by M. Tamcke, Christians and Muslims in dialogue in the Islamic Orient of the Middle Ages (Beirut 2007). The absence of further annotation, beyond biblical references, is puzzling in view of the subtitle ‘Edited and translated with notes and commentary’ (my italics); perhaps a commentary was originally envisaged, but then, with the death of Lionel Wickham, the idea was at least temporarily dropped. Here it might be noted that the account of the Jewish sects (i.4–11) is based on the Syriac translation of the Anapkephalaiosis to Epiphanius’ Panarion,Footnote ¹ an account earlier used by the East Syriac authors Theodore bar Koni and Isho‘dad of Merv. Although the latter is the source (by way of Moshe bar Kepha) for some of Dionysius’ exegesis, in this case his account is closer than theirs to the Syriac of the Anakephalaiosis (preserved in British Library, ms Add. 12,156). Dionysius provides two further slightly different accounts of the Jewish sects, both in his Commentary on Matthew, the second of which does seem to derive, either directly or indirectly, from Isho‘dad. It is of especial interest that in the Treatise against the Jews (but not elsewhere), Dionysius provides some extra material, which includes an entry on the Essenes; this extra material does not derive from the Anakephalaiosis, but evidently goes back to Josephus’ Jewish war ii. 160–6, thus providing possible further evidence for the existence of a Syriac translation of other parts of the Jewish war beside bk vi, a possibility discussed by L. van Rompay in connection with the excerpts from bk iii to be found in Dayr al-Surian Syr. 28.Footnote ²

Even in the absence of the commentary promised by the subtitle, this an excellent start to a series which plans to publish all Dionysius’ polemical treatises.