Text
A title expressing apostolic functions in the Syrian Christian literature is that of a merchant (taggārâ), either seeking the pearl which is Christ, or trading with talents (Aphrahat, Demonstrations 14.609.27-612.12 and 680.4-5). Though the immediate source of both allusions is the gospels, this image – and even the word – has a long prehistory in Mesopotamian religious language. This imagery, found equally in Christian, Manichaean and Mandean literature, goes back to ancient Akkadian tradition. The Akkadian tamkāru is probably Semitic and the Sumerian dam-gar is a loanword, from tamkāru come Syriac taggārâ, Mandaic tangārā and Arabic tājir. The “merchant” was a title of Enlil, the divine merchant deals in merchandise, i.e. souls and their merits, which will be subjected to scrutinity by the heavenly customs officers. As it is said in a Sumerian Balaĝ: “Enlil, the merchant of the Kiur, the lord whose scales … , the lord whose weights (are all) the sums, the lord to whose seat the city brings (its wares), at whose resting place (his) orders are made known, (arise!)” (Sumerian Balaĝ Zibum Zibum 7-11). In Syriac Christian literature, we may remember that Judas Thomas travelled with a merchant, and the imagery of merchandise is important in the ‘Hymn of the Soul’, as also in the Manichaean psalms, where Thomas is ‘a Merchant that finds gain in the land of India’. In the Doctrine of Addai, the ‘apostle’ in his parting instructions speaks of Christ returning as Judge to call shepherds to account ‘and to claim his money from merchants’ (42.1-4). Ephrem has this figure in his writings several times, and Cyrillona embroiders Christ’s exhortation to his disciples, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled’ with the charge: “Travel well-girt like merchants that we may gain the world; convert men to me, fill creation with teaching.” (On the Pasch 409-412.)
Sources (list of abbreviations)
Aphrahat, Demonstrations 14.609.27-612.12
Aphrahat, Demonstrations 14.680.4-5
Cyrillona, On the Pasch 409-412
Doctrina Addai 42.1-4
Zibum Zibum 7-11
Bibliography
| Cohen 1988, I 366 | Cohen, Mark E. The Canonical Lamentations of Ancient Mesopotamia. 2 Vols. Potomac: CDL Press 1988. |
| Murray 1975, 174-175 | Murray, Robert. Symbols of Church and Kingdom. A Study in Early Syriac Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1975. |
Amar Annus
URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001352.php
|
