A classic collection of Syriac readings, with a handy summary of Syriac grammar and a copious glossary. There are several extracts from Bar-Hebraeus' history, on the translation of the Septuagint, the correspondence of Christ and Abgar, the madness of Caliph Hakim, the first Crusade, portraits of Richard the Lionhearted and Saladin and his account of his own times - crowned with his brother's account of his death; poems from Ephraem, with his commentary on Daniel's vision; the vision itself, with many other extracts from the Peshitta; hagiographies, including the martyrdom of Theodota the Harlot; samples of other genres: the Story of Sindibad or the Seven Sages, the beginning of Antonius Rhetor's poem against his slanderers, a summary of Eusebius, a letter ascribed to Saint Narcissus, and the epistle supposedly from Aristotle to Alexander about universal conquest and universal peace. A splendid introduction to actual Syriac, with critical notes on the texts.