Untersuchungen zur syrischen Überlieferung der Siebenschläferlegende und Die älteste Gestalt der Sie

The so called “Legend of the Seven Sleepers,” named for the seven young men who were rumored to have fallen asleep in a cave near Ephesus during the period of persecution of Decius and awoke decades later to find Christianity the established religion of the Empire, was a popular story in late-antique and medieval Christianity. The popularity of this story is evidenced by the numerous sources that either recount the story or refer to it in some way. Given the frequency with which the legend is mentioned in Syriac sources, it seems that it was particularly popular within the Syriac tradition. In the present article, Arthur Allgeier presents the most comprehensive survey available of the Syriac tradition of the “Legend of the Seven Sleepers.” Originally published as two separate articles in four parts, Allgeier’s work on the Syriac tradition of the legend is published here as a complete work. The first article deals with the history of the transmission of the text in Syriac, provides details for each Syriac author that refers to the legend, and introduces the sources available for the text. The second article provides the collated Syriac text, accompanied by a German translation and a critical apparatus.