Bibliograph

The sisters of Sinai, how two lady adventurers discovered the Hidden Gospels, Janet Soskice

Type

Label

The sisters of Sinai, how two lady adventurers discovered the Hidden Gospels, Janet Soskice

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [301]-303) and index

resource.biographical

collective biography

Illustrations

illustrationsmaps

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The sisters of Sinai

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

277201806

Responsibility statement

Janet Soskice

Sub title

how two lady adventurers discovered the Hidden Gospels

Summary

In 1892, two sisters, identical twins from Scotland, made one of one of most important scriptural discoveries of modern times. Combing the library of St. Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai, they found a neglected palimpsest: one of the earliest known copies of the Gospels, a version in ancient Syriac, the language spoken by Jesus. This is the account of how two middle-aged ladies without university degrees uncovered and translated this text, bringing a treasure to world attention. This quintessentially Victorian adventure is partly a physical journey: when Westerners generally feared to tread in the region, the sisters Smith traversed the Middle East. It is also a journey of the mind: in an era when new discoveries in science and archaeology were rewriting the accepted understanding of the Bible's origins as well as those of humankind, a great contribution to knowledge was made by two whose only natural advantage was an astonishing gift for languages.--From publisher description

Table Of Contents

Introduction: Cambridge, 13 April 1893 -- The birth and upbringing of lady Bible hunters -- The journey to the Nile -- The boat -- The perfect dragoman -- The search for the perfect mate -- Greece -- The estate of marriage -- The Cambridge antiquarian -- Heresy and mortality -- Sinai and Von Tischendorf -- The perils of Bible-hunting -- The story Von Tischendorf did not tell -- Setting out for Sinai -- The treasure in the dark closet -- The Cambridge party -- The disjoint expedition -- The final falling-out -- The Devilish Press and the Highland Regiment -- The Cambridge cold shoulder -- A lightening course in text scholarship -- In the company of orientalists -- Burying the hatchet -- Keepers of manuscripts -- Solomon Schechter and the Cairo Genizah -- In Cairo with Schechter -- Castelbrae -- The college's opening -- The active life -- The darkening to war -- Palimpsest

Classification