| Edition |
First American edition. |
| Description |
xii, 316 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm |
| Note |
"A Borzoi book"--T.p. verso. |
|
"Originally published in Great Britain in slightly different form as Sisters of Sinai: how two lady adventurers found the Hidden Gospels by Chatto & Windus ... London"--T.p. verso. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [301]-303) and index. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Subject |
Lewis, Agnes Smith, 1843-1926.
|
|
Gibson, Margaret Dunlop, 1843-1920.
|
|
New Testament scholars -- Great Britain -- Biography.
|
|
Bible. Gospels. Syriac -- Versions -- Codex palimpsestus Sinaiticus.
|
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Sinai, Mount (Egypt) -- Description and travel.
|
|
Church history -- 20th century.
|
| ISBN |
9781400041336 |
|
1400041333 |
|
