On Friday 6 September 2024, the Catholic University in Erbil, Ankawa, hosted the activities of the second day of the First Athra Syriac Symposium, organised by the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts, in partnership with the Yonan Hozaya Centre for Research and Future Studies, under the slogan: “Syriac as a Living Culture, Despite Challenges to its Survival.”
Activities began with extending thanks and gratitude to the pastor of the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil, Mar Bashar Matti Warda, as well as the Presidency of the Catholic University in Erbil, for hosting the Symposium’s second day.
The second day’s sessions included the presentation of a number of research papers in Syriac, Arabic and English, which were given in the university’s halls, namely, the Library Theatre and the Library Seminar Hall. The research papers in Arabic were follows:
- “The Syriac Geography of Iraq from the Sasanian era to early Islam” by Prof. Naseer al-Kaabi.
- “Revealing the Modern Syriac Towns and Villages included in the Historical Geography of Tikrit, Capital of the Maphrianate” by researcher Ibrahim Fadhil al-Nasiri.
- “The Syriac Origins of the Names of the Arab Villages of Shirqat” by Dr. Amer al-Jumayli.
- “The Craft of Fur Making in the Syriac Mosulite Heritage between Extinction and Continuity” by Dr. Etlal Salem Hanna Boutros Al Kass Hanna.
- “The Role of Scholar Clement Joseph David in the Syriac World” by Prof. Joelle Jamil El Turc.
- (Levels of artistic paradox in the poetry of Sargon Boulos) by Dr. Faraj Adour Hanna Roufael.
- “The Morphology of the Folktale in Syriac Theatre: The Play ‘From the People’s Sifting, We Shall Leave It’ as an Example” by Professor Dr. Ali Muhammad Hadi al-Rubaee.
- “The Poetics of Aesthetic Discourse in Contemporary Syriac Theatrical Performance” by Prof. ‘Abboud Hasan al-Muhanna and Prof. Muhammad Fadhil Hamadi.
- “Syriac in the Maronite Tradition and its Societal and Ecclesiastical Development” by Dr. Imad Younes Feghali.
- “Smith and Vandyke’s Arabic Translation of the Peshiṭta Syriac New Testament: A Critical Study of Matthew’s Gospel as an Example” by Prof. Sattar ‘Abd al-Hasan Jabbar al-Fatlawi.
- “Beth-Gazo Centre for the Preservation of Syriac Heritage” by Fr. Youssef Fawwaz Dergham.
- “Revealing the Name of the Author of the Anonymous History Manuscript and the Title of his Book, which was written in the Sixth Century AD” by Dr. Parween Badri Tawfiq.
- “The Department of Syriac Studies: Work and Aspirations” by Bishop Mor Severios Roger Akhrass.
- “Stephen of Āzakh (1770–1834): Life and Achievements” by Prof. Michael Abdalla.
As for the research in Syriac, it included one paper by researcher Adib Goga Yonan Matti, titled: “For the Sake of a Living Sureth Language.” There was also a presentation in Kurdish by Prof. Yaşar Kaplan titled: “Decoding the Role of Syriac Christians in the Hakkari Emirate through ‘Mirname.’”
The research papers in English were as follows:
- “Syriac Correspondence in the Ottoman Archives: Evidence of a Living Language in the 19th Century” by Dr. Ramazan Turgut.
- “A Syriac Scribe ‘from Athur and Nineveh’: Mattai Bar Fawlos” by Dr. Ephrem Aboud Ishac.
- “From Local and Communal to National and Global: Youel B. Mirza Life through Times” by Dr. Nima Jamali.
- “An Assyrian Sound in the Modality of the Church of the East Liturgy” by Dr. Rashel Pakbaz.
- “Assyrian Heritage in Syriac Literature” by Prof. Efrem Yildiz Sadak.
- “Qdāltā, Ṣewārtā, Awdālā and the Importance of Preserving Modern Aramaic Dialects” by Dr. Nicholas Ashur Al-Jeloo.
- “Rabban Aphnimaran: Riddle as a Way of Training” by Dr. Maksim Kalinin and Polina Ivanova.
- “Syriac as a Living Culture in the Land of the Indians” by Fr. Dr. Jacob Thekkeparambil.
- “Identity amidst Conflict: The Politicisation and Mobilisation of Syriac Christians in Northeast Syria during the Civil War, 2011–2016” by Isla Hanna Karademir-Khoury.
- “Assyrians in Germany: Immigration and Cultural Work” by Prof. Dr. Harald Suermann.
The activities of the First Athra Syriac symposium’s second day were concluded with a visit to the Digital Documentation Centre for Oriental Manuscripts (CNMO).
It is worth noting that the First Athra Syriac symposium, which was held from 5 to 8 September, held its subsequent sessions in the Patriarch Mar Joseph VI Audo Conference Hall at the Martyr Gabriel Danbo Monastery in Ankawa, Erbil, where its activities included visits to the Cultural Centre for the Preservation of Syriac Manuscripts (‘Scriptorium Syriacum’), the Syriac Heritage Museum and the Digital Documentation Centre for Eastern Manuscripts (CNMO).
