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Texts and their transmission

Inscriptions, manuscripts, editions, translations and the transmission of texts.

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Entity
Divine assembly type-scene
A way to analyse a recurring assembly scene in narrative, while its purpose, speakers and decision vary.
Modern explanatory diagram comparing functions of particular Ugaritic, Iliadic and Odyssean scenes: message, dispute and feast, forbidding or permitting intervention, and a return decision. A tool for reading narratives, rather than independent evidence of transmission
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Original photograph

Study
The son and the sacrifice: how Abraham’s story changed
How does Abraham's sacrifice story differ between Genesis and the Qur'an? A historical comparison of Jewish, Christian and Islamic retellings of the son, his rescue and the animal substitute.
The Sacrifice of Isaac, tapestry attributed to a workshop funded by William Sheldon, probably 1561–1613. Later depiction, not an artifact of the event
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Illustration

Entity
Sacrificial substitution
An offering replaces a person or another offering in a particular text; this alone establishes neither ritual origin nor borrowing.
Original diagram distinguishes text, interpretation, hypothesis and practice; comparison is not proof of borrowing or event
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Illustration

Entity
Akedah (binding of Isaac)
Jewish designation for Isaac’s binding in Genesis 22, developing through retelling and prayer.
Modern diagram comparing explicit textual features; not a proven transmission route or final composition order
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AI-generated

Study
Gog and Magog: from Ezekiel to the enclosed nations
Leader, land, nations and barrier: Genesis, Ezekiel and Revelation through Alexander, the Quran and hadith, with Gyges, Marduk and witness dates examined.
Modern generated illustration of a barrier between mountains; neither a discovered artifact nor an identification of the narratives’ barrier
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Illustration

Entity
Enclosed nations
Narrative motif of peoples beyond a barrier until their release, not a fixed ethnic name.
Modern method diagram distinguishing text, interpretation and copy dates; the rows do not give one date for the story
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Illustration

Entity
Gog and Magog
Names with different roles in genealogies, invasion prophecy, end-time nations and barrier traditions.
Modern comparison of names and barriers in specified texts; no identification of a living people or proof of a complete transmission chain
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Original photograph

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Solomon, spirits and birds: from Kings to the Talmud and Quran
Wisdom, rings, Ashmedai and the queen: texts and dates, from Josephus and the Testament of Solomon to birds, subjugation and the limits of unseen knowledge.
Bronze mirror, 12th–13th century; the museum interprets its scene as Solomon and his demons. Met 1978.348.2; public domain
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Illustration

Entity
Targum Sheni of Esther
An Aramaic translation and expansion of Esther containing an excursus on Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Modern comparison of Eleazar’s and the Testament’s rings, nest and chamber glass, and Solomon’s roles; resemblance does not decide dependence
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Illustration

Entity
Testament of Solomon
A Greek pseudepigraphal text about Solomon commanding spirits and building the Temple, preserved in different forms.
Modern method diagram: manuscript, work and modern research dates differ; these rows do not prove a transmission chain
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Original photograph

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Birds from clay: Jesus, infancy accounts and the Quran
Thomas’ sparrows, Arabic and Armenian infancy accounts, Al Imran and Al Maidah: actions and dates, from an ancient papyrus to transmission questions.
Greek papyrus fragment P.Hamb.Graec.1011 before the joining fragment published in 2025
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Illustration

Ancient text
Arabic Infancy Gospel
Collection about Jesus’ childhood overlapping other accounts without being the same work.
Modern method diagram: work origins, manuscript and edition dates differ; no proven transmission chain
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Illustration

Ancient text
Infancy Gospel of Thomas
Accounts of Jesus’ boyhood, distinct from the sayings Gospel of Thomas.
Modern comparison of breathing, clapping and command in specified versions; no direct transmission route established
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Original photograph

Study
Mary and the palm: accounts, dates and limits of the relationship
Surah Maryam, Pseudo-Matthew, Dormition traditions, Leto and Apollo: birth, journey and tree miracle, distinguishing composition, manuscript and episode dates.
Rest on the Flight into Egypt, a drawing by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, around 1770. It documents a later depiction, not the story's early date
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Illustration

Ancient text
Book of Mary’s Repose
Christian work within Mary’s Dormition traditions.
Modern method: six tests of proposed transmission; a book date does not date every chapter, and a copy does not date a story’s invention
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Illustration

Ancient text
Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
Latin work on Mary and Jesus’ childhood, distinct from canonical Matthew.
Modern comparison: labour and shaking in Maryam, journey and bending in Pseudo-Matthew; resemblance does not settle the source
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Original photograph

Study
Moses and the servant of God: the fish and water of life
Quran, hadith, al-Tabari, the Alexander Poem and Talmud: recurring fish motifs, different functions, and the evidence needed to establish transmission.
Elias and Khizr at the Fountain of Life in a Persian Shahnama manuscript painting from the late fifteenth century. It depicts a later reception of the life-water story
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Illustration

Ancient text
Syriac Alexander Poem
Poetic work about Alexander and life-water, distinct from the long Romance and prose Legend; attribution and date require examination.
Modern comparison: fish marks the meeting in al-Kahf, tests life-water in the Poem; fragrance signals Eden in Tamid. Different functions
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Illustration

Person
Khidr
Name of the servant in Islamic reports about Moses’ journey; al-Kahf leaves him unnamed.
Modern method diagram: verses, reports, commentary and reception are distinct layers; later names are not Quranic wording
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Original photograph

Study
Dhul Qarnayn and Alexander traditions: texts, dating and debate
Sun, horns, metal gate, Gog and Magog: comparing al-Kahf with the Syriac Legend, distinguishing narrative relationship from a proven source and historical identity.
Alexander’s head with ram’s horn on Lysimachos coin, 297–281 BCE; Met 05.44.430. Posthumous Hellenistic image, not an identified Dhul Qarnayn portrait
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Illustration

Ancient text
Syriac Christian Alexander Legend
Christian prose narrative of Alexander’s journeys and the gate restraining nations; distinct from Romance and Poem, with debated dating.
Modern method diagram: Alexander356–323BCE;proposed sixth/seventh-century layers;Budge manuscript1708–1709;edition1889. Dates have distinct functions
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Original photograph

Person
Alexander the Great
Macedonian king who lived from 356 to 323 BCE and became a hero of stories in different languages and traditions after his death.
Alexander’s head with ram’s horn on Lysimachos coin, 297–281 BCE; Met 05.44.430. Posthumous Hellenistic image, not an identified Dhul Qarnayn portrait
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Original photograph

Study
The Companions of the Cave and the Sleepers of Ephesus: connected narratives
Syriac and Latin witnesses alongside the Qur’an: numbers, money, dog, al-raqim and duration, distinguishing narrative relationship from a proven direct source.
The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, a Falnama leaf from the 1550s, attributed to Qazvin in Iran. Metropolitan Museum, 35.64.3. It shows the story's artistic reception centuries after its ancient texts
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Illustration

Person
Gregory of Tours
Sixth-century Christian author; the Latin Sleepers narrative’s ending names him and John the Syrian in its translation credit.
Modern comparison: recension217 has eight humans; Latin opening seven; Qur’an reports3,5,7 plus dog. No exclusive source identified
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Illustration

Person
Jacob of Serugh
Syriac author of the late fifth and early sixth centuries, credited with a homily on the youths of Ephesus.
Modern method diagram: narrated Decius/Theodosius differ from homily composition and surviving copy. John is a named Latin intermediary; no particular copy route into Qur’an proven
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Illustration

Study
Abraham and the breaking of idols: between midrash and Qur’an
From Jubilees, the Apocalypse of Abraham and Genesis Rabbah to the Qur’an: the largest idol, fire and Haran, and the limits of identifying direct sources.
Modern explanatory design for idols and fire in Abrahamic narratives; symbolic geometric shapes, not an artifact or historical portrait of Abraham
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Illustration

Entity
Apocalypse of Abraham
Work attributed to Abraham and preserved in Slavonic transmission; opens with idol criticism before heavenly revelation.
Modern method diagram distinguishing specific resemblance from a direct source: priority and circulation alone identify no manuscript, intermediary or definite route
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Illustration

Entity
Genesis Rabbah
Jewish midrashic collection interpreting Genesis;38:13 narrates Abraham, idols, Nimrod and Haran’s death.
Modern comparison: Jubilees’ idol-house fire and Haran’s death; Genesis Rabbah’s rescue and Haran’s death; Apocalypse’s paternal-house destruction; Qur’anic rescue. No proven chain of borrowing
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Illustration

Study
Satan, Mastema and Belial: different names for evil
Comparing Job’s adversary, Mastema in Jubilees and Belial at Qumran: personal names, local identifications and limits of hostile authority.
Modern comparative diagram distinguishing names, roles and authority in the cited passages; neither ancient portraits nor a fixed genealogy
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Illustration

Entity
War Scroll
Dead Sea Scroll text portraying war between the sons of light and the hostile camp; its principal copy is designated 1QM.
Modern distinction between War Scroll camps and equal divine origins; the prayer in1QM XIII attributes Belial’s making to God
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Illustration

Entity
Book of Jubilees
Jewish retelling of Genesis and Exodus framed as angelic teaching to Moses, adding chronology, narratives and interpretation.
Modern diagram of Jubilees10: permission for one tenth, confinement of nine tenths, and Noah’s remedies; narrative proportions, not a historical census
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Original photograph

Study
Enoch and the Apkallu: Wisdom before the Flood
Kings,sages and the ancient scribe: primeval knowledge,instruction and limits of proposed transmission into Enochic literature.
Nimrud, ca. 883–859 BCE; Met 84.11, public domain. Winged figure proposed as apkallu; not Enoch’s portrait
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Illustration

Entity
Enmeduranki
Primeval king in Mesopotamian wisdom tradition; distinguish from his sage and Enoch.
Modern distinction between king, sage and Enoch; seventh position proves neither personal identity nor a composition date
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Illustration

Entity
Apkallu
Akkadian word for sage; lists,images and roles require their own textual contexts.
Modern comparison of Oannes, Enmeduranki, Watchers and Enoch in the cited passages; neither genealogy nor proof of borrowing
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Original photograph

Study
Sons of God and Watchers: How a Brief Story Expanded
From four Genesis verses to angelic descent, teaching and giant spirits in Enoch: texts, manuscripts and limits of comparison with Mesopotamian sages.
Assyrian apkallu from Nimrud, ca.9th–8th century BCE; Met 54.117.26, public domain. Comparative context, not an Enochic Watcher
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Illustration

Entity
Book of the Watchers
Opening section of1 Enoch, 1–36; includes the Watchers’ descent and transgression and Enoch’s journey.
1 Enoch 6–16: modern diagram distinguishing Watchers, their offspring’s bodies and offspring spirits; not an ancient image or portrait
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Illustration

Entity
Nephilim
Term in Genesis and Numbers; it alone identifies neither a biological population nor every fallen angel.
Nephilim and giants: modern comparison of Genesis 6,Numbers 13 and Enoch 7; not a proven biological genealogy or ancient image
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Original photograph

Study
Judgment Scales: Egypt and the Worlds of Late Antiquity
Heart, destiny and deeds: Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew, Iranian and Quranic witnesses compared through roles, dates and the limits of transmission hypotheses.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Michael weighing a soul, 1506, woodcut. Metropolitan Museum, 27.54.22; public domain. Later Christian depiction, not an original Testament of Abraham illustration
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Illustration

Entity
Testament of Abraham
Narrative of Abraham’s death and journey; its long recension distinguishes Abel the judge, Dokiel the weigher and Michael the guide.
Roles in the long Testament of Abraham, 10–14: a modern textual diagram distinguishing Michael the guide from Dokiel the weigher; not an ancient artifact
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Illustration

Entity
Rashnu: justice in Iranian reckoning
Iranian figure associated with just reckoning; the Menog i Khrad describes a balance favouring neither king nor pauper.
Reckoning in Menog i Khrad 2:110–122 and 12:11–15: original modern diagram of impartial justice and the outcomes of deeds; not a portrait of Rashnu or an ancient map
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