Additions to Daniel

This pilot study outlines the diverse and at times interwoven textual traditions of the story of Susanna in the Syriac Bible. There are three different versions of the story aside from the Syrohexapla and the revision of Jacob of Edessa, namely the 'Peshitta' version , another here dubbed 'Sinai Susanna' , and finally the so-called 'Harklean' version. This paper seeks to describe the kinds of relationships that exist between these textual traditions as well as to suggest what type of critical edition might best display these connections. Additionally, the Sitz im Leben of the 'Harklean' version is briefly discussed, reflecting on whether the version's unique literary features betray a Jewish or a Christian background.

Commentators on the Septuagint normally use what can be called " mainline " or " traditional " methods to interpret texts. This article follows a novel methodological approach that is based on recent developments in cognitive linguistics. More specifically, it utilises the theory and method underlying the concept " embodied cognition " or " embodiment ". It is argued that people interpret their environment, their lives, and life's vicissitudes unconsciously by using their bodies as point of reference. The underlying worldview and power structures inherent in the Susanna narrative are explored from this theoretical viewpoint. This theoretical approach is combined with insights from other disciplines such as cultural anthropology and social scientific readings of texts to further enhance the exposition of the worldview underlying the narrative. It is shown that cognitive linguistics adds value to existing interpretations of the narrative.

consists of a number of actors of whom only a few such as Susanna, the two elders, the Jewish people and Daniel are directly related to the central action of the story. With regard to the roles of these actors in the story however, a question arises: Who is the subject of the story of Susanna? Most scholars question the attribution of the role of subject to Susanna. Their contention however, has not yet been sustained by convincing evidence stemming from the use of a suitable method. This study attempts to fill this gap by using the Greimassian approach to narratives, as refined by Everaert-Desmedt. The approach comprises three levels of analysis: the figurative, the narrative and the thematic. The contribution focuses only on the narrative level of analysis, particularly on the actantial model because the main role of this structure is to reveal different functions of actors called here actants. It is the contention here that following the actantial model of the Greimassian approach of analysis, Susanna emerges as the subject of the main concern of the story.

The fourteenth-century romance The Erle of Tolous stands out among the corpus of tried-heroine narratives from medieval England, best known to modern readers in the form of Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale. In nearly all cases, the protagonist of these stories is an emblem of purity and piety. By contrast, the married heroine of The Erle grants an audience and one of her rings to the nobleman who loves her. After she is framed with adultery, he undertakes an ordeal to vindicate her and the two are finally wed upon the death of her husband, the Emperor of Almayn. Weaving together the account of this tender affection with the drama of the Empress' false accusation and, furthermore, the territorial disputes between the Earl and the Emperor, the romance continually shifts its perspective on these characters, their mutual dealings, and the values that inform them. By analyzing the twists and turns of its plot and comparing it with analogous narratives of calumny, in particular Susanna and the Elders (Daniel 13 in the Vulgate numbering), I argue that The Erle replaces their conception of virtue as God-sanctioned righteousness with a pragmatic ethics that stresses the importance of fostering benevolent relations among human beings in changing circumstances. Whereas this romance departs significantly from the worldview of the biblical story, their close thematic and structural parallels suggest deliberate revision. The Erle is therefore a chapter in the largely uncharted reception history of Susanna and the Elders in the late Middle Ages.