Восточносирийская поэзия XIII–XVII веков: пути распространения и эволюцииEast Syriac poetry of the 13th–17th centuries: the ways of evolution and transmission

The main object of the study is poetry composed within the East Syriac church  communities in the Middle East between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. During this period, cultural contacts between Christian communities of this area and the traditions of other religions were very intense, which considerably enriched the church literature both in terms of contents and technique. Many historical events contributed to it, such as the conquest of the Near and Middle East by the Mongols in the thirteenth century, the unification of these territories under the Ottoman rule in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, as well as the establishment of contacts between Eastern Syriac communities and the Catholic Church in the mid-sixteenth century. By East Syriac poetry, poetic texts in classical Syriac formed both in the Church of the East (‘Nestorian’), and within the Chaldean Church (East Syriac Uniate Church) after the Schism of 1552 are meant here. As the research has shown, the two communities were in close cultural interaction despite the confessional and institutional opposition. The study covers mainly medium and small poetic forms, for which the evolution and influence of contiguous traditions can be observed to the greatest extent. Moreover, most of these forms emerged in the Syriac literary tradition during the period in question.