Jacob of Sarug’s Homily on the Tower of Babel

This edition of Mar Jacob of Sarug's (d. 521) homily on the Tower of Babel develops an extended word-play between “morduto” ‘rebellion’ and “marduto” ‘discipline.’ As is characteristic of Jacob, the characters, their personalities, and their motivations are developed far more than they are in the biblical narrative. The volume constitutes a fascicle of The Metrical Homilies of Mar Jacob of Sarug, which, when complete, will contain the original Syriac text of Jacob's surviving sermons, fully vocalized, alongside an annotated English translation.