“The History that Should be Placed at the Beginning of the Book of Paul the Apostle”

This paper introduces some overlooked witnesses to the Syriac translation of the Euthalian Apparatus found in apocryphal narratives about Paul. The narratives entitled the “History of Paul”, the “Martyrdom of Paul the Apostle and the Discovery of His Severed Head”, and “The History That Should be Placed at the Beginning of the Book of Paul the Apostle” preserve portions of the prologue to Paul’s Epistles attributed to Euthalius. These narratives circulated independently from New Testament manuscripts where the Euthalian Apparatus typically circulates as paratextual material. They are clearly dependent on the Euthalian prologue and are valuable witnesses for understanding the development and use of the Apparatus in Syriac. These three narratives appear to preserve an early version of the Euthalian Apparatus prior to the insertion of the martyrium Pauli in the fifth century

Apostle · Art · Art history · Erasmus · Literature · Narrative · New Testament · Prologue · The Renaissance · Theology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classics · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Philosophy