Select Narratives of Holy Women

The sisters Agnes Lewis (18431926) and Margaret Gibson (18431920) were pioneering biblical scholars who became experts in a number of ancient languages. Travelling widely in the Middle East they made several significant discoveries including one of the earliest manuscripts of the Four Gospels in Syriac a dialect of Aramaic the language probably spoken by Jesus himself. Their chief discoveries were made in the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai. This fascicule a useful resource for scholars of Syriac and originally published as part of the Studia Sinaitica series is the text of a Syriac manuscript from the monastic library at St Catherine''s. Transcribed by Lewis and first published in 1900 the manuscript recounts the tales of a number of saintly women including Pelagia a rich courtesan who converted to Christianity and Eugenia a holy woman who lived as a man and became the abbot of a monastery.