The scholars of Edessa move to the School of Nisibis
Emperor Zeno closed the “School of the Persians” at Edessa for its Nestorian teaching, and its remaining teachers and students crossed the frontier to Nisibis, where Narsai, with the support of Bishop Barsauma, had re-founded a school. The School of Nisibis became the theological academy of the Church of the East, teaching theology, philosophy and medicine, and served even churchmen in Italy as a model.
- Date
- 489year known
- Place
- Nisibistoday: Nusaybin, Mardin Province, Turkey · Middle East and Egypt
- Participants
- Narsai, Zeno, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Middle East and Egypt (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- School of Nisibis; School of the Persians; School of Edessa; Нисибинская школа; Персидская школа; Эдесская школа
A school at Nisibis is said to have been founded around 350 by Bishop Jacob, with Ephrem the Syrian as its teacher of Scripture. When Nisibis passed to Persia in 363, Ephrem moved to Edessa, and the school continued there, on Roman soil, as the School of the Persians. In the early 5th century its teachers replaced Ephrem’s commentaries with those of Theodore of Mopsuestia, the teacher of Nestorius. After the Council of Ephesus condemned Nestorius in 431, Rabbula, bishop of Edessa and a partisan of Cyril, turned against the school’s teachers.
Narsai, the poet and theologian who headed the school, was forced out of Edessa by its bishops — Cyrus according to one account (perhaps in 471), his predecessor Nonnus according to another; proposed dates range from 435 to 489 — and with the help of Barsauma, metropolitan of Nisibis, re-founded the school in that Persian city. In 489 Zeno, on the advice of Bishop Cyrus, ordered the Edessa school closed, and its remaining teachers and students moved to Nisibis. By then the Church of the East had turned to Theodore’s theology: in 484 the Synod of Beth Lapat under Barsauma accepted him as an authority, and in 486 a council at Ctesiphon endorsed his teaching.
Narsai died at Nisibis around 502; later heads such as Abraham of Beth Rabban (530–569) and Henana of Adiabene (571–610) kept up the school’s fame. It taught theology, philosophy and medicine, and many of its students rose to high church office. In Italy Pope Agapetus I and Cassiodorus hoped to found a school of the same kind, and Cassiodorus’s monastery at Vivarium was inspired by its example. The school declined after Henana’s death around 610. It is sometimes called the world’s first university.
Connections
Related events
- Julian’s Persian expedition and the Peace of 3635 March 363 – July 363 · Middle East and Egyptthe peace of 363 gave Nisibis to Persia, and the school’s first home moved to Edessa
- Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon410 · Middle East and Egyptthe school became the academy of the church organised at the council of 410
- Council of Ephesus22 June – 31 July 431 · Balkans and Anatoliaafter Nestorius was condemned at Ephesus, the school of Edessa was suspect and was closed in 489; its teachers moved to Nisibis
Same participants
- Theodoric leads the Ostrogoths to Italy488 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Zeno
- Theodoric takes Ravenna490 – 5 March 493 · Western and Central Europevia Zeno
Same place
- Peace of Nisibisbetween 298 and 299 · Middle East and Egypt
Adjacent events in the thread
- Peroz I killed in battle with the Hephthalites484 · Central and Northern Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Theodoric takes Ravenna490 – 5 March 493
- Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britainbetween 410 and 449 – between 550 and 625
- Saint Patrick’s mission in Irelandbetween 432 and 461 – between 461 and 493
Eastern Europe
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700
Balkans and Anatolia
Africa
- Martianus Capella’s Marriage of Philology and Mercurybetween 410 and 490
Central and Northern Asia
South Asia
- The later caves of Ajanta under the Vakataka king Harishenabetween 460 and 480 – between 480 and 550
- Sigiriya, the rock citadel of King Kashyapa Ibetween 473 and 477 – 495
East Asia
- The Yungang Grottoes: cave temples of the Northern Wei near Pingchengc. 460 – 494
- Kofun period: the age of keyhole tombsbetween 250 and 300 – 538
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- The inscriptions of Purnavarman, king of Taruma in western Javabetween 400 and 600
- Gold pendant copying a coin of Antoninus Pius at Óc Eobetween 152 and 600
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
North America
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
Latin America
- Burial of the Lady of Cao at El Brujobetween 400 and 500
- Teotihuacan at its height: the largest city of the Americasc. 250 – c. 550
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): School of Nisibis
- Wikipedia (English): School of Edessa
- Wikipedia (English): Narsai
- Wikipedia (English): Barsauma of Nisibis
- Wikipedia (English): Church of the East
- Wikipedia (Russian): Нисибинская школа
- Wikipedia (Russian): Эдесская школа
- Wikipedia (Russian): Нарсай Нисибийский
- Vööbus A. History of the School of Nisibis. — Louvain: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1965. — (CSCO 266, Subsidia 26).
- Becker A. H. Fear of God and the Beginning of Wisdom: The School of Nisibis and Christian Scholastic Culture in Late Antique Mesopotamia. — Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.