Keynote

Narsai of Nisibis (d. ca. 500 CE), one of the luminaries of Syriac literature, returns frequently to the causes and consequences of human depravity within his writings. Narsai cajoled his listeners to embrace the fervency of faith through frequent invocations of Satan and vivid descriptions of ecological destruction and social disintegration. In verse homilies (mēmrē) on a range of doctrinal and exegetical subjects, Narsai projects a vision of the individual as continually imperiled by external demonic forces personified by Satan as well as internal factors such as one’s inclination (yaṣrā) or lack of discernment (pārošutā). Holding together these themes within Narsai’s writings, this lecture examines the poet’s invocations of Satan and the affective registers evoked. The paper ends by examining the rhetorical strategies behind the appearances (and notable absences) of Satan from across a selection of Narsai’s verse homilies.