From the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, a number of historians, jurists, poets, and others writing in Arabic turned their attention to a newly arrived plant, Cannabis indica, noting its psychoactive powers and how it first spread among Sufis. They discuss cannabis’s origins, who uses it and how, and whether or not it should be used. These works range from historical narratives to anecdotal, sometimes humorous, stories to legal remarks, all buttressed by quotations from poetry. Cannabis in Arabic Verse and Prose also includes a famous section from historian al-Maqrīzī’s (1364–1442) influential work on Egypt, excerpts from treatises by lesser-known writers, and the most important text on the subject from this time period by poet al-Badrī (1443–1489). This edition presents the Arabic texts with facing English translations, an Arabic-English glossary, and commentary.

In a text known as the Letter to Melania, or the Great Letter, Christian monastic philosopher Evagrius of Pontus (345–399) delivers a moving meditation on the power of language (spoken and written), the composition of humanity in light of the three persons of God, and the final restoration or apokatastasis when all creatures will be reunited with their creator. Evagrius wrote in Greek, but after his posthumous condemnation in 551, many of his writings, including this letter, survive only in Syriac translation. The first complete edition of the text, which is based on all known Syriac copies, is presented here alongside a new translation, a Syriac-English glossary, and commentary.

The Pearlsong is an ancient poem that recounts the story of a Parthian prince sent by his parents on a mission to Egypt to retrieve a pearl from the clutches of a giant serpent. Along the way, the prince falls asleep and forgets his identity and mission. A letter from his parents awakens him, gives him a spell to put the serpent to sleep so he can retrieve the pearl, and then guides him home. The poem was originally composed in Syriac, translated into Greek, and later paraphrased in Greek again in a homily. These three texts are all published here with a parallel English translation on facing pages, accompanied by an introduction, commentary, and Syriac and Greek glossaries.