d. Simple and uncritical in
his modes of thought, and apparently devoid of any striking originality, he
collected in his numerous and elaborate treatises the results of such
research in theology, philosophy, science and history as was in his time
possible in Syria. Most of his works were written in Syriac, but some few
in Arabic, which had long before his time supplanted Syriac as a living
speech.

The son of a physician of Jewish descent, Bar-Hebraeus was born in 1226 at
Mala[t.]iah on the upper Euphrates. His youth was passed in the troublous
times of the Mongol advance into western Asia, and his father eventually
retired to Antioch, where Bar-Hebraeus completed his education. In 1246 he
was ordained at Tripolis as Jacobite bishop of G[=u]b[=a]s near Mala[t.]ia,
and a year later was transferred to the neighbouring diocese of
La[k.]abh[=i]n, whence in 1253 he passed to be bishop of Aleppo. Deposed
almost immediately by an ecclesiastical superior on account of disputes
about the patriarchate, he was restored to his see in 1258, and in 1264 was
promoted by the patriarch Ignatius III. to be maphri[=a]n--the next rank
below that of patriarch--an office which he held till his death at
Mar[=a]gha in 1286. He seems to have been a model of devotion to his
ecclesiastical duties and to have won the respect of all parties in his
diocese.

It is mainly as an historian that Bar-Hebraeus interests the modern
student. His great historical work--the Syriac _Chronicle_--is made up of
three parts. The first[1] is a history of secular events from the Creation
to his own time, and in its later portions gives valuable information
regarding the history of south-east Europe and western Asia. A compendium
in Arabic of this secular history was made by Bar-Hebraeus under the title
_al-Mukhta[s.]ar fi'd-Duwal_ (Compendious History of the Dynasties). The
second and third parts[2] of the _Chronicle_ deal with the history of the
Church, the second being mainly concerned with the patriarchate of Antioch,
and the third with the eastern branch of the Syrian Church. Of special
value to theologians is the _Au[s.]ar R[=a]z[=e]_ (Storehouse of Secrets),
a critical and doctrinal commentary on the text of the Scriptures. Of this
many portions have been edited by various scholars, and a valuable study of
the work, together with a biography and estimate of its author, has been
published by J. Goettsberger (_Barhebraeus und seine Scholien zur heiligen
Schrift