The twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920) 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. This text, first published in 1897 as part of the Studia Sinaitica, contains a collection of Syriac scriptural lessons from a manuscript acquired in Cairo by Lewis in 1895. She believed the manuscript might have been used by the Syrian Church, although the date of the pages is uncertain. Included with the edited and annotated text is a glossary by Margaret Gibson and critical notes by distinguished theologian Eberhard Nestle, providing a useful resource for Syriac scholars which also casts light on the development of Christianity across the Middle East.
