The Pearlsong
The Pearlsong is an ancient poem which tells 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, but 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.
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Reviews
The Pearlsong Receives Praise in the Journal of Early Christian Studies
A new review in the Journal of Early Christian Studies praises Adam Bremer-McCollum’s The Pearlsong as “not merely a translation, but a guide to close reading” of this enigmatic late antique poem. The review highlights the volume’s combination of philological rigor, accessibility for students, and openness to the poem’s enduring strangeness, while also drawing particular attention to Charles M. Stang’s foreword and its exploration of memory, exile, and “divine doubles.”
Honarchian, Ani. Review of The Pearlsong ed. and trans by Adam Bremer-McCollum. Journal of Early Christian Studies 34, no. 3 (2026): 453-455. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/earl.2026.a997485.