Book of the Bee
The Book of the Bee is an historical/theological compilation containing numerous bible legends. The book consists of 55 chapters discussing various topics including the creation, heaven and earth, the angels, darkness, paradise, Old Testament patriarchs, New Testament events, lists of kings and patriarchs, and the final day of resurrection. It was written by Syrian Nestorian Solomon, Bishop of Bassora (c. 1222). It was written in Syriac.
The Book of Gleanings Called the Bee was written in the first half of the 13th century by Mar Shlimon, Metropolitan of Prath Maishan (Basra) of the Assyrian Church of the East. The poetic title of the book originates in the idea that a bee goes from flower to flower collecting precious nectar from each. Likewise, our author has assembled into one book a great variety of information gleaned from many books including the Bible as well as apocryphal works. The book serves as a kind of religious and philosophical history of the world from creation to the coming of the Antichrist and the afterlife. This volume contains the Syriac text edited from four manuscripts and an English translation.