The Book of Chastity (ktāba d-dakpūtā) attributed to Īšōʿdĕnaḥ of Basra, composed in the mid-ninth century (or possibly at the end of the eighth), is a long hagiographical collection. It includes one hundred forty brief lives of famous monastic figures, from the mythical monastic founder Mār Awgēn (Eugenius) to individuals from the eighth century, concluding with Mār Yaʿqūb, prophet and seer.
The Paper examines the presentation of the life of the saints in the Book, which follows typical descriptions of the prototype of holiness and the ascetic physiognomy of Syriac monasticism regarding the nature of asceticism (virginity, poverty, fasting, sleep, dressing, movement, hygiene, and other means of mortification) and the ascetic application of the religious acts (meditation, prayer, and reading).
By reporting some representative lives of saints in their historical context (as testified by other sources) the research aims to restore the didactical intention of the hagiographical description.
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