About the English. The Odes survive complete only in Syriac (Ode 11 also in Greek on a Bodmer papyrus; Ode 1 and a few others in the Coptic Pistis Sophia). No original-language text is in hand, so the English here is J. Rendel Harris's translation (Cambridge, 1911), published as it stands; only OCR slips and non-text (his notes, running heads and verse superscripts) were removed. Ode 1 is the Coptic-derived text (the first Ode is lost from the Syriac manuscripts); Ode 2 is lost; Ode 3 begins in mid-sentence. No original-language text is shown.
pseudonymous · Ascribed to Solomon in the Syriac manuscripts; the real author is unknown. The collection is Christian (or at least was taken over by Christians) and was probably composed in Greek or Syriac.
Standing
Not honoured as a saint or in a church calendar by the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions. Anonymous or pseudonymous work read and used in the church of its time.
Date
ca. 100–200 (disputed) · Dates from the late first century to the third century have been proposed; there is no agreement on language or place of composition.
Written at
Syria (disputed) (disputed)
Language
Greek
Genre
poem
Reference system
ode (1–42; Ode 2 is lost). Verse numbers are not given: Harris's printed verse numbers did not survive the scan's OCR.
SBL abbreviation
Odes Sol.
Text from
J. Rendel Harris, The Odes and Psalms of Solomon, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911), English translation of the Syriac, with Ode 1 from the Coptic of the Pistis Sophia (Printed translation in the public domain)
Critical editions
J. H. Charlesworth, The Odes of Solomon (Oxford: Clarendon, 1973); M. Lattke, Die Oden Salomos, Fontes Christiani 19 (Freiburg: Herder, 1995–1998) (cited, not reproduced)