Decorative Arch, Resafa, Syria. Copyright, Daniel Schwartz.

Relations

Syriaca.org entities (persons, places, works, manuscripts, etc.) use the TEI relation element to show connections among them. According to TEI P5 Guidelines the <relation> element "describes any kind of relationship or linkage amongst a specified group of places, events, persons, objects or other items." [13.3.2.3]

Each of the relations also has an RDF equivalent (in syriaca or other namespaces) and can be serialized as RDF.

Relation Attributes

Syriaca.org uses the following attributes on the <relation> element:

Attribute TEI Definition Contains
@name "supplies a name for the kind of relationship of which this is an instance." [13.3.2.3] the name of an RDF relationship class that describes this relationship, such as syriaca:commemorates or snap:DaughterOf.
@type "characterizes the element in some sense, using any convenient classification scheme or typology." [B] the general category of relationship being described, such as disambiguation. Syriaca.org uses this determine how this relationship should be visualized on the human-readable page.
@active "identifies the 'active' participants in a non-mutual relationship, or all the participants in a mutual one." [13.3.2.3] the Syriaca.org URI of the active entity (e.g., http://syriaca.org/person/376). If that entity is defined in the current document, a pointer to the element that defines it may replace the URI (e.g., #person-376). Multiple URIs are allowed and may be separated by whitespace.
@mutual "supplies a list of participants amongst all of whom the relationship holds equally." [13.3.2.3] the Syriaca.org URIs of mutual entities in the relationship, separated by whitespace (e.g., http://syriaca.org/person/376 http://syriaca.org/person/512). If one of the entities is defined in the current document, a pointer to the element that defines it may replace the URI (e.g., #person-376 http://syriaca.org/person/512).
@passive "identifies the 'passive' participants in a non-mutual relationship." [13.3.2.3] the Syriaca.org URI of the passive entity (e.g., http://syriaca.org/person/13). If that entity is defined in the current document, a pointer to the element that defines it may replace the URI (e.g., #person-13). Multiple URIs are allowed and may be separated by whitespace.
@source "provides a pointer to the bibliographical source from which a quotation or citation is drawn." [B] the Syriaca.org URI of the source that supports this relation description (e.g., http://syriaca.org/bibl/633). (This should point to the actual instance of the edition/translation [http://syriaca.org/bibl/], or manuscript where this support is found [http://syriaca.org/manuscript/], rather than to the ideal work -- that is, not [http://syriaca.org/work/].) If that source is defined in the current document, a pointer to the element that defines it may replace the URI (e.g., #bib13-1). Multiple URIs are allowed and may be separated by whitespace.

Relation Names

@name (@type) Entities Prose Example
syriaca:born-at person (@active) - place (@passive) [Person] was born at [place]. Athanasios II of Balad was born at Balad.
<relation name="syriaca:born-at" active="http://syriaca.org/person/109" passive="http://syriaca.org/place/42" source="#bib109-2"> <desc xml:lang="en">This person was born at a known location.</desc> </relation>
syriaca:commemorated work (@active) - person (@passive) [Work] commemorates [person]. Nicholas of Myra (text) commemorates Nicholas of Myra.
<relation name="syriaca:commemorated" active="http://syriaca.org/work/345" passive="http://syriaca.org/person/1946" source="bib345-1"/>
syriaca:died-at person (@active) - place (@passive) [Person] died at [place]. Yaʿqub bar Shakko died at Mor Matay.
<relation name="syriaca:died-at" active="http://syriaca.org/person/231" passive="http://syriaca.org/place/227" source="#bib231-2"> <desc xml:lang="en">This person died at a known location.</desc> </relation>
syriaca:different-from (disambiguation) any entities of the same type (@mutual) [Entities] are not identical but have been or could be confused. Quryaqos should be distinguished from several other people with the same name.
<relation type="disambiguation" name="syriaca:different-from" mutual="http://syriaca.org/person/145 http://syriaca.org/person/70 http://syriaca.org/person/85 http://syriaca.org/person/135 http://syriaca.org/person/899"> <desc>Not the same as Quryaqos of Tella (http://syriaca.org/person/70); Quryaqos of Amid (http://syriaca.org/person/85); Quryaqos of Segestan (http://syriaca.org/person/135); or Quryaqos (http://syriaca.org/person/899).</desc> </relation>
syriaca:has-literary-connection-to-place person (@active)-place (@passive) [Person] has a literary connection to [place]. Severos has a literary connection to Armenia.
<relation name="syriaca:has-literary-connection-to-place" active="http://syriaca.org/person/103" passive="http://syriaca.org/place/576"/>
syriaca:has-relation-to-place (general) person (@active)-place (@passive) [Person] has an unspecified connection to [place]. Gabriel of Beth Rabban has an unspecified relation to Beth Shahaq and Mor Matay.
<relation name="syriaca:has-relation-to-place" active="http://syriaca.org/person/105" passive="http://syriaca.org/place/307 http://syriaca.org/place/227"> <desc xml:lang="en">This author has an unspecified connection to places.</desc></relation>
syriaca:possibly-identical (disambiguation * ) persons (@mutual) [Person] is possibly identical to [person]. Aitalaha of Nineveh is possibly identical to Aitalaha.
<relation name="syriaca:possibly-identical" mutual="http://syriaca.org/person/1057 http://syriaca.org/person/1016"> <desc xml:lang="en">This person is possibly identical to the person represented in another record. * </desc></relation>
syriaca:share-a-name (disambiguation * ) places (@mutual) [Place] shares a name with [place]. Atel (settlement) shares a name with Atel (region) and Atel (diocese).
<relation name="syriaca:share-a-name" mutual="http://syriaca.org/place/801 http://syriaca.org/place/732 http://syriaca.org/place/2259"/>
syriaca:share-a-title (disambiguation) * works (@mutual) [Work] shares a title with [work]. Macarius (text) shares a title with work/513 and work/420.
<relation name="syriaca:share-a-title" mutual="http://syriaca.org/work/515 http://syriaca.org/work/513 http://syriaca.org/work/420"/>

* A suggested usage or modification that has not been implemented yet (as of 2015-11-13).

In addition to the above relations, Syriaca.org also uses relation @name attributes derived from the SNAP ontology (with the prefix "snap:").


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