Abstract This article explores the ninth-century Book of Governors by East Syrian bishop Thomas of Marga, a text notorious for its sprawling and disjointed narrative structure. Through the lens of network analysis, the study seeks to untangle the dense web of 622 characters and their interactions within this work, which remains one of the richest sources of information on the medieval Church of the East. The analysis reveals that the Book of Governors is characterized by a multipolar narrative with no single dominant character, contrasting sharply with more centralized character networks found in other literary works. By examining individual books within Thomas’s text, the study highlights structural variations, such as the contrasting narrative foci in books 3 and 6, and the recurring prominence of figures like Timothy I, the long-reigning patriarch of the Church of the East. The article demonstrates not only how network analysis helps decipher a complex narrative but also how it facilitates deeper insights into the text’s character dynamics, such as the roles of women and Muslims, and the significance of epistolary exchanges. This interdisciplinary approach combines distant and close reading strategies, providing a fresh perspective on a medieval work that has long eluded comprehensive analysis due to its sheer complexity.
Penn et al. (Wed,) studied this question.