Christianity in Edessa and the Syriac-Speaking World: Mani, Bar Daysan and Ephraem; The Struggle for Allegiance on the Aramean Frontier by Sidney Griffith
I Edessa and the Syriac Language In Late Antiquity the geographical area to the east of Antioch, stretching from the northern reaches of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers westward almost to the Mediterranean sea, and southward to the environs of Damascus, was often called by the local inhabitants, Aram. The name is that of the biblical son of Shem, the son of Noah, from whom the Christian inhabitants of the area in later times derived their legendary ancestry (Genesis 10:22-23).1 At some point after the Seleucids gained power in the area in the fourth century before the...
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