An important debate has recently formed over the predominant language in the late Roman diocese of Oriens. Whereas Roman historians once looked hard for the eastern spread of Latin, the gradual recognition of the importance of Greek for imperial affairs has led to a rise in the study of official inscriptions in Greek from the region. Simultaneously, there has been a boom in the study of Syriac among scholars of Late Antiquity, many of whom now view Syriac (or Christian Aramaic) as the dominant cultural carrier of Christianity in the Levant. This lecture will attempt to bridge the gap of these positions by considering the evidence of Greek literature in the East from c.200–c.900 CE. The two languages, Greek and Syriac, almost never appear in isolation from one another, and the literary history of the early Byzantine Orient can be fruitfully read as a dynamic between them.

Orpheus taming wild animals, with Syriac inscription. Mosaic from Edessa (Urfa), c.200 CE.