Porphyry from the Roman imperial period, for Hebrew, Palestinian Aramaic, Naba-
taean, Palmyrene, and Syriac.^17
It therefore remains an open question whether Phoenician was still spo-
ken, or whether written Phoenician was still used in daily-life contexts
(as Ulpian’s reference toPoenus sermomay imply).A fortioriit is uncertain
whether new literary, religious, or philosophical texts could still be writ-
ten in Phoenician, or indeed, strictly speaking, whether there ever had been
such texts.^18 Again, it should be stressed that neither hypothesis is a wholly
empty one. For, as is obvious, within Jewish culture it was the case both that
there were inherited texts in Hebrew and Jewish Aramaic which were still
in circulation, and that new texts (most obviously the Mishnah) were still
being generated in the third century. Precisely in this period also, a Chris-
tian literature in Syriac was coming into existence in Roman Mesopotamia;
theBookoftheLawsofCountries, a sub-Platonic dialogue in which Bardesanes
plays the main role, is the best-known example.^19
Contrary to what is asserted in one of the passages quoted at the head of
this chapter, Porphyry’s ‘‘native language’’ (if he had a native language other
than Greek) was not ‘‘Syriac’’ (a term which designates precisely—and in this
period only—the dialect and script of Aramaic used along the Euphrates and
to its East, in Mesopotamia), but Phoenician, a language closely related to
Hebrew. It remains, however, possible that a dialect of Aramaic was also cur-
rent in Phoenicia in parallel with Phoenician ( just as both Hebrew and Ara-
maic were in Syria Palaestina), and conceivable therefore that an educated
person from Tyre might have been able to understand spoken Syriac, or to
read works written in it. Writing book of hisEcclesiastical History, probably
still within Porphyry’s life-time, Eusebius (from Caesarea in Syria Palaestina)
refers in detail to Bardesanes’ works and to Greek translations of them: ‘‘In
the same reign heresies multiplied in Mesopotamia. A man of great ability,
and skilled in argument in the language of theSyroi, Bardesanes, after com-
posing dialogues against the Marcionites and various leaders of other beliefs,
transmitted them, along with numerous other writings of his, in his native
language and script, which his disciples...havetranslated into the language
of the Greeks from that of theSyroi.’’^20 It should be stressed, since the hy-
. See H. M. Cotton, W. E. H. Cockle, and F. G. B. Millar, ‘‘The Papyrology of the
Roman Near East: A Survey,’’JRS (): –.
. For the very modest and ambivalent traces of a Phoenician historical literature, see
F. Millar, ‘‘Phoenician Cities’’ (n. ), –.
. F. Millar,Roman Near East(n. ), chap. . See J. Teixidor,Bardésane. La première phi-
losophie syriaque().
. Eusebius,HE, .