Ethnic Identity villages and small towns which took place in this period in parallel with the
process of Christianisation. Nisibis, by contrast, was a significant city, and was
also the birthplace, and the original place of residence, of Ephraim, the great-
est of Christian writers in Syriac. But, none the less, the earliest Christian
inscription from there, recording the construction of the baptistery (which
is still standing) by bishop Vologaeses in /, is again in Greek.^38 Only a
decade later, Nisibis was to be lost to the Persians. But the churches of the
central and western part of Mesopotamia, and of Osrhoene, areas which re-
mained Roman, continued to use Greek as their official language. It is per-
haps no surprise that the emperor Julian would write in Greek to the people
of Edessa.^39 But so also, in the fifth century, would Theodoret to the bish-
ops of Constantina and Edessa.^40 So far, at any rate, Greek and Syriac literary
culture could co-exist in such cities. The church historian Socrates, for in-
stance, can relate how, in the first half of the fourth century, Eusebius, later
an important Christian theologian, was educated in pagan Greek learning in
Edessa before subsequently becoming bishop of Emesa (which was now in
‘‘Phoenice Libanensis’’). A very learned recent study of Eusebius’ exegesis of
Genesis, itself written in Greek, shows that he could and did refer to ‘‘the
Syrian’’ text; Eusebius seems to have been the earliest theologian writing in
Greek to do so.^41
As regards the main body of the Christian church in the Near East, there-
fore, the conclusion seems to be clear, for the period up to.. at least.
The church mirrored the long-established (but also still developing) network
of Greek cities in being essentially, in its structure and public functioning, a
Greek-speaking organisation. But it differed from the Greek city in allow-
ing a certain public role for the use of ‘‘the Syrian language.’’ This distinc-
tive attitude is apparent in various contexts. For instance, Greek ecclesiastical
writers also readily acknowledged the literary and spiritual quality of Chris-
tian writing in Syriac. The writing and copying of Syriac texts slowly spread
westwards across the Euphrates, mirroring the slightly earlier spread of eccle-
siastical inscriptions in Syriac, often put up in association with Greek ones.
. F. Sarre and E. Herzfeld,Archäologische Reise im Euphrat-und Tigris-GebietII (),
. For a photograph, see pl. CXXXVIII in vol. IV. Republished by J. Jarry inAnnales
Islamologiques (): , on –.
. Julian,Ep. (Bidez/Cumont).
. Theodoret,Ep. (to Ibas, bishop of Edessa); (to Sophronius, bishop of Constan-
tina), inCorrespondanceII, ed. Y. Azéma (), –.
. Socrates,HE, . See R. Ter Haar Romeny,A Syrian in Greek Dress: The Use of Greek,
Hebrew and Syriac Biblical Texts in Eusebius of Emesa’s Commentary on Genesis(Traditio Exe-
getica Graeca , ).