Jews and Others
The liturgy, in Aelia Capitolina at least (we have no evidence for elsewhere),
allowed for repetition in ‘‘the Syrian language’’ of the bishop’s words uttered
in Greek. Theodoret, in particular, like Eusebius of Emesa (n. above), also
shows himself well aware of the existence of a Syriac version of the Bible.^42
And finally, Theodoret’sPhilotheos Historiashows a few cases where monastic
communities in northern Syria and Euphratensis divided, apparently ami-
cably, into separate sections using Greek and ‘‘the Syrian language’’ respec-
tively.^43 The evolution which was to lead to distinct Syriac-using churches
had not yet occurred. But it is still very significant that Syriac, or ‘‘the Syrian
language,’’ had acquired a place within the church which no Semitic language
had ever enjoyed in any pagan city using Greek as an official language—
with the sole and notable exception of Palmyra, whose bilingual epigraphy,
in Greek and Palmyrene, had ended forever (as it seems) in the s.^44
If the surviving pagan cults of the Near East did not find any written
expression in languages other than Greek, and if ‘‘the Syrian language’’ can
be seen as only slowly acquiring a public role within the Greek-speaking
church, that does not mean that major issues were not associated with the
interplay of ethnicity, language, and religion. For a start, the roots of Chris-
tianity in Judaism, combined with the still very visible role of the Jews, pri-
marily in Palestine but also outside it (for instance, in Antioch and Apamea),
and also of Samaritans, led to a marked uncertainty about historical iden-
tity and legitimacy, to tensions over the possible attractions of Judaism or of
the Hebrew Bible, and to a heightened awareness of real or imaginary fringe
groups of a heretical disposition, some of whom allegedly inhabited a variety
of specific locations, often very obscure, in the Near Eastern provinces. I will
look briefly at some of these Christian representations of heretical ‘‘others,’’
before touching on the quite complex issue of the Jews and Samaritans of this
period, when considered as distinctive ethnic religious and linguistic com-
munities. I will then turn finally (and equally briefly) to the fringe group
. E.g.,Quaestiones in librum primum Regnorum,praef.(PGLXXX, col. : ‘‘The first
book of Kings is called Samuel both among the Hebrews and the Syrians.’’ Cf.Com. im
Ezechielem,(PGLXXXI, col. ).
. Theodoret,Hist. Rel. , (the monasteries at Teleda): ‘‘some chanting the poet in
Greek, some in the local language.’’ Cf. , and (the monastery of Pouplios near Zeugma):
‘‘Theogenos inherited the leadership of (those of ) the Greek tongue, and Aphthonius of
the Syrian.’’
. See Millar (n. ), text to nn. – of chapter of the present volume; cf. also ‘‘Latin
in the Epigraphy of the Roman Near East,’’ in H. Solin, O. Salomies, and U.-M. Liertz,
eds.,Acta Colloquii Epigraphici Latini. Helsinki – Sept. () chapter of the present
volume,textfromn.onwards.