The Syriac Renaissance

The Syriac Orthodox Church lived under Muslim rule, and for a while alongside the crusader states, in the country between the Euphrates and the Tigris. And in exactly this period it produced its best writing in four hundred years. Dionysius bar Salibi commented on the whole Bible and on the liturgy. Michael the Syrian, patriarch from 1166, compiled a world chronicle that remains one of the most valuable historical sources for the medieval Middle East, not least because he quotes at length from earlier writers whose books are otherwise lost. And Gregory Bar Hebraeus, who died in 1286, wrote across nearly everything — history, theology, canon law, grammar, astronomy, medicine, and a collection of jokes. In both Syriac and Arabic, and did it while serving as his church's chief bishop for the eastern provinces under Mongol rule.