Shortly after 500 CE, the Syriac-speaking priest and physician Sergius of Resh'aina, who had studied in Alexandria, wrote the first known exposition of Aristotle in a Semitic language. About four centuries later, Abu Bishr Matta, an alumnus of the monastic school of Dayr Qunna in Iraq, completed in Baghdad the Arabic version of the Aristotelian Organon with translations from the Syriac, and in a famous disputation argued the case for Greek logic as a theory of knowledge against rival claims of Arabic grammarians. The articles collected in this volume are concerned with the transmission and development of the Greek achievement among Syriac scholars of the Fertile Crescent during these four centuries, particularly in the fields of rhetoric and philosophy. Some range broadly over general areas, such as the Syriac appropriation of Greek liberal education or the educational curriculum in Syriac monastic schools, while others focus on themes of particular interest, including the influence of Aristotle's Rhetoric or the concept of the philosopher-king. Cumulatively they show how many aspects of Greek culture were received and elaborated in Syriac, and contribute to understanding the ways in which that culture exercised a powerful influence on the medieval Near East and the burgeoning Islamic civilisation.

‘Watt’s studies offer a good complement to those of the Oxford Syriacist Sebastian Brock ... which have also appeared in the series of Variorum Collected Studies. Cumulatively Watt’s articles demonstrate how many individual aspects of Greek culture were taken up and developed in Syriac; taken together they contribute to a better understanding of the medieval Near East and show the influence which Syriac culture exercised on the budding Islamic civilisation. Addenda and corrigenda are supplied at the end of the collection, marked in the individual articles by an asterisk. This method allows the reader to bring the output of each essay up to date with more recent research, a necessary addition in view of the lengthy timespan over which the articles were written. Collectively the book provides a thoroughly absorbing read and can be emphatically recommended to all interested in the history of philosophy and culture’ [translated from German] - Oriens Christianus 102 (2019)

‘Well-informed and clearly written, this collection of articles by Watt provides a very good introduction to the exploration of this little-known early stage in the course of the history of the transmission of Greek thought into Arabic’ – Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol 58, Issue 1

Dr John W. Watt, Cardiff University, UK