Address to the Greeks
220
T
Tatian
Tatian
? · Adiabene (Nineveh Plain)
Tatian (c. 120–185 CE) was an Assyrian-born Christian apologist and one of the most significant pupils of Justin Martyr in Rome. He is best known for two works: the Oratio ad Graecos (Address to the Greeks), a polemical defence of Christianity against pagan philosophy, and the Diatessaron, a harmony of the four Gospels that became the standard Gospel text in Syriac-speaking churches for centuries. After Justin Martyr's martyrdom (c. 165 CE) Tatian remained in Rome for some years before departing east around 172 CE. He is associated with the Encratite movement — an ascetic school that rejected marriage, meat, and wine — which took root and spread from Mesopotamia.
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Stop 1 of 3120–150Birthplace, Early Life
Adiabene (Nineveh Plain)Iraq
What they did here
Tatian himself states he was born 'in the land of the Assyrians' (Oratio 42); scholarly tradition identifies this with the Adiabene region of upper Mesopotamia, whose ancient capital was Arbela (modern Erbil, Iraq).
About Adiabene (Nineveh Plain)
Adiabene, a region of ancient Assyria around the Nineveh plain (near modern Erbil and Mosul, northern Iraq). An early centre of Syriac Christianity, it is associated with the missionary tradition of Aphrahat and Tatian's eastern milieu.
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Tatian’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
In the same tradition
Polycarp of Smyrna, Marcion of Sinope, Justin Martyr, Valentinus, Soter, Bishop of Rome, Anicetus, Bishop of Rome, Pius I, Bishop of Rome
Works(2)
Fragments
220