Tatian

Tatian was a well-educated Syrian who traveled widely, taught Greek rhetoric, and was converted at Rome by reading the Old Testament Scriptures. He studied under Justin Martyr, and his fiery Oration to the Greeks attacks Greek religion, philosophy, and culture and argues that Moses is older than all Greek wisdom. Later writers regarded him as the founder of the ascetic Encratite movement, and his Gospel harmony, the Diatessaron, shaped Syriac Christianity for centuries.

Dates

fl. ca. 150–175 (approximate)

See or city

Rome

Region

Italy (born in “the land of the Assyrians,” probably Syria or Mesopotamia; later active in the East)

Also known as

Tatian the Assyrian; Tatian the Syrian

Notes

Tatian calls himself an Assyrian by birth (Or. Graec. 42). He became a Christian at Rome and was a pupil of Justin (Or. Graec. 18–19). According to Irenaeus (Haer. 1.28.1), after Justin's death he left the church, taught Encratite views (rejecting marriage and meat), and returned to the East, where he composed the Diatessaron, a harmony of the four Gospels long used in the Syriac church.

Works

• Oration to the GreeksOratio ad Graecos · ca. 165–172 · CPG 1104 (unverified)