Tatian the Assyrian
A Greek-trained scholar from Assyria who put his faith in the "barbaric writings."
The record
- Born
- c. A.D. 120, in the land of the Assyrians
- Converted
- on reading the Hebrew Scriptures, at Rome
- Became
- pupil of Justin; author of the Diatessaron
- Died
- c. A.D. 180
- As a witness
- In the library →
Tatian was born, by his own statement, “in the land of the Assyrians,” and was trained in Greek learning before he came to Christianity. In his Address to the Greeks he recounts how, having grown weary of the pagan mysteries and philosophies, he came upon the Hebrew Scriptures. The translation is the Ante-Nicene Fathers.
I happened to meet with certain barbaric writings, too old to be compared with the opinions of the Greeks, and too divine to be compared with their errors; and I was led to put faith in these by the unpretending cast of the language, the inartificial character of the writers, the foreknowledge displayed of future events, the excellent quality of the precepts, and the declaration of the government of the universe as centred in one Being.Tatian, Address to the Greeks 29 (Ante-Nicene Fathers)
Tatian became a pupil of Justin Martyr at Rome. He composed the Diatessaron, a single continuous narrative woven from the four Gospels, which was read in the Syriac-speaking churches for centuries. After Justin’s death he returned east; later writers report that he adopted the rigorist views of the Encratites. His birth is placed about A.D. 120 and his death about A.D. 180.