URHOY, Turkey — Archaeologists working at Urhoy (Şanlıurfa) Castle have unearthed a fifth century floor mosaic bearing Greek inscriptions and decorated with plant and animal figures alongside intricate geometric motifs.The Greek inscription reportedly mentions a "Rabulas," who may be the fifth-century Bishop Rabulla of Edessa. A Syriac biography of him survives. He opposed Nestorianism, promoted the Four Gospels over Tatian's synoptic Diatesseron version, and some have argued that he was involved with the production of the Peshitta Syriac translation of the Bible.[...]
Orhoy/Urhoy and Urfa are names of the modern city in Turkey that was known as Edessa in antiquity. The Edessen dialect of Aramaic became Syriac, the language of the Eastern Church.
For PaleoJudaica posts on Edessa and its history and archaeology, see here and links, here, here, and here. Cross-file under Syriac Watch (maybe).
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