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Rh bishops, and the deserts of Thebais swarmed with hermits ."

The political fortunes of Edessa, the metropolis of the Syriac-speaking Church, offer a remarkable contrast to any other centre of early Christianity. Until 216, in the reign of Caracalla, Edessa was outside the Roman Empire. The Toparch or kinglet of the place, whose name seems always to have been Abgar or Maʿnu, owed some allegiance to the Parthian monarchs, but the little state enjoyed most of the conditions favourable for independent literary development. The language of the people was also the language of the nobles and of government. The local patriotism was that of the ancient Greek states or the Italian commonwealths of a later day, and was as far as possible removed from the cosmopolitanism of the Empire. At the same time the city was not cut off from a wide intercourse with surrounding communities. The Aramaic of Edessa was more than a mere local dialect: it was the medium of commerce throughout the