The Book of the Laws of Countries

...These were tribes originating from the plateau of Iran, who had subjugated the Semitic populations of Mesopotamia. One can thus understand why the son of Nahsiram was so easily acquainted with the science of the Chaldeans, which was then mixed with the Hellenistic influence that had been spreading since the time of Alexander. Bardaisan, however, wrote in Syriac and became the true creator of the literature of his country. He was not only a philosopher and an astrologer, but also a poet who composed one hundred and fifty psalms in the meter of the odai hymns or odes of David.

The religious context of the second century.

In the second century, the religious atmosphere of Edessa was as diverse as its population. Paganism, local cults, and nascent Christianity existed in a fluid state. It is within this environment that Bardaisan developed his own synthesis, a system that combined the Persian emphasis on celestial influences with the philosophical inquiries of the Greeks. He sought to reconcile the apparent chaos of human existence with the order of the cosmos. His work, The Book of the Laws of Countries, acts as a dialogue intended to address the tension between the freedom of the human will and the predetermined path of the stars.

An image depicting a map of the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, highlighting the proximity of Edessa to the Daiçan river.

This manuscript, transcribed from the earlier traditions, preserves the core of his defense. By placing the dialogue within the context of a conversation between a student and a master, he utilizes the method of question and answer to unravel the complexities of fate and the governance of divine law.