Page 47 - Edessa, 'The Blessed City'-01, by J. B. Segal (Oxford, 1970). Chapters 1-3

34 EDESSA UNDER THE KINGS
mosaicists. They attained a considerable degree of accuracy in their work,
carefully distinguishing between brown and grey eyes, and black and grey
hair. Their artistry is evident from the grouping of their subjects. The
mosaics reflect, too, the taste of the Edessans for bright and varied hues and
the distinction of their costume; and by the sophisticated and comfortable
mien of the personages which they depict we are reminded forcibly of the
portraits of merchants of medieval Europe.1
Edessans had a lively partiality for music in early, as in later, times.
Bardaisan's poems were set to music; and they still retained their attraction
for the young aristocrats of Edessa two centuries after the poet's death. St.
Ephraim sought to counter the insidious charm of these pagan hymns by
forming choirs to sing his own canticles and responses. His labours had
little success, for forty years later Bishop Rabbula was dismayed to find that
Bardaisan's songs had lost none of their popularity at Edessa. Music and
musicians played a significant role in the pagan religion of this area, as we
shall see later. Orpheus with his magic lyre is the theme of a beautiful
Edessan mosaic of the last decades of the Aryu dynasty.2
Letters, too, were evidently popular under the monarchy; the city's
reputation in Christian times as the seat of a famous academy was based
on a tradition of long standing. The Syriac inscriptions on the statues,
on the walls of tombs, and in the mosaics are neatly written. We have
evidence, however sparse, of nicety of style. The Tripod mosaic has a short
epigram:
Whoever despises
the expectations of [his] last [days],
and mourns [his] first [days]—
he shall have a goodly latter end.

The sentiment, that only the man who scorns long life and repents of his
youthful errors may deem himself worthy of life after death, is expressed
skilfully. The second and third lines rhyme; and the poem seems to be
constructed by stress, not, like later Syriac verse, by a syllable count. There
is an adroit antithesis between 'last [days]' and 'first [days]', and a punning
play on two Syriac words.3 The text is a pleasant reminder of the mannerisms
of good Semitic poetry. Of equal distinction is another Syriac epitaph, also
in the southern cemetery of Edessa, whose archaic script assigns it, too, to
the early period.4
Pleasant is the resting-place of Shalman, son of Kawkab.5 Greetings to thee6 . . . and
they answered thee, and they called thee and thou didst answer them—those whom thou
Or'Star',
1 See Pis. 1-3. 5 Or 'Star'.
2 Cf. p. 52 below. Here may be read, among lacunae,'.. . thy
nee
3 'tiritha, line 2; hartha, line 4. essence . . .'.
4 See PL 300.

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