ABSTRACT
This article surveys Syriac engagement with philosophy in each of its various pre-modern periods: the early period prior to the influence of the School of Alexandria; the pre-Abbasid period, beginning with the work of Sergius of Reshaina; the early Abbasid period; and the period of the Syriac renaissance. For all but the first of these, the dominant influence was that of Aristotle, in the Late Antique interpretation of his works associated with the School of Ammonius at Alexandria. A final section considers the evidence for Syriac interest in popular philosophy, political philosophy, and rhetoric.
