2072 14), who concluded that Isaac flourished during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius II, and that he was a native either of Amid (Diyarbakir) or of Edessa, both located in modern-day Turkey.
A contrary testimony according to the patriarch Bar Shushan (d. 1073), who made a collection of his homilies, asserts his master was a disciple of Ephrem named Zenobius.
But Jacob is an early witness: and on the whole it seems safe to conclude with Bedjan (p. ix) that works by at least two authors have been included in the collection attributed to Isaac of Antioch.
[2] The writer's main interest lies in the application of religion to the practical duties of life, whether in the church or in the world.
He describes the corruption of judges, the prevalence of usury and avarice, the unchastity which especially characterized the upper classes, and the general hypocrisy of so-called Christians.
He judges with extreme severity those who argue about religion while neglecting its practice, and those who though stupid and ignorant dare to pry into mysteries which are sealed to the angels.
In two poems (Bickell II, 12 = Bedjan 48, 49), written probably at Edessa, he commemorates the capture of Beth-Uur, a city near Nisibis, by the Arabs.
[3] From these two poems, and from the 2nd homily on Fasting (Bickell 14 = Bedjan 17) we gain a vivid picture of the miseries borne by the inhabitants of that frontier region during the wars between Persia and the Romano-Greek empire.
There are also instructive references to the heathen practices and the worship of pagan deities (such as Baalti, Uzzi, Gedlath and the planet Venus) prevalent in Mesopotamia.
Two other poems (Bickell 35-36 = Bedjan 66-67), written probably at Antioch, describe the prevalence of sorcery and the extraordinary influence possessed by Chaldeans and enchanters over women who were nominally Christians.
[4] The date of Isaac of Nineveh is now known from the Liber fundatorum of Ishoʿdnaḥ of Baṣra, an 8th-century writer; see Bedjan's edition, and Chabot, Livre de la chasteté, p. 63.