The present volume is part of the Routledge Worlds series, with a focus on the culture that emerged among the Syriac-speaking communities from the second century AD to the present, both in Syria and beyond. It begins with an explanation of the 14 diachronic maps of Syriac cultures and their geographical contexts, which are intended to illustrate graphically the themes of the book (David A. Michelson and Ian Mladjov, pp. xxvii–xxxiii). The “diachronic” nature of the maps means that not all places listed together on any single map were in existence or of historical significance at the same time (p. xxviii). This is followed by the maps themselves, which are presented with topographic features in black and white print. In his introduction (pp. 1–8), Daniel King, Research Fellow at Cardiff University, recounts in brief the emergence of Syriac as a literary standard language for Aramaic-speaking regions. The chapters of this...

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