TATIAN, ta'shan. A Christian apologist of the second century. He was a native of Assyria, received a Greek education, and came to Rome in the time of Justin Martyr, with whom he was intimately assoeiated, probably about the year 152. Under the instruction of this first Christian philosopher, Tatian early became a Christian, and wrote thereupon his first impor tant work, The Address to the Greeks. After Justin's death he turned toward views which caused him to he identified with the Gnostics, al though comparison of the different accounts leads to the suspicion that party spirit may have ex aggerated his departure from the commonly re ceived Christian doctrines and practices. Tatian returned to Mesopotamia, where he was wel comed heartily and performed valuable services for the Church. He prepared here a harmony of the Gospels in Syriac, under the name of Diatcssaron, or The Fourfold Gospel, which early attained a wide circulation among the Syriac speaking churches, and was made the subject of a commentary by Ephrem Syrus. The Syriac original cannot have been prepared long after Justin's death (about 166), and therefore gives important testimony to the general acceptance of the Fourth Gospel at that time, and hence to its considerably earlier origin. The Diatessaron.
has accordingly been an object of great interest, hut the text has been until recently regarded as hopelessly lost. In 1883 a description of an Arabic translation of the Diatcssaron existing in the Vatican Library, previously but imperfectly described by others, was put forth by Ciasca, a `scriptor' in that library, and in 1888 he pub lished an edition of the text with a Latin trans lation. A second manuscript of the same trans lation had meantime been presented to the li brary (1886). This Latin version has been translated into English by Hill (Edinburgh, 1894). and an English translation from the Arabic has been made by Hogg (ib., 1897). Consult: Zahn, Forschungen zur Gesehichte des ucutestomentliche Tianons, vol. iv. (Erlangen, 1891) ; Harris, The Diatessaron of Tatian (Lon don, 1890) ; id., Fragments of the Commentary of Ephrem Syrus on the Diatessaron (ib., 1895).
Both the extant works of Tatian may he found in translation in the Antc-Niccue Fathers, vols. ii. and iv. (New York, 1885 et seq.).