From the 6^th century onwards, Syriac theological florilegia progressively became the dominant form through which Syriac and Christian Arabic writers shaped their own reading of Greek Christianity, by selecting and rearranging the “fathers” in new collections.

FLOS intends to valorize Syriac theological florilegia as knowledge and identity organizers for Syriac- and Arabic-speaking Christians within the complex cultural dynamics of the early Abbasid era. FLOS will produce digital critical editions of a number of significant Syriac patristic florilegia of the 8^th-10^th centuries and will study how they were constructed; it will further show how they contributed to the development and conception of Syriac and Christian Arabic literature in early Abbasid Mesopotamia, and to the interaction of Syriac Christians with each other and with the Islamic intellectual environment.