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Unlike much of the later Syriac literature, the Christian character of these instructional texts is rather lukewarm, and they stand as a reminder of the diversity that characterized early Syriac literature; it is necessary to emphasize that what survives was selected and transmitted according to the interests of Syriac Christianity as it became institutionalized from the fourth century onwards. A trace of another strand of literature that circulated in Syriac from the second century onwards, and was not obviously related to the religious interests of the Christian communities in Osrhoene, is the Story of Ahiqar, a long-lived piece of ancient Aramaic literature that was received into Syriac and here considerably expanded. Arguably, this text catered to the intellectual interests of the class of scribes, administrators, and diplomats of the kingdom of Edessa. It is a fictional narrative centered on the legendary career of Aḥīqar, an Aramaean minister working at the court of the Neo-Assyrian kings Sennacherib (705–681 BCE) and Esarhaddon (681–669 BCE), who, although long distinguished for his wisdom and royal service, was slandered by his own adoptive son and apprentice Nādin and consequently sentenced to death. The Story of Ahiqar stands as an important reminder of the potential connections between Syriac and ancient Aramaic literature; in its expanded Syriac version, however, it includes much moralizing and instructional material that reveals a strong interest on the part of the Syriac-speaking elites in moral education and etiquette (English translation in Lindenberger 1985; Contini and Grottanelli 2005).