Nestorians

After Constantine proclaimed Christianity to be the official cult of the Roman Empire around A.D. 330, the Christians sought to eradicate pagan philosophies, including alchemy. Most likely they would have succeeded if members of a heretical Christian sect, the Nestorians, had not preserved alchemical writings. After Nestorius, the leader of the sect, was excommunicated around A.D. 430, he fled to Syria with his followers. The Nestorians took as many pagan manuscripts and books with them as they could and kept them in the mon-... 

In one respect, Greek learning left the Roman world altogether. Christianity had been broken up into sects, one of them called Nestorians, because they followed the teachings of a Syrian monk, Nestorius, who lived in the fifth century. The Nestorians were persecuted by the orthodox Christians of Constantinople, and a number of them fled eastward into Persia. There the Persian monarchs treated them with great kindness (possibly in the hope of using them against Rome). 

The Nestorians brought Greek learning with them to Persia, including many books on alchemy. The peak of their power and influence came about A.D. 550. 

For ah ibdd, the Nestorian Christian community of al-ITirah, see Bosworth, "Iran and the Arabs," 598-99. 

Around 500 the Nestorians were banished from Syria. They moved to Persia where they were protected by the Shah. There they founded schools in the style of Alexandria and translated the works of Plato, Aristotle, and some of the early alchemical writers into Syrian. Astronomy, astrology, medicine, and alchemy were among the subjects taught at their schools— and from these schools we will see the science of Alexandria resurface. 

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