Living in the latter half of the tenth century, bar Bahlul also compiled a lexicon, which has the following entry for "Diatessaron":
Diatessaron, that is to say, the Gospel combined, that is from the four Evangelists.[Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus, I, 870. The text is also in Lexicon Syriacum auctore Hassano bar Bahlule, ed. R. Duval (Parisiis 1901), I, col. 552]
This reference is from the oldest MS of bar Bahlul's opus, dated 1214. Later manuscripts augment the entry by appending:
and this was composed in Alexandria which Tatian the bishop wrote.[The text is from the same sources as given in note 70, above. JR Harris, The Diatessaron, 14]
Alexandrian provenance appears to derive from Isho'dad of Merv, although the confusion could have arisen independently. The tradition concerning Tatian's ecclesiastical office first appears here. That Tatian wore a bishop's miter is unsubstantiated. This tradition betrays, however, the East's high esteem for the Diatessaron and its composer: since the Diatessaron was venerated, its creator must have been a holy man.
