The Syriac poetry of the 11–14^th centuries (so-called Syriac Renaissance) has been studied very poorly so far. One of the reasons is a traditional approach of the scholars, who treated this poetry as secondary to the strongly developed Islamic literature. The reason for changing of its character was the final fall of the Caliphate (1258) and the emergence of a new state in the area of Iran and Iraq with the Mongol dynasty, headed by Ilkhans (Hulaguids).

The article analyzes two cases of borrowing Zoroastrian mythological motifs by Syriac-speaking Christians during the period of Late Antiquity. The first example, attested in the writings of Ephrem the Syrian (4th c.), concerns the case of reinterpretation of the traditional image of biblical Paradise as a cosmic mountain, encircling the whole world. Most probably, it developed under a direct influence of the Iranian cosmological traditions regarding the mountain Alburz.