historically, the three ethnic names used for those who would become syriac christians were extant before the advent of christianity: "assyrian", referring to the land and people of assyria in northern mesopotamia, "aramean", referring to the people of aram in the levant, and "syrian/syriac", originally being used specifically as an indo-european corruption of "assyrian", but from the late 4th century bc, being applied by the seleucid greeks to the arameans of the levant.