 Greek medicine was part of Greek culture, and Syrian Eastern Christians came in contact with it while the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) ruled Syria and Western Mesopotamia, regions that were conquered from Byzantium in the 7th century by Arab Muslims.After AD 750, Muslims had these Syrian Christians make the first translations of Galen into Arabic.From then on, Galen and the Greek medical tradition in general became assimilated into the medieval and early modern Islamic Middle East.