association with other cultural chants. Although the Syriac beliefs are in union with the Catholic Church, Syrian chant is designed for a specific style of celebration that other forms of Catholicism do not use. Although it is from the Levant, it cannot be associated or counted synonymous with Islamic chant, which is dominant in the East. It has traits that suggest a derivative of the Arabic musical system but it does not have associations with any maqamat (plural of maqam used in Arabic music). It is understood as a model musical system yet it does not have any existing music theory. Due to the orality of its tradition and the minimal writing on the chant, little is known about its early years. Syriac Christians have been marginalized throughout their existence in the Middle East which may account for the missing information. The first known source to write about Syrian chant was Villoteau, who wrote down details about the chant. The information that Villoteau gathered was all derived from a priest that he encountered in Syria. Although Villoteau attempted to transcribe some of the chants, they used the Arabic quartertone's. This proved difficult to interpret as the Syrian Christians only used oral language to pass on the chants which meant the music was not scripted or theorized. This is possibly due to the persecution Syrian Christians and how they have thus relied predominantly on oral language to pass on the chants which meant the music was either destroyed or was never transcribed from oral to notation. Early Church In the early church, the music consisted of hymns and antiphonal psalmody. The earliest extant work is the Gnostic Psalter of the 2nd century, a collection of Psalm texts in hymn form reflecting a Gnostic theology. The first orthodox work are the hymns of Ephrem the Syrian (306–373), some of which are still used today. Both hymns and antiphonal psalmody were brought by St. Ambrose to Milan and are apparently the basis for Ambrosian chant. Modern Syrian chant is much more rhythmic and syllabic than Gregorian chant. Diaspora Syriac Chants from South India. The Christian liturgy that developed in Syriac as the Christian Aramaic came to be known in the early Christian era flourished in South India among Saint Thomas Christians. Early Christian chants by such saintly poets as St. Ephrem the Syrian became part of the Christian experience in this part of