A conversation with Hartmut Leppin (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main) about how one could be a Roman in Syriac, focusing on the sixth-century author John of Ephesos, otherwise known as Yuhannan from Amida. If one could be Roman in Greek (which is what we call "Byzantium"), why not also in Syriac? The discussion is based on Hartmut's study of "The Roman Empire in John of Ephesus' Church History: Being Roman, Writing Syriac," in P. Van Nuffelen, ed., Historiography and Space in Late Antiquity(Cambridge University Press 2019) 113-135.