This paper reviews and comments upon a recent monograph by Aaron M. Butts on linguistic contacts between Greek and Syriac, Language Change in the Wake of Empire: this volume is also used as an opportunity to discuss the expectations for this kind of studies in the future years, and to reflect upon their past. The importance of Butts’ book as a crucial tool for the scholarly community involved in contact-induced studies is here highlighted. Butts offers a most welcome new and thorough analysis of the materials collected by his predecessors and adds his personal new data. This review article also provides a brief recollection of previous studies, that opened the way to Butts’ comprehensive approach.