Middle Eastern Languages Spoken in the year 70

 Nadene Goldfoot     

   The Romans burned down the 2nd Temple in 70 CE along with the the capital city of Jerusalem.  They had been occupying the city since the year 63.  They spoke Latin, so the Jews must have had to learn that language as well.  Josephus, the main Jewish general, was captured and the bargain made was that he wrote the history of Israel for the Romans and then his life would be spared.  His readers would be Romans, so he probably had to write in Latin.  

After the defeats of Carthage in the Punic Wars (264 – 146 B.C.E.) and Macedonia (one of heirs to Alexander the Great’s kingdom) in the Macedonian Wars (214–148 B.C.E), there was only one great power in Mediterranean which could claim to be a rival of Rome. That power was Syria, under its ambitious ruler, Antiochus III, 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire s(223-187 BCE)  (another heir to Alexander the Great’s kingdom). David Silverman of Reed College wrote: “A number of things led to the conflict between Rome and this great power in Asia. Rome and Flamininus did not deal so well with Antiochus on the diplomatic plane; he wanted the Romans to define the limits of his sphere of influence in Thrace, but they were unwilling or unable to do so. The senatorial treaty of 196 B.C. (ratifying the decision of Flamininus) had carried a not-so-subtle warning to Antiochus: all the Greeks states were to be free, without tribute or garrison, both in Europe and in Asia. [Source: David Silverman, Classics 373 ~ History 393 Class, Reed College ^*^]        

  Anatolia, Turkey and towns Phrygia and Lydia

 David didn't mention that Antiochus took 2,000 Jewish families out of Babylon and moved them to Lydia and Phrygia in Anatolia. Located in western Anatolia and bordered by the kingdom of Phrygia to the east and Ionia to the west, the kingdom of Lydia flourished during the first millennium B.C. Much of what is known about Lydia derives from the Greek historian Herodotus (fifth century B.C.). 

Anatolia, also called Asia Minor, is the peninsula of land that today constitutes the Asian portion of Turkey. In geographic terms Anatolia may be described as the area in southwestern Asia bounded to the north by the Black Sea, to the east and south by the Southeastern Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, and to the west by the Aegean Sea and Sea of Marmara.

Alexander the Great had captured Jerusalem in 332 BCE.  Antiochus III  had captured Jerusalem in 198 BCE. Judah Macabee restored Jerusalem in 164 BCE-our Chanukah story. 152 BCE is remembered with Hasmonean rule and normalicy in Jerusalem over all of land of Israel.  Then the Romans following General Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 BCE.By 40 BCE Jerusalem fell to the Parthians.  Herod took Jerusalem in 37 BCE for the Romans as a Roman vassal. Herod's son Archelaus, took over in 6 CE.    Was there ever an end to aliens roaming their streets?   It was Pontius Pilate who punished so many Jews by putting them on the cross in 29 CE, including Jesus who was the father of Christianity.   Then Jews revolted in 66.  The end was in 70 with the burning.                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Approximate map of the Kingdom of Israel (blue) and the Kingdom of Judah (gold) with their neighbors (tan) during the Iron Age (9th century BCE). 

Arabu tribes?  Arabs inhabited the Arabian peninsula and some adjacent regions and didn't leave until after Mohammad died in 632 CE.  I would say this map is in error and Arabu tribes mentioned were part of the Kingdom of Edom.  Who are the original Arabs?Proto-Arabs are presumed to have originated from what is now northern Arabia, Jordan and southern Syria. From their urheimat, ancient Arabs established themselves as far as Babylon, Sinai and further into Arabia, over time replacing some of the old languages there such as Dadanitic and Taymanitic. This theory seems to show that Arabs started near or on the Mediterranean coast and moved eastward.    Historically from Mohammad's day, it was just the opposite, moving from Arabia towards Israel (East to West).                

 Arabs left Arabia after 632 CE.  They would need DNA proof of moving earlier to the coast from Arabia.  Did they find skeletal remains to make such a claim that matched DNA of today's Arabs?                     

                                                                           

Maps of Edom the land of the Edomites.

Contributed by FreeBibleimages

Edom (Idumea), also Mt. Seir, mountain country, easily fortified, fertile land, Semitic origin-descending from Esau (twin son of Isaac-the elder twin brother of Jacob whose name was changed to Israel), were hunters.  Jacob and Esau were so different though were twins.  John Hyrcanus forced Edom to convert to Judaism, Herod was a descendant.  During Titus's siege of Jerusalem, Edomites killed all they saw as peaceful citizens. They were cruel.   

Moab -now Jordan, kindred to Israelites, descended from Lot, language was akin to biblical Hebrew.  Israel, Moab and  Ammon fought over this land.  

Aram-Semitic tribes, common ancestry with Israel and Israelite patriarchs were of Aramaic origin and maintained ties off marriage with ties of Aram.  Aram-Dammesek was the most important Aramean kingdom in Syria in the 10th to 7th centuries BCE. They joined Israel in fighting Assyrians in 853, 848, 845 BCE.  By 805 Assyria  attacked Damascus and the king had to pay a heavy tribute.  

Aram-Naharaim (referring to 2 rivers the land of origin of patriarchs, names of ancestors of Abraham, Serug, Nashor, Terah correspond to place-names in this region. 

Aramaic language and alphabet:  Above, the alaph is just like today's today's cursive Hebrew aleph.  Nothing else is recognizable to me.    

 The Aramean language (Aramaic) was widespread in the ancient Near Eastern world, becoming the language of diplomacy and trade for the long-lasting and influential Persian Empire (c. 539–333 BCE) and well beyond, even centuries into the Common Era in some regions. In one biblical text, Israel considers itself to be connected with Aram in very deep ways. Aram and the Arameans occupy an ideological place alongside Israel similar to the Edomites, in that the relationship, though adversarial at times, blurs the boundary between discrete groups and merges into familial identity. 

Because of their strategic proximity to major Mesopotamian empires like the Assyrians and Babylonians, the Arameans occupied an important political role in their ancient Near Eastern world. The Arameans were never, in fact, a single nation or group, but rather Aram was a region with local centers of power spread throughout contemporary Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, at major cities such as Damascus and Hamath.  They were the English speakers of their day.

                                                  

The Ketubah (marriage certificate)  was written in Aramaic.  Similar to a Get (divorce document), the Ketubah is traditionally written in Aramaic, the common language of the Jews during Talmudic times (200 CE).referring to Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds (To me this Ketuba looks like it's written in Hebrew but the pronunciation of the words must be as Aramaic.)

Why was it originally written in Aramaic, not Hebrew? And why is it still written in that language today, when most of us are more proficient in English or another language?  The importance of the Ketubah’s precise and exact language cannot be overstated, due to the legal nature of the Ketubah as well as its deeper spiritual significance.  In fact, having a properly written kosher Ketubah is so critical—not just to the marriage ceremony itself, but to married life in general—that it is problematic for a couple to live together, even temporarily, without a kosher Ketubah. (In the event that the document is lost or destroyed, or if a serious error is found in its text, the couple must immediately obtain a replacement from a rabbi.)  For centuries, going back to Talmudic times, the sages have pored over the Aramaic Ketubah formula, ensuring that each word is precise, and especially looking out for words that may have multiple meanings.

Aramaic dialects survived into Roman times, however, particularly in Palestine and Syria. Aramaic had replaced Hebrew as the language of the Jews as early as the 6th century BCE. Certain portions of the Bible—i.e., the books of Daniel and Ezra—are written in Aramaic, as are the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. 

Among the Jews, Aramaic was used by the common people, while Hebrew remained the language of religion and government and of the upper class.

 Jesus and the Apostles are believed to have spoken Aramaic, and Aramaic-language translations (Targums) of the Old Testament circulated. Aramaic continued in wide use until about 650 CE, when it was supplanted by Arabic.

The Talmud (Megillah 3a concludes from Neh.8:8 that the custom of adding an Aramaic translation to the public reading of the Bible goes back to Ezra (5th century BCE,  refounder of Palestinian Jewry and reformer of Jewish life of family of Zadok, former scribe of Persia;  led new party of Jews back to Jerusalem from Babylon to establish Mosaic law in Judah.  

In the year 598 BCE, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar marched against Jerusalem. In his chronicles, he proudly states: "In the seventh year, the month of Kislev, the King of Akkad [Nebuchadnezzar] mustered his troops, marched to Hatti-land [Syria] and encamped against the city of Judah, and on the second day of the month of Adar, he seized the city and captured the king."1 The Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and carried the elite off to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar appointed a vassal king, loyal to his house. When after eleven years Zedekiah rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar marched again, and this time he completely destroyed Jerusalem.

In those years, Jerusalem was a thriving city. Its 5-7 meters wide city walls encompassed an area of 40-50 hectares. It was by far the largest city of the region. The second most important city in Israel, Ekron, was 20 hectares large, while most other towns were only 6 hectares in size. Jerusalem boasted beautiful palaces and large mansions for the king and his court, while the rich traders and artisans lived in well laid-out city quarters. On the highest hill stood the magnificent temple dedicated to the God of Israel. An extensive system of tunnels and channels provided drinking water to the population of about 10,000 souls. The city grew rich from the trade in grain and olive oil, while all kinds of luxury goods were imported: wooden furniture from Syria, ivory from Mesopotamia, and wine from Greece.2

In the year 70, the Romans burned down the 2nd Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, which was in the land of Judah,  along with the city.  Jews had been under occupation which at this point included their starvation.  When fire was ignited, many were taken as slaves by the Romans or killed, and others fled for their lives, winding up in nearby towns outside of the Israeli purview.  

Israel was founded by King Saul who replaced Judges,  shortly after the Exodus from Egypt in about 1000 BCE.  Israel was torn apart into two sections, Israel (Samaria) and Judea after their Civil war in  597 and then 586 BCE.  (According to the biblical account, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem which is in Judah,  between 589–586 BCE, which led to the destruction of Solomon's Temple).  That means that Jerusalem had already been the capital of this Jewish land for about 500 years. and they spoke Hebrew.

Mohammad didn't die till the year 632, so it was after that that his followers left Arabia and spread out to carry their Islamic religion to, probably places like Spain first.  We have 562 years to explore as to languages spoken.  This happened about 1,000 years of Jerusalem being the Jewish capital.  

The borders of the land of Israel that had been made up of 12 tribes including Judah were the Mediterranean Sea, Aram (today's Syria), Ammon (today's Jordan) and Edom (today's Egypt), and the Philistine States which were their worst enemy.   This map is showing Arabian tribes in Egypt's land south of the Philistines, so must be after 632.  

Aramaic is the oldest continuously written and spoken language of the Middle East, preceding Hebrew and Arabic as written languages. Equally important has been the role of Aramaic as the oldest continuously used alphabetically written language of the world.  Aramaic is thought to have first appeared among the Aramaeans about the late 11th century bce. By the 8th century bce it had become accepted by the Assyrians as a second language.  Hebrew appeared in the 10th century BCE.  That's a very close speculation for today's specialists.  

The Aramaic languages belong to the Northwest group of the Semitic language family, which also includes the Canaanite languages such as Hebrew, Edomite, Moabite, and Phoenician, as well as Amorite and Ugaritic. 

Aramaic languages are written in the Aramaic alphabet, a descendant of the Phoenician alphabet, and the most prominent alphabet variant is the Syriac alphabet.

 The Aramaic alphabet also became a base for the creation and adaptation of specific writing systems in some other Semitic languages, such as the Hebrew alphabet and the Arabic alphabet.

The Aramaic languages are now considered endangered, since several varieties are used mainly by the older generations. Researchers are working to record and analyze all of the remaining varieties of Neo-Aramaic languages before they become extinct.

For over three thousand years, Aramaic varieties served as a language of public life and administration of ancient kingdoms and empires and also as a language of divine worship and religious study. Several modern varieties, namely the Neo-Aramaic languages, are still spoken in the present-day.

However, for the Jews, Hebrew was the spoken and written language until later, when Aramaic replaced it as the common spoken language. 

 Hebrew (Hebrew alphabet: עִבְרִית‎, ʿĪvrīt  is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved throughout history as the main liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period) and Samaritanism. Hebrew is the only Canaanite language still spoken today, and serves as the only truly successful example of a dead language that has been revived. It is also one of only two Northwest Semitic languages still in use, with the other being Aramaic.                    

The shard -- or ostracon -- contains five lines of text divided by black lines.  Carbon dating of the ostracon, along with pottery analysis, dates the inscription to time of King David, about a millennium earlier than the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, the university said.  The shard contains five lines of text divided by black lines and measures 15 by 15 centimeters, or about 6 inches square.  Archaeologists have yet to decipher the text, but initial interpretation indicates it formed part of a letter and contains the roots of the words "judge," "slave," and "king," according to the university. That may indicate it was a legal text, which archaeologists say would provide insights into Hebrew law, society, and beliefs.

In July 2008, Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa that he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating from around 3,000 years ago. Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar said that the inscription was "proto-Canaanite" but cautioned that "The differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear," and suggested that calling the text Hebrew might be going too far.                        

The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic period, the traditional time of the reign of David and Solomon. Classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar (named after the city in whose proximity it was found) is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that, through the Greeks and Etruscans, later became the Roman script. The Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places in which later Hebrew spelling requires them.                    

The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date back to the 10th century BCE. Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew, with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, during the time of the Babylonian captivity. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Lashon Hakodesh (לָשׁוֹן הַקֹּדֶשׁ‎‎, lit. 'the holy tongue' or 'the tongue [of] holiness') since ancient times. The language was not referred to by the name Hebrew in the Bible, but as Yehudit (transl. 'the language of Judah') or Səpaṯ Kəna'an (transl. "the language of Canaan").

Mishnah Gittin 9:8 refers to the language as Ivrit, meaning Hebrew; however, Mishnah Megillah refers to the language as Ashurit, meaning Assyrian, which is derived from the name of the alphabet used, in contrast to Ivrit, meaning the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet.

Hebrew ceased to be a regular spoken language sometime between 200 and 400 CE, declining in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Bar Kokhba revolt (132-135 CE) that was carried out against the Roman Empire by the Jews of Judaea. 

Aramaic and, to a lesser extent, Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among societal elites and immigrants. We can remember Hebrew's decline with the turn of the century from 1 BCE to 1 CE and then Bar Kokhba's loss.  Just think, if he had been successful, Hebrew may have never declined but would have continued as the lingua  of the Middle East.                  

                    Hebrew from Yom Kippur Service

Hebrew survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce and Jewish poetic literature.

Most people spoke at least 2 languages, Aramaic and their native language through the ages.  Traders would speak as many as possible, and try to read as many as they spoke.

Aelia Capitolina (Latin)  was a Roman colony founded during Emperor Hadrian's trip to Judah in 129/130, centered around Jerusalem, which had been almost totally razed after the siege of 70 CE. The foundation of Aelia Capitolina and the construction of a temple to Jupiter at the site of the former temple may have been one of the causes for the outbreak of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132. Aelia Capitolina remained as the official name until Late Antiquity and the Aelia part of the name transliterated to Īlyāʾ was also used by the Umayyad Caliphate- the Muslims.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_Israel_and_Judah

https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/tribes-and-tribalism-arabian-peninsula#:~:text=The%20most%20prominent%20of%20the,%CA%BEab%2C%20and%20Banu%20Tamim.

https://catedra-unesco.espais.iec.cat/en/2016/03/08/11-the-assyrians-and-aramaic-speaking-the-oldest-living-language-of-the-middle-east/#:~:text=Aramaic%20is%20the%20oldest%20continuously,written%20language%20of%20the%20world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic#:~:text=For%20over%20three%20thousand%20years,divine%20worship%20and%20religious%20study.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aramaic-language

https://academic.oup.com/book/33589/chapter-abstract/288065135?redirectedFrom=fulltext

https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/Steiner-10th-9th_Century

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_Israel_and_Judah

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/10/30/israel.ancient.text/