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re: Aramaic



Re: "To be an oppressed minority in a
foreign land is NOT the same as being the majority under occupation."

I think the fact that the Jews were occupied by the Romans is a red herring.
The most probably reason that they would speak Greek is that it was the trade
language of the world, not because it was the language of their oppressors.
The use of Greek at that time was comparable to the current dominance of
English.  So an interesting question would be, how much do modern-day residents
of Israel (Jews and Palestinians) speak English?  When would large crowds be
addressed in English, and when in Hebrew?

Also I believe that at least some of the inter-testamental literature
(especially I & II Maccabees) was probably written in Greek.  (None of the
original manuscripts survive, but philological studies suggest that the
originals were Greek.)

Cheers,

John.


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