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Tablets uncovered at Persepolis in Iran are covered with writing in Aramaic. The archive, being studied at the University of Chicago, provides new insights on the language, which has been written and spoken in the Middle East continuously since ancient times. (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago) New technologies and academic collaborations are helping scholars at the University of Chicago analyze hundreds of ancient documents in Aramaic, one of the Middle East’s oldest continuously spoken and written languages. Members of the West Semitic Research Project at the University of Southern California are helping the University’s Oriental Institute make very high-quality electronic...

What Language(s) Did Jesus Speak and Why Does It Matter? by Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts February 2004 (updated 2/2007) Copyright © 2004 by Mark D. Roberts Note: You may download this resource at no cost, for personal use or for use in a Christian ministry, as long as you are not publishing it for sale. All I ask is that you give credit where credit is due. For all other uses, please contact me at mark@markdroberts.com. Thank you. Part 1: Introduction Although responses to Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ movie varied widely, every viewer was struck by...

MAALOULA, Syria (CNS) -- Aramaic, the language of Jesus that flourished in villages thousands of years ago, is being kept alive in the Syrian desert, about an hour's drive from Damascus. Today, Aramaic is spoken in Maaloula, an ancient mountainous town with two historic monasteries, Catholic and Orthodox, both built into the cliffs. Georgette Halabi, a tour guide at St. Serge Melkite Catholic convent in Maaloula, grew up speaking Aramaic. "I don't write it," she said. "But I want to learn." Local residents' Arabic education has never offered formal instruction in written Aramaic, but they have managed to pass down...

A question arises time and again from prilgrims visiting the Holy Land: What was the language that Jesus spoke? They ask: What was the language of Palestine in the times of Jesus? What languages did Jesus speak? Were there any indications found in the Gospels? Palestine, given that it was always a crossroads for entire peoples in their spontaneous, and often times forced, migrations, was by necessity a multi-lingual land. It was a place where they spoke several languages at the same time. That is, in the times of Jesus, there were no less than two local languages spoken and...

Conversion to Islam on road to Damascus spells the end for Aramaic, the native language of Jesus ELIAS Khoury can still remember the days when old people in the mountain village of Malula spoke only Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Back then the village, linked to the capital Damascus, only by a long and bumpy bus ride, was almost entirely Christian, a vestige of an older, more diverse Middle East that existed before the arrival of Islam. Now Khoury, 65, grey-haired and bedridden, admits ruefully that he has largely forgotten the language he spoke with his own mother. "It's disappearing,"...

MALULA, Syria: Elias Khoury can still remember the days when old people in this cliffside village spoke only Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Back then the village, linked to the capital, Damascus, only by a long and bumpy bus ride over the mountains, was almost entirely Christian, a vestige of an older and more diverse Middle East that existed before the arrival of Islam. Now Khoury, 65, gray-haired and bedridden, admits ruefully that he has largely forgotten the language he spoke with his own mother. "It's disappearing," he said in Arabic, sitting with his wife on a bed in the...

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Asoka's edicts are to be found scattered in more than thirty places throughout India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Most of them are written in Brahmi script from which all Indian scripts and many of those used in Southeast Asia later developed. The language used in the edicts found in the eastern part of the sub-continent is a type of Magadhi, probably the official language of Asoka's court. The language used in the edicts found in the western part of India is closer to Sanskrit although one bilingual edict in Afghanistan is written in Aramaic and Greek. Asoka's edicts, which...

This article first appeared in the Viewpoint column of the Christian Research Journal, volume 25, number 1 (2002). For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.orgSince September 11, scores of commentaries have been written about terrorism and Islam, many from Christian leaders. It is remarkable how writers unfamiliar with the Arabic language have ventured comments, if not judgments, relating to the term Allah. It is as if anything to do with Allah must be demonized in order for us to feel righteous and justified.In a news clip on KFUO-AM Radio in St. Louis, shortly...

For the first time in history, a book is written to provide information on the Aramaic language of the Qur'an. For over fourtheen centuries, Muslims have been told erroneously that the language of the Qur'an is Arabic. The Eastern Syriac dialect of Aramaic is dominant in the Qur’an, and many chapters are borrowed from the Hebrew Bible, but were misinterpreted by Muslim commentators. Not understanding the Aramaic language of the Qur’an, and not being familiar with the development of its revelations, Muslim commentators rendered erroneous interpretations to the book. Such erroneous interpretations led to the rise of Islamic fundamentalists, like...

Interview With Professor of Chaldean Liturgy VATICAN CITY, JAN. 22, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Chaldean Church, whose patriarch resides in Baghdad, Iraq, takes pride in its ancient liturgy which uses the same language Jesus used. In November, the Chaldean liturgy underwent a reform following a special synod in Rome. To assess the extent of the reform, ZENIT interviewed Monsignor Petrus Yousif, professor of Syro-Chaldean patrology and Chaldean liturgy at the Pontifical Oriental Institute and the Catholic Institute of Paris. He is also the parish priest of France's Chaldean community. In this interview, Monsignor Yousif, consultor of the Special Liturgy Commission for...

Hilarious. Kid is lip-synching to a song, sung in Aramaic by an Israeli rock group. Kid has NO CLUE what he is singing! The actual lyrics are: Y'heh shelomoh rabba min sheyama"May there be great peace from Heaven."

Posted on Sun, Nov. 13, 2005 Research on ancient writing linked with modern Mideast conflict BY RON GROSSMAN CHICAGO - Professorial colleagues think Ron Tappy has made a landmark breakthrough in our understanding of the world of the Bible. He himself is waiting for the other shoe to drop. This week, Tappy will formally unveil his discovery at the meetings of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Normally a presentation titled "The 2005 Excavation Season at Tel Zayit, with Special Attention to the Tenth Century BCE" would hardly be noticed beyond the scholars who will gather at the Hyatt Penn's...

Mar Maroun All that is known about Maron, the spiritual father and protector of the Maronites comes from Theodoret, the bishop of Cyr. In approximately 444, Theodoret undertook the project of writing a religious history about his religion. Theodoret never knew Maron personally, but only through the disciples of this holy man. He described Maron as "the one who has planted for God the garden which flourishes now in the region of Cyr." Little is known of the birth or youth of Maron because Theodoret was unconcerned about that aspect of his life. He felt that Maron was a...

JERUSALEM, Dec. 29 - The Israeli police filed criminal indictments on Wednesday against four antiquities collectors, accusing them of forging biblical artifacts, many so skillfully that they fooled experts. Some were even celebrated briefly as being among the most significant Christian and Jewish relics ever unearthed. The police and the Israel Antiquities Authority said their investigation had focused on several major forgeries, including a limestone burial box, or ossuary, bearing an inscription that suggested that it held the remains of Jesus' brother James. The Antiquities Authority declared the ossuary a forgery last year. The authorities also described as counterfeit a...

Cyrus the Great Cylinder, The First Charter of Human Rights By 546 BCE, Cyrus had defeated Croesus, the Lydian king of fabled wealth, and had secured control of the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, Armenia, and the Greek colonies along the Levant. Moving east, he took Parthia (land of the Arsacids, not to be confused with Parsa, which was to the southwest), Chorasmis, and Bactria. He besieged and captured Babylon in 539 and released the Jews who had been held captive there, thus earning his immortalization in the Book of Isaiah. When he died in 529, Cyrus's kingdom extended as...

Aramaic was the language of Semitic peoples throughout the ancient Near East. It was the language of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Hebrews and Syrians. Aram and Israel had a common ancestry and the Hebrew patriarchs who were of Aramaic origin maintained ties of marriage with the tribes of Aram. The Hebrew patriarchs preserved their Aramaic names and spoke in Aramaic.The term Aramaic is derived from Aram, the fifth son of Shem, the firstborn of Noah. See Gen. 10:22. The descendants of Aram dwelt in the fertile valley, Padan-aram also known as Beth Nahreen.The Aramaic language in Padan-aram remained pure, and in...

A German scholar of ancient languages takes a new look at the sacred book of Islam. He maintains that it was created by Syro-Aramaic speaking Christians, in order to evangelize the Arabs. And he translates it in a new way

ROMA – That Aramaic was the lingua franca of a vast area of the ancient Middle East is a notion that is by now amply noted by a vast public, thanks to Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ,” which everyone watches in that language. But that Syro-Aramaic was also the root of the Koran, and of the Koran of a primitive Christian system, is a more specialized notion, an almost clandestine one. And it’s more than a little dangerous. The author of the most important book on the subject – a German professor of ancient Semitic and...

I finally was able to see the "Passion" a few days ago. On top of all the issues that I was trying to absorb from the movie (the non-existent antisemitism, the departures of the story from the Gospels, the spiritual lessons of the movie, etc etc.), one of the things I was keeping track of was the changeovers from Aramaic to Latin and then back again. My first impression of the movie was how smooth and fluid and "real" the Latin language was from the actors. Too often, when people speak Latin, it sounds like John Wayne trying to speak...

Having seen the movie twice I wonder if anyone knows where I can get a translation of all the Aramaic spoken leading up to the trial and at the trial? The subtitles work fine, but are paraphrases or a condensation of what's actually spoken in the movie. I'd like to know what's is really being said. They spent a lot of time and money getting the dialog translated into authentic 1st century Aramaic and street Latin.

For those who are interested, there is a literal translation of the Aramaic Gospels (and Acts) online. Mattai, Marqus, Luqa, and Yukhanan. I have not compared it yet to my 1872 hardcopy of Murdocks Translation of The Syriac Testament(1851) and am unsure if they are the same source, as there are about 6 extant versions of the Aramaic text. You will need a frame compatible browser and Adobe Acrobat to read it, go to WWW.PESHITTA.ORG, and on the left frame, click on Interlinear to expand. It reads right to left. Here is a sample, The Lords prayer, Luqa 1: "Our...

Thanks to 'The Passion of the Christ,' a near-dead, 2,500-year-old language will reach the ears of millions Leave it to pop culture -- and Mel Gibson -- to revive a couple of dead languages. Well, one that's dead and one that's in linguistic intensive care. Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ, opening today, utilizes two tongues from way back in the day: Latin and Aramaic. (Don't worry, there are subtitles in the movie.) Now Latin (the dead one) is not a complete stranger to American ears. Carpe diem, e pluribus unum and all that. But Aramaic? This nearly...

LOS ANGELES - Jim Caviezel jokes that Hollywood might learn a language lesson from "The Passion of the Christ," largely shot in Aramaic and Latin. Caviezel, who plays Jesus in Mel Gibson's bloody recreation of Christ's final hours, whimsically suggested that other filmmakers might want to follow Gibson's lead.

<p>KORMAKITI, Cyprus - If the people of this remote village were to travel back to Jesus' time and hear him preach, they would not need an interpreter to understand the Sermon on the Mount or the parable of the prodigal son.</p>

THE NICENE CREED, recited by the world's more than two billion Christians every Sunday, declares that Jesus Christ "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried." More than anything else, these ten words are the theme of "The Passion," Mel Gibson's new movie. Although not scheduled to be released to theaters until Ash Wednesday, "The Passion" generated this spring more discussion than any film in recent memory: endless op-eds, press releases, debates, and denunciations--all about a movie, in Aramaic and Latin, that none of the commentators had seen. Perhaps in response to all this publicity, both negative and...

Assyrian community speaks Aramaic, provides a warm welcome to Israelis ADABASHI, Turkey, Feb. 27 (JTA) — I never intended to visit Adabashi. I was heading toward the border crossing between Turkey and Iraq, hoping to get to northern Iraq before the widely anticipated war began. But the Turkish border authorities would not hear of any journalists running around in that Kurdish-dominated part of Iraq. Not just Israeli journalists, any journalists. As a result, I and a group of fellow journalists found ourselves traveling along the long Turkish border between Iraq and Syria — until we spotted a church tower off...

Sunday, Jan. 19, 2003The Passion of Mel Gibson His Jesus film is bloody, bold — and in Aramaic. Here's an exclusive look ByRICHARD CORLISS; JEFF ISRAELY You may expect a certain tense solemnity when an Academy Award — winning director is shooting a film on the life and death of Jesus Christ. On the sound stage of The Passion in Rome's Cinecitta studio, the famed auteur prepares a scene for Maia Morgenstern, the Romanian actress playing the Virgin Mary. She is to enter the abandoned temple where her son has just been removed in chains on his way to...

With the star spending 15 days on a cross getting right his scene at Calvary, there is a lot of suffering on the set of The Passion, a new account of the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ being filmed in Rome by Mel Gibson. Gibson, a devout Roman Catholic, insisted that meticulous attention was being given in the £18 million production to chronicling the violence of the Romans. "It's going to be hard to take," he said. "When the Romans scourged you, it wasn't a nice thing. Think about the Crucifixion - there's no way to sugarcoat that." Jesus...