Im a bit confused.< The movie is in the original languages, Aramaic and Latin, but the Mediterranean world of the first century spoke Greek as a result of Hellenization, later adopted by the Roman Empire (though they still spoke Latin in Rome). All of the books in the New Testamentincluding Romanswere written in the Hellenistic Greek of this period, as was the most popular translation of the Hebrew Scriptures of that day, the Septuagint.
Shouldnt Jesus and Pilate be speaking Greek in the movie? Naturally the Roman rulers spoke Latin, but Greek was the lingua franca of the Empire. The Jewish leaders would have spoken Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek, and certainly Jesus and the disciples, being from Galilee of the Gentiles, would have known Greek but nary a word of Latin. Still, if you insist on Pilate speaking Latin, why use the ecclesiastical pronunciation (rather than the classical) when church Latin obviously did not exist at the time!
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Greek was the first language for most educated Romans and for Romans stationed in the East. Most Romans spoke beter Greek then they did Latin.
Even in Rome the Christians did not speak in Latin. From http://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/cripta.html
THE CRYPT OF THE POPES
It is the most sacred and important place in these catacombs, discovered by the great archaeologist de Rossi in 1854, and labelled by him as " the little Vatican, the central monument of all Christian cemeteries". It originated towards the 2nd C. as a private crypt. When the "First Area" came under the direct dipendence of the Church of Rome, it was thought suitable to transform that burial chamber into the cemetery of the Popes.
The sepulchres, now empty, once contained the remains of 9 Popes and of 8 Bishops of the 3rd century. You can still see the original inscriptions on the wall, though broken and incomplete, regarding five of the Popes. Their names are written in Greek, following the official usage of the Church in that time.
On four tombstones, next to the name of the Pontiff, there is the title of epì(scopos), which means "bishop", because he was the head of the Church of Rome. The title papa (pope - father), became exclusive to the bishop of Rome during the 4th century. On two slabs some years later was added the abbreviation MRT ("martyr", which means "witness").This title was given to the Christians who had witnessed their faith in Christ, by shedding their blood.
Among the names of the Popes, written on the tombstones in Greek, are:
St. Fabian (236-250) was a Roman and was elected pope on the death of St. Antherus. His pastoral ministry of 14 years coincided with a period of religious peace. He was a great organiser of the Church of Rome. He divided the city into seven ecclesiastical regions, each with its tituli (parishes), clergy and catacombs He died by decapitation during the persecution of emperor Decius.
This is St. Fabian's name written in Greek:
Jesus and his disciples preached in Aramaic. Would he have spoken to Pilate in Greek? I tend to think he would have spoken in Aramaic and his terse responses to Pilate were translated for Pilate's benefit.
Pilate may have spoken Greek to the educated Jews of the day, but I tend to think that the average Roman soldier growled his way through the streets in a vulgar blend of Latin, Greek, and Aramaic.
The problem is that the Gospels come to us long after the death of Christ, and the particulars of language are omitted in the telling.
I'll settle for Aramaic and Latin. I don't think the movie will gain in power by having Pilate and Caiaphas conversing in koine Greek....
The sign written on Jesus' cross, "King of the Jews," was written in Latin, Greek, and Aramaic. It is therefore evident that Latin must have had some degree of circulation in 1st Century Israel. The use of Greek by the Roman elite was not unlike the use of French by the upper classes in England, Germany, Poland, and Russia in the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. Having the ability to speak in French helped the aristocracy and the haute bourgeoisie of these northern nations distinguish themselves from their less cultured countrymen. It also encouraged a type of transnational society of noble or wealthy people throughout Europe with its own language, a secular version of the transnational character of the medieval Catholic Church.
Thus, a Roman governor may communicate with a Jewish high priest in koine Greek, as Pilate probably did with Caiphas. However, when that governor talked with military officers and particularly the lower ranks, he would have reverted to his native tongue, much as a member of the Russian aristocracy would have done. The New Testament (Acts 10:1) makes reference to the "Italian Regiment." As another poster alluded to in his post, one Roman legion in Israel in Jesus' time was drawn from Spain. Keep in mind that the Romans used their native Latin, and not Greek, in their dealings in Western and Central Europe. (Their "vulgar Latin" was the ancestor of Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Romanian.) Thus, the legionaries, if they knew any tongue other than their native Gallo-Iberian, would have spoken Latin. Their commanders, and even the governor, would have addressed them in that language as a result.
Gibson's guesses about language usage at the time of Christ's Crucifixion are probably not too far off the mark.