Language and literacy in Roman Judaea : a study of the Bar Kokhba documents / Michael Owen Wise.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wise, Michael Owen, author.

Series:

Anchor Yale Bible reference library.

The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Palestine.

Jews.

Judaea, Wilderness of.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (542 pages).

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), 2025.

Place of Publication:

London : Yale University Press, 2012.

System Details:

text file rdaft

Summary:

This comprehensive exploration of language and literacy in the multi-lingual environment of Roman Palestine (c. 63 B.C.E. to 136 C.E.) is based on Michael Wise’s extensive study of 145 Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Nabataean contracts and letters preserved among the Bar Kokhba texts, a valuable cache of ancient Middle Eastern artifacts. His investigation of Judean documentary and epistolary culture derives for the first time numerical data concerning literacy rates, language choices, and writing fluency during the two-century span between Pompey’s conquest and Hadrian’s rule. He explores questions of who could read in these ancient times of Jesus and Hillel, what they read, and how language worked in this complex multi-tongued milieu. Included also is an analysis of the ways these documents were written and the interplay among authors, secretaries, and scribes. Additional analysis provides readers with a detailed picture of the people, families, and lives behind the texts.

Contents:

Status quaestionum and the present study

Jerusalem, Herodium, Jericho, and environs

En Gedi, Mahoza, and Kephar-Baru

Epistolary culture in Roman Judaea

Language and literacy in Roman Judaea

Appendix A: Significant documents of the Bar Kokhba discoveries: signatories and writers

Appendix B: Signatories and writers listed by name.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

0-300-28832-8

OCLC:

1198930850