Language and Literacy in Roman Judaea
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A Study of the Bar Kokhba Documents
Michael Owen Wise
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Format: ClothPrice: $85.00
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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.
Michael Owen Wise is Scholar-in-Residence and Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Languages at the University of Northwestern–St. Paul. He lives in St. Paul, MN.
ISBN: 9780300204537
Publication Date: May 26, 2015
Publication Date: May 26, 2015
544 pages, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
18 b/w illus.
18 b/w illus.
