Texts and Languages

Opening page of the Gospel of Mark from the Codex Amiatinus, one of the best preserved and earliest complete one-volume Vulgate manuscripts to survive public domain

What Is Latin?

Although the original biblical texts were written mostly in Hebrew or Greek, there is no denying that Latin was one of the most important languages of the biblical world.

Section of Bodmer Papyrus 66, a near complete codex of the Gospel of John and one of the oldest well-preserved New Testament manuscripts dating to c. 200 CE. Public domain.

What Is Biblical Greek?

Biblical Greek, as it is commonly known, is a dialect of the ancient Greek language known as hēkoinēdialektos (“the common dialect”) or Koine Greek. This dialect became the lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean world for almost a millennium.

Kuttamuwa Stele (eighth century BCE), a funerary stela with Aramaic inscription from Samʾal (modern Zincirli) in southern Turkey CC by-SA 4.0 International via Wikimedia Commons

What Is Aramaic?

The Aramaic language constitutes the eastern branch of the Northwest Semitic language family. Its closest relatives are the Canaanite dialects in the western branch of the family, such as Hebrew, Phoenician, and Moabite.

Brick inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II, written in Akkadian. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer.

What Is Akkadian?

Akkadian, the language of the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians, was once the lingua franca of the entire Near East.

A modern scribe writing a Torah scroll. Note the square Hebrew script. Liran1977, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What Is Biblical Hebrew?

Biblical Hebrew is the dialect of the Canaanite language used by the people of ancient Israel, and the primary language of the Hebrew Bible.

Hittite copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Courtesy Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, Sandra Steiß, CC BY-SA 4.

What Is Hittite?

Hittite, the language of the ancient Anatolian kingdom of Hatti, is the oldest recorded Indo-European language.

Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo Credit Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Is the Cairo Geniza?

The Cairo Geniza refers to the cache of about 300,000 documents found in the attic storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue, located in Fustat (in Old Cairo), the capital city of Egypt during the seventh–tenth centuries C.E.

The Flood Tablet from the Epic of Gilgamesh presents a Babylonian version of the global deluge Credit BabelStone (Own work) CC0

What Is the Epic Gilgamesh?

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian literary work that tells a fantastic story of King Gilgamesh’s failed quest for immortality.

The Rosetta Stone © Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, Via Wikimedia Commons

What Is the Rosetta Stone?

The Rosetta Stone refers to a fragmented Egyptian stela discovered near the Mediterranean port city of Rasheed (also known as Rosetta), in the western Nile Delta.

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