Tuesday, July 21, 2020

What did the Romans ever do for Palmyra?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Latin Over Aramaic? How the Ancient Palmyrenes Responded to Romanization. As usual, this BHD essay is a summary of a Biblical Archaeology Review article: “Maintaining Cultural Balance: Palmyrene Bilingual Inscriptions and Roman Imperialism,” by Catherine E. Bonesho in the current issue.

There are Latin inscriptions at Palmyra, as well as the ones in Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew. I don't think I knew that, but it doesn't surprise me.

Cross-file under Palmyra Watch. Many other posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, which more recently seem to have been trending for the better, are here and links.

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