He began documenting Maaloula’s history through a scientific and methodical approach, avoiding hearsay and repetition. He explored its narrow alleys, studied inscriptions on monastery walls, and recorded the stories of its residents. His focus later turned to the language itself, comparing ancient inscriptions, identifying its various scripts — round Aramaic, square Hebrew, and Eastern Syriac — and seeking, as he put it, “to extract the mother Syrian tongue from the womb of early Aramaic writing.”PaleoJudaica has been following the fate of Maaloula (Ma'aloula, Malula, Maalula - etc!), the Syrian city where Aramaic is still spoken, for more than 20 years - all the way through it's destruction by jihadis during the civil war and its subsequent recovery. Start here and follow the links.
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