Subject: Re: Jerusalem Temple Inscription Warning Gentiles of Death
From: Cindy Smith (cms@dragon.com)
Date: Tue Dec 22 2009 - 17:35:55 EST
Jesus grew up in Galilee of the Gentiles. It stands to reason he spoke a smattering of Greek, which was the lingua franca of the era. Yours, -- Cindy Smith cms@dragon.com Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni! A Real Live Catholic in Georgia! Quoting "Madden, Shawn" <sMadden@sebts.edu>: > Taking the gospels at face value (with noted disagreements in as > diverse as this body is) you find a carpenter reading Isaiah and > fishermen writing in Greek. I tend with Rochelle, especially in a > culture with the writing and reading tradition that Israel had that > I believe could possibly be more literate than the classical > cultures. The synagogue system in Israel would argue for more > literacy in a Jewish village than you may find in the villages of > other cultures. Then add in the polyglot possibility. In Africa I > found semi-literates who could speak English, Kiswahili and their > tribal language and many had a reading and writing ability in one, > two, and sometimes all three languages (if their tribal language had > an alphabet). > > Shawn C. Madden, Ph.D., Major, USMC (retired) > > Associate Professor of Hebrew & Old Testament > > Director of The Library > > Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary > > 114 N. Wingate > > Wake Forest, NC 27587 > > (919) 761-2250 > > (919) 761-2150 (fax) > > http://library.sebts.edu/smadden > > "Blessed be the LORD my rock, who trains my hands for war and my > fingers for battle." > > ???? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ?????? > > > > ________________________________ > > From: owner-ioudaios-l@Lehigh.EDU on behalf of rochelle altman > Sent: Tue 12/22/2009 4:13 PM > To: First Century Judaism Discussion Forum > Subject: IOU: Re: Jerusalem Temple Inscription Warning Gentiles of Death > > > > Hi, Jack, > > Well, in terms of Greek and Roman literacy, William Harris (Ancient > Literacy, 1989) placed it at 10%. He has not gone uncontested, > though. He ignored items such as the programs sold at gladiatorial > contests mentioned by Cicero and tended to dismiss graffiti. Both of > these do indicate some level of literacy. Still, 10-15% fully > literate should be expected with another 25-30% semi-literate. These > percentages really do not change very much across the centuries in > cultures where literacy is encouraged. > > There's a new book out (that I'm going to order with my gift > certificate from OUP) by Johnson & Parker, Ancient Literacies: The > culture of Reading in Greece and Rome. (2009). After reading the > review, I particularly am looking forward to reading Shirley Werner's > article -- it's a bibliography and commentary that covers everything > published on literacy since Harris and includes many important items > in non-Classic cultures. > > I do wonder at 3-5%, though. Somehow, I'd expect the usual 10-15% of > fully literate and 25-30% semi-literate, that is, can read a > newspaper, sign his or her name, but may or may not be able to write > a letter. (If we look at the inscriptions on the ossuaries, the > majority are by literate people; perhaps 10% are by semi-literates.) > Pretty much what we have today in the US. If you also add the > marginally literate (people who can read a sign, a book with mostly > pictures, but can't read the directions on a fire-alarm box) that > would be about another 30%. > > Oh, well, there definitely is an overlap between literacy/orality. > It's not as black and white as it used to be made out to be. > > Rochelle > > >> -From: owner-ioudaios-l@Lehigh.EDU on behalf of Gary Hedrick >>>> Sent: Sat 12/19/2009 8:22 PM >>>> To: First Century Judaism Discussion Forum >>>> Subject: Re: Jerusalem Temple Inscription Warning Gentiles of Death >>>> >>>> Regarding the literacy rate, one could use the same rationale and say, Why >>>> write the New Testament? Why put a sign over Yeshua's head on the Cross? >>> Why the Priene inscription or the Res Gestae?. Someone literate would >>> read it out loud to those who were not. >>> >>> Jeffrey >>> >>> -- >>> Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon) >>> 1500 W. Pratt Blvd. >>> Chicago, Illinois >>> e-mail jgibson000@comcast.net >> >> >> This was particularly true at crucifixions. Every Roman legion, in >> this case the Legio X Fretensis, had a four man team called a >> Quatornio with the responsibility for crucifixions. They were led >> by a legionnaire of Centurion rank called an Exactor Mortis. >> >> Seneca, for example, refers to the Exactor Mortis as CENTURIO >> supplicio praepositus, De Ira 1.26. "Tunc CENTURIO supplicio >> praepositus condere gladium speculatorem iubet, damnatum ad Pisonem >> reducit redditurus Pisoni ... and Hermann-Josef Rollicke in Auf den >> Stufen (Berlin 2006), certainly a modern authority, states," Der >> CENTURIO als der exactor mortis, der den Tod des delinquenten om >> kreuz abzuwarten und zu bestatigen hatte..."There is a ton of >> primary Latin material on this but my point is that the Roman >> authorities did not deem it wasteful but important reminders to the >> populace that you would be better off not opposing Rome. The charge >> against the victim of this horrible exercise was written on a >> titulus and read by the Exactor Mortis to the gathering public, >> those same people who gathered about the guillotines in France, the >> axe in England or Judge Bean's scaffold in the old West. >> >> The literacy rate in first century Palestine, according to Meir >> Bar-Ilan was between >> 3-5% http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~barilm/illitera.html but among the >> Greek speaking Romans and the Greeks themselves it was as much as >> three times higher. Perhaps Dr. Altman has some references, I >> cannot dig mine up right now. The inscription is targeted to >> Gentiles rather than Greek speaking Diaspora Jews but my suspicion >> is that Roman Period Gentile tourists who traveled to Jerusalem to >> see one of the wonders of the world, were upper class and >> literate. The Temple was a class A tourist attraction and Gentiles >> almost certainly paid the same 1/2 shekel/Tyrian half tetradrachm (7 >> grams of silver) to ascend to the Court of the Gentiles, enclosed >> with colonnades and with stalls, souvenir stands and money >> changers. There were probably temple guards placed at the 13 >> entrances in the 3 cubit high wall separating the three steps or so >> of the central courts but any Gentile who slipped by them, even a >> Roman citizen, could be immediately put to death. These inscription >> were probably placed at each of these openings in the wall. That >> would account, IMO, for excavators being lucky enough to find one. >> >> Jack Kilmon >> San Antonio, TX > > > > >
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