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71-532: A targum ( Imperial Aramaic : תרגום , interpretation , translation , version ; plural: targumim ) was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the Hebrew : תַּנַ״ךְ , romanized :  Tana"kh ) that a professional translator ( מְתוּרגְמָן mǝṯurgǝmān ) would give in the common language of the listeners when that was not Biblical Hebrew . This had become necessary near

142-557: A college for converts from Judaism and Islam, until 1886, when the Holy See bought it along with other manuscripts when the Collegium closed (which is the reason for the manuscripts name and its designation). It was then mistitled as a manuscript of Targum Onkelos until 1949, when Alejandro Díez Macho noticed that it differed significantly from Targum Onkelos. It was translated and published during 1968–79, and has since been considered

213-506: A diverse population. Archaeological evidence shows that gentile migrants from neighboring Levantine provinces such as Arabia , Syria , and Phoenicia , as well as from the coastal plain and beyond, settled in the area. The new Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina was populated by Roman veterans and migrants from western parts of the empire, who also occupied its surroundings, administrative centers, and main roads. According to Lichtenberger, archaeological evidence from Bayt Nattif suggests

284-554: A high standardization of the language across the expanse of the Achaemenid Empire. Of the Imperial Aramaic glyphs extant from its era, there are two main styles: the lapidary form, often inscribed on hard surfaces like stone monuments, and the cursive form. The Achaemenid Empire used both of these styles, but the cursive became much more prominent than the lapidary, causing the latter to eventually disappear by

355-620: A number of Jews may have forfeited their Jewish identity and assimilated into the Pagan and early Christian I.e. Gentile populations. Many Jewish captives were sold into slavery across the Roman Empire, contributing to an increase in the Jewish diaspora . According to Eitan Klein, after the revolt, Roman authorities confiscated lands in Judaea, leading to the resettlement of the region by

426-567: A persistence of non-conformist unorthodox Jewish groups that did not adhere to strict Biblical monotheism , as well as remnants of semitic pagan groups related to those of Yahwahist Iron Age Judah in the late Roman period. In AD 300, Jews formed around a quarter of the population and lived in compact settlements in Galilee , while Samaritans were concentrated in Samaria . By the fifth century, Christianity had gained further ground in

497-524: A punitive recent origin for the term, and point it has been used to refer to the Southern Levant at large for centuries since Classical antiquity, when it was first used by Herodotus , and has been used by Jewish authors such as Philo and Josephus while Judaea still existed. It's claimed that the name was chosen as the new province was far larger than Judaea , and was resulted from the merger of Judaea with Galilee. Despite this "Syria" in

568-586: A single official language for the various regions of the empire has been cited as a reason for the at the time unprecedented success of the Achaemenids in maintaining the expanse of their empire for a period of centuries. One of the most extensive collections of texts written in Imperial Aramaic is the Fortification Tablets of Persepolis , of which there are about five hundred. Other extant examples of Imperial Aramaic come from Egypt , such as

639-465: A unit, as are the targumim of the five scrolls (Esther has a longer " Second Targum " as well.) The targum of Chronicles is quite late, possibly medieval. It is traditionally attributed to "Rav Yosef" (meaning either Rav Yosef or Rav Yosef bar Hama ). (The targum to Neviim is also sometimes referred to as the targum of Rav Yosef.) There are also a variety of western targumim on the Torah, each of which

710-517: Is I who have revealed Thy secrets to mankind. It is fully known to Thee that I have not done this for my own honour or for the honour of my father's house, but for Thy honour I have done it, that dissension may not increase in Israel." He further sought to reveal [by] a targum [the inner meaning] of Ketuvim, but a Bath Kol went forth and said, "Enough!" What was the reason? Because the date of the Messiah

781-634: Is a well-attested language used by the communities of Judea , probably originating in the area of Caesarea Philippi . By the 1st century CE, the people of Roman Judaea still used Aramaic as their primary language, along with Koine Greek for commerce and administration. The oldest manuscript of the Book of Enoch (c. 170 BC) is written in the Late Old Western Aramaic dialect. The New Testament has several non-Greek terms of Aramaic origin, such as: Instead of using their native Arabic ,

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852-1001: Is believed the Jerusalem Christians waited out the Jewish–Roman wars in Pella in the Decapolis . The line of Jewish bishops in Jerusalem , which is claimed to have started with James, brother of Jesus as its first bishop, ceased to exist within the Empire. Hans Küng in Islam: Past Present and Future , suggests that the Jewish Christians sought refuge in the Arabian Peninsula and he quotes with approval Clemen et al., "This produces

923-486: Is correctly labeled as Targum Yerushalmi . The Western Targumim on the Torah, or Palestinian Targumim as they are also called, consist of three manuscript groups: Targum Neofiti I, Fragment Targums, and Cairo Geniza Fragment Targums. Of these Targum Neofiti I is the largest. It consist of 450 folios covering all books of the Pentateuch, with only a few damaged verses. The history of the manuscript begins 1587 when

994-563: Is foretold in it. Nevertheless, most books of Ketuvim (with the exceptions of Daniel and Ezra-Nehemiah, which both contain Aramaic portions) have targumim , whose origin is mostly Palestinian rather than Mesopotamian. But they were poorly preserved and less well known for lack of a fixed place in the liturgy. From Palestine, the tradition of targum to Ketuvim made its way to Italy, and from there to medieval Ashkenaz and Sepharad . The targumim of Psalms, Proverbs, and Job are generally treated as

1065-523: The Elephantine papyri . Egyptian examples also include the Words of Ahikar , a piece of wisdom literature reminiscent of the Book of Proverbs . Scholarly consensus regards the portions of the Book of Daniel (i.e., 2:4b-7:28) written in Aramaic as an example of Imperial Aramaic. In November 2006, an analysis was published of thirty newly discovered Aramaic documents from Bactria which now constitute

1136-665: The Khalili Collection of Aramaic Documents . The leather parchment contains texts written in Imperial Aramaic, reflecting the use of the language for Achaemenid administrative purposes during the fourth century in regions such as Bactria and Sogdia . The evolution of alphabets from the Mediterranean region is commonly split into two major divisions: the Phoenician-derived alphabets of the West, including

1207-761: The Limes Arabicus , which had existed for some time, was pushed further south. The Crisis of the Third Century (235–284) affected Syria Palaestina, but the fourth century brought an economic upswing due to the Christianization of the Roman Empire and the associated upswing in Christian pilgrimage to the " Holy Land ". In the course of late antiquity, with imperial support, Christianity succeeded in asserting itself against both remnants of Semitic as well as trending Hellenistic Paganism in

1278-666: The Sogdian script , which itself descends from the Syriac branch of Aramaic. The traditions of Manichaeism allege that its founding prophet, Mani , invented the Manichaean script , as well as writing the major Manichaean texts himself. The writing system evolved from the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, which was still in use during the age of Mani, i.e. the early years of the Sassanian Empire . Along with other writing systems,

1349-527: The targumim . This scribal practice is rooted in the public reading of the Targum and the requirement for private study. The two "official" targumim are considered eastern (Mesopotamian, called "Babylonian"). Nevertheless, scholars believe they, too, originated in Syria Palestina because of a strong linguistic substratum of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic . Though these targumim were later "orientalised",

1420-494: The "administrative capital" of the region beginning in 6 AD. During the 1st and 2nd centuries, Judaea became the epicenter of a series of unsuccessful large-scale Jewish rebellions against Rome, known as the Jewish-Roman Wars . The Roman suppression of these revolts led to wide-scale destruction, a very high toll of life and enslavement. The First Jewish-Roman War (66-73) resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and

1491-427: The 3rd century BC. In remote regions, the cursive versions of Aramaic evolved into the creation of the Syriac , Palmyrene and Mandaic alphabets , which themselves formed the basis of many historical Central Asian scripts, such as the Sogdian and Mongolian alphabets. The Brahmi script , of which the entire Brahmic family of scripts derives (including Devanagari ), most likely descends from Imperial Aramaic, as

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1562-533: The Achaemenid Empire, the unity of the Imperial Aramaic script was lost, diversifying into a number of descendant cursives. Aramaic script and, as ideograms, Aramaic vocabulary would survive as the essential characteristics of the Pahlavi scripts , itself developing from the Manichaean alphabet . The orthography of Imperial Aramaic was based more on its own historical roots than on any spoken dialect, leading to

1633-724: The Aramaic words found in the Targums Onqelos , Jonathan , and pseudo-Jonathan . Targumim are used today as sources in text-critical editions of the Bible ( Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia refers to them with the abbreviation 𝔗 ). The noun "Targum" is derived from the early semitic quadriliteral root תרגם ( trgm ), and the Akkadian term targummanu refers to "translator, interpreter". It occurs in Ezra 4 :7 "a letter written in Aramaic and translated." Besides denoting

1704-641: The Babylonian Talmud as targum dilan ("our Targum"), giving them official status. In the synagogues of Talmudic times, Targum Onkelos was read alternately with the Torah, verse by verse, and Targum Jonathan was read alternately with the selection from Nevi'im (i.e., the haftara ). This custom continues today in Yemenite Jewish synagogues. Besides its public function in the synagogue, the Babylonian Talmud also mentions targum in

1775-540: The Jews but had been destroyed, was rebuilt as the colonia Aelia Capitolina . Jews were forbidden to settle there or in the immediate vicinity. While Syria was divided into several smaller provinces by Septimius Severus , and later again by Diocletian , Syria Palaestina survived into late antiquity . Presumably, it was small enough not to become dangerous as a potential starting point for usurpation attempts. Instead, Diocletian even integrated parts of Arabia Petraea into

1846-593: The Manichaean alphabet evolved into the Pahlavi script and was used to write Middle Persian , and other languages which were influenced by Manichaean include: Parthian , Sogdian , Bactrian , and Old Uyghur . Imperial Aramaic is a Unicode block containing characters for writing Aramaic during the Achaemenid Persian Empires . Syria Palestina Syria Palaestina ( Koinē Greek : Συρία ἡ Παλαιστίνη , romanized:  Syría hē Palaistínē [syˈri.a (h)e̝ pa.lɛsˈt̪i.ne̝] )

1917-679: The Mediterranean region ( Anatolia , Greece , and the Italian peninsula ), and the Aramaic-derived alphabets of the East, including the Levant , Persia , Central Asia , and the Indian subcontinent . The former Phoenician-derived alphabets arose around the 8th century BC, and the latter Aramaic-derived alphabets evolved from the Imperial Aramaic script around the 6th century BC. After the fall of

1988-828: The Nabataean Aramaic, such as a few Arabic loanwords and how "l" is often turned into "n". After Nabataea was annexed by the Roman Empire in 106 AD, the influence of Aramaic declined in favor of Koine Greek for written communication. The Manichaean abjad writing system spread from the Near East over into Central Asia , travelling as far as the Tarim Basin in what is now the People's Republic of China . Its presence in Central Asia lead to influence from

2059-490: The Nabataeans would use Imperial Aramaic for their written communications, causing the development of Nabataean Aramaic out of Imperial Aramaic. The standardized cursive and Aramaic-derived Nabataean alphabet became the standardized form of writing Arabic for the Arabian Peninsula , evolving on its own into the alphabet of Arabic by the time of spread of Islam centuries later. Influences from Arabic were present in

2130-542: The Neo-Assyrian Empire. After the Achaemenid conquest of Mesopotamia in 539 BC, the Achaemenids continued the use of Aramaic as the language of the region, further extending its prevalence by making it the imperial standard (thus "Imperial" Aramaic) so it may be the "vehicle for written communication between the different regions of the vast empire with its different peoples and languages." The adoption of

2201-533: The Pentateuch was composed by Onkelos the proselyte from the mouths of R. Eleazar and R. Joshua. The Targum of the Prophets was composed by Jonathan ben Uzziel under the guidance of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, and the land of Israel [thereupon] quaked over an area of four hundred parasangs by four hundred parasangs, and a Bath Kol (heavenly voice) came forth and exclaimed, "Who is this that has revealed My secrets to mankind?" Jonathan b. Uzziel arose and said, "It

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2272-605: The Peshitta is thought to be before the year 300. Tadmor, H., 1991. "On the role of Aramaic in the Assyrian empire", in M. Mori, H. Ogawa and M. Yoshikawa (eds.), Near Eastern Studies Dedicated to H.I.H. Prince Takahito Mikasa on the Occasion of his Seventy-Fifth Birthday, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp. 419–426 English translations of Targum Other sources on Targum Imperial Aramaic language Some scholars use

2343-612: The Roman governor was given authority to punish by execution. The general population also began to be taxed by Rome . However, Jewish leaders retained broad discretion over affairs within Judaism. The Herodian kingdom was split into a tetrarchy in 6 AD, which was gradually absorbed into Roman provinces, with Roman Syria annexing Iturea and Trachonitis . The capital of Judaea was shifted from Jerusalem to Caesarea Maritima , which, according to historian Hayim Hillel Ben-Sasson , had been

2414-604: The Second Temple . Two generations later, the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136) erupted. Judea's countryside was devastated, and many were killed, displaced or sold into slavery. Jewish presence in the region significantly dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, Jerusalem was rebuilt as a Roman colony under the name of Aelia Capitolina , and Judaea

2485-630: The Tanakh from the time they were written and are notable for favoring allegorical readings over anthropomorphisms . Maimonides , for one, notes this often in The Guide for the Perplexed . That is true both for those targums that are fairly literal as well as for those that contain many midrashic expansions. In 1541, Elia Levita wrote and published the Sefer Meturgeman, explaining all

2556-506: The Targum never ceased to be a major source for Jewish exegesis . For instance, it serves as a major source in Shlomo Yitzhaki's Torah commentary, " Rashi ," and has always been the standard fare for Ashkenazi Jews onward. For these reasons, Jewish editions of the Tanakh which include commentaries still almost always print the Targum alongside the text, in all Jewish communities. Nevertheless, later halakhic authorities argued that

2627-512: The adoption of Imperial Aramaic, Hebrew was written in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet , which, along with Aramaic, directly descended from Phoenician . Hebrew and Aramaic heavily influenced one another, with mostly religious Hebrew words (such as ‘ēṣ "wood") transferring into Aramaic and more general Aramaic vocabulary (such as māmmôn "wealth") entering the local Hebrew lexicon. Late Old Western Aramaic, also known as Jewish Old Palestinian,

2698-537: The aftermath of the AD 132-135 Bar Kokhba revolt , identifying Emperor Hadrian as the one responsible for the measure, though no direct evidence suggests exactly when the name change was implemented or by whom, and the renaming may even have taken place before the conclusion of the revolt. While the name Judaea bore an ethnic connotation to Jews, Syria-Palaestina had a strict geographical meaning. Some authors in late antiquity, such as Jerome , continued to refer to

2769-521: The censor Andrea de Monte (d. 1587) bequeathed it to Ugo Boncompagni—which presents an oddity, since Boncompagni, better known as Pope Gregory XIII , died in 1585. The transmission route may instead be by a certain "Giovan Paolo Eustachio romano neophito." Before this de Monte had censored it by deleting most references to idolatry. In 1602 Boncompagni's estate gave it to the College of the Neophytes ,

2840-551: The context of a personal study requirement: "A person should always review his portions of scripture along with the community, reading the scripture twice and the targum once" (Berakhot 8a–b). This, too, refers to Targum Onkelos on the public Torah reading and to Targum Jonathan on the haftarot from Nevi'im. Medieval biblical manuscripts of the Masoretic Text sometimes contain the Hebrew text interpolated, verse-by-verse, with

2911-513: The correct Targum Yerushalmi (תרגום ירושלמי). Scholars refer to this targum as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan . To attribute this targum to Jonathan ben Uzziel flatly contradicts the Talmudic tradition (Megillah 3a), which quite clearly attributes the targum to Nevi'im alone to him, while stating that there is no official targum to the Ketuvim. In the same printed versions, a similar fragment targum

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2982-465: The early Hellenistic period. Other scholars use the term Imperial Aramaic in a narrower sense, reduced only to the Achaemenid period, basing that reduction on several strictly linguistic distinctions between the previous (Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian) phase and later (more prominent) Achaemenid phase. Since all of those phases can be semantically labelled as "imperial", some scholars opt for

3053-600: The empire of Cyrus the Great brought the borders of the Persian Empire all the way to the edge of the Indian subcontinent, with Alexander the Great and his successors further linking the lands through trade. The Babylonian captivity ended after Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon . The mass-prevalence of Imperial Aramaic in the region resulted in the eventual use of the Aramaic alphabet for writing Hebrew . Before

3124-453: The end of the first century BCE, as the common language was Aramaic and Hebrew was used for little more than schooling and worship. The translator frequently expanded his translation with paraphrases, explanations and examples, so it became a kind of sermon . Writing down the targum was initially prohibited; nevertheless, some targumitic writings appeared as early as the middle of the first century . They were not recognized as authoritative by

3195-540: The heartland with the capital at Caesarea, while Palaestina Secunda extended to Galilee , the Golan , and parts of the Transjordan and its capital was Scythopolis (now Beit She'an ). Salutaris was named Palaestina Tertia or Salutaris. The name Syria-Palaestina was given to the former Roman province of Judaea in the early 2nd century AD. The renaming is often presented as an act of punitive disassociation in

3266-435: The land. The province was split into smaller ones during the fourth and fifth centuries. In 358, areas that had formerly belonged to Arabia Petraea were transformed into a separate province of Palaestina Salutaris with Petra as its capital. The remaining territory was named Palaestina Prima . Around the year 400, it had been further split into a smaller Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda . Palaestina Prima included

3337-402: The larger Eastern Roman ( Byzantine ) Diocese of the East , together with the provinces of Isauria , Cilicia , Cyprus (until 536), Euphratensis , Mesopotamia , Osroene , and Arabia Petraea . Palaestina Prima consisted of Judaea , Samaria , the Paralia and Peraea , with the governor residing in Caesarea . Palaestina Secunda consisted of the Galilee, the lower Jezreel Valley ,

3408-400: The largest group of extant records in the language, collected in the standard Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt . Outside of Egypt, most texts are known from stone or pottery inscriptions spread across a wide geographic area. More recently a group of leather and wooden documents were found in Bactria , known as the Bactria Aramaic documents . The term "Imperial Aramaic"

3479-474: The most important of the Palestinian Targumim, as it is by far the most complete and, apparently, the earliest as well. The Fragment Targums (formerly known as Targum Yerushalmi II) consist of fragments divided into ten manuscripts. Of these P, V and L were first published in 1899 by M Ginsburger, A, B, C, D, F and G in 1930 by P Kahle and E in 1955 by A Díez Macho. These manuscripts are all too fragmented to confirm what their purpose was, but they seem to be either

3550-401: The name, Palestine was independent of Roman Syria , even to a greater extent than before, since instead of a legatus Augusti pro praetore , a higher-ranking governor of consular rank now presided over the region. This in turn was probably due to the fact that in addition to the already existing legion in Caesarea, a second legion was stationed in Legio , increasing the military importance of

3621-508: The oldest among the Palestinian Targum and have been dated to around the seventh century. Manuscripts C, E, H and Z contain only passages from Genesis, A from Exodus while MS B contain verses from both as well as from Deuteronomium. The Samaritan community has their own Targum to their text of the Torah. Other Targumim were also discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Peshitta is the traditional Bible of Syriac Christians , who speak several different dialects of Aramaic. The translation of

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3692-401: The paradox of truly historic significance that while Jewish Christianity was swallowed up in the Christian church, it preserved itself in Islam ." In circa 390, Syria Palaestina was reorganised into several administrative units: Palaestina Prima , Palaestina Secunda , and Palaestina Tertia (in the 6th century), Syria Prima and Phoenice and Phoenice Lebanensis. All were included within

3763-430: The pilgrimage of Empress Helena , the mother of Constantine the Great , c. 326–28. New pagan cities were founded in Judea at Eleutheropolis (now Bayt Jibrin ), Diopolis (now Lod ), and Nicopolis . The Hellenization of Palaestina continued under Septimius Severus (193–211 AD). The Romans destroyed the Jewish community of the Church in Jerusalem, which had existed since the time of Jesus. Traditionally it

3834-408: The province, namely the Negev and the Sinai Peninsula . He moved the Legio X Fretensis from Aelia Capitolina to Aila (today's Eilat / Aqaba ) to secure the country against Arab incursions. The part of the Roman imperial border that now ran through Palestine was subsequently placed under its own supreme commander, the dux Palaestinae , who is known from the Notitia Dignitatum . The border wall,

3905-529: The province. Exactly when the legion was moved and the rank of the governor's post increased is a matter of debate - in any case, these events must have occurred before the governorship of Quintus Tineius Rufus , who took office no later than 130. The population of Syria-Palaestina was of mixed character . The aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt resulted in severe devastation for Judaea's Jewish population, including significant loss of life, forced displacements, and widespread enslavement. The scale of suffering

3976-410: The region as Judaea out of habit due to the prominent association with the Jews. This includes an inscription from Ephesos from AD 170-180, honoring the wife of a figure known as "Eroelius Klaros", who had the epithet "ruler of Judaea" ("[Ερο]υκίου Κλάρου, υπάτου, [ηγ]εμόνος Ιουδ[αίας]"), decades after the recreation of Provincia Judaea as Syria-Palaestina. Other scholars and commenters disagree with

4047-436: The region, and Christians formed a majority in Palestine and Jerusalem through migration and conversion of pagans, Samaritans and Jews. After the Jewish–Roman wars (66–135), which Epiphanius believed the Cenacle survived, the significance of Jerusalem to Christians entered a period of decline, it having been destroyed and later refounded as the pagan colonia of Aelia Capitolina. Christian interest resumed again with

4118-445: The regions of Judea , Samaria , Idumea , and Galilee and extended over parts of the former regions of Hasmonean and Herodian Judea. It was named after Herod's Tetrarchy of Judaea , but Roman Judaea encompassed a much larger territory than Judaea . The name "Judaea" ultimately traces to the Iron Age Kingdom of Judah . Following the deposition of Herod Archelaus in 6 AD, Judea came under direct Roman rule, during which time

4189-431: The religious leaders. Some subsequent Jewish traditions, beginning with the Jews of Lower Mesopotamia , accepted the written targumim as authoritative translations of the Hebrew scriptures into Aramaic. Today, the common meaning of targum is a written Aramaic translation of the Bible. Only Yemenite Jews continue to use the targumim liturgically. As translations, the targumim largely reflect midrashic interpretation of

4260-508: The remains of a single complete targum or short variant readings of another targum. As a group, they often share theological views and with Targum Neofiti, which has led to the belief that they could be variant readings of that targum. The Cairo Geniza Fragment Targums originate from the Ben Ezra Synagogue's genizah in Cairo. They share similarities with the Fragment Targums in that they consist of many fragmented manuscripts that have been collected in one targum-group. The manuscripts A and E are

4331-490: The requirement to privately review the targum might also be met by reading a translation in the current vernacular in place of the official Targum, or else by studying an important commentary containing midrashic interpretation (especially that of Rashi). The Talmud explicitly states that no official targumim were composed besides these two on Torah and Nevi'im alone, and that there is no official targum to Ketuvim ("The Writings"). The Talmud stories state: The Targum of

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4402-408: The substratum belying their origins remains. When most Jewish communities ceased speaking Aramaic in the 10th century, the public reading of Targum, along with the Torah and Haftarah, was abandoned in most communities, Yemen being a well-known exception. The private study requirement to review the Targum was never entirely relaxed, even when Jewish communities had largely ceased speaking Aramaic, and

4473-470: The term as a designation for a distinctive, socially prominent phase in the history of Aramaic language, that lasted from the middle of the 8th century BCE to the end of the 4th century BCE and was marked by the use of Aramaic as a language of public life and administration in the late Neo-Assyrian Empire and its successor states, the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Achaemenid Empire , also adding to that some later (Post-Imperial) uses that persisted throughout

4544-413: The territories of the Achaemenid Empire, further suggesting that the language's use was more prevalent in these areas than initially thought. The native speakers of Aramaic, the Arameans , settled in great numbers in Babylonia and Upper Mesopotamia during the ages of the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires . The massive influx of settlers led to the adoption of Aramaic as the lingua franca of

4615-446: The translations of the Bible, "targum" also denoted the oral rendering of Bible lections in synagogue , while the translator of the Bible was simply called hammeturgem (he who translates). Other than the meaning "translate", the verb tirgem also means "to explain". Targum refers to " translation " and argumentation or " explanation ". The two most important targumim for liturgical purposes are: These two targumim are mentioned in

4686-594: The use of more specific and unambiguous terms, like Neo-Assyrian Aramaic and Neo-Babylonian Aramaic (for the older phases), and Achaemenid Aramaic (for the later phase), thus avoiding the use of the polysemic "imperial" label, and its primarily sociolinguistic implications. Similar issues have arisen in relation to the uses of some alternative terms, like Official Aramaic or Standard Aramaic , that were also criticized as unspecific. All of those terms continue to be used differently by scholars. The Elephantine papyri and ostraca , as well as other Egyptian texts, are

4757-403: Was first coined by Josef Markwart in 1927, calling the language by the German name Reichsaramäisch . In 1955, Richard N. Frye noted that no extant edict expressly or ambiguously accorded the status of " official language " to any particular language, causing him to question the classification of Imperial Aramaic. Frye went on to reclassify Imperial Aramaic as the lingua franca used in

4828-435: Was immense, with ancient sources reporting extensive destruction and high casualty rates. It appears that at the end of the revolt, Jewish settlement in Judaea Proper had nearly been eradicated, but remained strong in other parts of Palestine. Jewish survivors faced harsh Roman punitive measures, including expulsion from Jerusalem and other areas, leading to a migration to Galilee and Golan . Some scholars suggest that

4899-436: Was renamed Syria Palaestina, a term occasionally used among Greco-Romans for centuries to describe the Southern Levant . Syria-Palaestina included Judea , Samaria , Galilee , Idumaea , and Philistia . The province retained its capital, Caesarea Maritima, and therefore remained distinct from Syria, which was located further north with its capital in Antioch . Jerusalem , which held special religious significance for

4970-412: Was the renamed Roman province formerly known as Judaea , following the Roman suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt , in what then became known as the Palestine region between the early 2nd and late 4th centuries AD. The provincial capital was Caesarea Maritima . It forms part of timeline of the period in the region referred to as Roman Palestine . Judaea was a Roman province that incorporated

5041-413: Was traditionally called Targum Yerushalmi ("Jerusalem Targum"), and written in Western Aramaic. An important one of these was mistakenly labeled "Targum Jonathan" in later printed versions (though all medieval authorities refer to it by its correct name). The error crept in because of an abbreviation: the printer interpreted the abbreviation TY (ת"י) to stand for Targum Yonathan (תרגום יונתן) instead of

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