What language did Jesus and Pilate use?

[patrick457]

There seems to have been much disagreement about what was “proper” and what was not. The Pharisees, Sadducees,Essenes etc. had different ideas. There was no proper canon. Jesus seems to have been acquainted with the Pentateuch and the prophets. For a supposedly unlettered man, he seems to know a lot of rabbinical tricks. Frank Sheed proposed that Our Lady as a member of a priestly family and and inhabitant of the area around Jerusalem, may not have been as “simple” a maid as we think, but herself literate. Something not unheard of even in that time, and that she served as our Lord’s instructor.
If he was who we think he is, then he would have been a wunderkind, a prodigy, who took in
information with great facility. Hence even thinking in human terms, he may have committed to memory every scrap of scripture he had ever laid eyes on. Further, he would have read man and nature with the same ease that other prodigies do. The story in the temple seems to present us with a boy preternaturally gifted. Now, supposing all this, what would the mature man have been like.

Actually I was talking about Israelite religion before the Exile. I usually distinguish between the pre-exilic (Ancient Israelite religion, aka ‘Yahwism’) and the post-exilic and later forms (Judaism).

Then again, I also do a distinction between the Historical Vedic religion (Brahmanism) and its progeny, the various modern-day forms of Hinduism (Folk Hinduism, Vedic Hinduism, Vedantic Hinduism, etc.).

 

[steve53]

The LXX was a product of Alexandria. which had a huge Jewish quarter. Still the Greek influence In the Holy Land was strong. The Maccabees had rebelled against efforts by leaders in Jerusalem to Hellenize the Land. Greek was probably the language of the courts of the Herodians. What strikes me as I read the Old Testament is how racially mixed the place was, and how the population as a whole seems never to have worshipped
the God of the Jews.

Greek was probably the language of the courts of the Herodians.

Where does THAT come from?? Source, please.

Herod the Great was Romanized to his core. And by blood was far more Arabic that Jew. He would have spoken fluent Latin, as well as Aramaic, some Hebrew, and whatever language the Naboteans spoke. He would have known some Greek, of course, but it is a real stretch to say it was his official court language.

 

[RobbyS]

Greek was probably the language of the courts of the Herodians.

Where does THAT come from?? Source, please.

Herod the Great was Romanized to his core. And by blood was far more Arabic that Jew. He would have spoken fluent Latin, as well as Aramaic, some Hebrew, and whatever language the Naboteans spoke. He would have known some Greek, of course, but it is a real stretch to say it was his official court language.

Greek was the linguafranca of the eastern portion of the eastern part of the empire.It was also fashionable among the Roman aristocracy to study the Greek classics. The grandson of Herod the Great spent years in Rome before returning to be kind of the land and he would have known Latin. Latin was the official language of the Empire, so of course many Jews would have had to know it.

 

[nbtrap]

I was considering the meeting of Jesus with Pontius Pilate and wondered what language they used. The dialogue sounds too brisk to have been uttered through an interpreter, so we are left with Latin, which humanly Jesus probably did not know, or Aramaic, probably unintelligible to Pilate, or Greek.
Has anyone any ideas on this?

As prefect of Judea, Pilate very probably could communicate in Aramaic, and he could certainly speak Greek. It’s hard to say in what language they would have conversed. Between Latin and Greek, it is far more likely that Jesus (humanly) knew Greek; in fact, it’s quite probable that he did, or at least enough to get by.

Interestingly, Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ does something really cool in this scene. You see Pilate begin questioning Jesus in Aramaic, but when Jesus answers him, he answers in Latin, and Pilate is momentarily surprised. It’s very subtle, since you can’t see it int he subtitles, but next time you watch it, pay attention for it!

 

[steve53]

“Greek was the linguafranca of the eastern portion of the eastern part of the empire.”

I am not sure what that means, but glad you agree that Greek was not the official language of ANY Herodian court.

By Herodian court I thought you meant Herod the Great. But even saying Greek was the official language that Antipas used decades later is still a stretch. Antipas knew Greek, but he was ruling over Galilean Jews in an agrarian setting, so he knew Aramaic. He dealt with Romans, and they spoke Latin. The Greeks had their own territories in the Decapolis, and reported directly to the President of Syria. Greek would not have been the official court language of Antipas. Greek was the INTELLECTUAL language of the Empire, but Latin was the official language.

FWIW, Antipas married an Arab princess from Petra, by the way, when he was young, and she remained his wife for probably close to thirty years. No reason for her to know Greek at all.

 

[ProVobis]

FWIW;

From John 19:19-20

19 ἔγραψεν δὲ καὶ τίτλον ὁ Πιλᾶτος καὶ ἔθηκεν ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ: ἦν δὲ γεγραμμένον, Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων. 20 τοῦτον οὖν τὸν τίτλον πολλοὶ ἀνέγνωσαν τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ὅτι ἐγγὺς ἦν ὁ τόπος τῆς πόλεως ὅπου ἐσταυρώθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς: καὶ ἦν γεγραμμένον Ἑβραϊστί, Ῥωμαϊστί, Ἑλληνιστί.

19 Scripsit autem et titulum Pilatus, et posuit super crucem. Erat autem scriptum : Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judæorum. 20 Hunc ergo titulum multi Judæorum legerunt : quia prope civitatem erat locus, ubi crucifixus est Jesus, et erat scriptum hebraice, græce, et latine.

19 And Pilate wrote a title also: and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 This title therefore many of the Jews did read: because the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city. And it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin.

 

[Bubba_Switzler]

Latin was only used in Rome by the most learned people. Greek was the common tongue even in Rome.

What I’ve read (can’t remember the source) is that Latin was the official tongue of the eastern mediterranean and Greek the east, roughly speaking, the areas that had been conquered by Alexander and which had lived under his successors for generations.

This issue came up in criticism of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” which, if you will recall, had the Roman soldiers speaking Latin wheras Roman troops were raised from all over the empire and troops serving in Judea would likely have been raised from Syria or Turkey hence would probably be Greek speakers.

However, since Pilate came from Rome he probably spoke both. Jesus, as man, would likely have been fluent in Greek, for the reasons discussed above, but it’s certainly not impossible that he would speak Latin and certainly makes for an interesting scene in Mel Gibson’s movie when Jesus surprises Pilate by speaking Latin to him.

 

[catholick345]

Paul was half-Greek, moved to Jerusalem early in life from the Syrian-Greek town of Tarsus, and returned to the Greek world to evangelize. He knew Greek and would have written his letters in Greek. Likewise, the early Christian writers were centered in the Greek world, and not Jerusalem.

At the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, the Syrian Greeks and the Jews were bitter enemies, with frequent clashes in the countryside. It is doubtful that the Jews of the Second Temple period would have embraced the Greek culture to the point of bothering to learn its language, or speak it, or use it for the writing down important information. The Greeks were pagans who worshiped many gods. The Jews, on the other hand, not only worshiped the one true God, but were God’s chosen people. Latin had to be learned, as the Temple Priests were beholden to the Roman Empire for their powers.

Wait. What??? Paul most certainly was not half-Greek.

 

[GEddie]

Wait. What??? Paul most certainly was not half-Greek.

Maybe not by blood, but he was from then- Greek Asia Minor.

As to our LORD, I’ve no doubt, that living where HE did (Galilee – the crossroads of Israel, itself the crossroads for 3 continents) and being WHO HE was, that HE knew at least some Latin, even if not fluently.

ICXC NIKA

 

[cthulhubryan]

Maybe not by blood, but he was from then- Greek Asia Minor.

As to our LORD, I’ve no doubt, that living where HE did (Galilee – the crossroads of Israel, itself the crossroads for 3 continents) and being WHO HE was, that HE knew at least some Latin, even if not fluently.

ICXC NIKA

I would think more like Aramaic and a smattering of Greek as those were dominant in the area.

 

[JB_Brother_4446]

the Roman soldiers in the Holy Land and mentioned in the Bible were probably all auxiliaries, not legionaries. Judea at the time of Jesus’ birth was a client kingdom, ruled by Herod the Great under Rome’s authority. He probably had his own troops for security and general military needs, though Rome may have sent him temporary reinforcements when necessary. Some thirty years later, Judaea had become an equestrian province with Pontius Pilate as the current prefect. He was of equestrian rank, not a senator, and therefore was not of high enough status to command a legion. So his garrison was composed of auxiliary troops, with the nearest legions being stationed in Syria. There may have been a few small details of legionaries or lone centurions on detatched duty here and there, but their tasks would not have had anything to do with the day to day operations in Judea.

This is my opinion, is also what is meant when you talk about the animosity between the Syrians and the Jews: there is a reference in the Bible to “the Italian Cohort”, apparently Cohors II Italica, composed (unlike most other auxiliary units) of actual Roman citizens from Italy. There is some evidence that the cohort in garrison at Jerusalem was a cohors equitata, with both infantry and cavalry. Most of the troops besides the Italians would have been Syrians or other local, Greek-speaking peregrini. Some centurions may have been transferred from the legions as a means of promotion. None of these soldiers would have been overly friendly or sympathetic towards the Jews.

Correct. But we should also weigh what Josephus says with other sources.

There could have been some detachments from cohorts from a legion. The constant rebellions sure helped that prospect.

 

[steve53]

A resurrected thread!

This is truly miraculous.

 

[adamhovey1988]

I was considering the meeting of Jesus with Pontius Pilate and wondered what language they used. The dialogue sounds too brisk to have been uttered through an interpreter, so we are left with Latin, which humanly Jesus probably did not know, or Aramaic, probably unintelligible to Pilate, or Greek.
Has anyone any ideas on this?

I would imagine that Jesus probably spoke the to Pilate in Greek as that was the lingua franca of the day where he lived. Contrary to popular opinion of the internet Jesus would have been well educated you know and besides the fact he’s God but without that fact he would have known Greek because of his trade . Pilate would have known Greek and Latin but maybe not the local languages although he probably did speak a little bit of Aramaic. There’s my two cents I defy you to prove me wrong but to be fair you can’t prove me right either. It is an interesting question and it’s one I’ve had for a while but I think that given the limited information there is no consensus that can be reached

 

[patrick457]

There could have been some detachments from cohorts from a legion. The constant rebellions sure helped that prospect.

This is the 20s-30s we’re talking about. The situation in the 30s was not yet the same as it was in the 50s-60s, when you did have large-scale uprisings that necessitated the nearest legion(s) to move.

A resurrected thread!

This is truly miraculous.

And I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to do that, if I remember correctly.