The Land Of Purple

LANGUAGE & DEMOGRAPHICS:

During Classical Antiquity, and through the Mishnaic era, Aramaic was the primary language used even by the Hebrews. (During Late Antiquity, the go-to language was an offshoot of Aramaic: Syriac.) This is demonstrated by the earliest scrolls of Jewish prayer–as with the benediction from Numbers 6:24-26: “May YHWH bless you and keep you. May YHWH make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May YHWH lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” This has come down to us via Aramaic sources, not from Classical Hebrew.

The famed 1st-century Jewish historian, Yosef ben Matityahu of Judea (a.k.a. “Josephus”) composed his works in (Syrio-)Aramaic, not in Classical Hebrew. The 1st-century “Targum Onkelos” was written in Aramaic, not in Classical Hebrew. One might also note the ancient boundary markers for Gezer from Classical Antiquity: written using Aramaic and Greek script, not Classical Hebrew. Even during the Judaic heyday of Palestine, the Hasmonean period, the linguas franca of Canaan were Aramaic and Koine Greek. (Hence the need for the Septuagint.) Some prayers, such as the “Kol Nidrei” [“All Vows”], dating from the Middle Ages, are still rendered in Aramaic. Texts through the Masoretic period (that is: the Middle Ages) retain vestiges of their Aramaic origins.

The Jews of Roman Palestine primarily spoke Aramaic (and later, Syriac), as with Jesus of Nazareth. (If anything, the only other predominant Semitic language would have been Samaritan.) So it is likely the terminology used would have been in keeping with the (incumbent) Aramaic branch of the Semitic languages. Tellingly, Masoretic texts are PRIMARILY Aramaic–with only hints of Classical Hebrew. This points not only to the origins of the text, but to the fact that the original language of Judaic scripture persisted until the 11th century. Behold the Masoretic “Ashkar-Gilson” and “London” codices from the 8th century A.D. as well as the Masoretic “Aleppo” codex from the 10th century A.D.

Tellingly, the Babylonian scribes of the Exilic Period referred to the liturgical language that they established NOT as “Hebrew”, but as “sefat Kena’an”: the language of Canaan. (!) The language used by the great Talmudic scholars was a Babylonian version of what we now call “Middle Aramaic”. The signature block script that came to be associated with Classical Hebrew was known as “Ashuri” (meaning “Assyrian”). (Its contemporary Aramaic offshoots were Mandaic and Syriac.) Predictably, it was the Samaritans (that is: the people who remained in Canaan) who retained the script that was closest to the writing’s Aramaic roots.

Even as the Land of Purple was home to many peoples over the centuries, demographic records reveal much about the region. Hebrew scripture is very telling about who the residents of Canaan were in Classical Antiquity. As we’ve seen, the Torah refers to Canaan’s inhabitants simply as CANAANITES [“Kena’anim”]–as in, say, Exodus 23:23. More specifically, denizens of the land are referred to variously as Amorites, Hittites, Hivites, Perez-ites, and Jebus-ites. {15} Later (e.g. Ezra 9:1), we hear about Moabites and Ammonites as well. In Judges, we hear about the Ephraim-ites (to the north) and the people of Gilead (east of the Jordan river). Throughout the Hebrew Bible, there is no use of the term “Israelites” to refer to the autochthonous residents of Canaan…any more than “Israel” was used to refer to a specific tract of land. Salient terms only refer to a certain people (the Hebrews)…WHEREVER they happened to be. In other words: Beth Israel referred to the post-Exilic diaspora. {7}

Palestinians who emphasized their Jewish identity continued to fashion themselves a “Judeans”. During the uprisings of 66-73 A.D., Jewish rebels–be they Essenes, Sicarii, Sadducees, or Pharisees–designated themselves as such. The same went for the revolt of 132-136 A.D. under Bar Kokhba. Had they succeeded, and won independence, they likely would have dubbed their kingdom “Judah” / “Jud[a]ea” (alt. “Yehud”). Even by the 3rd century, Origen of Alexandria–the most famous Palestinian Christian commentator of the era, was still referring to the Holy Land as “Judea”.

Herodotus was not the last to use the term based on the Iron Age moniker, “P-L-S-T”. When it came to the Land of Purple, variants of the moniker “Palestine” continued to be used–even by the world’s Jews–through Late Antiquity. The moniker (rendered “Philistia” in Hebrew) was even used in Judaic lore–as in Psalm 87:4. In the early 1st century A.D., the Jewish thinker, Philo of Alexandria referred to the land as “Palestina[e]”, and even noted that those of ancient times referred to it as “Canaan” or “Land of the Canaanites”. The great (Andalusian) Roman geographer, Pomponius Mela referred to it as “Jud[a]ea”. And in the late 1st century, the Jewish historian, Josephus referred to it was “Palaestina[e]” (ref. his “Antiquities of the Jews”). In fact, during Late Antiquity, onomastics for the Levant ended up becoming even more specific–dividing the region into “Palaestina Prima”, “Palaestina Secunda”, and “Palaestina Salutaris” (the old Idum[a]ea).  For more scholarship on the archeological record, see Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman’s 2001 “The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts”.