Rome and the East
a captive taken in Trajan’s Parthian campaign; later he was trained in Greek
and became a skilled orator.^73
This is the only item of evidence from a pagan source which clearly im-
plies the existence of a whole class of educated Aramaic-speaking persons
in Roman Syria, and as such is of great importance. For further evidence
on the use of Aramaic in Syria we have to wait until the Christian period,
whose literature, as always, allows us insight into social levels which pagan
literature tended systematically to ignore.^74 Though Christian writers call
the native language of Syria ‘‘Syrian,’’ it was actually what we call Aramaic,
and it will save confusion to reserve ‘‘Syriac’’ for the dialect of Edessa, the
script associated with it, and the literary language developed from it. In as-
sembling the evidence it will not be necessary to pay special attention to
those passages where Christian writers merely refer generally to Aramaic or
to the meanings of individual words in it;^75 what is important is to examine
those items which give some indication of the geographical or social range
of Aramaic-speaking, and its role within the church.
It so happens that much of the relevant evidence relates to the gentile
population of Palestine and its environs. The earliest Christian evidence
comes from the ‘‘long,’’ Syriac, recension of Eusebius’Martyrs of Palestine,
and relates to Procopius, a martyr from Scythopolis executed in , who
had the role of interpreting into Aramaic in the church there.^76 What is
meant by this is revealed by the detailed report of the conduct of services in
Aelia ( Jerusalem) made a century later by the pilgrim Egeria (or Aetheria).
She found that part of the congregation spoke only Greek, part only Ara-
maic, and part both. But the bishop, even if he knew Aramaic, spoke only
Greek in conducting services, while a presbyter had the task of translating
his words into Aramaic. Similarly, readings from the Bible were made first
in Greek, and then interpreted.^77 Nothing could demonstrate more clearly
the values attached to the two languages. One may compare with it the
closely related evidence of Jerome, describing the funeral of Saint Paula in
. Photius,Bib. , (b), ed. Henry, II, .
. For collections of relevant passages in Christian writers, see C. Charon, ‘‘L’origine
ethnographique des Melkites,’’Echosd’Orient (): , ; G. Bardy,Laquestiondeslangues
dans l’église ancienne(), –; A. H. M. Jones,The Later Roman Empire(), .
. See, e.g., Jerome,Vita Pauli(PLXXIII, );In Esaiam, , – (CCLLXXIII,
); Theodoret,Hist.Eccles.,,;,,;,,;Hist. Relig.(PGLXXXII, , ).
. For the text, see B. Violet,Texte und UntersuchungenXIV, (), and ; cf. H.
Delehaye,Les légendes hagiographiques(), ff.
.Pereg. Egeriae, – (CCLCLXXV, ); ed. H. Pétre,Éthérie, Journal de Voyage,
Sources Chrétiennes (), –.