Reply #53: And do you know a lot of Israelis in Israel who speak English to each other outside the synagogue?

[BurtWorm]

You think that's a common practice? You think it would have been common for Jews in Jerusalem to speak Greek to each other in secular contexts? I'm not trying to trick you, I'm trying to get as sense if you seriously believe Greek was the language Jews spoke to each other in Palestine, and if you have anything to support it other than a sense that they "might well" have.

My understanding from what I've read about the Dead Sea Scrolls is that most are actually in Hebrew, as you say. But Aramaic is not Hebrew. In fact, a minority of the scrolls were in Aramaic. Most were in classical (Biblical) Hebrew. A small number were Greek.

Re: Nazareth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazareth

<<Earliest History & Archaeological Evidence

Archaeological research has revealed a funerary and cult center at Kfar HaHoresh, about two miles from Nazareth, dating roughly 9000 years ago (in what is known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B era).<2> The remains of some 65 individuals were found, buried under huge horizontal headstone structures, some of which consisted of up to 3 tons of locally-produced white plaster. Decorated human skulls found have led archaeologists to believe that Kfar HaHoresh was a major cult center in that remote era.<3>

“Nazareth is not mentioned in ancient Jewish sources earlier than the third century AD. This likely reflects its lack of prominence both in Galilee and in Judaea,” writes American archaeologist James Strange.<4> Strange variously estimates Nazareth’s population at “roughly 1,600 to 2,000 people” in the time of Christ, and in another publication at “a maximum of about 480.” <5> However, some historians argue that the absence of textual references to Nazareth in the Old Testament and the Talmud, as well as the works of Josephus, suggest that a town called 'Nazareth' did not exist in Jesus' day.<6> The latter view is supported by the results of the excavations at Nazareth which do not furnish evidence from Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic or Early Roman times,<7> despite many claims to the contrary made in the literature.<8> B. Bagatti (the principle archaeologist at the venerated sites in Nazareth) has unearthed quantities of later Roman and Byzantine artefacts,<9> attesting to unambiguous human presence there from the 2nd century AD onward. Thus, it is possible that the town of Nazareth came into existence only with the spread of Christianity.

In the mid-1990s, shopkeeper Elias Shama discovered tunnels under his shop near Mary’s Well in Nazareth. The tunnels were eventually recognized as a hypocaust (a space below the floor into which warm air was pumped) for a bathhouse. The site was excavated in 1997-98 by Y. Alexandre, and the archaeological remains exposed were ascertained to date from the Middle Roman, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods. <10><11><12> Boo

A tablet currently at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, dating to 50 AD, was sent from Nazareth to Paris in 1878. It contains an inscription known as the "Ordinance of Caesar" that outlines the penalty of death for those who violate tombs or graves. However, it is suspected that this inscription came to Nazareth from somewhere else (possibly Sepphoris). Bagatti writes: “we are not certain that it was found in Nazareth, even though it came from Nazareth to Paris. At Nazareth there lived various vendors of antiquities who got ancient material from several places.”<13> C. Kopp is more definite: "It must be accepted with certainty that ... was brought to the Nazareth market by outside merchants."<14>

Jack Finegan describes additional archaeological evidence related to settlement in the Nazareth basin during the Bronze and Iron Ages, and adds that "Nazareth was a strongly Jewish settlement in the Roman period."<15> The critical question now under scholarly debate is when in the Roman period Nazareth came into existence, that is, whether settlement there began before or after 70 AD (the First Jewish War).>>


The evidence is quite a bit more--ahem--"ambiguous" than you dare to admit.