{"id":87419,"date":"2025-08-06T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/?p=87419"},"modified":"2025-08-05T17:42:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T21:42:34","slug":"what-is-latin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/ancient-cultures\/ancient-rome\/what-is-latin\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Latin?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"What<\/a>

What is Latin? This Latin inscription, often called the Pilate Stone, records Pontius Pilate’s dedication of a temple to Emperor Tiberius. Courtesy Photo Companion to the Bible, Matthew<\/a>. <\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Although the original biblical texts were written mostly in Hebrew or Greek, there is no denying that Latin was one of the most important languages of the biblical world. Indeed, many Jews and early Christians living within the Roman Empire would have spoken and read Latin, and it would have been familiar to and perhaps the first language of many in the early church. While it does not seem that the Roman Empire shared a single language, Latin was certainly the language of Rome\u2014the language of politicians, administrators, and soldiers. In the eastern part of the empire\u2014the Greek-speaking world\u2014Latin never obtained the dominance it had in the West, but it was still known and read.<\/p>\n

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FREE ebook: The Holy Bible: A Buyer's Guide<\/strong> 42 different Bible versions, addressing content, text, style and religious orientation.\r\n<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t