>Yes, Porter does consider the inscriptional evidence from burial sites (pp.
>221-23). Stanton's claim is statistically accurate: 68/70% of all funerary
>inscriptions
>from the Mediterranean world, and 55-60% from Palestine, are in Greek. At
>some places,
>such as Beth She'arim, the percentage is even higher (80%). Perhaps this
>represents the
>level of aquiantance and ability to converse in Greek in the first two
>centuries of the
>CE. Porter cites van der Horst (whose contribution to this field is
>substantial) as
>saying,
>
> if even rabbis and their families phrased their epitaphs
> in Greek, there is only one natural explanation for that
> phenomenon: Greek was the language of their daily lives.
>
>I would also concur with that.
Thanks, Adrian. I had come to the same conclusion some time ago, but I just
didn't know where Stanton had obtained his evidence. I'll have to read
Porter's article. Do you have the bibliographical information? I know it
was posted to b-greek earlier, but I failed to write it down.
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Micheal W. Palmer
Religion & Philosophy
Meredith College
mwpalmer@earthlink.net
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