CAMBRIDGE, England, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- British archaeologists say fragments of an ancient copy of the Bible have provided a rare glimpse into ancient Byzantine Jewish life and culture.
Cambridge University researchers say the findings suggests that, contrary to long-accepted views, Jews continued to use a Greek version of the Bible in synagogues for centuries longer than previously thought, PhysOrg.com reported Wednesday.
The researchers examined manuscripts, some of them mere fragments, discovered in a synagogue in Egypt and brought to Cambridge at the end of the 19th century.
"The translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek between the third and first centuries [B.C.] is said to be one of the most lasting achievements of the Jewish civilization -- without it, Christianity might not have spread as quickly and as successfully as it did," Nicholas de Lange, Cambridge professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, said.
De Lange led the three-year study to re-evaluate the Greek Bible fragments.
"It was thought that the Jews, for some reason, gave up using Greek translations and chose to use the original Hebrew for public reading in synagogue and for private study, until modern times when pressure to use the vernacular led to its introduction in many synagogues," he said.
Fragments containing passages from the Bible in Greek written in Hebrew letters date from 1,000 years after the original translation into Greek, showing use of the Greek text was still alive in Greek-speaking synagogues in the Byzantine Empire and elsewhere, de Lange said.
