The Languages of Beth Sheʿarim

The several languages found in the ca. 350 inscriptions in Beth She‘arim, including Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, Palmyrene and Sabaitic, show signs of different dialects reflecting the large area from which people arrived at the site to bury their dead. But these are epigraphic, not spoken, dialects. It is important to distinguish between the language which a person spoke and the language in which that same person wrote an epitaph (which the writer did not necessarily understand as a spoken language), and the reasons why people chose an epigraphic language. In fact, the linguistic diversity of the occupants of Beth She‘arim was wider than that reflected in the inscriptions.