Monday, April 26, 2021

Draft - From the Loss of Greek to the Renaissance in Europe.
The Bible Book: The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love the Word of God

The Emperor Constantine, "Equal to the Apostles:"
he convoked the Council of Nicea, near his home base, which gave us the Nicene Creed.

 

The Septuagint and the Subsequent Loss of Greek

            One of the greatest achievements of Biblical versions came from the need of Jews to have the Old Testament studied a common language. The name Septuagint is often represented by the Roman numeral LXX for 70. No one knows exactly when it was translated or the exact dates. The translation probably began around 285 BC, so it was available not only to Jews but to those who knew Greek.

            The glory of Greece was far gone when the Son was born of the Virgin Mary. However, the language remained in all territories conquered by Alexander and ruled by his generals afterwards. Rome got into peace-making, often called occupation, when they were called in to settle the constant fighting in the Holy Land, around 60 BC. For a time, people teaching the Bible claimed the New Testament was written in Aramaic, that Jesus taught in Aramaic. No one has found this proposed Aramaic New Testament, a theory which ignores how useless a local idiom might be - contrasted to the language used around the civilized world, Koine Greek, or common Greek. They did not use the same style of Greek as Homer did centuries earlier but the simplified Greek of conversation, letters, and commerce.

(Hat tip, Bruce Christian D.D.)

            Jesus was born in the pagan Roman Empire, seemingly at the peak of its size, power, and grandeur. But the decline had started and rushed to a conclusion a few centuries later, the Western Roman empire conquered by outsiders. However, the Eastern Roman Empire began with the Emperor Constantine Christianizing its lands, which lasted a more than 1100 years, 306 – 1453 AD. The Fall of Rome led to the fragments of the Western Roman Empire – Europe – adopting Latin Bibles while the Eastern Roman Empire - called Byzantium after its capital city - preserved Greek, Greek literature, and Greek culture with Christianity the main religious force.

            Constantine became Emperor of Rome in 306. He was enough of a Christian to create a new capital at Byzantium, a small town ideally placed for trade between the West and Asia.[1] He wanted a Christian capital and enticed Roman families to move to his new home, which he dubbed the New Rome.[2] As a trading city for jade and silk, the city became known as Constantinople. Vast wealth accumulated and enemies were defeated in their attacks on the city. In spite of a long and glorious history, from growth to decline and defeat, historians have given little thought to the Byzantine Empire. As a result, most people think the Roman Empire collapsed around 400 AD, but that was only the European part. While Europe seemed divided into little fiefdoms and duchies, developing new languages, Byzantium preserved the Greek language, Greek art, and the Greek manuscripts. The tragedy of Constanople’s fall is directly connected to the Renaissance in Europe, when Greek scholars and manuscripts made their way into Europe as they escaped.

The Ottoman Empire

            After the prophet Mohammed died, in 632 AD, his enemies rose up to remove his influence from Arabia. Instead, his followers countered and wiped out all active opposition.

The Byzantine Empire was protected against invasion until the growth of the Ottoman Empire in the 1300s. Byzantium did not have a warlike culture, but the Muslims were active in conquest. By 1453, the Byzantine Empire had been whittled down to Constantinople alone, and it fell on May 29th. The last emperor of Constantinople, who died fighting, was named Constantine, just as the last emperor of Rome was named Romulus and died fighting in 476, which was considered the end of the Roman Empire.

Constantinople became Istanbul by combining the Greek words for “into the city.”[3] The great and golden metropolis was simply called “The City,” just as New York City is today. A lawyer who worked in New York said to us, “I can do my work in the suburbs, so I seldom have to go into the City.” He added, “That is how we tell newcomers from old hands. New York is simply The City.”

The fall of Constantinople was accompanied by Greek scholars and artists fleeing to Europe with their treasures, which initiated the Renaissance. Ancient Greek culture was admired and copied in many ways, and the Greek New Testament came to replace the Vulgate. Thus the end of the two empires, Rome and Byzantine, mark the beginning and end of the Middle Ages.

            The fall of Rome facilitated the Church in governing Europe, with its common language – Latin – and its network of bishops and priests. The struggle began, not the first, but the most effective, the Gospel versus the Antichrist.

 

 

 

           

 

           

           


 



[1] Scholars are divided about how sincere his faith was. He named himself Equal to the Apostles, but his actions did not always reflect that title.

[2] Empires after Rome have sought to be the New Rome, first the Byzantine, then the Holy Roman Empire, Russia with its Caesars or Tsars, and Germany as the Third Empire – Rome, Holy Roman, and Nazi. However, the Byzantine was the longest surviving and remains the most ignored by historians.

[3] εις την Πόλιν