Emphasis Preaching Journal

Some years ago I traveled to Syria and visited a little village named Seidnaya in the Anti-Lebanese Mountains. Seidnaya is distinguished by being one of three remote towns where some semblance of the ancient Aramaic language is still used. This language was the official tongue of the Persian Empire. Following the Battle of Issus in 331 B.C., Alexander the Great encouraged a hellenization of the ancient world that began to eradicate the Aramaic language and replace it with Greek. The process was slow and inexorable.