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• But together, Hebrew and Aramaic scrolls, documents and manuscripts, whether of a Jewish or Christian character, were destroyed and burnt by the Romans. Thus, while many people ask the question, “What is the earliest known Hebrew or Aramaic originals?”, we cannot really expect to find any “original” Hebrew or Aramaic manuscripts arising out of Israel, out of Roman Judea or Roman Palestine, in the first and second centuries A.D. The Romans simply destroyed whatever they could find. The Dead Sea Scrolls provide us with an insight into what was available at the time, but they are all that was rescued from the destruction.