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• In the Maccabean Revolt, mainstream Jews fought hard against the Greek language, and thus Aramaic continued to be spoken throughout this time. The Jewish Targums, the official translations of the Hebrew Bible, and the Aramaic Peshitta Old Testament, were used around this time. As we approach the Roman Empire, Aramaic continued to be spoken - as we saw in our lessons about the historian Josephus and the language that was spoken in New Testament times. As we progress from New Testament times, the Talmud was written (in which the Gemara, or commentary on the Mishnah, is in Aramaic). And still Aramaic continued as a written and spoken language.