The claim was made by Avi-Yona c.1940, a professional epigraphist, so I would tend to give a reasonable weight to it. The claim is substantiated in the above post which lists at p.11 "the main categories of words commonly abbreviated (by the Romans and Byzantines)". These are substantial, and infiltrate into practically all areas of Roman society. IMO this indicates that the Romans and Byzantines were more or less obsessive abbreviators in the use of both Greek and Latin abbreviations.Do you agree with this, and if so, what do you believe that it means in concrete terms?"The use of abbreviations is, on the whole, as foreign
to the Greeks as it is congenial to the Romans and Byzantines.”
Were the NT "nomina sacra" abbreviations invented by a Roman mind? IDK. However, given the presence of substantial elements of Roman propaganda within the NT (which I have listed elsewhere - like paying tax and tribute to Caesar), such a hypothesis IMO should not be ruled out of bounds.
Statistics: Posted by Leucius Charinus — Thu Mar 07, 2024 3:51 pm