in a cave associated with the doomed revolt against the Romans in 132–35 CE of the Jewish leader, Simon Bar Kokhba. That Greek, as well as Hebrew and Aramaic, was a medium of communication even for ultra-nationalist Jews is reinforced by the discovery of despatches written in Greek by Bar Kokhba himself (Porter 2000a: 58–9; Yadin et al. 2002: 49–63). (2) From Egypt. Important early papyrus witnesses to the LXX, in the geographical area where much of the translating is thought to have taken place,
Page 5