"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
On 05/02/2020 18:19, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , nightjar
writes
On 05/02/2020 14:34, Tim Lamb wrote:
...
Wasn't Sanscrit the language of the time?

For Jewish religious works the languages were Hebrew and a little
Aramaic.

Yes. Memory glitch:-)

TNP has provided a comprehensive explanation. This isn't the place to
discuss religion anyway. It was just the bit about reading that struck me
as strange.

What has struck me in my researches into ancient cultures and in
particular the Dark Ages (so called) is the way in which knowledge was
passed down the generations without being written down at all.

Yep, the old testament was like that, entirely verbal
until the jews decided to write it down much later.

The feats of memory that e.g. the Druidic Bards were capable of, and their
ability to compose memorable works is - epic.

And still seen today with many muslims choosing
to memorise the Koran as their entire education tho
obviously they do have to be able to read to do that.

I can't remember the details but most of the Old Testament was in fact
'oral tradition', and was only written down somewhat later...

Yep.

Wiki suggests about 350BC although a lot of the events are two hundred
years earlier.

Stonehenge, by contrast, is around 3000 BC.

Even Judaism is a relatively recent religion. Let alone Christianity.

Indeed. It was tho the first of the surviving major monotheisms.