Re: Lydian Language

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "John" <jdcroft@...> wrote:

> Does anyone know the date of the latest inscrption in the Lydian
> language. Lydia fell to the Persians under Cyrus, the Archaemenid.
> I understand Aramaean was used as the language of administration of
> the Empire, but surely Lydian would have continued as a local
> language for some time. Did it survive until Hellenistic or even
> Roman times?

Actually most Lydian inscriptions (including the last known ones) come
from the fourth century BC, quite a long time after the collapse of
Cyrus' state. The Lydians survived as a distinct ethnos until about
the first century BC, but there's no indication that they still spoke
Lydian at the time.

Piotr