The scribes of the Neo-Assyrian bureaucracy also used Aramaic, and this practice was subsequently inherited by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian Empire (605–539 BC) and later by the Achaemenid Empire (539–330 BC). Mediated by scribes that had been trained in the language, highly standardized written Aramaic, named by scholars Imperial Aramaic, progressively also became the lingua franca of public life, trade and commerce throughout Achaemenid territories. Wide use of written Aramaic subsequently led to the adoption of the Aramaic alphabet and, as logograms, some Aramaic vocabulary in the Pahlavi scripts, which were used by several Middle Iranian languages, including Parthian, Middle Persian, Sogdian, and Khwarezmian. Some variants of Aramaic are also retained as sacred languages by certain religious communities. Most notable among them is Classical Syriac, the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity. It is used by several communities, including the Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, and also the Saint Thomas Christians, Syriac Christians of Kerala, India. One of the liturgical dialects was Mandaic, which besides becoming a vernacular, Neo-Mandaic, also remained the liturgical language of Mandaeism. Syriac was also the liturgical language of several now-extinct gnostic faiths, such as Manichaeism.
The scribes of the Neo-Assyrian bureaucracy also used Aramaic and this practice was subsequently inherited by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian Empire (605–539 BC) and later by the Achaemenid Empire (539–330 BC) Mediated by scribes that had been trained in the language highly standardized written Aramaic named by scholars Imperial Aramaic progressively also became the lingua franca of public life trade and commerce throughout Achaemenid territories Wide use of written Aramaic subsequently led to the adoption of the Aramaic alphabet and as logograms some Aramaic vocabulary in the Pahlavi scripts which were used by several Middle Iranian languages including Parthian Middle Persian Sogdian and Khwarezmian Some variants of Aramaic are also retained as sacred languages by certain religious communities Most notable among them is Classical Syriac the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity It is used by several communities including the Assyrian Church of the East the Ancient Church of the East the Chaldean Catholic Church the Syriac Orthodox Church the Syriac Catholic Church the Maronite Church and also the Saint Thomas Christians Syriac Christians of Kerala India One of the liturgical dialects was Mandaic which besides becoming a vernacular Neo-Mandaic also remained the liturgical language of Mandaeism Syriac was also the liturgical language of several now-extinct gnostic faiths such as Manichaeism