Short answers, pulled from the story.
Most historians and scholars believe Jesus of Nazareth spoke Aramaic as his primary language, both in everyday life and for preaching. He used the Galilean dialect of his home region, one of seven Western Aramaic varieties spoken in and around Judea in the 1st century AD.
Aramaic has been written and spoken for over 3,000 years. Early inscriptions date from the 10th century BC, and the language has been in continuous use across the ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, and surrounding regions ever since.
Yes. Modern Eastern Aramaic is spoken by Assyrian, Mandean, and Mizrahi Jewish communities, with major varieties including Suret (around 240,000 speakers) and Turoyo (around 250,000 speakers). Western Neo-Aramaic survives in the Syrian villages of Maaloula and Jubb'adin. The language is considered endangered.
Aramaic had already been adopted as a lingua franca by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires before the Achaemenids took power in 539 BC under Darius I. The Achaemenids inherited an existing network of trained Aramaic scribes and continued to use the language for written communication across their vast territory, from Egypt to Bactria.
The Hebrew alphabet and the Arabic alphabet both developed from the Aramaic alphabet. The Syriac alphabet, used by Christian communities centered on Edessa, is another major descendant, along with the Nabataean, Palmyrene, and Mandaic alphabets.
Imperial Aramaic, also called Official Aramaic, was the standardized written form used across Achaemenid territories from around 500 BC onward. Its spelling was based on historical roots rather than any single spoken dialect, giving it cross-regional clarity. One of the largest surviving collections of Imperial Aramaic texts, about five hundred documents, was found at Persepolis.