Book-Scrolls at the Beginning of the Second Temple Period: The Transition from Papyrus to Skins
On another occasion the author endeavored to show that in pre-exilic Israel, literary activity was mainly founded on papyrus scrolls. Here he clarifies the problems of the shift from papyrus to skins, which, in the Second Temple period, had become the standard material for the copying of Scripture....
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
College
1983
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
Year: 1983, Volume: 54, Pages: 111-122 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Iran (Antiquity)
/ History 539 BC-330 BC
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| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament |
| Further subjects: | B
Writing
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| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | On another occasion the author endeavored to show that in pre-exilic Israel, literary activity was mainly founded on papyrus scrolls. Here he clarifies the problems of the shift from papyrus to skins, which, in the Second Temple period, had become the standard material for the copying of Scripture. It is concluded that the shift occurred at the beginning of the post-exilic period, at which time at least three decisive factors coincided: (1) The canonization of biblical literature (or of its remnants), after which it was fitting for such books to be written on leather or parchment, preservable substances, rather than on the more vulnerable papyrus. In the pre-exilic period writing on skins was limited to special display-books kept in the temple, such as D. (2) In pre-exilic times, compositions of sizeable extent, such as J,E, and P, could not be contained in a single scroll and doubtless encompassed several rolls (as can also be deduced from certain internal indications). The transition point is D, which was clearly written as a one-scroll book and the dimensions of which are those of a canonical book of the size of Joshua or Judges. Each canonical book had to be put on a single scroll, but the length of such books as Isaiah and Ezekiel — all the more so Genesis or Samuel — is for the most part more than what a single papyrus scroll could possibly contain. (3) In the Persian period the Jews adopted the modes of literary activity as practiced by the Arameans, whose standard writing material was skins. From a historical point of view, this, among others, was one of the signs of the Aramaization of the Near East as a whole. |
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| ISSN: | 0360-9049 |
| Contains: | In: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
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