SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 89
• 11QT a (11Q19) XLVIII (25, 26 lines) at the end of the sheet compared with col. LIX (28 lines) on the
following sheet.
• 1QIsa a XXVII (29 lines) at the end of the last sheet written by scribe A compared with col. XXVIII (31 lines)
on the following sheet (illustr. 6) inscribed by scribe B.
• 4QToh A (4Q274) written in columns of 9 lines until the end of the first sheet (frgs. 1, 2, 3 i), compared with
the following sheet, frg. 3 ii with a densely written column (12 lines extant, 14 lines reconstructed; J. Baumgarten,
DJD XXXV, 99 reconstructs 12 lines).
• 4QInstr d (4Q418) 103 i has one line more than col. ii.
• 4QCal Doc/Mish B (4Q321) has 8 lines in cols. I–III but 9 lines in cols. IV–VI.
Similar differences between columns are visible in classical compositions. Schubart, Das Buch, 62 noted that
classical compositions frequently differ in column height with differences of up to 5–8 lines. Among other things,
Schubart refers to a papyrus roll of the Ilias in which the longest column contains 63 lines, while the shortest one
has 42 lines. C7erny, Paper, 20 notes similar variations in Egyptian papyrus scrolls, in one instance as much as 8
to 14 lines in a 16 cm-high papyrus (P.Berlin 3023 [‘Eloquent Peasant’]).
The recto and verso of a scroll could be inscribed with compositions of different dimensions.
See ch. 4b1.
Most columns start at the same level, while some have a larger or smaller number of lines than
those adjacent. There are hardly any known compositions in which a column starts one or more
lines above the level of the others on the same sheet. However, the barely legible first column of
4QMeditation on Creation B (4Q304) seems to start one line higher than col. ii, but this line
probably served as a superscription.
Different manuscripts of the same composition were often written on scrolls of differing
sizes, although in some cases a certain regularity is visible. Since these data are only available for
some compositions (TABLE 18), conclusions made on the basis of the following list must be
tentative. The measurements listed below refer to the column height expressed by the number of
lines ruled and usually inscribed, and not to its width which may vary considerably. The items in
TABLE 18 are arranged in ascending order of line numbers. Fuller data on the reconstructions are
provided in TABLE 15.
TABLE 18: Number of Lines in Different Manuscripts of the Same Composition
Biblical Scrolls
4QGen d 11 (10.8 cm)
4QGen g 14 (11.4 cm; slightly reconstructed)
4QGen f 17 (13.5 cm)
4QGen j c. 24
4QGen c c. 25 (14.2+ cm)
4QGen-Exod a c. 36
4QGen b 40 (28 cm)
SdeirGen c. 40 (27.6–33.4 cm)
4QGen e c. 50 (J. R. Davila, DJD XII, 47)
MurGen-Num c. 50 (46.5 cm)
4Q[Gen-]Exod b c. 50 (c. 51 cm + margins)
4QExod e 8 (8.2 cm)
4QpaleoExod m 32, 33 (35 cm)
4QExod c c. 43 (38 cm)
MurGen-Num c. 50 (46.5 cm); see under Genesis.
4Q[Gen-]Exod b c. 50 (c. 51 cm + margins)
4QpaleoGen-Exod l 55–60 (38 cm)
4QExod-Lev f c. 60 (30 cm)
MasLev b 25 (18.0 cm)