SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 109
• 4QBarkhi Nafshi a (4Q434). That frg. 1 contains the beginning of this composition can be shown by the
parallel 4Q435 which also contains the beginning of the work. In 4Q434, the first column is preceded by a small
initial margin of 1.3 cm and an unstitched edge, not preceded by a handle sheet. The fact that this scroll contains the
only such specimen casts some doubts on the interpretation of frg. 1 presented here.
SYSTEMS USED AT THE ENDS OF SCROLLS
The final column was usually ruled beyond the last inscribed line as far as the end of the column,
e.g. 1QpHab, 1QIsa a , 4QText with a Citation of Jubilees (4Q228), 4QCal Doc/Mish B (4Q321),
11QtgJob, 11QPs a . Beyond the last inscribed column, the end of the scroll was indicated by one
of the following systems:
(1) Uninscribed area
The final column was often followed by an uninscribed area (with no handle sheet attached),
which was either unruled or ruled, often as much as the width of a complete column: 1QpHab;
4QMMT f (4Q399 [probably]); 11QpaleoLev a ; 11QPs a ; 11QtgJob. Often the unstitched vertical
edge of the scroll has been preserved, but in other cases such evidence is lacking; in those cases
the uninscribed area is indicated in TABLE 25 as, e.g. ‘uninscribed area of 5.8+ cm.’ In such cases,
a handle sheet could have been attached, but no scrolls with a large uninscribed area at the end
have been preserved together with an attached handle sheet. The fact that a scribe left such a large
ruled area uninscribed indicates that the precise surface needed for writing could not be calculated
when the scroll was prepared. For details, see TABLE 25.
For parallels to an unruled blank area at the end of a composition in a Greek papyrus, see P.Oxy. 31.2536
(Hypomnema of Theon on Pindar, Pythians [8.5 cm]) and Turner, Greek Manuscripts, document 61; P.Oxy. 5.843
(Plato, Symposium); in the latter case the name of the composition is written in the uninscribed area (7.0 cm). The
existence of a marginal area (ˆwylg) at the end of a Scripture scroll was mentioned in m. Yad. 3.4 (according to the
majority view, this area had the same degree of sanctity as the inscribed surface, while according to R. Yehudah it
did not, unless it be attached to a wooden bar) and b. Shabb. 116a. Uninscribed areas at both ends of the scroll for
the convenience of rolling the scroll around an dwm[ (‘roller’) or µydwm[ are mentioned in b. B. Bat. 13b–14a. Cf.
further the instruction of Sof. 2.7–8 (cf. 1.12) which refers to either an uninscribed area or a handle sheet:
If one finished all the book and one column of text remained, one need not hesitate to
make a small sheet of it. 8 At the conclusion of the column must be left to
wind .
TABLE 25: Uninscribed Area at the End of Scrolls
Name Uninscribed Area (cm) Ruled Unstitched
1QpHab 8.5+ x (= yes) —
4QDeutq 4.5 — x (= yes)
4QJudgb 4.0 (partly reconstructed) — x
4QpsDanc ar (4Q245) 5.8+ x —
4QDa (4Q266) 9.0 — x
4QDe (4Q270) 7 7.6 x x?
4QMish H (4Q329a), see n. 151 1.0 — x
4QOrdo (4Q334) 7
2.2+ — x153 (probable end)
4QMMT f (4Q399) 5.2+ 154 x —
4QHod.-like Text C (4Q440) 3 155 x —
153 Thus U. Glessmer, DJD XXI, 175.
154 The area has the size of a ruled column, for which the right vertical line and the beginnings of horizontal lines have been
preserved.