SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

114 Chapter 4: Technical Aspects of Scroll Writing
While the writing of titles as the first words of the text was performed by scribes, the
inscribing of the name on the back, in different handwriting, could also have been executed for the
convenience of users in any environment in which more than one scroll was kept. These names
could have been inscribed on the scrolls by owners or users, and also by persons administering a
scroll collection (‘librarians’ in our terminology), either in a community building at Qumran or in
their earlier locations before being brought to Qumran.
That the titles were sometimes added for the convenience of users is also evidenced by the
fact that the title of 4Qpap cryptA Midrash Sefer Moshe (4Q249) was written on the back in
the square script, while the scroll itself was written in the Cryptic A script.
• 1QS, verso of the handle sheet: ¿ˆmw djyh ˚ó?rs, published separately as 1Q28 in DJD I, 107 and pl. XXII. The
handle sheet was stitched to the following sheet, which can be identified as the first sheet of 1QS based on the
matching stitch holes. The title was written perpendicular to the writing of the manuscript. In this title, ¿ˆmw may
have referred to other compositions, probably 1QSa and 1QSb, which may have been rolled together with 1QS, but
not stitched together (see n. 149).
• 4QGenh-title (4Q8c) verso of the handle sheet: t‚yçrb. This single fragment is now detached from the
manuscript of Genesis to which it may have belonged. J. R. Davila, DJD XII, 63 suggests that the fragment (which
is inscribed on what he names the ‘recto’ or hairy side) is a remnant of a handle sheet which was attached to the first
inscribed sheet. The word appears in the middle of the piece of leather (6.4 x 3.3 cm) with space on all sides and no
signs of additional writing. The exact orientation of the fragment vis-à-vis the first sheet (perpendicular or parallel) is
unclear. Although this tag would be the only specimen bearing the name of a biblical book, there seems to be no
alternative explanation of its nature. This would be the earliest reference to a biblical book indicated by its first
word. The unusual spelling of the name of the book is not inconsistent with some spellings in 1QIsaa (cf. Isa 36:16
wtnt [= wtnat MT]; 65:25 bz [= baz MT]) and other scrolls.
• 4Qpap cryptA Midrash Sefer Moshe (4Q249) 1 verso: hçwúmó rpós çródm in the square script. The title was
written perpendicular to the writing of the manuscript (S. J. Pfann, DJD XXXV, 7 and pl. II).
• 4QDibHama (4Q504) 8 v (the recto probably contained the beginning of the composition): twóróaómóh yrbd. See
M. Baillet, DJD VII, 138 and pls. XLIX and LIII (illustr. 11a 11 below). The title was written perpendicular to the
writing of the scroll, towards the right edge of the first inscribed sheet. Since only part of the column has been
preserved, there is no data regarding possible stitching.
A fifth item is less certain:
• 4QpapSc (4Q257) frg. 1a verso: ¡ ? ¿ ¡ s‚wl ¡ ¡ w_byk according to Alexander–Vermes, DJD XXVI, 69 and pl.
VI (explained as a title or the name of the scroll owner [unparalleled in the texts from the Judean Desert], now
undecipherable), or ¿ ¡ ¡ ¡ l ?dj¿yúhó krs according to S. J. Pfann, DJD XXXV, 1, n. 2, or µyl ¡ ¡ ¡ rps in the
Preliminary Concordance. The inscribed words are found 12.4 cm from the right edge of the papyrus written in the
same direction as the text itself. It is questionable whether these letters reflect the title since they may not have been
visible when the scroll was rolled up: (1) The inscribed words are written at least 15 cm from the right edge on the
second sheet and would have been visible only if the scroll had an equally large circumference; (2) unlike the other
four instances, the inscription is written parallel to the text. However, these problematical aspects are paralleled by
procedures followed in Greek sources. In the previously mentioned Sosylus papyrus, the inscription is also remote
from the beginning (16.2 cm), appearing on the first sheet but on the verso of the second column, written in the
same direction as the writing of the scroll. Luppe, “Rückenseitentitel” (see above) makes a similar suggestion for the
Stesichoros papyrus. As a result, the inscription on the back of 4QpapSc (4Q257) may well have included the title.
The evidence shows that in five instances the title was written on the verso of either the
handle sheet or the first or second sheet in such a way that the name would be visible when the
scroll was stored on a shelf. The titles were inscribed perpendicular to the direction of the
writing, a practice that probably reflected a form of storage on shelves which rendered the long
side of the rolled scroll visible to the user. When the scrolls were stored, the user could easily
review their contents, especially if they were stacked one above the other in such a way that their
names were visible. The closer the inscription was to the edge of the scroll, the more clearly
visible it would be. In 1QS and 4QDibHam a (4Q504), the positioning of that inscription close to
the edge of the first sheet (the bottom third when viewed from the verso) rendered the inscription
clearly visible. The title in 4Qpap cryptA Midrash Sefer Moshe (4Q249) was a little higher, but