SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 51
Festgabe für H. Brunner (ed. M. Görg; Ägypten und Altes Testament 5; Wiesbaden 1983) 18–41. In these texts,
red ink was also used to mark headings and main divisions. Cf. also the Aramaic inscription from Deir >Allah
(eighth century BCE), 101 which used red ink for titles and new sections. 102 For references to Talmudic parallels, see
the discussion of 2QPs by M. Baillet, DJD III, 70 and of 4QNum b by N. Jastram, DJD XII, 221–2. Note also the
red ornaments in the titles of the books in codices A and S of the LXX, as well as the titles and some subscriptions
of the Psalms in these codices. For a parallel in a later source see the manifold headers in codex Ambrosianus of the
Peshitta. Drawings of Egyptian scribes often depict them as holding two pens in the same hand, one for writing with
black ink, and the other one for writing with red ink. Y. Nir-El and M. Broshi, “The Red Ink of the Dead Sea
Scrolls,” Archaeometry 38 (1996) 97–102, suggested that the red ink is composed of mercury sulphide (cinnabar),
brought to Palestine from Spain through Rome.
Although not specifically mentioned, the use of red ink as appearing in the biblical scrolls
2QPs and 4QNum b probably would be forbidden by rabbinic sources, just as the use of purple
ink is forbidden according to Sof. 1.8. However, Jerome, Prefatio S. Hieronymi in librum Job, PL
28.1142 refers to the existence of such early manuscripts. See, among other things, the Vienna
Genesis (4–6 CE) written on purple leather with silver letters.
The copy of the Hebrew Torah that was sent from Jerusalem to Alexandria according to the Epistle of Aristeas
§ 176 for the purpose of translation into Greek was written with letters of gold. No such copies are known to have
existed, and such writing was explicitly forbidden by Sof. 1.8. However, that treatise mentions an Alexandrian
Torah scroll in which the divine names were written in gold letters, so there may be some truth to the story.
(Alternatively, does the reference in Soferim depend on the Epistle of Aristeas?). On the other hand, if the copy of
the Torah from which Greek Scripture was translated derived from Jerusalem, as most scholars believe, it is unlikely
to have contained any gold writing (see the later prohibition in Sof. 1.8). In that case, the writing in gold may have
been one of the literary embellishments of the Epistle of Aristeas.
Two inkwells were found by R. de Vaux in locus 30 of Qumran, the so-called scriptorium, one
made of ceramic material and one of bronze (in 1997 both were exhibited in the Jordan
Archaeological Museum in Amman). 103 A third inkwell, of ceramic material, also found by de
Vaux, came from locus 31, 104 a fourth one, found by Steckoll, came from an unspecified place at
Qumran, 105 and a possible fifth one is mentioned by Goranson, “Inkwell.” Dried ink remains are
present in two of these inkwells. See further M. Broshi, “Inkwells,” Encyclopedia DSS, 1.375.
g. Writing implements
101 For the date, cf. J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij, The Balaam Text from Deir >Allah Re-evaluated. Proceedings of the
International Symposium Held at Leiden 21–24 August 1989 (Leiden 1991). On p. 237 in that volume, É. Puech
mentions the first part of the 8th century BCE and on p. 257 G. van der Kooij speaks of the period between 800 and 720
BCE.
102 J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij, Aramaic Texts from Deir >Alla (Leiden 1976) 184.
103 See S. Goranson, “Qumran: A Hub of Scribal Activity,” BAR 20 (1994) 36–9; idem, “An Inkwell from Qumran,”
Michmanim 6 (1992) 37–40 (Heb.). See further n. 33 above.
104 R. de Vaux, “Fouilles au Khirbet Qumran: Rapport préliminaire sur la dernière campagne,” RB 61 (1954) 206–33,
especially 212 and pls. 5, 6, and 10b. For further information on inkwells found in ancient Israel, see Goranson,
“Inkwell,” 38.
105 S. H. Steckoll, “Marginal Notes on the Qumran Excavations,” RevQ 7 (1969) 33–40, especially 35.