SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

64 Chapter 4: Technical Aspects of Scroll Writing
ram d ar (4Q546)
11QNJ ar (11Q18) left 0.2 top; 1.5 cm
MasSir 1.2 average top; 1.5 cm
PAM 43.694 (paleo-
Hebrew)
left horizontal 0.3 top; 1.0 cm
PAM 43.675 frg.60 right horizontal 0.1 top; 0.5+ cm
(1) Opisthographs
(a) Background
b. Opisthographs and palimpsests
The great majority of literary compositions from the Judean Desert contain single texts written
on one side of the material. 117 This section deals with texts inscribed on both sides.
In papyri, the inscribed side, on which the fibers run horizontally, is named the recto; the
verso, usually uninscribed, is the side on which the fibers run vertically. However, sometimes it
is difficult to differentiate between the recto and verso, 118 and sometimes only the verso is
inscribed (thus the Aramaic texts published by Kraeling, Aramaic Papyri; see p. 127 there). In
documents written on leather (skin), the term recto represents the hairy, usually inscribed, side,
while the verso indicates the uninscribed flesh side. Here also the distinction is sometimes hard to
make, and some scholars call any inscribed surface ‘recto,’ even if it happens to be the flesh side.
In the documents from the Judean Desert, the reverse side of the papyrus or leather was used
relatively infrequently for writing. Likewise, the Aramaic documents written on leather and
papyrus from the fifth and fourth centuries BCE published by Kraeling, Aramaic Papyri and
Driver, Aramaic Documents were usually inscribed on one side only. On the other hand, Porten–
Yardeni, TAD 3.xiii, note that the Egyptian papyrus letters published in TAD were usually
written on the recto and verso, while contracts were only rarely written on both sides. More in
general, Egyptian papyri of all periods were often inscribed on both sides, especially when the
scribe had no more papyrus available. Egyptian letters were also written on both sides (Diringer,
The Book, 138; C7erny, Paper, 18).
From a technical point of view, there were no major impediments to the writing on both sides
of the material from the Judean Desert. Yet, the flesh side of the leather probably had to be
prepared in a special way for this purpose—most leather documents were inscribed only on the
hairy side of the leather. Papyrus was vulnerable to damage and even more so when inscribed on
both sides. In spite of these complications, writing on both sides of the material was introduced
at an early stage due to the scarcity and high cost of the writing materials (note the very early
Egyptian papyri mentioned above). In some cases the writing on two sides was planned from the
outset (§ g), in other cases the original text lost its earlier importance. Ezek 2:10 mentions an early
scroll, probably papyrus, that was ‘inscribed on both the front and back’ (rwjaw µynp hbwtk). 119
117 In several instances different though related literary compositions were written by the same or two different scribes in
the same scroll (see ch. 3d).
118 Thus 4QpapS a (4Q255) is described in DJD XXVI, 28 by Alexander–Vermes as the verso, and 4QpapHodayot-like Text
B (4Q433a) as the recto, while E. Schuller, DJD XXIX, 237 describes them as recto and verso respectively. Schuller
bases herself on the view of J. T. Milik as reflected in the Preliminary Concordance and on the paleographical dating of
4QpapHodayot-like Text B (4Q433a) as being later than the text on the other side (75 BCE).
119 It is unclear from the context whether this inscribing on both sides was the rule or the exception in the prophet’s eyes.
According to W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel 1 (Hermeneia; Philadelphia 1969) 135, it was exceptional for the prophet to be