December 1, 2021 Journal article Open Access

Longacre, Drew

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{"conceptdoi":"10.25592/uhhfdm.8897","conceptrecid":"8897","created":"2022-01-28T12:21:26.494412+00:00","doi":"10.25592/uhhfdm.9866","id":9866,"links":{"badge":"https://www.fdr.uni-hamburg.de/badge/doi/10.25592/uhhfdm.9866.svg","conceptbadge":"https://www.fdr.uni-hamburg.de/badge/doi/10.25592/uhhfdm.8897.svg","conceptdoi":"http://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.8897","doi":"http://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.9866"},"metadata":{"access_right":"open","access_right_category":"success","creators":[{"affiliation":"Qumran Institute, University of Groningen","name":"Longacre, Drew"}],"description":"<p>Writing is an expression of culture and is subject to intercultural influences. In this&nbsp;comparative study, I argue that Egyptian and Judean Hebrew/Aramaic scripts from&nbsp;400 BCE&ndash;400 CE were heavily influenced by Greek and later Latin writing cultures,&nbsp;which explains many previously inexplicable phenomena. Jewish writers in the third&nbsp;century BCE adopted the Greek split-nibbed reed pen, which dramatically changed&nbsp;the appearance of Hebrew/Aramaic scripts. At the same time, the normal size for Hebrew/&nbsp;Aramaic scripts shrank considerably, the pen strokes became mostly monotone&nbsp;and unshaded, and the scripts became more rectilinear, angular, bilinear, and square.<br>\nEach of these features appears to be due to direct imitation of contemporary Greek&nbsp;formal writing. Beginning in the first century BCE, Hebrew/Aramaic writers began to&nbsp;decorate their formal scripts with separate ornamental strokes like those of contemporary&nbsp;Greek and Latin calligraphic scripts. And from the second or third century CE,<br>\nHebrew/Aramaic calligraphic scripts seem to be increasingly characterized by horizontal&nbsp;shading, parallel to the contemporary rise of Greek and Latin shaded scripts.&nbsp;Furthermore, in the late Roman period, the traditional Hieratic-derived Aramaic numeral&nbsp;system was replaced by an alphabetic numeral system under the influence of&nbsp;the Greek Milesian alphabetic numerals.</p>","doi":"10.25592/uhhfdm.9866","journal":{"pages":"37-80","title":"Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin","volume":"7"},"keywords":["Manuscript studies","Palaeography","Hebrew"],"language":"eng","license":{"id":"CC-BY-4.0"},"publication_date":"2021-12-01","related_identifiers":[{"identifier":"10.25592/uhhfdm.8897","relation":"isVersionOf","scheme":"doi"}],"relations":{"version":[{"count":3,"index":2,"is_last":true,"last_child":{"pid_type":"recid","pid_value":"9866"},"parent":{"pid_type":"recid","pid_value":"8897"}}]},"resource_type":{"subtype":"article","title":"Journal article","type":"publication"},"title":"Comparative Hellenistic and Roman Manuscript Studies (CHRoMS): Script Interactions and Hebrew/Aramaic Writing Culture","version":"Print"},"owners":[42],"revision":5,"updated":"2022-01-28T17:36:19.016759+00:00"}