Dave,
I took the liberty of forwarding your mail to my friend and colleague dr. J.
H�genhaven, who is the one I usually turn to with paleographic puzzles -- he
happens to be working on the Copper Scroll at present. Here is his answer.
all the best S�ren
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Distinguishing between the letters he and het does, in fact, pose considerable
problems, as far as the Copper Scroll is concerned. The problem is not limited
to 3Q15 but reflects the type of script used here, the type described by F.
Cross as a "Herodian vulgar semiformal" script. This is found in a number of Q
documents and frequently in inscriptions. He and het are here often practically
indistinguishable, both being made with a doubly "looped" upper crossbar. This
form is sometimes simplified, but there is not necessarily a fixed pattern for
simplifying the form, enabling the reader to distinguish properly between he
and het. In the case of 3Q15, the problems may be reinforced by the special
requirements of the material, and by the fact that a craftsman rather than a
scribe may have undertaken the actual engraving of the letters. The person (or
persons) who engraved the letters could have been illiterate, simply copying
from a master text.
This assumption is supported by the fact that it is also in a number of cases
difficult to distinguish between bet and kap, dalet and resh, in 3Q15.
One look at, say, the last column of 3Q15, will show the variety of forms used
for he and het: In col. XII, l. 1, we find a he in the first word (zhb), but
compare the het in the last line of the column (first word 'hd) and the initial
.he in the last word of line 1. See also the het in line 2 (first word tht) and
the he in line 3 (first word bhr).
A well-known case of this problem affecting the interpretation is col. III,
lines 8 and 11, where Milik identifies the biblical place-name mlh ("Milloh",
with a he), whilst others read mlhm (with a het).
DJD III (Milik's edition of 3Q15) includes a section on the palaeography of the
document, written by Cross.
> -----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
> Fra: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] p� vegne af Dave Washburn
> Sendt: 13. april 2005 00:33
> Til: 'Megillot'
> Emne: [Megillot] Allegro on the Copper Scroll
>
> I've been re-reading John Allegro's old book on the copper scroll with its
> transcription and drawn representation, and something is bothering me. In
> every scroll that I know of, the letter he is made with a horizontal stroke
> across the top of the two uprights and extending just a smidge beyond the
> left one, while heth is made with two uprights and a slightly lowered bar
> between them, sort of like a poorly-written Latin H. Allegro's transcription
> of the copper scroll, based on the drawings on the opposite pages, appears to
> reverse these two letters, with the H-shaped one transcribed as he and the
> other as heth. Is this a particular feature of that one scroll, Allegro's
> speculation, or my bifocals acting up again?
>
> --
> Dave Washburn
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
> Reality is what refuses to go away when
> you stop believing in it.
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