Scribal Schools Archive

May 20, 2008

Scribal Schools in Canaan

Charles at Awilum, quotes from a review of Wayne Horowitz and Takayoshi Oshima, Cuneiform in Canaan: Cuneiform Sources from the Land of Israel in Ancient Times by Yuram Cohen in the February 2008, BASOR. Charles has complete references. Please go...

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December 1, 2007

How Shallow Was Ancient Hebrew?

Some scholars have suggested that it is easier to learn to read and write languages written with "shallower orthographies" than languages with "deeper orthographies." Not only is this issue supposedly germane to literacy, it also enters into discussions of scribal...

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November 27, 2007

It Takes Guts to Write Like That

Well, the pattern of intestines may have motivated writing in spirals and in boustrophedon. Over the last week or so, I've exchanged emails with Rochelle Altman on scribal schools, literacy and related subjects. In one email, she said the following...

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November 19, 2007

Oral Tradition Is Not a Concept

I'm back for the Society of Biblical Literature meeting. Over the next few days, I will post a few brief thoughts on some of the papers and sessions. On Saturday afternoon, I attended the "Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature Section...

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September 11, 2007

In Which Direction Should One Write?

Last Thursday I took a clay tablet to lunch to show to a couple of the people that Shirley and I have lunch with almost every week. After the question, "Can anyone really read this?" the next question was "In...

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June 26, 2007

On the Absence of the Paragogic nun in Epigraphic Hebrew

Warning: this post contains obscure points of ancient Hebrew grammar. I finally got my hands on Kaufman's article about the Hebrew paragogic nun and scribal training (see postscript below). You may remember that Charles Halton at Awilum told us about...

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June 21, 2007

On the Need to Learn From Egyptian Scribes

The other day Egyptology News featured a story on "The School of Scribes at the Ramesseum" Andie quoted from an article in Le Journal de CNRS describing various things of interest uncovered at the Ramesseum. Like Andie, I found the...

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June 15, 2007

The Ever Popular Paragogic Nun and Scribal Training in Ancient Israel

Charles Halton at Awilum has a very interesting post about Kaufman's understanding of the paragogic nun in Biblical Hebrew and how such a thing might contribute to an argument for a standardized scribal curriculum in Ancient Israel. Like most of...

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June 9, 2007

Scribes and the Economy of Cities

I've been working through the archaeological evidence that some scholars suggest limits or even negates the likelihood of a scribal school in early 10th century BCE Jerusalem. In its simplest form, the argument says that Jerusalem was too small and...

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June 1, 2007

It's Still Gibberish

A couple of days ago I learned via ABZU that back issues of the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists are online and can be accessed without charge. Most of what they cover is not normally within my abnormal...

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May 18, 2007

The Seal of Lugal-Dúr, the Scribe

While looking for something else I came across a beautiful cylinder seal from Nippur. While it is neither from a location (Mesopotamia) nor from a time (3rd millennium BCE) normally among my abnormal interests, its wonderful workmanship struck me. You...

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May 15, 2007

Ninth Century BCE Seals from Jerusalem (?)

There's a report that archaeologist Ronny Reich found a number of seal impressions in the same context as 9th century BCE potsherds "at the bottom of the quarry/pool by the Gihon spring." I quote from Yigal Levin's observations as reported...

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May 13, 2007

Where are ‛Izbet Sartah and Tel Zayit?

This post is a bit of an experiment. I have been looking for good mapping software for the Ancient Near East. The other day Todd Bolen of Bible Places directed us to Bible Mapper, so I thought I'd give it...

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May 5, 2007

Were Seal Engravers Trained Scribes?

The evidence for the southern Levant seems to indicate that they were not. Christopher Rollston (1966) argued that there is sufficient evidence to hold that formal scribal training was part of the eighth through the sixth centuries BCE process of...

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May 1, 2007

More Excuses! All I Ever Have are Excuses.

For about the last two or three weeks I thought that I was one good working day away from publishing my next mega-post on scribal schools. But sometime yesterday evening I realized that the approach I was taking to presenting...

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April 28, 2007

The Challenge of the Alphabet

While working on my next, now very belated, post on scribal schools I took a break to see what was going on in the blogosphere. And guess what, via John Wilkins', Evolving Thoughts, I found an amazing account of a...

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April 27, 2007

The Weapon of God

I found, via ABZU, a 1997 dissertation by Niek Veldhuis called Elementary Education at Nippur; The Lists of Trees and Wooden Objects. It's over 400 pages long so I haven't read it through as yet but it contains a good...

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February 15, 2007

Some Observations on the Tel Zayit and ‘Izbet Sartah Abecedaries

I have previously written about the ‘Izbet Sartah abecedary and made a few preliminary remarks about the Tel Zayit abecedary. As I indicated in my post on it, the ‘Izbet Sartah abecedary was written between 1200 and 1000 BCE. On...

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February 14, 2007

What Isn't Written in Stone

I just finished a preliminary reading of Tappy, McCarter, Lundberg and Zuckerman, "An Abecedary of the Mid-Tenth Century B.C.E. from the Judaean Shephelah." I was as interested in what the paper didn't tell me as what it did. There have...

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February 13, 2007

It Looks Like I Need to Get Back to School, Scribal School That Is

The November issue of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research is at last out. So off to the library tomorrow. See Jim West's post for the Table of Contents. With the material by Ron E. Tappy, P....

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December 26, 2006

May Ba'al, Even the God Himself, Watch Over Your Life!

As a diversion to a hobby, I've been working my way through the fifteenth century BCE Akkadian letters from Taanach. Perhaps I'll post my full translations and comments in the future. But for now, Taanach 2 has a couple of...

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November 13, 2006

Bowing, Scraping and Scribal Traditions

In my most recent mega-post, now a couple of months old, on scribal schools, I argued that there was a scribal school in Jerusalem during the Amarna Age. But the argument was not definitive. You may remember that Moran has...

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October 18, 2006

On The Gezer Calendar

Last week, as part of my preparation for the next installment of the series "How to Identify a Scribal School," I reviewed the ‘Izbet Sartah Sherd. This week I will attempt to define the place of the Gezer Calendar in...

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October 10, 2006

On the ‘Izbet Sartah Sherd

As I said yesterday, I will be publishing, on approximately a weekly basis, comments on several texts and artifacts that have a bearing on the possibility of scribal schools in Canaan during the end of the Bronze age and the...

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October 9, 2006

The Tell Zayit Inscription to Be Published Soon

Professor Ron Tappy informs me that the editio princeps of the Tell Zayit Inscription will appear in the next month's edition of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR). I thank Professor Tappy for giving me permission...

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September 28, 2006

Not Completely Wasted Thoughts on the Manahat Sherd

I'm still working my way through the corpus of Late Bronze/Iron I Age texts that may have some bearing on scribal schools in Canaan during that period. Aside from seeking additional information on the Tel Zayit inscription, I think I...

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September 20, 2006

How to Recognize a Scribal School

Part 4: Evidence for the training of scribes in Late Bronze Age Canaan After a pause to gather thoughts and information I am at last ready to present my next installment in the series How to Recognize a Scribal School....

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September 14, 2006

Was Abdi-Heba a New Man in Jerusalem?

I'm about three or four days away from my next mega post on Scribal Schools. The research is done (I hope) and there are just a couple of issues to wrap-up. One of those has to do with Abdi-Heba of...

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September 7, 2006

A Not So Simple Quiz

What language once used these words? And for all the jokers out there, I mean the words to the left. The English translations in parentheses are there just to be helpful. I've never heard of a language that didn't have...

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September 2, 2006

Literacy at Lachish

I continue to struggle with the primary evidence for scribal training in ancient Israel. Much of it is frankly confusing as to whether or not it addresses the issue with which I am struggling. So as I was reading Lemaire's...

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Titles Only From Here On

August 31, 2006

Further Reflections on Kuntillet ‛Ajrud Pithos II

August 30, 2006

Some Text from Kuntillet ‛Ajrud Pithos II

August 24, 2006

Partial Abecedaries from Gezer

August 22, 2006

Egyptian Loanwords in Epigraphic Hebrew?

August 19, 2006

Hypothesis Testing

August 17, 2006

Always Read the Notes: Foot or End

August 14, 2006

Is a na‛ar Ever a Scribe? Could One Really Write?

August 8, 2006

Trying to Define a Question in the Hopes of Finding an Answer

August 2, 2006

An Interesting Coincidence

August 1, 2006

The Sitz im Leben of Scribal Schools

July 30, 2006

How to Recognize a Scribal School

July 16, 2006

A Scribal Exercise or Only a Scribal Error

June 26, 2006

How to Recognize a Scribal School

June 19, 2006

A Pseudo-Letter on the Teaching of Writing

June 17, 2006

The Role of Readers, Present and Future, in Motivating Literature

June 11, 2006

Overcoming Sexism - Mine

May 31, 2006

How to Recognize a Scribal School