Scripts?

Is the Estrangela based on the Ketav Ashuri (aka Hebrew Square Script)? Or is it the other way around?

What script was used among the earliest Aramaic inscriptions found?

Thanks

In reply to message #0
 
Shlama Akhi Dean,

The question you have asked is complex, so they will require a complex answer.

">Is the Estrangela based on the
>Ketav Ashuri (aka Hebrew Square
>Script)? Or is it
>the other way around? "

The script known as "Ketav Ashuri", the modern Hebrew script in use since the 5th century BC, is based upon the Estrangela script.

Prior to the captivity, the Hebrews used a script which resembled the Pheonician (Lebanese) script. They are all the same 22 letters , but the shapes were different.

The change is attributed to Ezra. After the captivity, when the Jews returned from Babylon to the Holy Land, the Samaritans were there (after the King of Assyria transplanted them there in place of the 10 tribes).

The Samaritans still used (even today) the old Pheonician/Canaanite script (also known as "Paleo-Hebrew").

Ezra wanted to make the Jews' writing system different from the Samaritans (who were descendants of Assyrians, 2 Kings chapter 17), so he started the movement to switch to the Estrangela of Babylon/Assyria. They modeled the new shapes after the Estrangela.

This way, their writing could be distinguished from that of their hated enemies the Samaritans, who (still even today) only recognize the 5 books of Moses.....no prophets (nebiim) or writings (ktaviim).

It is called "Kitav Ashuri", which means "Writing of the Assyrians" because it is the Jewish adaptation of this Estrangela script.

Here is a graphical comparison between Paleo-Hebrew and Modern Hebrew (Kitav Ashuri based on Estrangela):

">
>What script was used among the
>earliest Aramaic inscriptions found?
>"

Ooooh. That's going back real far. I will try to do it justice with my explanation:

The picture you see below is called Cuneiform writing. Cuneiform writing was invented about 5,500 years ago in Babylon, by the Sumerians....later adopted by the Babylonians and Assyrians, who both spoke Akkadian (the earliest Semitic language) which was similiar to Aramaic.

The script, formed by pressing wedge shapes into pillow-shaped lumps of wet clay (later baked in an oven), was invented in the ancient town of Uruk in what is now southern Iraq, but its use spread widely over the next couple of millennia. It was developed to express the language of Sumer, but the cuneiform script was used to write numerous languages, including Hittite, Aramaic, Akkadian, and other Semitic and Indo-European languages. Cuneiform is the script in which was written the Epic of Gilgamesh, the famous Mesopotamian literary epic.

They later switched to Aramaic, which then became the lingua franca of the Middle East.

The picture you see below is the whole 22-letter Alap-Beth in Cuneiform writing.

Later (about 2,900 years ago), the Assyrians wrote in Aramaic (when they switched from Akkadian), using ink on parchments.

Cuneiform (Akkadian, on clay tablets) and Aramaic (written with ink on paper) were then used for different purposes as written languages. The first was used for religious writing, the second for everyday uses.

>Thanks

Anytime brother, I hope this helped!

Shlama w'Burkate,
Paul

In reply to message #1
 
Dear Paul,

Your mention of ink-on-parchment being used 2900 years ago got my attention, being an earlier date than any I've seen so far--I assume you're talking about processed and scraped leather rather than the raw material. Since you're a veritable fountain of knowledge, can you share any more info about how, when and where parchment/vellum came into common use?

Thanks,

Savitri

In reply to message #2
 
Shlama Akhi Savitri,

Sorry, by "parchment" I did not mean to imply processed skins (vellum), but the raw skins themselves. I understand "parchment" is commonly used to describe the former.

Actually, the use of ink on raw animal skins predates even the Assyrian adaptation of it.

In Egypt there are references to documents written on skins in the time of the 4th dynasty and actual specimens are extant from the 12th Dynasty .

Ctesias, the Greek historian, refers to royal chronicles being written on leather by the ancient Persians, but does not specify their precise dates.

Herodotus records that once, when papyrus was scarce, the Ionian Greeks used sheepskins and goatskins in its place; and he adds that many of the "barbarians" still did so in his day.

From the eighth century B.C. onward the "writer on skin" is mentioned in Assyrian records, and also in the cuneiform texts of the Seleucid Age <311-95 B.C.>. Clay tablets remained the preferred medium, however, because they lasted so much longer (especially for religious & imperial texts).

As far as I am aware, the processed skins (vellum) did not come into common use in the Persian Empire till about the 4th century AD (the Sassanid age). It was in widespread use until about the 11th century A.D.

This practice actually continued with the Assyrians in the isolated mountains of Northern Assyria until the British and American missionaries introduced us to the printing press.....in the 19th century! That's how isolated we were after the arrival of the Mongols and Turks.

A good example of an early (4th century AD) Aramaic vellum manuscript is the Khaboris copy of the Peshitta NT.

Hope this helped, and God bless!

Shlama w'Burkate,
Paul

>Dear Paul,
>
>Your mention of ink-on-parchment being used
>2900 years ago got my
>attention, being an earlier date
>than any I've seen so
>far--I assume you're talking about
>processed and scraped leather rather
>than the raw material.
>Since you're a veritable fountain
>of knowledge, can you share
>any more info about how,
>when and where parchment/vellum came
>into common use?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Savitri

In reply to message #3
 
Shlama, Paul,

Thanks for the clarification; those dates and details are more in line with what I've been finding--although I'd love to discover information that pushes the use of vellum farther back.

The story goes that parchment was invented in Egypt about 190 BCE during the competition between Ptolemy V and Eumenes II as to who would compile the largest library. Ptolemy cut off the supply of papyrus to Pergamum, Eumenes' home, in order to slow him down. Necessity being the mother of invention, parchment was invented in Pergamum--hence the Greek & Latin names for parchment, meaning 'stuff from Pergamum.'

Leather, of course, was in use for much longer, but not so commonly because papyrus was so plentiful. There are, however, leather fragments of Egyptian documents from the 24th century BCE.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the digression; I'm off on sabbatical for a month, and look forward to seeing your progress when I return.

Thanks Again,

Savitri

In reply to message #4
 
Shlama Akhi Savitri,

Thanks for the clarification. That was some rivalry! I wonder if their libraries have survived till today Perhaps they should have used clay tablets still, no?

I pray your sabbatical is relaxing and full of joy, and may God ensure your safe return.

Shlama w'Burkate,
Paul

>Shlama, Paul,
>
>Thanks for the clarification; those dates
>and details are more in
>line with what I've been
>finding--although I'd love to discover
>information that pushes the use
>of vellum farther back.
>
>The story goes that parchment was
>invented in Egypt about 190
>BCE during the competition between
>Ptolemy V and Eumenes II
>as to who would compile
>the largest library. Ptolemy
>cut off the supply of
>papyrus to Pergamum, Eumenes' home,
>in order to slow him
>down. Necessity being the
>mother of invention, parchment was
>invented in Pergamum--hence the Greek
>& Latin names for parchment,
>meaning 'stuff from Pergamum.'
>
>Leather, of course, was in use
>for much longer, but not
>so commonly because papyrus was
>so plentiful. There are,
>however, leather fragments of Egyptian
>documents from the 24th century
>BCE.
>
>Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the
>digression; I'm off on sabbatical
>for a month, and look
>forward to seeing your progress
>when I return.
>
>Thanks Again,
>
>Savitri

In reply to message #1
 
Toda Rabbah Akhi Paul for that very helpful and informative reply ... I've been wondering about that for some time now!!!

In reply to message #6
 
Anytime, Akhi!

Hey, isn't it ironic that:

(1) The Samaritans (Assyrians), have adopted, retained and preserved the Jewish script.

(2) The Jews have adopted, retained and preserved the Assyrian script.

Weird how things work out sometimes, isn't it?

Shlama w'Burkate,
Paul

>Toda Rabbah Akhi Paul for that
>very helpful and informative reply
>... I've been wondering about
>that for some time now!!!
>