Scribal Education in Ancient Israel: The Old Hebrew Epigraphic Evidence

Rollston, Christopher A.

doi:10.1086/basor25066977

Cited by 45 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Widespread writing within the military, religious and civil bureaucracies hint at the existence of an appropriate educational system in Judah at the end of the First Temple period [10,[78][79][80][81][82]. The unprecedented scribal activity during this era (cf.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic document examination and algorithmic handwriting analysis of Judahite biblical period inscriptions reveal significant literacy level

Shaus

Gerber²,

Faigenbaum-Golovin

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

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Arad is a well preserved desert fort on the southern frontier of the biblical kingdom of Judah. Excavation of the site yielded over 100 Hebrew ostraca (ink inscriptions on potsherds) dated to ca. 600 BCE, the eve of Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem. Due to the site's isolation, small size and texts that were written in a short time span, the Arad corpus holds important keys to understanding dissemination of literacy in Judah. Here we present the handwriting analysis of 18 Arad inscriptions, including more than 150 pair-wise assessments of writer's identity. The examination was performed by two new algorithmic handwriting analysis methods and independently by a professional forensic document examiner. To the best of our knowledge, no such large-scale pair-wise assessments of ancient documents by a forensic expert has previously been published. Comparison of forensic examination with algorithmic analysis is also unique. Our study demonstrates substantial agreement between the results of these independent methods of investigation. Remarkably, the forensic examination reveals a high probability of at least 12 writers within the analyzed corpus. This is a major increment over the previously published algorithmic estimations, which revealed 4-7 writers for the same assemblage. The high literacy rate detected within the small Arad stronghold, estimated (using broadly-accepted paleo-demographic coefficients) to have accommodated 20-30 soldiers, demonstrates widespread literacy in the late 7 th century BCE Judahite military and administration apparatuses, with the ability to compose biblical texts during this period a possible by-product.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic document examination and algorithmic handwriting analysis of Judahite biblical period inscriptions reveal significant literacy level

Shaus

Gerber²,

Faigenbaum-Golovin

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

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show abstract

“…Evidence from ancient inscriptions points to standardized scribal education. Script, for example, became standardized (Rollston, ). Spelling was also relatively uniform.…”

Section: Methodological Debate and Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The history of Classical Hebrew: From the invention of the alphabet to the Mishnah

Schniedewind

2019

Religion Compass

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A lively debate has engulfed the study of the early history of the Hebrew language in the past two decades. Traditionally, scholars classified the language of the Hebrew Bible into three categories: Archaic, Standard, and Late Biblical Hebrew. But recent trends in biblical criticism have tended to date biblical literature much later, and some scholars date almost all of biblical literature to the Persian and Hellenistic periods. This trend undoes traditional linguistic categories for biblical Hebrew and questions the validity of the linguistic dating of biblical literature. In spite of the challenges, a modified and more complex model for the history of Classical Hebrew remains the working consensus model. A lively debate has engulfed the study of the early history of the Hebrew language in the past two decades, especially advanced by the work of Ian Young and Robert Rezetko (e.g., Young & Rezetko, ). Conferences have been organized to address this issue (e.g., Miller‐Naudé & Zevit, ). Young and Rezetko have continued to advocate for their approach in spite of critical reviews (e.g., Joosten, ). Traditionally, scholars have classified the language of the Hebrew Bible into three categories: Archaic Biblical Hebrew (that is, early biblical poems), Standard Biblical Hebrew (the major part of biblical literature), and Late Biblical Hebrew (comprising compositions from the Persian and Hellenistic periods). But trends in biblical criticism over the past several decades have tended to date biblical literature later and later. Now, one can find some prominent scholars who date almost all of biblical literature—and particularly Pentateuchal literature (Sommer, )—to the Persian and Hellenistic periods. This trend raises serious questions about the validity of the traditional linguistic dating of biblical literature. Although some have ignored this linguistic problem, others have offered a variety of rationales justifying the dismissal of linguistic dating. These divergent trends have resulted in continuing debate regarding the historical linguistics of Biblical Hebrew that is addressed in Ronald Hendel and Jan Joosten's recent book, How Old is the Hebrew Bible? (2018).

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“…Ostracon images: courtesy of the Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University and of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Facsimiles: courtesy of Ms Judith Dekel, of the Israel Exploration Society (Aharoni 1981), and of Prof C A Rollston (Rollston 2006).…”

Section: Acknowledgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computerized Paleographic Investigation of Hebrew Iron Age Ostraca

et al. 2015

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This article surveys ongoing research of the Legibility Enhancement of Ostraca (LEO) team of Tel Aviv University in the field of computerized paleography of Hebrew Iron Age ink-written ostraca. We perform paleographic tasks using tools from the fields of image processing and machine learning. Several new techniques serving this aim, as well as an adaptation of existing ones, are described herein. This includes testing a range of signal-acquisition methodologies, out of which multispectral imaging and Raman spectroscopy have matured into imaging systems. In addition, we deal with semior fully automated facsimile construction and refinement, facsimile, and character evaluation, as well as the reconstruction of broken character strokes. We conclude with future research directions, addressing some of the long-standing epigraphic questions, such as the number of scribes in specific corpora or detection of chronological concurrences and inconsistencies.

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Scribal Education in Ancient Israel: The Old Hebrew Epigraphic Evidence

Abstract: To be sure, Ben Sira's "bêt midras " (Sir 51:23 Manuscript B) is normally understood to be a reference to a "school," but this Jewish work derives from the second century b.c.e. For discussion and bibliography of the "scribe" and "school" in Ben Sira, see Rollston (2001).

Cited by 45 publications

References 65 publications

Forensic document examination and algorithmic handwriting analysis of Judahite biblical period inscriptions reveal significant literacy level

Forensic document examination and algorithmic handwriting analysis of Judahite biblical period inscriptions reveal significant literacy level

The history of Classical Hebrew: From the invention of the alphabet to the Mishnah

Computerized Paleographic Investigation of Hebrew Iron Age Ostraca

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