On Sherd and Papyrus: Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from the Second Temple, Mishnaic, and Talmudic Periods.

• Author: Sokoloff, Michael

By J. NAVEH. Jerusalem: MAGNES PRESS, 1992. Pp. 238. [Hebrew.]

Joseph Naveh, Professor of West Semitic Epigraphy and Paleography at The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, has now published a book which supplements his previous work on the synagogue inscriptions, called On Stone and Mosaic (Tel Aviv: Sifriyat Maariv, 1978 [Hebrew]). While the title of the present work was chosen to complement the previous book, its purpose, as its subtitle indicates, is more encompassing, viz., to survey all of the Hebrew and Aramaic epigraphic material - not just that written on sherd and papyrus - found both in Eretz Israel and the lands of the diaspora that has been published in recent decades.(1)

The introductory chapter (pp. 11-36) deals with the use of the paleo-Hebrew script, the adoption of the Aramaic script by the Jews, and the Samaritan alphabet. The author deduces from the Aramaic dedicatory inscriptions, written in the Hebrew square script found in the Samaritan Temple on Mt. Gerizim and dating from the second century C.E., that the Samaritans also employed the Aramaic script alongside the paleo-Hebrew script just as the Jews did (e.g., on coins). The Samaritans, however, continued to use the paleo-Hebrew script in later periods for religious purposes just as Jewish sectarians did earlier in the Second Temple period.

Chapter two, "Inscriptions of Everyday Life" (pp. 37-82), collects inscriptions written on sherds and includes much material found at Massada and originally published by the author. These include a large number of names written in ink on sherds which have been interpreted as being the very lots employed by the defenders of the fortress, before their mass suicide as recorded by Josephus. In addition there are various lists, orders, letters, jar inscriptions, and so on.

In chapter three (pp. 83-105), the author republishes various legal documents found at Massada, Muraba at, and Nahal Hever. Many of these documents are written in a difficult cursive script and are now presented in new hand copies by Ada Yardeni (see now her "Nahal Se elim" Documents [Beersheva: Ben Gurion University Press, 1995] [Hebrew]) including many new readings and interpretations by the author. To date, however, the majority of the legal material from Nahal Hever (including the extensive Nabatean material in the Babatha archive not dealt with by Naveh) has still not been published. (The texts were in the hands of Y. Yadin for many years; Jonas C. Greenfield was...