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Diary 52

Diary  52  - Being the ancient scribe from the Lost Cities of the Bible 

Increasingly my scribal and academic worlds are merging into one. No more so than a little adventure I had in Oxford filming for a documentary about the Lost Cities of the Bible that first screened in the US on Discovery Plus and the Science Channel.


Above: screen grab from the title sequence. Below: rather nice overlay with still wet ink of what will be a paleo Hebrew bet (but looks like a resh mid shot). My thanks to the producers for allowing me to use some screen grabs as there were no production photos from the day. 


The producers contacted me and wanted me to write out four specific verses from Tanakh (three from Genesis and one from 2 Kings) as they would have been done in ancient time. However when they approached me, I explained that they would not have been written in the modern STa"M script that you can see on many pages on this site. This is a sort of 'created script' stemming from the medieval exemplars. 

Instead have been written in paleo-Hebrew (Ketav Ivri) or an early form of the Jewish 'square' Script (Ketav Ashurit) that came from the Aramaic (again different from the current script). Interestingly even the Rabbis in the Talmud recognised this and in Sanhedrin 21b there is a great discussion over whether the Torah was given in  the paleo-script and then later changed by Ezra to the script we know. However, even there there is a retrojection that suggests that Ketva Ashurit came first but being unworthy it was taken away and then returned to us (presumably when we were more worthy). Rabbinical explanations aside, the historical reality of course is that Ketav Ivri was the script used initially as Ashurit as we know it had not yet developed. 

Also, in all likelihood the original texts were written on papyrus (and not parchment) with a reed and certainly not a feather quill (a much later European development). parchment. Even if were parchment it would be browner gevil (unsplit hide), very different to the modern beige kelaf parchment. 

Having explained this, they quite sensibly asked me if I could write paleo-Hebrew. Well, over the last few ears of my PhD studies I have learnt to read it, but writing is technically out of the question as the Rabbis expressly forbade the use of the script for Kitvey haQodesh (holy writing). Likely this was in reaction to the Samaritans use of it and the exiles returning bearing this 'more beauteous' Aramaic script that was the main script and language employed across the region. 

So I ended up spending every evening in the week prior to the filming cutting reeds and learning to write (as opposed to just read) two different scripts from the 7-9th century BCE and the 3-5th century BCE respectively.

Below: a series of screen grab of some of the paleo-Hebrew verses that I wrote on the day to scroll through. They rather nicely super imposed elements behind the script in some scenes. 

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On the day of filming I went to a Pottery place in Oxford (the lady being filmed before me was showing them how to do cuneiform in damp clay, hence the venue - and it was very cool to watch her as well - also featured in the documentaries).

Everything was in close up (hands writing and eyes) as there were no costumes and I don't really look much like an ancient scribe - even tghough I wore a linen short for the occasion just in case it got in shot. 


I also ended up chanting the verses for them, but sadly in a modern Ashkenazi trope that I know, as who really knows what it sounded like back then (although my PhD supervisor Prof. Geoffrey Khan has done some excellent work at reconstructing Tiberian pronunciation which I heartily recommend). But that singing found its fate on the cutting room floor and quite rightly so! 


The camera on the day focusing in one one of the sheets. Also, a spread showing my kit for the day. Reeds, ink and parchment paper and a roll of parchment for establishing shots. Photos © Mordechai Pinchas/Marc Michaels

Below: a further series of screen grabs to scroll throughfocusing more on the early form of the ketav Ashurit that featured in the verses from Kings.


I also had to learn the  early form of Ashurit in the week before the filming. If anything it was slightly harder as it is closer to modern Hebrew script and so there is a danger of falling into what you know. Also letters like kaf looked more like a nun then and what we see as a kaf was a bet (as it didn't have an eqev (heel) back then).

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And for those who are interested the verses I wrote were: Gen. 7:10-7.11 (which references the flood and Noah), Gen. 10:9-10.11 (mentioning Nimrod, Bavel/Babylon, Nineveh, Shinar and Ashur, Gen. 15:6 -15.7 (mentioning Ur Kasdim) and finally 2 Kings 24:20 to 2 Kings 25:1 which mentions Nebuchadnezzer, Babylon again and Yerushalayim/ Jerusalem.


A very interesting adventure filming and quite a lot of footgae made the final edit which is nice to see. And a nice special thank you in the credits.

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