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  • From: Jonathan Bailey <jonathan.bailey AT gmx.de>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew list <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re[2]: Hebrew & Aramaic Graffiti]
  • Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 22:52:51 +0200


I just got some names from my prof, but I did not get a chance to go to the
library to
check anything out. I have a hefty schedule on Tuesdays and I do nothing but
talk
German and read Hebrew from dawn till dusk and I just didn't have any energy
for the
library.

He did not mention any bibliographies, but two printed editions came under
consideration.

For the Hebrew, he said that everything you would need would be in "Neu
Hebräische
Inschriften und Texte" by B. Ridschewski from the Lang Verlag in Frankfurt
(1993). It is
a single volume available for less than 75 DM. You can check on amazon.de to
see if it
is available. I don't know how good your German is, but apparently it is
mostly
inscriptions (little German commentary), so if you have the minimum you
should be
OK.

The other he mentioned "Aramaische Texte vom Toten Meer mit Ergänzung" by
Klaus
Beyer. I did not get the publisher or date. The title is misleading here, as
he says this
is an exhaustive edition of all Aramaic epigraphy from 200 years around Jesus.
Unfortunately, each volume is 200 DM. The whole thing (Vol 1: Introduction to
the
Aramaic Language - 400 pages - German; Vol 2: Texte - your epigraphy; Vol 3:
Lexicon) will be about 600 DM. Also the thing is hard to get. I am not sure
if each
volume can be bought separately.

My professor is calling Klaus Beyer to see if he can get the volumes sold
separately,
perhaps at an author's price. (half price on recommendation of the author).

Unfortunately, Fitzmyer's Exhaustive bibliography of Aramaic is not available.

I will keep my eyes peeled if I see anything else. I am looking to build an
epigraphic
library myself (though I am interested in the really old stuff - Ugaritic,
Reichsaramaisch, early Canaanite dialects), but since I am snooping around in
this
area, I might be able to find something else. I am going to hunt around the
SemitistiK
library for a few hours tomorrow. Are you looking for things to purchase? Do
you have
access to a respectable library? If you are willing to take recommendations
for out of
print and ultra expensive books that you would probably have to settle for
the library
for, I could offer you more sources.

Finally, that great bibliography that you mentioned of Hebrew and Aramaic
grafitti is
simply unknown to my professor. Sorry.



Jonathan Bailey
MA Kandidat
Hochschule für Jüdische Studien
Heidelberg
---------- Original Message ----------



>> Subject: Re[2]: Hebrew & Aramaic Graffiti
>> Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 00:12:55 +0200
>> From: Jonathan Bailey <jonathan.bailey AT gmx.de>
>> To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
>Thanks a million, Jon. Let me tell you what I want to demonstrate.
>I have often been the primary protagonist in debates concerning
>the "street language" of 1st century Judea/Galilee. As you are well
>aware, those scholars who have a heavy academic investment in Greek
>claim Greek was the lingua franca. Those in Hebrew...Hebrew. I fall
>in with the majority consensus for Aramaic for many reasons that
>I am sure you know from reading Jeremias, Black, Fitzmyer, etc.

>I am looking for a solid argument and while musing on this situation
>the other night it occurred to me that among the hundreds of papers
>I have read on Aramaic graffiti, there was frequent mention of the
>inscription being quite primitive, poorly spelled or clumsy
>orthography.

>Have you ever thought of a paradigm for which you slap yourself
>in the head and say "you dummy! You should have written down those
>references?"

>Most of the literature base for this issue that I can recall, even
>Safrai, seems to assume either literate or illiterate with about 95%
>of the population of ancient Palestine falling in the "illiterate"
>class. This ignores a segment of the uneducated class that was
>barely or semi-literate. I will not find the epigraphy of this
>class in the DSS or in the papyrological record but in graffiti,
>ostraca and ossuarial inscriptions. If I can show numerous examples
>of primitive grammar and spelling in Aramaic graffiti and compare
>that to Hebrew ostraca, etc...it could establish a sound foundation
>for Aramaic as the LF of the "unwashed." :)

>Make sense?

>Jack




>> Jack, I am new to epigraphy myself, and all I have thus been able to get
>> my hands
on
>> at this point is the Fitzmyer/Kaufman bibliography of the older Aramaic
>> epigraphic
>> finds, which aims to be a completely exhaustive bibliography, for which
>> there are, I
>> believe, quarterly update letters given to subscribers. I am not aware if
>> the second
>> volume in the series, which is to cover the Aramaic dialects from 300 BC
>> to 300
AD is
>> out yet, but if it is, you can bet your graffiti will be there. At least
>> for the Aramaic
side
>> of the house.
>>
>> I am taking a class on pre-exilic Hebrew epigraphy being taught by a
>> professor we
>> have on loan from the Semitistik Fakultät of the University of Heidelberg,
>> and this
guy
>> KNOWS HIS LITERATURE. I have class with him tomorrow at 4:15 PM and will
>> ask
for
>> you.
>>
>> I do know that there are exhaustive editions of the various epigraphic
>> materials
(not
>> just bibliographies) available, but you have to be willing to pop out at
>> least $300 to
get
>> one. You will get your inscriptions as photographs, then printed in
>> quadratschrift,
then
>> with latin transliteration, though. These tools are what we are using in
>> class. I will
see
>> if there is anything covering your time period with both languages.
>>
>> Basically I am saying I should have your info tomorrow.
>>
>> Jon
>>
>> ---------- Original Message ----------
>>
>> >Can anyone point me in the direction of a bibliography for 1st
>> >century Hebrew and Aramaic graffiti, ostraca, ossuarial epigraphy
>> >noted for poor spelling, grammar?
>>
>> >Jack
>>
>> >--
>> >______________________________________________
>>
>> >taybutheh d'maran yeshua masheecha am kulkon
>>
>> >Jack Kilmon
>> >jkilmon AT historian.net
>>
>> >http://www.historian.net
>>
>> >---
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>--
>______________________________________________

>taybutheh d'maran yeshua masheecha am kulkon

>Jack Kilmon
>jkilmon AT historian.net

>http://www.historian.net



  • Re[2]: Hebrew & Aramaic Graffiti], Jonathan Bailey, 10/26/1999

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