SECTION 1 1
Keith N. Schoviile
Literacy at Lachish
Excavations at biblical Lachish (Tell ed-Duweir) have produced evidence of
literacy, in terms of alphabetic writing, from the Middle Bronze through
the Iron Age II periods. Under the direction of James L. Starkey, the Well-
corae-Colt/Marston expedition excavated from 1932-1938. David Ussishkin of
Tel Aviv University has directed the second major expedition to the site
from 1973 to date. The site is located approximately thirty miles southwest
of Jerusalem, east of Ashkelon and west of Hebron in the Shepelah.
Because of the very limited evidence prior to Iron Age II, we can
speak of literacy only in very general terms; however, by the period of the
divided kingdoms of Israel, Joseph Naveh's definition of literacy is
applicable to Lachish: "A Society can be considered '""iterate' if, in ad¬
dition to the professional scribes, there are people who can write, not
only amoijg the highest social class, but also among the lower middle
classes." /^t Lachish, evidence for writing exists in the MB and LB
periods, but in insufficient quantities to distinguish the levels of
literacy. However, based on the evidence if the Amarna Letters, scribes at
Lachish were literate in cuneiform, and very likely also in Egyptian
hieroglyphics in the Late Bronze Age.
The Lachish Dagger found in Tomb 15o2, provides the earliest evidence
of alphabetic (?) writing at Lachish. The four pictographic signs, dated to
ca. 1700-I600 B.C. by contemporaneous artifacts, pre-date the similar forms
from Serabit el-Khadim. It is likely that the blade was embossed by the
metalsmith, not be a professional scribe, can assume that the made-to-
order dagger bore the name of its owner.
Some three dozen inscribed scarabs from the same period, Dynasties
I3-I8, have been found. They do not prove a knowledge of hieroglyphics at
Lachish in MBIIC, but they indicate an awareness of writing. The current
excavations are only now reaching the strata of the period; hopefully they
will produce additional evidence of literacy.
From the late Bronze Age, evidence of literacy includes a seal from
Tomb 555, a censer lid from Tomb 2l6, Lachish Bowl 1 from Tomb 527, and the
famous Lachish Ewer, recovered in fragments from the refuse pits related to
phase three of the Fosse Temple. The vessel is decorated on the shoulder
with symbols, along wil^ a Proto-Canaanite inscription: "Mattan. An offer¬
ing to my Lady '""lat." Similar letters were discovered on a sherd in the
1983 season of the Tel Aviv University Expedition; however, even though the
sherd was stratigraphically datable, there is insufficient text to trans¬
late. A few other fragmentary inscriptions also came from the Late Bronze
period. Some are alphabetic and others hieratic.
Lachish lay desolate from approximately 115 -92o B.C. No epigraphie
remains relating to the period of the Judges have been discovered there.
The Iron Age II inscriptions consist of those dated before 7ol B.C.
(the Siege of Sennacherib) and thos later. Since 1973, Ostraca XXIII-XXXII,
none of which is lengthy and most of which are fragmentary, have been
found. They do suggest an increasingly broader spectrum of the society who
were literate, desiring their personal names on private property. This is
A. Wezler/E. Hammerschmidt (Hrsg.): Proceedings ofthe XXXII Intemational Congress for Asian and North Afncan Studies, Hamburg, 25lh-30th August 1986 (ZDMG-Suppl. 9).
© 1992 Franz Steiner Veriag Stuugart
2 SECTION 1
in ]ine with the "La-melek" stamped jar handles, indicating a relationship
to the royal house and government.
The famous Lachish Letters (Ostraca I-XVIII), discovered by the Brit¬
ish in a guard room of the bastion, a part of the main gate structure of
Judean Lachish, are military communications. They were discoveres in 1935.
They illuminate the situation in a fortified city as the conquest of Judah
by Nebuchadnezzar was underway. Along with seals, seal impressions, and
inscribed weights from the period, these letters help confirm the function¬
al literacy that axisted in pre-exilic Judah in the period of the Writing
Prophets .
Taken together, impressive and convincing evidence exists that at
least some of the inhabitants of Lachish were literate from the MB through
the Iron Age periods, from the inception of alphabetic writing until it
becames the widespread property of the common citizen.
1. "A Palaeographie Note on the Distribution of the Hebrew Script," Har¬
vard Theological Review 6l (1968), 68.
2. F. M. Cross, Jr., "The Evolution of the Proto-Canaanite Alphabet,"
Basor 134 '1954), 2o-21.
SECTION 1 3
Nataraga from Tanjgira
(Bilaspur),c. t2thl3th cent. A.D., Kalacuri
Nataraga from Chaurasi
garh, c. 12th-13th cent.
A.D., Paramära
SECTION 1
Natesa from Bhanpura
(Mandsore), c. 8th-9th
cent. A.D., Pratibära
Nataraga from Ghatiani
(Durg), c. 11th cent. A
Kalacuri
SECTION 1
5
Nataraga from Kataghora (Bilaspur),
c. 12th-13th cent. A.D., Kalacuri
6 SECTION 1
Karlheinz Spreer
Ein Spielbrett aus dem Königsfriedhof von Ur
(U.9000: Woolley, Ur-Excavation, 1934)
Der Vortrag beschränkt sich auf einige Erläuterungen
zur Spielfeldanordnung auf der Oberseite des Spiel¬
bretts und bezieht sich auf diejenigen ihre Bedeutungs¬
inhalte, die über die rein spieltheoretische Erklärung
der Spielfläche als Zwei-Personen-Nullsummenspiel hin¬
aus noch möglich erscheinen.
Die folgenden Vermutungen sollen die These stüt¬
zen, daß dieses Spielbrett einen elementaren Wissenska¬
talog der Menschen im frühdynastischen Ur enthält, auf
dem einzelne Grundkenntnisse aus unterschiedlichen Wis¬
sensgebieten in einem vieldeutigen symbolischen Bezugs¬
system durch geometrische Formen dargestellt sind.
Vier Aspekte - bezogen auf astronomische, chronolo¬
gische, mythologische und symbolische Inhalte - sollen
das beispielhaft belegen.
1. Symbolischer Aspekt
Der symbolische Charakter der zwanzig quadratischen
Spielfelder auf der Spielfläche kann nicht geleugnet
werden. Die Fünf hat hier offensichtlich eine beherr¬
schende Stllung: neun der Felder zeigen drei Varianten
eines Fünf-Punkte-Musters in diagonaler Kreuzform; die
fünf Felder mit achtblättrigen Rosetten sind zu einem
recntecKing ausgezogenen Fünf-Punkte-Muster geordnet; fünf Felder zeigen
das Fünf-Punkte-Muster in diagonaler Kreuzform mit kreisrumrandeten Punk¬
ten; fünf Felder haben das gleiche Vier-Augen-Muster; die restlichen Felder
(zwei mit viermal fünf Punkten in je einem Zackenquadrat, zwei mit je fünf
Punkten von je einem kleineren und größeren Zackenquadrat umrahmt, das nur
einmal vorhandene Feld mit zwölf Punkten) ergeben zusmmen die Anzahl fünf;
die fünf Rosetten-Felder teilen die übrige Spielfläche in fünfmal je drei
in einer Reihe liegende Felder auf.
Die Spielfelder auf dem sogenannten Steg des Spielbretts - die Verbin¬
dung der sechs und zwölf Felder großen Teilflächen - können als Symbole des
Mondes und der Sonne gesehen werden: einen literarischen Hinweis auf das
Fünf-Punkte-Muster als Symbol des Mondes finden wir nur bei Agrippa von
Nettesheim in seinem Werk "De occulta philosopha" von 1533, wo in den
Planetentafeln als Zeichen des Mondes auch das Fünf-Punkte-Muster auf¬
taucht, nur daß hier die Punkte durch ein diagonales Linienkreuz direkt
verbunden sind.
Im Hinblick auf das Zwanzig-Punkte-Feld finden wir auf dem Mosaik mit
der Auffahrt des Sonnengottes aus Münster-Sarmsheim um 25o n.Chr., das in
seiner Mitte den Sonnengott Sol mit seinem Viergespann umgeben von den
Tierkreiszeichen darstellt, zahlreiche quadratische Flächen mit unterschied¬
lichen Sonnensymbolem, darunter auch solche mit vier Zackenquadraten in der
gleichen Anordnung wie auf dem Zwanzig-Punkte-Feld des Steges; das fast
gleiche Symbol finden wit auch auf der Keramik der frühen Bronzezeit in
Damb Sadaat II der Induskultur.
A. Wezler/E. Hammerschmidi (Hrsg.): Proceedings of ihe XXXII Inlernalional Congress for Asian and North Afriean Sludies, Hamburg, 25üi-30lh Augusl 1986 (ZDMG-Suppl. 9).
© 1992 Franz Sleiner Verlag Siutlgart
SECTION 1 7
Die Verbreitung und Jahrtausende alte Tradition solcher Zeichen ist
hier von weitergehendem Interesse.
2. Astronomischer Aspekt
Die fünf Rosetten-Felder teilen die übrige Spielfläche zwischen sich auffäl¬
lig in fünf Reihen von jeweils drei hintereinander- bzw. nebeneinander¬
liegenden Spielfeldern auf, wobei vier dieser Feldreihen in der Längsrich¬
tung des Spielbretts liegen und eine Feldreihe (die äußere Reihe auf der
Sechs-Felder-Teilfläche) quer dazu; die über den Steg gelegte Reihe ragt
aus Konstruktionsgründen noch mit einem Feld in die Sechs-Felder-Teilfläche
hinein. Dies alles ein sehr deutlicher Hinweis zum Spielverlauf.
Weiter fällt dazu auf, daß das vermutliche Symbolfeld des Mondes -
im Gegensatz zu den anderen Spielfeldarten - in jeder der fünf Feldreihen
anzutreffen ist. Eine Markierung, die zu der Überlegung führt, in diesem
Spielverlauf gleichzeitig den Phasenverlauf des Mondes zu sehen: die Außen¬
reihe links bzw. rechts (als Spielanfang) auf der Zwölf-Felder-Teilfläche
symbolisiert den Dunkelmond/das Neulicht (die aufgerissenen, gleichsam nach
Licht suchenden Augen der anliegenden Felder können Dunkelheit/Nacht bedeu¬
ten); die Reihe über den Steg, die im angenommenen Spielverlauf hin und
zurück überspielt werden muß, symbolisiert den zunehmenden und abnehmenden
Mond/den ersten und letzten Halbmond (das Mondsymbol liegt hier nicht
zentral in der Reihe und wird nur an einer Seite (halb) durch das Sonnen¬
symbol berührt)" die äußere Querreihe auf der Sechs-Felder-Teilfläche symbo¬
lisiert den Vollmond (die Felder links und rechts des Mondsymbols bilden
zusammen das Sonnensymbol und berühren das Mond-Feld von beiden Seiten;
diese Feldreihe stellt auch den "oberen" Wendepunkt des Spielverlaufs dar).
3. Chronologischer Aspekt
Auf Grund der Mond-Sonnen-Symbolik der Spielfläche wird in der beim astro¬
nomischen Aspekt ausgenommenen Feldreihe in der Mittelachse der Zwölf-Fel-
der-Teilfläche der Ansatz eines lunisolaren Kalenders sichtbar. Das "unte¬
re" Zwölf-Punkte-Spielfeld wird als Jahres-Feld mit den zwölf Monaten/Tier¬
kreiszeichen angenommen. Die über ihm liegenden beiden Spielfelder sind
wieder die Mond- und Sonnen-Symbole wie wir sie in gleicher Lage auf dem
Steg finden. Im Hinblick auf die bemerkenswerten Zahlenverhältnisse in
dieser Feldreihe können die Felder als Jahre und die Punkte auf ihnen als
Mond-Monate gedeutet werden: das sich ergebende Verhältnis von drei Spiel¬
feldern zu 37 Feldpunkten, d.h. im Sinne der Vermutung drei Jahre zu 37
Mond-Monaten, entspricht genau dem Drei-Jahres-Zyklus im lunisolaren Kalen¬
der.
4. Mythologischer Aspekt
In den Spielfeldern und Felderpunkten Zahlen und Zahlenverhältnisse zu
sehen, ist naheliegend. Dem Spielbrett mit Bezug auf diese Überlegung auch
mythologische Aspekte zuzuschreiben, kann insofern nicht überraschen, da
z.B. wichtigen Gottheiten im alten Mesopotamien bestimmte Zahlen zugeordnet
wurden, die so auch gleichermaßen die Götter in ein rechenbares Verhältnis
zueinander setzten: An 6o, Enlil 5o, Enki 4°, Nanna 3o, Utu 2o, Inanna 15,
um die bekanntesten zu nennen, die hier auch von Interesse sind.
"enn wir die Summen der Querreihen der Spielfläche errechnen, so fin¬
den wir - auf die drei Teilflächen verteilt - auf der Sechs-Felder-Teilflä¬
che die Zahl 15 '5 + 5 5), auf dem Steg die Zahl 2o und auf der größeren
Teilfläche die Zahl 3o (5 2o + 5), die gerade den obersten astralen
Gottheiten Inanna/Venus , Utu/Sonne und Nanna/Mond zugeeignet sind.
8 SECTION 1
Wenn wir andererseits dem behaupteten Spielverlauf nach (beginnend mit
dem Rosetten-Feld links bzw. rechts außen "unten" auf der Zwölf-Fel¬
der-Teilfläche, weiter über den Steg und quer über die Sechs-Felder-Teil-
fläphe und zurück vom Augen-Feld zwischen den beiden Rosetten-Feldern auf
der Mittelachse bis zum Ende auf dem Zwölf-Punkte-Feld ) die Punkte der
einzelnen Spielfelder immer zur Summe der davorliegenden Felder hinzuzäh¬
len, erhalten wir folgende Zahlenkette (in Klammern die Nummer des Feldes):
l(l)-5(2)-lo(3)-14(4)-15(5)-2o(6)-4o(7)-44(8)-45(9)-5o(lo)-55(ll)-6o(12)-
6ri3)-65(14)-85l'15)-9o(l6)-91'17)-lll(l8)-ll6(19)-128(2o). Die Felder mit
den Summenzahlen 4o, 5o und 60 stehen auf der "oberen" Spielfläche in einer
ausgezeichneten geometrischen Position, die hier selbst wieder als Symbol
für die oberste Götterdreiheit des damaligen Pantheons gesehen werden kann,
nämlich An, Enlil und Enki.
Zählen wir die Punkte auf den Spielfeldern, die wir als Mondsymbole
bezeichnen (fünfmal 5 Punkte), und die Punkte der rosetten-Felder , die in
ihrer Anordnung ein sechstes Mondsymbol auf der Spielfläche darstellen
(fünfmal 1 Punkt), zusammen, so erhalten wir die für den Mondgott Nanna
genannte Zahl 3o. Da Nanna als Stadtgott von Ur gilt, scheint dieses Spiel¬
brett ihm vielleicht besonders zugeignet gewesen zu sein.
Beispiele der Fünf-Symbolik auf dem Sp i elbrett
10
y^p^l_ 2 Sonnen-Symbole
Symbolischer Aspekt
Damb Sadaat
Mond-Symbol e
von Nettesheim
TAFEL 3
Astronomischer Aspekt
11
Rekonstruktionsversuch der Spielbrett-Oberseite
12
TAFEL 4
Chronologischer Aspekt
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Mondumläufen
Drei-Jahres-Zyklus im lunisolaren Kalender
(Siehe hierzu auch E . Bi ckermann , Ch ronol ogi e , 1 963 , Seite 13.)
TAFEL 5
Mythologischer Aspekt
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TAFEL 6
Mythologischer Aspekt
TAFEL 7
Mythologischer Aspekt
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Der Stadtgott von Ur und das Spielbrett
Die Summe aus den Punkten der Symbolfelder des Mondes
in FUnf-Punkte-Anordnung (fünfmal 5 Punkte und fünfmal
1 Punkt) ergibt die Zahl 30, die dem NANNA zugeordnete
Götterzahl .
16 SECTION 1
Karol My^liwiec
Some Ancient Egyptian Aspects of Hellenistic Cults in Athribis
The discovery of a group of sculptures from the Ptolemaic period represent¬
ing Greek and Egyptian gods came as a result of a campaign of rescue exo-
cavations carried out in November 1985 in Tell Atrib (ancient Athribis,
close to modern Benha) by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaelogy
(Cairo). Coming from a well dated stratum (mid Ilird - mid 1st cent. B.C.)
of an exact spot (a villa of a nobleman), these representations prompt one
to some reflections on a possibly Ancient Egyptian background for some of
the Hellenistic cults as well as on the mutual assimilations occurring
between the two great religions.
The statues representing Greek gods were sculpted in imported marble,
while the images of Egyptian gods were made of local materials: limestone
and clay. In the first group there prevail fragments of several statues
showing Aphrodite. Some possible reasons for the presence of the cult of
this goddess in Athribis can be deduced from the following observations:
- In Egypt Aphrodite was identified with Hathor and Isis - two local god¬
desses whose cult at Athribis had been established long before;
- a mythological parallel associates Aphrodite with Hwjt - the principal
female deity of Athribis. Each of these goddesses is the motorial power
in a myth of divine rebirth: Hwjt - "the one who wraps the god" (hbs(.t)
ntr), plays a similar role in the resurrection of Osiris as Aphrodite
does in the revival of Adonis - the god slain by a wild boar;
- according to Strabo, one of the Egyptian cities called Aphroditopolis was
situated in the 11th Lower Egyptian nome that in various aspects reveals
affinities with the neighbouring loth nome of which Athribis was the
capital. The small dimensions of both provinces and the geographical
proximity of their capitals imply a short distance between Athribis and
Aphroditopolis, from where probably the cult of the goddess had radiated
into the central part of the Egyptian Delta. Confirming these influences
would be a group of similar statues of marble, representing Aphrodite,
found at Thmuis (close to Mendes) in the north of this region.
The next sculpture from our excavations - a small limestone altar
representing Bes, the Egyptian god of magical protection, who also played
the role of a gay dancer - brings to mind the god's affinities with Aphro¬
dite, as recorded by Greek authors in respect to the temple of Aphrodite-
Arsinie in Alexandria.
A small terracotta head of Athena wearing a helmet, found in another
part of our excavations, appears to be a fragment of an oil lamp or lantern
£Uid as such it calls to mind the observations of Herodotus concerning the
cult of Athena, identified with the warlike goddess Neith in Sais, the
capital of a neighbouring province. Since a feast featuring the lighting of
lamps was an important element in this cult, we may suggest the inter¬
pretation of our fragments as a representation of Neith-Athena and consider
it as a contribution to the knowledge of the geographical distribution of
this cult .
A. Wezler/E. Hammerschmidt (Hrsg.): Proceedings of die XXXII International Congress for Asian and North African Studies, Hamburg, 25th-30th August 1986 (ZDMG-Suppl. 9).
© 1992 Franz Sleiner Veriag Stuttgart
SECTION 1
Hellenistic sculptures from Tell Atrib
Fig. 1: Head of a priest .
Terracotta figurine fragment.
Fig. 2: Harpocrates. Terracotta figurine.
Fig. 3: Aphrodite. Marble statue
SECTION 1 19
20 SECTION 1
Jean Leclant
Researches on the Pyramids with Texts at Saqqara
Au cours des recentes annees, les recherches de la Mission Archeologique
Francaise de Saqqarah ont porte tant sur le grand temple de Pepi ler que
sur les appartements funeraires de sa pyramide. Pour nous en tenir ici ä
ces derniers, le travail a consiste, de I966 ä 1971, ä deblayer patiemment
des dizaines de milliers de blocs et de fragments de toutes natures et de
toutes dimensions qui les obstruaient. En meme temps, etait effectuee la
consolidation des parois tres attaquees et des faitages; dans ces espaces
tres etroits, avec un outillage assez rudimentaire , la remise en place des
blocs, dont certains pesent plus de 10 tonnes, presentait nombre de
difficultes .
Au fur et ä mesure de l'apparition des blocs, 1' equipe de la MAFS a
dresse l'inventaire detaille de ceux qui etaient inscrits, enregistrant
dimensions et caracteristiques diverses; des photographies systematiques
ont ete effectuees et le releve grandeur des inscriptions; enfin, on a mene
l'etude minutieuse des textes du point de vue de la philologie et de
l'etude minutieuse des textes du point de vue de la philologie et de
l'interpretation. Peu ä peu ont ete operes des rapports entre les blocs et
des assemblages avec les inscriptions encore en place; ainsi ont ete
developpes d'enormes puzzles qui ont ete completes d'une campagne ä
l'autre. Le travail de reconstitution devrait etre termine en 1988 et, peu
apres, serait prete la publication de l'ensemble des textes de Pepi Ier,
car nous avons tenu ä reprendre la copie integrale des textes. Nous
estimons en effet que les inscriptions d'une pyramide forme un tout;
certains des textes se trouvent ä des endroits en quelque sorte "cano¬
niques". Si 1' etablissement d'une synopse par Kurt Sethe a ete un moment
necessaire de la recherche, on se doit desormais de prendre les ensembles
des textes de chacune des pyramides en eux-memes.
dans la pyramide de Pepi Ier, les textes se developpent en longues
colonnes dont la largeur varie selon les parois (de 3,5 ä 7,7 cm); les
signes de Pepi Ier sont d'une magnifique gravure en creux, tres nette;
l'interieur des signes est souvent precise (plumages des oiseaux, details
des corbeilles); souvent aussi, le vert splendide dont ils etaient peints a
ete preserve: couleur de la vegetation et de la croissance (ouadj) et, par
lä, de la perennite, elle fait encore "vivre" jusqu'ä nous les textes de
Pepi Ier. Certains des signes de cette haute epoque ont disparu du systeme
graphique posterieur, la forme de certains autres s'est trouvee modifiee:
tel est l'interet de ce tresor epigraphique que ce fut une ??? supplemen-
taire de copier integralement l'ensemble des textes.
En dehors de la preparation de la publication, la phase finale de
notre travail se poursuit egalement sur place; nous avons confie ä M.
Michel Wuttmann, restaurateur, le soin de remettre en place tous les
fragments recueillis, jusqu'aux plus infimes, sur plusieurs parois: parois
Est, Ouest et Sud du vestibul (P/v/E, P/V/W, P/V/S), debouche du couloir
aux herses (P/C ant/W et P/C ant/E); cette täche tres delicate donne toute
satisfaction aux autorites archeologiques egyptiennes.
Un interet capital s'attache, pour la connaissance de la pensee reli¬
gieuse des anciens Egyptiens, aux Textes des Pyramides - le plus ancien
corpus de textes religieux de I'humanite (de 235o ä 225o env. avant J.-C).
Relatifs ä la survie (plus exactement ä la re-naissance) du Pharaon, ces
A. Wezler/E. Hammerschmidt (Hrsg.): Proceedings of the XXXII Intemational Congress for Asian and North African Studies, Hamburg, 25lh-30th August 1986 (ZDMG-Suppl. 9).
© 1992 Franz Steiner Verlag Suittgart
SECTION 1 21
textes doivent lui assurer I'acces ä l'au-delä. Offrant une synthese d'accu¬
mulation, la pensee egyptienne, repugnant ä tout exclusivisme , peut pro¬
ceder, simultanement, ä plusieurs affirmations, apparemment opposees, mais
valables selon des points de vue differents. C'est d'abord la renaissance
osirienne: on invite le defunt ä se redresser, ä s'asseoir sur son tröne
d'airain et, muni de la couronne et des insignes de la souverainete, ä
regner, tel le dieu Osiris, sur le royaume des ombres, ä l'Occident, pour
1' eternite. Mais il peut tout aussi bien preferer regarder vers l'Orient,
monter au matin dans la barque du soleil; un trone I'y attend, mais
eventuellement il devra faire le matelot, ramer, voire ecoper; le soir
venu, de toutes fagons, le barque solaire doit traverser les espaces
sombres de la nuit. Autre forme d'eternite: celle des etoiles qui tournent
autour de I'axe polaire, les "imperissables" , celles "qui ne conaissent pas
la fatigue", les "indestructibles" .
Tres deferent vis-a-vis des dieux, le Pharaon peut au besoin recourir
ä la menace. Glorieux de preference, il est dispose pourtant ä toutes les
metamorphoses: oiseau (faucon qui plane au ciel ou hirondelle), voire sau-
terelle . "Ne ä nouveau", les pratiques de la nurserie tel que 1' allaitement
lui conviennent egalement. De facon magnifique, un texte grave de pyramide
en pyramide, juste ä la hauteur de 1' avant du sarcophage, sur la paroi Sud
de la chcunbre funeraire, affirme: "0 roi, certes ce n'est pas mort que tu
t'en es alle; c'est vivant que tu t'en es alle".
L'apport philologique et epigraphique des textes nouvellement decou¬
verts est egalment considerable. Des donnees nouvelles ont ete obtenues
concemant la proscription et la mutilation de certains signes. On
s'abstient, le plus rigoureusement possible, de figurer des etres animes
qui, reprenant mouvement, pourraient agir de facon malveillante envers le
roi; ceci entraine la suppression de nombreux determinatifs . Les signes
animaux sont dans l'ensemble evites; parfois les animaux sont coupes en
deux par une reserve de la pierre ou l'insertion d'un peu de platre. Sur la
paroi Est de 1' anticharabre (P/a/E) en particulier, une pratique tres
singuliere affecte les images de lions, bovides, voire girafe: le contour
du signe a ete entierement grave, puis 1' arriere a ete soigneusement
platre, la partie avant de l'animal se presentant seule peinte; ainsi
l'animal redoutable est-il tout ä la fois present pour le systeme graphique
et magiquement mutile .
Certes ces textes, d'une poesie souvent grandiose, n'offrent pas la
moindre revelation autobiographique ou historique. Cornaus, pour de toutes
autres fins, que de noter le transitoire ou le particulier, fut-il royal,
ils apportent cependant ä l'historien de l'Egypte des indices oü peut ä
l'occasion se saisir le reflet d'une de ces "modifications" qui constituent
le cours de I'histoire. Le dieu Seth, dont l'animal bien caracteristique
est regulierement grave dans la pyramide d'Ounas, se trouve proscrit chez
Pepi Ier, comme il 1' etait dejä chez Teti. Les tensions se devinent entre
les tendances heliopolitaines , celles du dieu-soleil Re, et la presence,
plus diffuse, d'Osiris, dieu de la germination, des espaces souterrains et
de l'au-delä. Ce qui s'affirme dans les Textes des Pyramides, c'est
essentiellement la volonte des Pharaons d'etre les egaux de dieux, des
"immortels". Si les temples et les pyramides ne sont plus que ruines, dont
on ne peut guere sauver que quelque vestiges, en revanche les Textes des
Pyramides, düment completes par les nouvelles decouvertes, sont les garants
de la perpetuite des Pharaons.
22 SECTION 1
Ronald T. Marchese
Northern Caria: Shifting Settlement
Systems in Antiquity
The classical definition Northern Caria in southwestern Turkey comprises
one of the most important river systems in antiquity. Closely affiliated
with the cultural development of Greek Ionia, little is actually known of
this rugged interior region. Although a wealth of literary commentary
exists, our understanding of the settlement system is severely hampered by
a lack of archaeological data. Chronologically, shifting settlement systems
can be reconstructed with varying degrees of accuracy from the Late
Chalcolithic to the Roman Imperial period - 5ooo B.C. to 15o A.D.
Geographically, Northern Caria is dominated by a deep trough and an
articulated relief of rift valleys and folded mountains. Alluvial drowning
tectonic plate rotation, and general seismic activity are common features.
The rivers are erratic and known for flooding. This has caused site relo¬
cation, abandonment, and finally economic stagnation as well shifting land
use which is most clearly seen between the fifth century B.C. and the
second century A.D.
Chronological divisions for shifting settlement systems can be divided
into three general units:
Prehistoric - 5ooo - 17oo B.C.
This period is marked by the inception of village life and early agricul¬
tural economies. By the end of the Middle Bronze Age village systems were
well developed with populations clustering along the lower shoulders of the
valleys away from the more rugged mountain zones.
Protohistoric - 17oo - 800 B.C.
Village systems continue to develop thoughout the Late Bronze Age (to 12oo)
with the region considerably influenced by three cultural zones - south¬
western (Beycesultan) and northwestern (Trojan) Anatolian and Aegean (Myce¬
naean). The transitional centuries of the first millennium B.C. indicate a
loss of population and site relocation. Ethnically, the region was domi¬
nated by historical Carian speakers which appear as rude country folk re¬
siding in hill-top villages. Additional ethnic elements include mainland
Greek colonists who occupied the coastal zone after the breakup of Late
Bronze Age Greece.
Full H istoric - 800 B.C. - 15o A.D.
This period is marked by the emergence of city-state political systems and
the rapid growth of a supportive urban hierarchy. Throughout the period
deforestation and shifting methods of land use to support a burgeoning
population accelerated environmental desintegration. This is well illustrat¬
ed in the post-Alexandrian period of the third and second centuries B.C. By
the second century A.D. a vast urban mosaic of city-states was created.
Population and Resources
The agricultural potential for Northern Caria in all time frames was excep¬
tional. However, the intensity of production was minimal until large popula¬
tions dominated the region, especially after the fifth century B.C. Popula-
A. Wezler/E. Hammerschmidt (Hrsg.): Proceedings of the XXXII Intemational Congress for Asian and North African Studies, Hamburg, 25th-30th August 1986 (ZDMG-Suppl. 9).
© 1992 Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart
SECTION 1 23
tion increase, thereafter, greatly affected land use. The burgeoning eco¬
nomies of cities led to the expansion of pasture land for wool production
and the wholesale clearing of the interior zones for olive and wine culti¬
vation. The cutting of wood for fuel and construction contributed to the
deforestation process. The creation of new municipal territories after the
third century B.C. extended village agrarian systems which removed natural
vegetation and helped generate soil erosion. Eventually, by the late second
century A.D. the thin-soiled mountain regions of Northern Caria declined in
productivity which weakened the urban economies of many cities. Populations
also declined. After a millennium of extensive and intensive use, the
region failed to provide sufficient resources for sustained growth. How¬
ever, Northern Caria continued to exist on a much reduced scale into late
antiquity .
24 SECTION 1
Therese Metzger
La decoration de la Bible hebraique au moyen äge:
de l'Orient ä l'Occident
D'apres la doeumentation existante, les plus anciens codices decores de la
Bible hebraique datent des IXe-", Xe et Xle siecles et proviennent d'Egypte
ou de Palestine. Puis, alors qu'aucun document significatif ne nous est
parvenu de l'Afrique du Nord*-, l'Espagne et l'Europe du Nord nous en
livrent des la fin du premier quart du Xllle siecle, et l'Italie un peu
plus tard au cours du meme siecle, tandis que de l'Orient, en particulier
du Yemen, ont survecu des volumes du Xle siecle.
Dans ses premieres manifestations documentees, en Palestine et en
Egypte, la decoration de la Bible hebraique apparait dejä complexe dans ses
partis et diverse dans ses techniques.
En effet, la relation au livre de ses differentes composantes n'est
pas unique. En premier lieu, quelles qu'aient pu etre les reliures origi¬
nales, aujourd'hui disparues, de ces manuscrits, qu'elles aient contribue
seulement ä leur protection ou egalement, par leur decor propre, ä leur
embellissement, les grands panneaux ornementaux qui occupent les pages
initiales et finales de plus d'une de ces bibles font de ces pages autant
de gardes precieuses qui enveloppent le livre de leur richesse et de leur
beaute .
Mais ä cette decoration toute exterieure au livre, qui lui est appor¬
tee comme un tribut de reverence et dont le role pourrait etre tenu par des
etoffes de prix, s'en associe une autre qui entretient avec le livre une
relation organique et doublement fonctionnelle .
En effet, la relation peut s'etablir sur deux plans, celui du livre-ob-
jet materiel, faisceau de cahiers de parchemin cousus ensemble, dont la
plus petite unite est la page ecrite encadree de ses marges, et celui du
livre-support d'un texte qui s'articule en parties, livres, chapitres,
versets, et de plus, en texte principal et en texte marginal.
Ainsi, le decor penetre non seulement dans le livre, mais dans le
texte lui-meme et est associe non seulement ä ses articulations materielles
mais ä celles de son contenu.
Des composantes possibles de ce deuxieme type de decor, interieur au
texte, on releve particulierement dans les Bibles des IXe-XI siecles, les
panneaux qui marquent la fin des differents livres, les indicateurs des
pericopes du cycle triennal ou encore les motifs qui enrichissent les
marges des deux Cantiques de Moise (Exode, V, I-I8 et Deuteronome, XXXII,
1-40).
Ce decor utilise les eueres sepia et de couleur, l'or, la peinture et
la micrographie .
Aucun texte ni aucun document ne nous permettent de tracer les voies
de transmission, du bassin oriental de la Mediterranee ä l'Europe medie¬
vale, des procedes de decoration dejä etablis dans les Bibles hebräiques.
Cependant, malgre la nouveaute des vocabulaires decoratifs et des styles,
qui appartiennent ä l'Europe medievale et se diversifient selon les aires
de residence juive, il ne semble guere douteux que certains partis dans les
A. Wezler/E. Hammerschmidt (Hrsg.): Proceedings of the XXXII Intemational Congress for Asian and North African Studies, Hamburg, 25lh-30lh August 1986 (ZDMG-Suppl. 9).
© 1992 Franz Steiner Verlag Süittgart
SECTION 1 25
fontions attribuees au decor et dans ses techniques, en particulier I'usage
de la micrographie ornementale continuent en Europe medievale ceux qui
avaient ete adoptes dans les codices bibliques d'Egypte et de Palestine.
Tres rares en Europe du Nord, les pleines pages ornementales (Fig. 1 -
3, 25) sont connues en Espagne au Xllle siecle et se retrouvent tout au
long des XlVe et XVe siecles.
Et que ce soit dans les codices du Nord de l'Europe ou dans ceux de la
peninsule iberique, le decor ne fait pas qu ' envelopper le livre; il
s'attache plus intimement ä sa structure materielle (Fig. 4 - 7): ainsi la
micrographie ornementale apparait dans les marges inferieures et plus
rarement superieures des seuls folios initiaux et finaux de cahiers, et
aussi parfois sur la double-page mediane, ou bien, quand eile orne aussi
les autres pages, eile se fait plus riche ä ces emplacements priviiegies.
On note aussi que dans les codices du Nord de l'Europe le decor cristallise
frequmment autour des reclames des cahiers. (Fig. 8 - 9)-
Cependant, de meme que dans nos plus anciens codices orientaux, le
decor des bibles medievales occidentales s'associe au texte lui-meme.
Ainsi, en Espagne, la pleine page ornementale n'est plus seulement ex¬
terieure au livre, mais elle peut marquer les divisions du texte en grandes
unites. De meme, toujours en Espagne, le decor marginal micrographique ,
enrichi ou non d'or et de peinture, peut orner tout particulierement les
marges des pages initiales des differents livres bibliques ou meme, associe
encore plus etroitement ä la structure du texte, les marges des pages sur
lesquelles commencent les pericopes hebdomadaires du Pentateuque.
En peninsule Iberique se maintient aussi I'usage, dejä etabli en
Orient, de signaler la fin des livres bibliques par un morif ornemental
(Fig. lo - 11), plus ou moins developpe. En effet, on continuera jusqu'au
XVe siecle ä ignorer le plus souvent mot initial, titre ou decor initial de
texte .
Autre point commun aux bibles produites en peninsule Iberique et aux
codices orientaux, la decoration du mot-indicateur des debuts de pericopes
(Fig. 12 - 15), soit encore meme celles du cycle triennal, soit, plus ge¬
neralement, Celles du cycle annuel, le seul desormais en usage en Oeeident
medieval. Parfois assez sommaires et repetitifs, ces motifs temoignent le
plus souvent d'une remarquable invention ornementale. On y associe parfois
des motifs qui illustrent le texte (Fig. 14). On continue aussi ä decorer
tout specialement les marges des deux cantiques de Moise (Fig. 4, 26).
En peninsule Iberique encore, le meme type de decoration que celui des
indicateurs de pericopes, offrant egalement parfois des elements d' illu¬
stration, peut s'attacher aux lettres-numeros des Psaumes.
Cependant, des le Xllle siecle, en Europe du Nord et en Italie, la
Bible hebraique voit sa structure ornementale calquer dejä certains traits
de Celle du livre latin contemporain. Ainsi, ä defaut de la lettre ini¬
tiale, la majuscule n'existant pas dans l'ecriture hebraique, c'est le mot
initial de livre (Fig. l6 - l8) et aussi, parfois, de pericope, qui est mis
en evidence par le choix d'un plus grand module, sa presentation dans uns
panneau ornemental et/ou la decoration des lettres elle-memes. Plus rare¬
ment et plus tardivement, au XlVe et au XVe siecle, le procede s'introduit
aussi en pays iberique: on y trouve le panneau initial de livre, portant ou
non le mot initial, et meme, mais exceptionellement, au XVe siecle, la
seule lettre initiale ornee ou sur panneau ornemental (Fig. 19 - 21).
26 SECTION 1
Cette occidentalisation des partis adoptes pour la decoration de la
Bible hebraique se fait encore plus sensible quand au decor du mot initial
de livre ou de pericope s'associe l'illustration du texte. Dejä apparue
dans le deuxieme quart du Xllle siecle, dans les Bibles du Nord de
l'Europe, l'image initiale de texte, qui peut etre assez etroitement
associee au mot initial pour en faire un mot historie, est tres rare en
pays iberique. Jamais tres frequente dans le Nord de l'Europe ni en Italie,
eile n'en continue pas moins ä apparaitre dans ces deux aires geographiques
au cours des XlVe (Fig. 22) et XVe siecles.
Par ailleurs, et surtout au XVe siecle, en pays iberique comme en
Italie, et aussi, parfois, en Europe du Nord, la mise en evidence du mot
initial s'enrichit de la decoration peinte des marges de la page oü il
figure (Fig. l8 - 21), selon un procede alors presque constant dans le
livre non-juif. II faut aussi considerer comme des emprunts an livre occi¬
dental les quelques exemples d ' Illustration bibliques ä pleine page inse-
crees dans des manuscrits de l'Europe du Nord.
La decoration de la Bible hebraique s'occidentalise aussi dans sa
palette et sa technique. Les enlumineurs de nos bibles adoptent la palette,
le vocabulaire decoratif et les styles propres aux regions oü ils se sont
formes, quand la decoration des codices hebräiques n'est pas elle-meme
confiee - le cas se presente surtout en Italie - ä des enlumineurs
non-juifs. Ainsi, certains de nos manuscrits ne different des manuscrits
bibliques latins cintemporains que par la langue et l'ecriture de leur
texte.
Cependant, l'un des traits caracteristiques de la decoration de la
Bible hebraique en Oeeident, du Xllle au XVe siecle, en pays iberique, et
aussi, vers la fin du XVe siecle, dans des millieux de refugies espagnois,
en Italie (Fig. 23, Fig. 24) ou, exceptionnellement en Bourgogne, c'est, le
plus souvent en tete du manuscrit, une serie, plus ou moins longue, de
pages d' arcades, traitees decorativement ou architecturalement . Elles enca-
drent des textes d'apparat critique et des traites massoretiques . Leur
presence contribue ä conserver leur specificite meme ä des manuscrits
completement occidentalises dans les autres traits de leur structure orne¬
mentale et dans leur style, y compris celui des pages d' arcades. Le motif
de 1' arcade, simple ou repetee, n'est pas absent de la decoration de la
Bible hebraique Orientale. Son origine et ses relations avec la decoration
de la Bible chretienne Orientale n'ont pas encore pu etre etablies avec
certitude. Son usage, purement ornemental ou symbolique parait independant
de celui qu'en fait l'art chretien pour les Tables des Canons des Evan¬
giles. Dans les manuscrits sefarades eonsideres, au contraire, le role des
arcades qui encadrent des listes et des textes, semble se rapprocher,
malgre 1' eloignement dans le temps, de celui qu'elles avaient dans les
Tables de Canons evangeliques.
L'originalite de la Bible hebraique est aussi et tout particulierement
marquee par sa fidelite ä l'emploi, unique en Oeeident medieval, de la
micrographie ornementale (Fig. 25 - 26). Et non seulement le procede reste
constant dans toutes les aires de residence juive, sauf en Italie, du Xllle
au XVe siecle, mais c'est ä la fin de ce siecle qu'il connait, en Espagne,
une des phases les plus riches de son developpement.
SECTION 1 27
L'examen codicologique et paleographique le plus recent de l'unique
manuscrit enlumine considere comme de la fin du IXe siecle, soit de
895, le codex des Prophetes du Caire, Synagogue karaite, Ms. 34, a
conclu ä une date beaucoup plus tardive, probablement du XI siecle
(voir B. Richler, Hebrew Manuscripts, a Treasured Legacy , Cleveland-
Jerusalem, 199o, pp. 18 et 88).
II ne nous reste qu'un exemple medieval ancien de decor dans une bible
hebraique surement originaire d'Afrique du Nord. C'est le fragment (un
double feuillet) de Leningrad, Bibliotheque publique, Ms. II B I68,
qui porte un double indicateur de parasha ornemental et, dans un
panneau decore , le colophon du copiste du Pentateuque auquel ces
feuillets appartenaient , precisant qu'il le copia ä Tlemcen en 1225.
L'expose etait accompagne de la projection de dispositives qui illu-
straient chaeun des traits specifiques et chacune des phases du developpe¬
ment de la decoration de la Bible hebraique medievale.
Les images etaient toutes prises dans la documentation que nous avons
reunie en vue d'etablir un corpus de la Bible hebraique medievale enluminee
et nos remarques livrent quelque-unes des reflexions que suggere leur
examen comparatif.
Les exemples etaient empruntes aux manuscrits suivants:
Pour le Moyen-Orient: IXe - Xle siecles:
Fostat, Synagogue karaite, Prophetes (895); Leningrad, Bibliotheque
publique, Ms. II. 1?. (929), Ms. II B. 10. (946?), Ms. II. 8. (951),
Ms. I. B. 19a (1009), Ms. II. 262.
Pour la peninsule iberique: Xllle siecle
Jerusalem, Bibliotheque nationale et universitaire, Ms. Heb. 4 790
(1260); Leningrad, Bibl. pibl., Ms. II. 53; Marseille, Biblotheque
municipale, ms. 1626, vol. 2 et 3; Parme, Biblioteca Palatina, Ms.
Farm. 3183 (1272)..
XlVe siecle
Anciennement Collection Sassoon, Ms. 508 (1307) et Coll. Sassoon, Ms.
368 (1366-1382); Copenhague, Bibliotheque royale. Cod. Hebr. II
(1301); Jerusalem, Bibl. nat. et univ., Ms. Heb. 8 5147; Lisbonne,
Biblioteca Nacional, Ms. II. 72 (1299-1300); Modene, Biblioteca
Estense, Cod. ci- . M. 8.4; Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Cod. 37 A 2; Ox¬
ford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Kenn. 2 (1306?); Paris, Bibl. nat., ms.
hebr. 25 (1232), ms. hebr. 7 (1299) et ms. hebr. 20 (13OO); Paris,
Compagnie de Saint-Sulpice, ms. 1933; Parme, Bibl. Pal., Ms. Farm.
I998-2OOO; Rome, Comunita Isrealitica, Ms. No 19 (1325) et Ms. No 20;
Vatican (Le), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Vat. ebr. 475-
28 SECTION 1
XVe siecle
Coirabre, Biblioteca Universitaria, Ms. Coffre-fort 1; Anc. Coll. Sas¬
soon, Ms. 487 (1468); Copenhague, Bibl. roy.. Cod. Hebr. I, V, et
VII-IX; Genes, Biblioteca Universitaria, Ms. D IX 31 (1481); Imola,
Biblioteca Comunale, Bible hebraique; Londres, British Library, Ms.
Or. 2626-2628 (1482); Modene, Cod. . 0. 5- 9. ( 1470); Paris, Bibl.
nat., ms. hebr. 1314-1315; Parme, Bibl. Pal., Ms. Parm. 1994-1995, Ms
Parm 2018, Ms. Parm 2809 (1473) et Ms. Parm. 2825 (1442).
Pour l'Italie Xllle siecle
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung,
Ms. or. quart. 371; Parme, Bibl. Pal., Ms. Parm. 187O; Vatican (Le),
Bibl. Apost., Cod. Ross. 554 (1285-1286) et Cod. Ross. 556 (1293).
XlVe siecle
Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Ms. Plut. II. 1 (1396-1397);
Parme, Bibl. Pal., Ms. Parm. 2151-2153 (1304), Ms. Parm. 2877 et Ms.
Parm 32 I6.
XVe siecle
Aberdeen, University Library, Ms. 23 (1495); Berlin, St.-Bibl. Pr.
Kult.-Bes. Or. -Abt., Ms. Hamilton 547; Florence, Bibl. Med. Laur., Ms.
Plut. III. 10; Hambourg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Cod.
Scrin. 154; Jerusalem, Musee national d'Israel, Ms. l80/55; Parme,
Bibl. Pal., Ms. Parm. 3596; Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, Ms. 2830
(1455).
Pour le Nord de l'Europe, royaume de France, terres d'Empire et etats alle-
Xllle siecle
Berlin, St.-Bibl. Pr. Kult.-Bes. Or.-Abt., Ms. or. fol. 1212; Copen¬
hague, Bibl. roy.. Ms. Hebr. XI (1290); Londres, Br. Libr., Ms. Add
11639; Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Ms. B. Inf. 30-32 (1236-1238);
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. hebr. 14; Paris, Bibl. nat.,
ms. hebr. 4 (1286) et ms. hebr. 5-6 (1294-1295); Vatican (Le), Bibl.
Apost., Cod. Urbin. ebr. 1 (1294); Wroclaw, Bibliotheque universi¬
taire. Ms. M 1106 (1237-1238) et Bibliotheque Ossolinski, Coli. Pawli-
kowski , Ms 141•
XlVe siecle
Cambridge, University Library, Ms. E. E. 5- 9 (1347); Jerusalem,
Schocken Library, Ms. 14940 et Musee nat. d'Israel, Ms. 180/52 et Ms.
180/94 (1344); Londres, Br. Lib., Ms. Add. 15282; Paris, Bibl. nat.,
ms. hebr. 36 (1300); Parme, Bibl. Pal., Ms. Parm. (3286-3287); Vienne,
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Heb. I6 (1299).
XVe siecle
Parme, Bibl. Pal-, Ms. Parm. 2823; Berlin, St.-Bibl. Pr. Kult.-Bes.,
Or.-Abt., Ms. Hamilton 8I .
SECTION 1 29
Legendes des figures
Pleines pages ornementales:
1. Vatican (Le), Biblioteca Apostolica, Cod. ebr. 475 (debut du XlVe
s.), fol. lv.
2. Rome, Comunitä Isrealitica, Ms. No 19 (1325), fol. 212v.
3. Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Biblioteca Abbaziale, Cod. 37 A 2 (debut
du XlVe s.), fol. 5v.
Decor marginal en micrographie:
4. Madrid, Biblioteca Universitaria, Ms. Il8, Z. 42 (Xllle s., avant
1280), Cantique de Moise, Deut. XXXII, 17-38.
5. Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Bibl. Abb., Cod. 37 A 2, (debut du XlVe
s.), Fol. 326v.
6. Copenhague, Bibliotheque royale. Cod. Hebr. I, (3e-4e quart du XVe
s.), p. III.
7. Copenhague, Bibl. royale, Cod. Hebr. V, (2e moitiee du XVe s.),
Fol. 88r.
Decor et Illustration de la reclame:
8. Hambourg, St.- und Univ.-Bibl., Cod. hebr. 6 (1309), p- 124-
9. Hambourg, St.- und Univ.-Bibl., Cod. hebr. 5 (1309), p. 32; Samson
le fort, Juges, II, 16.
Decor et panneaux de fin de livre et indicateurs de pericopes:
10. Madrid, Bibl. Univ., Ms. II8. Z. 42 (Xllle s., avant 1280): fin de
Levitique et indicateur de la lere pericope des Nombres (cycle
trisannuel ).
11. Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Bibl. Abb., Cod. 37 A 2, (debut du XlVe
s.), fol. 326v: fin des Chroniques.
12. Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Bibl. Abb., Cod. 37 A 2, (debut du XlVe
s.), fol. 51r: indicateur de pericope du cycle annuel, Lev. XIV, 1,
13. Madrid, Bibl. Univ., Ms. II8. Z. 42, (Xllle s., avant 1280): indi¬
cateur de pericope du cycle annuel, Genese, XXVIII, 10.
14. Lisbonne, Biblioteca Nacional, Ms. II. 72 (1300), fol. 112v: indi¬
cateur de pericope du cycle annuel et Illustration, Deut. XXVI, 1.
15. Parme, Bibl. Palatina, Ms. Parm. 3216 - De Rossi 1261 (fin du
Xllle s.): indicateur de pericope du cycle annuel. Lev. XXV, 1.
Mots initiaux de livres bibliques:
16. Hambourg, St.- und Univ.-Bibl., Cod. hebr. 4 (circa 1300), p. 389:
Ecclesiaste .
17. Parme, Bibl. Pal., Ms. Parm. I89I- De Rossi 27 (XlVe s.), fol.
283r: Osee.
18. Parme, Bibl. Pal., Ms. Parm. 1994- De Rossi 346 /l (dernier quart
du XVe siecle), fol. 170v: I Rois.
30 SECTION 1
19. Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabtei¬
lung, Ms. Hamilton 81 (3e-4e quart du XVe s.), fol. 20v: Genese.
20. Genes, Biblioteca Universitaria, Ms. D. IX. 31 (148I), fol. 8v:
Genese .
21. Parme, Bibl. Pal., Ms. Parm. 1994 - De Rossi 346 (1 ) (dernier
quart du XVe s.), fol. 14v: Genese.
Illustrations initiales de livre biblique:
22. Parme, Bibl. Pal., Ms. Parm. 2877 - De Rossi 58 (lere moitie du
XlVe s.), fol. 2v: Job et ses amis; le maitre et ses eleves.
Pages d'arcades:
23. Copenhague, Bibl. roy.. Cod. Hebr. II (1301), fol. 4v.
24. Aberdeen, University Library, Ms 23 (1495), fol. 3r.
Decoration micrographique vers la fin du XVe siecle:
25. Modene, Biblioteca Estense, Cod. . 0. 5. 9 (1470), fol. 5r:
pleine page ornementale.
26. Modene, Bibl. Est., Cod..;,^ . 0. 5- 9 (1470), fol. 35v: Cantique de
Moise, Ex. XV, 1.
Les manuscrits auxquels sont empruntees les figures 4, 10, 13, I6, 17, ne
figurent pas dans la liste des projections.
Nous remercions les Bibliotheques citees de nous permettre de reproduire
ces photographies.
33
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SECTION 1 39
Mendel Metzger
An Illuminated Jewish Prayer Book of the löth Century.
The ras.Smith-Lesouef 25o in the Bibliotheque nationale (Paris)
To Dr. Hans Striedl (Munich)
for his 85th Birthday (17th January 1992)
The Bibliotheque nationale in Paris had received in 1913 through a dona¬
tion, made by the heirs of the collector and well known specialist of Far
Eastern languages, the French scholar Auguste Lesouef (l829-19o6), an im¬
portant collection of manuscripts (in Latin, French and other Western
languages and further 94 in Oriental languages) as well as a considerable
number of rare and precious early printed books. This donation was first
deposited in a special building, part of the Municipal Library in Nogent-
sur-Marne, the town in which Lesouef ^ad resided. The printed books were
not brought over to Paris before 1939, while the manuscripts did certainly
reach the Bibliotheque nationale only after 195o. But both the printed
books and the manuscripts had been already catalogued by the Bibliotheque
nationale with the ^ecific shelfmark "Smith-Lesouef" while they were still
in Nogent-sur-Marne.
Amongst the Oriental manuscripts only two are in Hebrew. Ms. 251 is an
Esther scroll {megilla} with pen drawn decoration and illustration to the
biblical text. The other one, ras. 25o, which Blochet described erroneously
{loa. ait.) as comprising only the "prieres pour les jours de la seraaine"
(prayers for weekdays) is in fact a much more complete Jewish prayer book,
as it is a mahzor , comprising as such not only the "common prayers", for
weekdays, but essentially the prayers for shabat and the special shabatot ,
the festivals with their wealth of piyyutim, the Haggada, the special
events in any individual's life (birth, circumcision, redemption of the
first-born son, wedding ceremony - the prayers for burial being here
omitted), all following the Italian rite. Blochet {loa. ait.) was also
unaware of the fact that this manuscript had a colophon with the date and
the year 152o, when he mistakenly attributed it to the "XVII"th century,
which from the point of view of style is out of the question for the
illustration.
The text of this mahzor has been written by Moses ben Hayyim Aqrish,
known as a copyist who wrote several Hebrew manuscripts during the last
decade of the 15th and in the first decades of the l6th century. So the
activity of this scribe spanned over a period of at least forty years.
Seldom can we document the work of a Jewish scribe so fully and over such a
long period. As Jewish scribes did not always sign their work, it is eve^
possible that more manuscripts copied by him have survived than the seven
which bear his colophon.
In these colophons he gave his name and the year, sometimes even the
date (day and month), when he completed writing the text. In two of these
manuscripts he gave as well the name of the town in which he had written
them .
A. Wezler/E. Hammerschmidt (Hrsg.): Proceedings of the XXXII International Congress for Asian and North African Studies, Hamburg, 25th-30th August 1986 (ZDMG-Suppl. 9).
© 1992 Franz Steiner Verlag Sttittgart
40 SECTION 1
The seven manuscripts are the following:
1. A Bible (London, British Library, MS. Add. 15251), completed in the
year 52o8 (sic) = 1447/1448, but without a doubt a mistake for 5258 =
1497/1498; no name of place; colophon on fol. 429 v .
2. A Bible (Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, Ms. Parm. 25l6 - Cod. De Rossi
94o), completed on the 22 lyyar 5259 = 2 Mai 1499; no name of place;
colophon on fol. 441 v .
3. A mahzor (Paris, Musee de Cluny, Ms. inv. n° 13995), completed on the
1 Adar 5272 = 18 February 1512, in Ferrara; colophon on fol. 397 v°.
4. A mahzor (Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Rossian. 328),
completed on the 19 Marheshwan 5273 = 29 October 1512, in Ferrara;
colophon on fol. 388 v .
5. A mahzor for the festivals in the month of Tishri only (New York,
Jewish Theological Seminary of America, MS. MIC 4o95)j completed on
the 2o Siwan '^T]'] = lo June 1517; no name of place; colophon on fol.
156 v°.
6. A mahzor (Paris, Bibliotheque nationale, ms. Smith-Lesouef 25o), com¬
pleted on the 26 Adar I 5280 = 15 February 152o; no name of place;
colophon on fol. 372 v. .
7. A kabbalistic work Sha arey ora ("Gates of Light" - translated into
Latin as Portae Luais) by Joseph Gikatilla - (1248 - ca. 1325) -
(Copenhagen, Royal Library, . hebr. XXXIX), completed on the 5
Kislew 5288 = 29 October 1527; no name of place; colophon on fol. 21o
V .
Although this copyist is known to have been active in Italy, we must
point out that his writing is of the Spanish type, showing that he had been
trained in a Sephardi milieu. Furthermore, in all his colophons he insists
on his Spanish origin, and he calls himself either ha-sefardi ("the
Spaniard") (see nos. 1 and 2 of our list), or adds to his name asher haya
be-safarad ("who had been (i.e. lived) in Spain") (see nos. 2, 4, 5), or
even mi-goresh sefarad ("one of the exiled from Spain") (see no. 7), or he
gives both indications, precisely in the mahzor (see no. 6) we shall deal
with. In fact, of his known manuscripts, the oldest have been written in
1497/98 and 1499, gamely six and seven years after all Jews had been
expelled from Spain.
However, one should not think that Spanish Exiles lived quite separat¬
ed from the Italian Jewish communities. Of course, when sufficiently numer¬
ous in a city, they had their own synagogue and on the whole they kept to
their own Sephardi rite, but they mixed freely with Italian Jews. The
latter for their part went so far as to have no objections to have books.
Bibles and prayer books as well, copied by Sephardi copyists in their own
specific writing, however different it may be from the traditional Italian
script. Such has been the case with the mahzor that we shall examine.
Of the seven manuscripts we have listed, this mahzor (see no. 6) is
the only one to offer, besides excellent text and marginal decoration, a
good series of painted illustrations to the liturgical texts, while in
three others (see nos. 1, 3 and 4) we find only text or marginal ornaments.
The three remaining manuscripts (nos. 2, 5 and 7) do not contain even one
SECTION 1 41
g
single decorated letter. Abraham Berliner was mistaken when he described
the Parma Bible (see no. 2) as belonging to "the most beautiful manuscripts
of the Bible which are decorated with magnificent initials". The poorly
pen-drawn initial letter (fol. 2o v°) is a later addition.
From the type of decoration that we find in the London Bible (no. 1)
and in three of the four mahzorim (nos. 3, 4 and 6), and its first-rate
quality, it can be safely deduced that they were handed over to be
embellished to professional illuminators ranging among the Jpest of their
time and place. The style of this decoration, the variations of which are
dependent on the interval between their dates of copying, 1497/98 for the
Bible (no. 1), 1512 for the Musee de Cluny and the Vatican mahzorim (nos.
3 and 4), and 152o for our mahzor (no. 6), points however to the Duchy of
Modena and Ferrara, and particularly to this city, where Moses Aqrish
copied the two mahzorim of 1512, as a likely place for its execution in
the first three codices and although less certain also for the first phase
of the decoration of the last, as we shall see.
Moses Aqrish has been commissioned to copy the msSmith-Lesouef 25o
by Isaac ben Immanuel mi-Norzi (Norsa) in the year 152o ° (Fig. 1). Isaac
born in 1485(?), the eldest son of Immanuel, famous Jewish banker in Ferra¬
ra, became a partnei^^of his father and the da Pisa in the bank de la Ripa
in Ferrara in 1519, and then head of the same bank circa November 1524,
his father having died between June and November of that year. He seems to
have been away from Ferrara between these two dates. During this period the
plague was raging in Ferrara, and it has been supposed that Immanuel sent
him away from the city, as he was left the only survivor of the whole
family, his father himself, his mother and his brothers and sisters having
died victims of the epidemic. He would have taken with him his (j^n family,
every member of which, his wife and his sons, also survived. In such
circumstances it seems probable that the manuscript waSjUot copied in Ferra¬
ra itself, but in some other place, then thought safer.
The importance of this manuscript lies in its remarkable decoration
which adorns 212 of its 38o folios, ^ and in its exceptional series of 2o
illustrations to the text.
In the^J-imits of this paper, we can only give the subjects of these
miniatures:
Fol. 65 r°: the, ^ceremony of the havdala , (Fig. 2) at the end of the sha-
o
Fol. 65 v : the birkat ha-levana , benediction of the new moon.
Fol. 73 V : reciting prayers and hymns for hanuka , in front of the lighted
mural hanuka-lasR'p .
Fol. loi r°: reading the megilla (Scroll of Esther) for the feast of^^urim.
Fol. 113 r : for the pesah haggada, lifting up the special basket (Fig.
o
Fol. llB r : the mazza and the family seated at the seder-table (Fig. 4)-
Fol. Il8 V : the maror (bitter herb) held up by an outstretched hand (Fig.
o 5)-
Fol. 125 V : for the pesah morning prayers, the Exodus from Egypt (Fig. 6).
Fol. 129 V : for piyyut of the first day of pesah, King David.
Fol. 146 v°: for piyyut of the seventh day of pesah, after the crossing of
the Red Sea, the drowning of the Egyptians.
Fol. 150 r°: for the eigth day of pesah, the hazan (cantor) taking the
Tora-scroll out of the holy ark.
42 SECTION 1
Fol. 154 v°: for the first chapter of Masekhet avot (Sayings of the Fath¬
ers), the matan tora (giving of the Law) (Fig. 7), Moses and
^ the people receiving the tablets of the Law on Mt. Sinai.
Fol. 2oo V : for the selihot (penitential prayers for the ten days before
o posh ha-shana (the New Year), Jews praying in a synagogue.
Fol. 231 V ^ for rosh ha-shana, blowing the shofar .
Fol. 238 r and 239 : also for rosh ha-shana, Abraham and Isaac on their
way to to Mt. Moriah and the sacrifice of Isaac.
Fol. 269 r : for yom kipur (Day of Atonement), the hazan and the community
^ kneeling in prayer (Fig. 8).
Fol. 3o7 V : also for yom kipur, the hazan kneeling in front of the pulpit
0 (Fig. 9).
Fol. 332 V : for sukot (Feast of Tabernacles), taking a meal in the suka)
(booth) .
o
Fol. 335 V : also for sukot, taking the lulav (palm) and the etrog (citrus)
to say the special benediction - in the marginal decoration
another beautiful etrog.
But the manuscript as we can see it now - is very different from what
it looked like when Isaac took it back from the hands of the illuminator.
Owing to striking differences in the ornamental vocabulary and the style,
it can be established that in its first stage the codex contained only four
illustrations, those for the haggada (one on fol. 113 v , the two on fol.
118 r and one on fol. II8 v ), and the decoration on I8 folios, seven in
the first quire of the codex (fol. 5 r -I4 r ) and eleven in the 13th and
14th quires (fol. lo5 r - 123 v ). While, in its later stage, all the
other illustrations (see the ^list above^ and most of the decoration have
been executed, from fol. 15 r to^255 v and then^ among the^remaining 135
leaves, only on four pages (269 v° , 3o7 v°, 332 v and 335 v ) each of the
four bearing an illustration.
The second series follows the same program of decoration as the first:
ornamental panels for initial words and marginal decoration attached the
panels, the illustrations being part of the marginal decoration. The
first decoration, the workmanship of which is of high quality, is obviously
the work of one hand only who just started on what had been perhaps a much
more ambitious program. The second one, on the whole of an equally high
quality, shoes that different hands were at work during this stage of the
enterprise. Some variations in the colours for instance the change in the
blue (from fol. 37 v onwards) or in the green (fol. 22 v ) or in the
introduction of new motives (from fol. 51 v onwards) seem to indicate less
a change of hand than the use of newly supplied pigments, and an endeavour
to avoid fastidious repetition. Nevertheless, between fol. 126 v and fol.
148 v°, the work of the principal hand has been interspersed with that of a
third hand, on thirteen pages.
The first decoration, made up of stylised foliage, precious stones and
pearls, sculptural motifs, medallions with animals in landscapes (fol. 4
r°) and mostly lush leaves on the other margins, fits perfectly within the
production of the period in Ferrara. The closest parallel to the border of
fol. 5 r° is to be found in MS. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Mich Add. 34,
fol. 1 r°, a copy of the Book of Ecclesiastes with Abraham Farissol's
commentary, composed in 1521, and presumably an autograph.
SECTION 1 43
More surprising in a prayer book is the ornamental vocabulary of the
other series. It borrows also from the conventional stock of animals (Fig.
lo), flowers and fruit but it multiplies the motifs taken from stucco deco¬
ration (Fig. 11), cartouches, draped cloth, grotesque figures, putti (Fig.
12), ignudi, cameos (Fig. 13), typical of the mannerist!c decoration de¬
veloped by the followers of Giulio Romano in the Ducal Palace in Mantua. A
date can be advanced for the execution of this decoration on our codex: in
the marginal decoration of fol. 253 r°, the date "1569" is written in a
small cartouche. (Fig. 15).
Isaac died circa 1559- We know by the inscription written in the upper
cartouche of the frontispice, painted on fol. 4 r'' (Fig. I4), that the
codex was inherited not by his first-born son, who succeeded him at the
head of the bank, but by the third of his four sons, Jacob. As this page is
obviously painted by another hand than those of the second series, it may
well have been added already before, when Jacob inherited the manuscript
from his father or his mother. Although nothing is known of Jacob after
1561, we can assume that it was he who still possessed the codex in 1569
(Fig. 15) and had it so richly illuminated, for the three Latin letters
which^appear with the family coat of arms in the marginal decoration (fol.
230 V and 235 V ) (Fig. 16) are the initials of the words translating his
personal Hebrew motto (^taken from gs. CXXI, 2), the three initials of which
can be seen on fol. 4 r (Fig. 14). °
This book is remarkable for its intrinsic beauty, but also by what it
can tell us about the mentality of at least some rich members of an Italian
Jewish Community on the l6th century. Its two possesseurs were Jews living
in their community according to its rules and traditions, and keeping
faithfully enough to the full cycle of Jewish rites and ceremonies to have
asked the illuminators, probably non-Jew, to illustrate them fully and
precisely, in the very tr^jLtion of the Italian mahzor as known already
mostly in the 15th century. At the same time, its second possessor showed
no reluctance to accept in it the most profane repertory of motifs, on
fashion among artists and diletanti, and to have a prayer book transformed
in a piece of decorative art, according to the most advanced taste of the
day .
FOOTNOTES
1. See Ch. de la Ronciere, La bibliotheque Smith-Lesouef (Bibliotheque
nationale) ä Nogent-sur-Marne , in "Bulletin du bibliophile", 1939,
pp. 431-438.
2. See for example in the Catalogue gSnSral des livres imprimes de la
Bibliotheque nationale, tome XCVI (Paris, 1929), col. 234-235; five
books mentioned. On the other hand, a partial copy of the catalogue of
about 2oo manuscripts (not published) written by Pierre Champion on
19o5, can be consulted in the Department of Manuscripts of the Bibl.
nationale, while separately, the 94 Oriental manuscripts were shorly
described by M. Blochet (a typescript of this list can be asked for in
the Reading Room of the Oriental manuscripts Section in the Bibl.
nationale ).
Finally, together with Champion, Seymour de Ricci published an Inven¬
taire sommaire des manuscrits anciens de la Bibliotheque Smith-Lesouef
ä Nogent-sur-Marne (Paris, 193o), 16 p., which includes 129 manu¬
scrits (Latin MSS. nos. 1-51; various languages, nos. 52-61; French
MSS. nos. 62-129).
