Hebrew and Aramaic papyri have increasingly been discovered from the 1960s onwards, although these

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a d ...

remain rare compared to papyri written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

and

Demotic Egyptian Demotic (from grc, δημοτικός ''dēmotikós'', 'popular') is the ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Nile Delta, and the stage of the Egyptian language written in this script, following Late Egypt ...

(no relation except in name, "popular," to modern

demotic Greek Demotic Greek or Dimotiki ( el, Δημοτική Γλώσσα, , , ) is the standard spoken language of Greece in modern times and, since the resolution of the Greek language question in 1976, the official language of Greece. "Demotic Greek" (w ...

). The most valuable and religious texts were written on leather scrolls,

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

- such as the literary texts from

Masada Masada ( he, מְצָדָה ', "fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dea ...

and Qumran, while

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

was employed for cheaper, domestic use. A standard work is the ''Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum'' of

Victor Tcherikover Victor A. Tcherikover ( he, אביגדור צ'ריקובר‎; 1894–1958) was a Russian-born Israeli scholar. Biography Born in Russia, he settled in Palestine in 1925. He was one of the first teachers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, ...

and

Alexander Fuks Alexander Fuks (30 May 1917 – 29 November 1978) was a German-born, later Israeli historian, archaeologist and papyrologist. He worked with Victor Tcherikover and Menahem Stern on the standard edition of Jewish papyri. He was a specialist in the ...

(Cambridge, Massachusetts Vol.I 1957, II 1960, III ed.

Menahem Stern Menahem Stern ( he, מנחם שטרן; March 5, 1925 – June 22, 1989) was an internationally acclaimed Israeli historian of the Second Temple period. He was murdered in Jerusalem by Palestinians during the First Intifada. Biography Menahem ...

1964) which is largely of Greek language papyri but includes examples of Hebrew and Aramaic papyri from Israel, Jordan, and Egypt.

In Egypt

In 1909 Joseph Offord remarks that Germany had acquired all the Hebrew papyri found in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient ...

the previous winter, but that many were still to be found. In 1966 the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

possessed only four Hebrew and three Aramaic papyri.

Qumran

The main corpus, in terms of volume and significance, are the finds at

Qumran Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli ...

(1948 onwards). Very few Biblical papyri (as opposed to scrolls) were found at Qumran.

Aside from Qumran

In January 1952

Gerald Lankester Harding Gerald Lankester Harding (8 December 1901 – 11 February 1979) was a British archaeologist who was the director of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan from 1936 to 1956. His tenure spanned the period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were disco ...

and

Roland de Vaux Roland Guérin de Vaux (17 December 1903 – 10 September 1971) was a French Dominican priest who led the Catholic team that initially worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was the director of the Ecole Biblique, a French Catholic Theological S ...

commenced excavations in four caves at

Wadi Murabba'at Wadi Murabba'at, also known as Nahal Darga, is a ravine cut by a seasonal stream which runs from the Judean desert east of Bethlehem past the Herodium down to the Dead Sea 18 km south of Khirbet Qumran in the West Bank. It was here in caves t ...

. 173 documents were found. 1 Aramaic and 1 Greek papyri only were found at the Wadi Sdeir. In 1960-1961 Yigael Yadin excavated Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic papyri from the "Cave of Letters" at

Nahal Hever Nahal Hever ( he, נחל חבר) or Wadi al-Khabat (Arabic) is an intermittent stream (wadi) in the Judean Desert, that flows through the West Bank and Israel, from the area of Yatta to the Dead Sea. The Hebrew name is derived from "Hevron", the H ...

(classified by "XHev" manuscript numbers) among which there were 15 letters; 10 in Hebrew, 3 in Aramaic and 2 in Greek. In 1962 further finds of 18 Aramaic papyri from Samaria were made in the

Wadi Daliyeh The Wadi Daliyeh (وادي دالية) is a wadi in the West Bank, located fourteen kilometres north of Jericho, flowing east from the Samarian hills down to the Jordan Valley. The valley has caves containing archaeological material. Archaeologic ...

.''The Bible and archaeology''

John Arthur Thompson John Arthur Thompson (1913–2002) was an Australian Old Testament scholar and biblical archaeologist. Thompson studied at the University of Queensland, the University of Melbourne and the University of Cambridge, gaining degrees in science, th ...

- 1973 "Hebrew Papyri from Samaria A remarkable collection of papyri evidently from Samaria came to light in 1°62.25 Ta'amireh Bedouin discovered the documents in a cave in a desolate area north of Jericho in the Wadi Daliyeh." The 4 papyri from Nahal Se'elim (Wadi Seiyal) are in Greek.

References

{{reflist Hebrew papyri Aramaic papyri Papyrus Archaeological sites in Israel Hebrew language Aramaic Egyptian papyri

In Egypt

Qumran

Aside from Qumran

See also

References