UHL LIBRARY
UHL's specialty library houses more than 4,000 volumes in the fields of Bible, comparative religions, language, natural history, and Biblical archaeology as well as The Dead Sea Scrolls on Microfiche, the complete edition of all the manuscripts discovered in the Judean Desert. In addition, UHL enjoys access to the research and library facilities at the American, British and German Schools of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Ratisbonne Pontifical Institute, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, the Ecumenical Institute for the Advancement of Theological Studies (Tantur), and the Caspari Center. The excellent manuscript collection on microfilm at the National Library is also available to our students.
UHL EPIGRAPHIC STUDY COLLECTION
GREEK OSTRACA:
- Ostracon 1: Testimony of a 5th cent. pilgrim named “Sergios, servant of the Lord” who was “coming worshipping God” and supplicating on behalf of a certain Susanna his mother (“Heal her eyes, Oh Lord”), contributing a gift of myrrh drawn from “(his) own wealth”. The beginning and end of the inscription are signified by the sign of the cross. The ostracon is unique and was likely associated with a pilgrimage to one of the monasteries in the Judean wilderness. Provenience: “from the area of Jericho”. The potsherd is from a 5th century Byzantine bowl. Five lines of text. The inscription is complete. (Anonymous contribution.)
- Ostraca 2-4: Broken texts. no complete words. (Anonymous contribution.)
IDUMEAN OSTRACA:
Deriving from the latter half of the 4th century BCE, these three ostraca derive from a corpus of more than 500 pieces that have appeared on the Jerusalem antiquities market during the 1990s. These are written in Aramaic and derive from an undisclosed site south of Hebron. These documents tend to be dockets serving as registrations or receipts for various agricultural commodities (including wheat, barley, flour, olives, oil, wine, wood and straw). These include primarily Idumean and Nabatean personal names containing the theophoric elements Qaus, El, Baal and on rare occasion “Yahu” indicating a Jewish name.
- Ostracon 1: A transaction concerning real estate beginning “A plot of the sons of Gahmu.” Four lines of text. The inscription is complete. (Contributed by Jan Karnis, Jerusalem..)
- Ostracon 2: Record of a gift: “On the 23rd of Sivan ‘Ubaydu son of Guru gave to...” Four lines of text. The inscription is complete. (Anonymous contribution.)
- Ostracon 3: A transaction involving “... 3 shekels of silver ...” containing seven lines of text written on both sides of the potsherd. (Anonymous contribution.)
TORAH SCROLL FRAGMENT:
Two columns of the Book of Leviticus (specifically, from Leviticus 24) written in an 11th century hand on brown leather. From a New York dealer in Jewish antiquities. Reported to be from the Cairo Geniza. (Contributed by Franklin Maisel, Houston.)
COPPER SCROLLS/AMULETS:
Both scrolls are written in Jewish "square" script in the Aramaic language of the 5th to 6th centuries CE. The best preserved scroll has nine lines of the text of a prayer on behalf of a woman who was about to give birth. The other has approximately seven lines. These types of Jewish scrolls are classified as "amulets" since they contain prayers, hymns and special formulae on behalf of the sick or those who need divine protection. Similar scrolls have been found during the excavation of Byzantine period synagogues. As far as I know, there are no more than 40-50 of these on record or known, mainly in private collections (most of which have been published by Profs. Naveh and Shaked in two volumes).
- Scroll 1. A copper scroll/amulet written in Jewish "square" script in the Aramaic language of the 5th to 6th centuries CE. This scroll, the better preserved of the two, measures 12.5 x 4 cm has nine lines of the text of a prayer on behalf of a woman who was about to give birth. (Anonymous contribution.)
- Scroll 2. A copper scroll/amulet written in Jewish "square" script in the Aramaic language of the 5th to 6th centuries CE. Scroll 2 measures 9 x 4 cm and has approximately seven lines of text. (Anonymous contribution.)
CUNEIFORM TABLETS:
- Tablet 1: Old Akkadian (ca. 2300 BC). An account of barley and beer. The cuneiform signs used to write this tablet are primitive, from the 3rd millennium, from the period when the script and writing was invented. (Anonymous contribution.)
- Tablets 2 and 3: Standard Akkadian cuneiform dated ca. 700 BC. Both are lists of rations with personal names. Tablet 2 is inscribed on both sides of the tablet. Tablet 3, slightly larger, is inscribed on one side only. (Anonymous contribution.)
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