The Background of the Stichometric Arrangements of Poetry in the Judean Desert Scrolls

Abstract

The practice of a stichographic representation was developed for the books written in a system of strict parallelismus membrorum , which therefore could easily be represented stichographically. This practice was also used for most songs in the Torah. As a result, most poetical books are not represented in stichographic writing. The stichographic arrangements of poetical texts reflect their scribes' understanding of the poetical structure, although it is unclear to what extent these layouts reflect the original intention of the poets behind the texts. This stichographic layout is evidenced for the Judean Desert texts of two poems in the Torah and of Psalms, Proverbs, Lamentations, and Job. The connection between the stichographic practices of the ancient scrolls of the Masoretic family and the medieval manuscripts is further strengthened by negative evidence. This evidence pertains to the poetical units that are not written stichographically in both the ancient scrolls and the medieval manuscripts. Keywords:ancient scrolls; Judean Desert; Masoretic family; medieval manuscripts; stichographic

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