The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

i64 THE BOOKS OF ENOCH En»> i
SECOND COPY (4QEn^ Pis. VI-IX)
Skin light brown, reddish or blackened in places, fairly thick and stiff; surface
granular and often shiny, slightly damaged or else flaking in places; back
black and flaking.
Ink watery and at times faded. Guide-lines barely visible or missing; space
between lines i cm on average.
The original scroll is now reduced to several small fragments of parchment,
belonging to the first four and the sixth columns of the manuscript. Each
column contained twenty-eight lines of the text (col. ii: twenty-nine lines).
The beginning is missing, except for one letter. There was either one column
of very long Unes of writing or one column and a half as in En\ Reconstructed
height of the written surface, 26*5 cm; upper margin i(?) cm, lower margin
2 cm (i ii); height of the scroll approximately 30 cm; other codicological
details in the table below:
Leaf Col. Letters
per line
Width
of col.
Sections
of text
Text
preserved
Sigla of
fragments
Fragments
on plates
I i En. 1: 1-5:9 4QEn^ I i 8 En^ I c
ii 43 9*5 cm 5:9-8: I En. 5:9-6:4; ii 1-8, a-o
6:7-8: I 15-29
iii 49 II 8: 2-10: 5 8:2-^:4 iii 1-16 p-fV
iv 13 10: 5-22 lo: 8-12 iv 5-12
2 [V 10: 22-14: 2 ]
vi 43 9-5 14: 2- 14:4-6 vi 5-10
The writing of En^ is rather archaic, probably dating from the early Hasmonaean
period; cf. Cross, p. 137, fig. i, line 7 (175-125 B.C.), and p. 138,
fig. 2, line I (175-150 B.C.) and line 2 (125-100 B.C.). The Nun has here the
medial form and a final form, whilst the Kaph and the Pe have only one form,
viz. medial; this palaeographical characteristic recurs in the semi-cursive
alphabets of Qumran: Cross, p. 149, fig. 4, line i (150-100 B.C.) and line 2
(100-50 B.C.). Our manuscript doubtless goes back to the first half of the
second century, or perhaps more exactly to the middle of the century.
The orthography of En^ is 'classicar and relatively *fuir. The article is
marked by Aleph: XD^S ii 7; XDOD and ii 27; X^mD ii 28; )X'in iii 15;
X^'TS? iv 6; Xni&nn'? ii 19; Kni&lpa iii 16; final Aleph also in the proper
name of an angel, KTrT'att? iv 9, as against 7\'\T\^W in iii i and in En*. Aleph
marks the final -e: KTIti^ iv 7. The final -a of the infinitives is marked by