So earlier today when I blogged about some of my findings concerning the script of the Lead Codices, I was asked via email, "[Steve,] where did you get your ability to recognize errors ancient scripts like that?"
I jokingly replied, "Well, I think it's in my blood."
To better explain what I mean I request that you, the reader, examine the as of yet unpublished inscription at the top of this post that I was recently studying. I have enhanced the image a bit to make it more readable.
As you can see, in a rather sloppy hand there is scratched out with some sharp instrument, "יומדין אית שמש בשמיין". I assume it was meant to convey, "Today it is sunny," as it literally reads, "Today there is sun in the sky." Where the letters are malformed, they exhibit all of the characteristics of an Herodian hand (perhaps arguably with a few late Hasmonean elements with the mims, but the shins look a bit stretched)... :-)
However, looking at the original photo before I enhanced it may speak more to its condition and context:
It was composed on our chalkboard by my 4 year old daughter. Not quite the way I would have rendered it, but not bad for a 4-year old with her own drive to learn Aramaic. :-)
Peace,
-SteveLabels: aramaic, funny, Galilean, Lead Codices
