Pesher and Hypomnema: A Comparison of Two Commentary Traditions from the Hellenistic-Roman Period: (121 Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah)

In Pesher and Hypomnema Pieter B. Hartog compares ancient Jewish commentaries on the Hebrew Bible with papyrus commentaries on the Iliad. Hartog shows that members of the movement which produced and preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls adopted classical commentary writing and adapted it to their own needs. The connection between the Qumran Pesharim and Hypomnemata on the Iliad resulted from exchanges of scholarly knowledge across Hellenistic-Roman Egypt and Palestine. Analysing the effects of these knowledge exchanges, Pesher and Hypomnema demonstrates that members of the Qumran movement were thoroughly embedded within their Hellenistic and Roman environment.

Table of Contents:
Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations 1 Introduction  1 Pesher in Context  2 A Glocal Perspective  3 Definitions  4 Outline of This Book 2 The Hypomnemata and the Pesharim as Expressions of Intellectual Culture  1 Scribes and Scholars  2 The Hypomnemata and Intellectual Life in Hellenistic-Roman Egypt  3 The Pesharim and Intellectual Life in Hellenistic-Roman Palestine  4 Commentaries as Scholarly Literature  5 Conclusion 3 Textual Scholarship and the Physicality of the Hypomnemata  1 “Ammonius, son of Ammonius”  2 Dimensions  3 Corrections and Abbreviations  4 Signs  5 Sense Dividers  6 Conclusion 4 Textual Scholarship and the Physicality of the Pesharim  1 Dimensions  2 Writing Divine Names  3 Corrections and Additions  4 Signs  5 Sense Dividers  6 Conclusion 5 A Bi-Fold Structure  1 The Rhetoric of Commentary  2 Structural Variety  3 Conclusion 6 Structure and Scholarship in the Hypomnemata  1 Lemmata: Selection and Presentation  2 Interpretation Sections: Contents and Structure  3 The Hypomnemata as Literary Unities  4 Conclusion 7 Structure and Interpretation in the Pesharim  1 Lemmata: Selection and Presentation  2 Interpretation Sections: Contents and Structure  3 Blurred Boundaries  4 The Pesharim as Literary Unities  5 Conclusion 8 Describing Hermeneutics  1 A Quest for Categories  2 The Categories of This Study  3 “Etymology” 9 A Hermeneutical Profile of the Hypomnemata  1 Perspectivisation  2 Normativity  3 Analogy  4 Structure  5 Single Words  6 Conclusion 10 A Hermeneutical Profile of the Pesharim  1 Perspectivisation  2 Application  3 Application and Normativity  4 Analogy  5 Structure  6 Single Words  7 Conclusion Conclusion. Pesher and Hypomnema Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Pieter B. (Bärry) Hartog, Ph.D. (2015), KU Leuven, is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Protestant Theological University in Groningen. His research concentrates on ancient Judaism and the Dead Sea Scrolls in the context of the Graeco-Roman world.