Greek Inscriptions and Orthography

Rodney J. Decker rdecker at bbc.edu
Thu Sep 23 09:46:30 EDT 1999


>        I have been asked a question about dating the different scripts of
>the Greek alphabet.  It appears that in the inscription we have from Herod's
>Temple that warns Gentiles not to enter on pain of death, the full Sigma is
>used.  Coinage from Herod's time reflects both the full Sigma and an
>abbreviated Sigma that looks like our letter 'c'.  In the Byzantine period
>only the abbreviated Sigma is found.

This isn't a full answer to your query, but when reading inscriptions, you
should be aware that what sometimes looks like a lunate sigma (what you
call an "abbrev. sigma") is often a "stigma." 

I learned this recently when puzzling over the Gallio inscription (relevant
to Acts 18 and the Corinthian correspondance of Paul). I noted what I
initially took to be two different forms of the sigma in the same text:
both the usual capital form and the lunate form. It took me more time that
perhaps it should have, but I finally figured out that what I had tried to
read (unsuccessfully!) as a sigma was actually a *stigma.* The text (in the
2d line of the 3d fragment, top right) reads "KAPPA STIGMA" (2 characters;
b-greek doesn't have a transliteration convention for a stigma!)--i.e.,
"twenty six." (There is a regular capital sigma almost directly above it in
line 1.) The date of the original rescript from Tiberius is ca. AD 52; the
actual inscription may have been cut sometime later (but probably not much
as I doubt that it would have served any purpose at a much later time).

I don't know if that's the case with the items you're looking at or not,
but it's worth checking. I'd probably turn first to Metzger's volume on
paleography if I were looking for an answer (*Manuscripts of the Greek
Bible: An Introduction to Paleography*).

Rod



****************************************************
Rodney J. Decker, Th.D.       Baptist Bible Seminary
Assoc. Prof./NT  PO Box 800, Clarks Summit, PA 18411
rdecker at bbc.edu      http://faculty.bbc.edu/rdecker/
The *Resources for NT Study* site is accessible at:
http://faculty.bbc.edu/rdecker/rd_rsrc.htm
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