Hermas's Masonry

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue May 2 12:34:27 EDT 2000


At 11:49 AM -0400 5/2/00, Bart Ehrman wrote:
>   In the famous third vision of the Shepherd, Hermas sees a tower under
>construction:  TOUS MEN EK TOU BUQOU LIQOUS hELKOMENOUS PANTA hOUTWS
>ETIQESAN EIS THN OIKODOMHN.  hHRMOSMENOI GAR HSAN KAI SUNEFWNOUN THi
>hARMOGHi META TWN LIQWN.  hRMOSMENOI GAR HSAN KAI SUNEFWNOUN THi hARMOGHi
>META TWN hETERWN LIQWN "They placed all the stones thus drawn from the
>depths in the building; for they fit together and were straight at the
>joint [???] with the other stones.  And they were placed together, so that
>their joint [???] was invisible." (Shepherd 10:6, and throughout)
>
>   My question has to do with terms for tower construction.  Especially
>"hARMOGH" and compounds.  Is this better rendered "joint" or "edge" or
>what?  (The idea is that when one stone is placed on top of another they
>fit so well together that you can't even see the crack between them; but
>what do you call that straight edge where they meet? )

Off the top: "juncture," "joining," "point of contact," "line of
contact"--or, howsabout "seam"?

-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu 



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