Hermas's Masonry
Hultberg, Alan
alan_hultberg at peter.biola.edu
Tue May 2 19:53:03 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? )
I don't know whether hAMOGH is a technical masonry term in Greek, but what it
refers to in this passage is called a "joint" among (American)
English-speaking masons. It is the point of contact between two bricks or
stones, or the meeting line between to "courses" of bricks or stones.
Alan
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list