Leila Avrin - Scribes, Script, and Books: The Book Arts from Antiquity to the Renaissance

To my daughters Elissa and Eve

23. Stencil print of hand. Cave at Pech-Merle a Cabrerets, Lot, France 19

24. Mesolithic eagle bone tool with engraved marks. Ishango, Congo 20

25. Aurignacian engraved and shaped bone plaque from Abri Blanchard (Dordogne). Muse des Antiquits Nationales, Saint-Germaine-en-Laye 20

26. New Year's ceremonies. Mayan Dresden Codex. Schsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden 23

27. Pioneer 10 plaque. 1972. Carl Sagan, The Cosmic Connection 23

28. Phonograms in two greeting cards by Sandra Boynton. a. "Ewer Great" b. "Happy Birthday to You." Recycled Paper Products, Chicago 24

29. Linear B clay tablet from Knossos, fourteenth century b.c.e. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 25

30. Clay tablet impressed with tokens. Susa, Iran, ca. 3100 b.c.e. Louvre 27

31. Complex tokens. Susa, Iran, ca. 3300 b.c.e. Louvre 27

32. Bulla from Habuba Kabira, Syria, late fourth millennium b.c.e. Museum fur Vor- und Friihgeschichte, Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin 27

33. Bulla envelope. Susa, ca. 3300 b.c.e. Louvre 28

34. Cylinder seal and impression of an Akkadian royal scribe, Ibnisharrum. Mesopotamia, ca. 2280 b.c.e. Louvre 29

35. Early pictorial Sumerian clay tablet. Late fourth millennium b.c.e. Louvre 29

36. Cuneiform clay tablet letter, Tushratta to Pharaoh Amenophis III. El-Amarna, fourteenth century b.c.e. British Museum 31

37. Gold foundation plaque of Darius with trilingual inscription. Persepolis, late sixth century b.c.e. Archeological Museum, Teheran 33

38. Detail of Rock of Behistun. Persia, sixth century b.c.e. 33

39. Octagonal clay prism of Tiglath-Pileser I. Assyria, ca. 1100 b.c.e. British Museum 34

40. Queen Nefertari playing sennet. Thebes, Valley of the Queens, thirteenth century b.c.e. 34

41. Narmer Palette. Hierakonpolis, ca. 3000 b.c.e. Egyptian Museum, Cairo 36

42. Account of Ramses II's Battle of Qadesh; hieratic script on papyrus, ca. 1200 b.c.e. Louvre 37

43. A farming contract on papyrus, demotic script. Egypt, 533 b.c.e. Louvre 38

44. Cuneiform clay tablet letter, endorsed in hieratic. El-Amarna, fourteenth century b.c.e. British Museum 38

45. Coptic manuscript, Epistles of St. Paul, from Monastery of St. Michael of the Desert, Fayyum, Egypt. Ninth century. Pierpont Morgan Library 41

46. Elephant and obelisk, from Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Venice, 1499. Jewish National and University Library 42

47. Jacques Callot's engraved illustration in an emblem book (Paris, 1646). Jewish National and University Library 42

48. The Rosetta Stone. Triscript in hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek. Egypt, 196 b.c.e. British Museum 43

49. Sphinx with early Semitic inscription. Serabit el-Khadem, fourteenth-thirteenth century b.c.e. British Museum 51

50. Lachish Bowl; early Semitic script. Israel, thirteenth century b.c.e. Israel Museum 51

51. Gezer Calendar. Israel, tenth century b.c.e. Archeological Museum, Istanbul 52

52. Moabite Stone. Semitic script. Jordan, ca. 840-820 b.c.e. Louvre 52

53. Siloam Inscription. Semitic script. Jerusalem, late eighth century. Archeological Museum, Istanbul 52

54. Silver shekel, writing in style of early Semitic script. Jerusalem, 67 c.e. Israel Museum 53

55. Uzziah Stone. Square Hebrew script. Jerusalem, first century b.c.e. /c.e. Israel Museum 53

56. Attic Dipylon Oinochoe. Early Greek script. Athens, ca. 725 b.c.e. National Museum, Athens 55

57. Francoise Vase, top row. Attic black-figure krater. Chiusi, ca. 575 b.c.e. Archeological Museum, Florence 56

58. Greek stone fragment, showing boustrophedon script. Athens, ca. 550 b.c.e. British Museum 57

59. Hellenistic Greek inscription from statue base, with decorative leaf, from Didyma. British Museum 58

60. Wall with Greek inscription. Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, last quarter of sixth century b.c.e. Ecole Franaise d'Archologie, Athens 58

61. Lapis Niger (Black Stone). Roman Forum, sixth century b.c.e. 59

62. Roman Square Capital sepulchral inscription in tabula ansata. Rome, ca. 17 b.c.e.- 12 c.e. Museo Nazionale Romano 61