Scroll

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(March 2007)

«The Joshua Roll», Vatican Library. An illuminated
scroll, probably of the 10th century, created in the Byzantine
empire.

A scroll is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper which has been written,
drawn or painted upon for the purpose of transmitting information or using as a
decoration.

Contents

1 Structure

2 Usage

3 History of scroll
use

3.1 Origins in Europe and
West Asia

3.2 Eastern Mediterranean,
West Asia and Europe

3.2.1 Egypt

3.2.2 Israel

3.2.3 Syria and
Babylon

3.2.4 Greece and
Rome

3.2.5 Early Christian
era

3.2.6 European Middle
Ages

3.2.7 West and Central
Asia

3.3 China and East
Asia

3.4 Modern
era

4 Rolls

5 See also

6 References

7 External
links

[edit]
Structure

A scroll is usually divided up into pages, which are sometimes separate
sheets of papyrus or parchment glued together at the edges, or may be marked
divisions of a continuous roll of writing material. The
scroll is usually unrolled so that one page is exposed at a time, for writing or
reading, with the remaining pages rolled up to the left and right of the visible
page. It is unrolled from side to side, and the text is written in lines from
the top to the bottom of the page. Depending on the language, the letters may be
written left to right, right to left, or alternating in direction (boustrophedon).

Some scrolls are simply rolled up pages; others may have wooden rollers on
each end: Torah
scrolls have rather elaborate rollers befitting their ceremonial function.

[edit]
Usage

The greatest usage of scrolls today is in Jewish religious observance at
least every week in each Bet Knesset (Synagogue) or Bet Midrash (house of
learning).

The Sefer Torah scroll (Hebrew:
ספר תורה ; plural: ספרי תורה, Sifrei Torah ; "Book(s) of Torah" or
"Torah Scroll(s)" ) is only opened during actual reading, and covered with
bein gavras, the flat, embroidered cover placed over the Torah between
Aliyot (those called to the seven Torah readings). When stored, the Sefer Torah
is always in an upright position, resting on the lower handles.

Entire set of Tanakh scrolls

In Jewish practice the Torah scrolls are bound by a special length of usually
silk ties or belts with clasps, and in Ashkenazi practice are covered
or "dressed" in protective embroidered kippah (mantle), and external ornamental
silver Tas (breastplate), and usually a silver Keter (crown) of beaten
silver placed over the upper atzei chaim (handles). In Sephardi
practice the Keter
is built into the portable Aron and the Sefer Torah
is never removed from it, the reading conducted with the scroll remaining in the
upright position, while that of the Ashkenazi practice is laid on a recliner.
These ornaments are not objects of worship, but are used only to beautify the
scroll as the sacred and holy living word of God. The reading pointer, or yad, to help the reader
keep track of the text without actually touching it, is also stored with the
scrolls usually by means of being hung on a chain suspended from the upper
handles over the Tas, or over the Aron latch. In Jewish designs
the handles with their top and bottom plates are known as atzei chaim (trees of
life) and are often highly decorated with silver and etchings.

The upper handles are decorated with Rimonim (pomegranates) that
include bell decorations. The scroll is stored in a cylindrical Aron
(case) in the Sephardic practice, and in an often extremely elaborate Aron
Kodesh (Hekhál amongst most Sefardim) in Ashkenazi designs,
preferably built on the East wall, which takes the shape of a large, often
walk-in niche with doors and covered with an elaborately decorated embroidered
parokhet (curtain) either inside (Sephardim) or outside (Ashkenazim) the
doors. The parokhet usually includes the name of the congregation and
that of its donors. Scrolls are expensive and large. Every synagogue needs a
Torah scroll, but few have scrolls of other Biblical books.

In Greek and Latin usage, scrolls were mostly used for texts, including
scholarly texts, and were stored on open racks that accommodated the scrolls
laid flat suspended by the handles, usually uncovered. In a later Early
Christian era, scrolls became quite valuable as scribal skills became less
common, and were often stored in protected leather cases.

In general, Christian texts were kept in Codex form: that is, books with
pages and covers that could be opened to any page. A scroll is a sequential
access format; a codex is a random-access format, analogous to tape and disc
storage devices in computers.

In medieval iconography, as in the stained
glass images in cathedrals: the prophets of
the Old Testament were shown holding scrolls; the evangelists (authors of the
Gospels) of the New Testament were shown holding codices.

[edit]
History of scroll
use

Scroll of the Book of Esther, Seville, Spain

[edit]
Origins in Europe and
West Asia

Scrolls were the first form of editable record keeping texts, used in Eastern
Mediterranean ancient
Egyptian civilizations.

Parchment scroll used by Israelites after Sinai was the first use of scrolls
in the recording of literature before the codex or bound book with pages was invented by the
Latins in the
first century AD to differentiate their usage from that of the Judeans who were
recently conquered. Nevertheless, scrolls were more highly regarded than codices
until well into Roman times where they were usually written in single
latitudinal column.

[edit]
Eastern
Mediterranean, West Asia and Europe

[edit]
Egypt

In Dynastic Egypt scrolls were made from papyrus. The way a scroll was
read by being unrolled meant scribes were sometimes confused; for example, there
are versions of the Egyptian Book of the Dead with
repeated sections.

[edit]
Israel

The Hebrew texts teach that Torah was copied by Moses onto a scroll c.1200 BC
which was made from skin of a kosher animal and not papyrus as in
Dynastic Egypt. According to Jewish tradition, since that time the scrolls are
copied from one to another due to their extreme survivability, with examples
known to be hundreds of years old such as the 800 Year Old Sephardic Sefer Torah
from Spain.[1]
The meticulous process of hand-copying a scroll takes about 2,000 hours
(approximately one person-year, a full-time job with a 40 hour work week being
2080 hours a year, ignoring vacations and holidays). Throughout the centuries,
Jewish scribes have adhered to the following guidelines:

A Torah Scroll is disqualified if even a single letter is added.

A Torah Scroll is disqualified if even a single letter is deleted.

The scribe must be a learned, pious Jew, who has undergone special
training and certification.

All materials (parchment, ink, quill) must conform to strict
specifications, and be prepared specifically for the purpose of writing a
Torah Scroll.

The scribe may not write even one letter into a Torah Scroll by heart.
Rather, he must have a second, kosher scroll opened before him at all
times.

The scribe must pronounce every word out loud before copying it from the
correct text.

Every letter must have sufficient white space surrounding it. If one
letter touches another in any spot, it invalidates the entire scroll.

If a single letter was so marred that it cannot be read at all, or
resembles another letter (whether the defect is in the writing, or is due to a
hole, tear or smudge), this invalidates the entire scroll. Each letter must be
sufficiently legible so that even an ordinary schoolchild could distinguish it
from other, similar letters.

The scribe must put precise space between words, so that one word will not
look like two words, or two words look like one word.

The scribe must not alter the design of the sections, and must conform to
particular line-lengths and paragraph configurations.

A Torah Scroll in which any mistake has been found, cannot be used, and
must be fixed within 30 days, or buried.

The Torah scroll contains 304,805 letters (or approximately 79,000
words).
Other books of the TaNaKh are also written in scroll
form, as well as the mezuzah scrolls found in most
orthodox, conservative and reform Jewish households. Many Jewish families also
own their own Megillah scroll for
use during Purim.

Despite this attention to detail, there is still a reference to alternate
readings even within the text: Qere and Ketiv;

[edit]
Syria and Babylon

The Jewish communities residing in these countries used same techniques to
manufacture scrolls with the exception of the deer skins being used rather than
the calf, lamb or goat skins elsewhere. The scrolls from these areas were known
for their quality and durability, and were later imported into European and
Indian communities.

Non-Jewish vellum manufacturing also took place after 3rd century BC.

[edit]
Greece and Rome

Scrolls were used by the ancient Greeks. In Roman usage the scrolls were
written latitudinally, usually placed on podiums with roll holders from which
the rolls were unwound.[citation
needed]

The Romans eventually found the scroll too cumbersome for lengthy works and
developed the codex,[citation
needed] which influenced the modern book.

[edit]
Early Christian era

Scrolls continued to be used during the Early Church era until the Early Middle Ages era.
Owing to the copying practices many errors were introduced into the texts at
this time.
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, a book written to prove
the validity of the New Testament, says: " A study of 150 Greek [manuscripts] of
the Gospel of Luke has revealed more than 30,000 different readings... It is
safe to say that there is not one sentence in the New Testament in which the
[manuscript] is wholly uniform."

Other scholars report there are some 200,000 variants in the existing
manuscripts of the New Testament, representing about 400 variant readings which
can cause some doubt about textual meaning;[citation
needed] 50 of these are of great significance.[original
research?]

[edit]
European Middle Ages

Scrolls virtually disappeared in Europe during the Middle Ages, and re-emerged
only rarely for use in official treaties and other international documents of
great significance during and after the Baroque Era of the 17th century. These
were usually written on high quality vellum, and stored in elaborate silver and
gold cases inscribed with names of participants. Earlier examples were written
in Latin.

In Southern Italy scrolls were in use for liturgical texts (Exultet).

Scrolls were in use for administrative purposes all over Europe (e.g. the pipe
rolls), from which derive several denominations as roll.

[edit]
West and Central
Asia

Scrolls continued in use longer in the Islamic world, often elaborately
decorated in calligraphic writing that included use of gold embossing and
pigments when used for the writing of the Qur'an.

[edit]
China and East Asia

See also: Hanging scroll and
Handscroll

Scrolls continued in use longer in East Asia cultures like China and
Japan.

The Chinese invented and perfected 'Indian Ink' for use in writing, including
scrolls. Originally designed for blacking the surfaces of raised stone-carved
hieroglyphics, the ink was a mixture of soot from pine smoke and lamp oil mixed
with the gelatin of donkey skin and musk. The ink invented by the Chinese
philosopher, Tien-Lcheu (2697 B.C.), became common by the year 1200
B.C.
Later other formats came into use in China, firstly the sutra or
scripture binding, a scroll folded concertina-style, which
avoids the need to unroll to find a passage in the middle. By about 1,000 CE,
sheet-based formats were introduced, although scrolls continued to have a place.
Traditional painting and calligraphy in East Asia is
often still performed on relatively short latitudinal paper scrolls displayed
vertically as a hanging scroll on a wall
or horizontally and flat as a handscroll.

Song Dynasty copy of the Wise and Benevolent
Women, original by Gu Kaizhi, 13th century, Palace
Museum.

[edit]
Modern era

Torah Scrolls are still used today in Jewish religious observance with almost
insignificant changes despite the thousands of years in practice.

Some cultures use scrolls as ceremonial texts or for decoration called a hanging scroll, without
any obvious division of the text into columns. In some scroll-using cultures
painted illustrations were used as header decorations above the text columns,
either in a continuous band or broken into scenes above either a single or
double column of text.

One of the few modern texts written on a scroll was Jack Kerouac's On the
Road, which he typed on a scroll made of taped-together sheets of
paper.

Paper scrolls are also used for classroom instruction. The fundamental
benefit of this is that the unrolled paper scroll enables teachers and students
to view and work with whole texts -- from picture books for preschoolers, to
textbook chapters for college students -- in a single, panoramic view.[citation
needed]

Scrolls are also now used in the virtual sense, in computer
applications such as word processors, web browsers) and film closing credits. This is
known as scrolling.

The scroll format is also recognizable in tape reel devices such as tape, microfilm, and videotape.

[edit]
Rolls

Modern Biedermeier
Scroller

Shorter pieces of parchment or paper are called rolls, which
may still be many meters or feet long, were used in the medieval and Early
Modern period in Europe and various West Asian cultures for manuscript administrative
documents intended for various uses, including accounting, rent-rolls, legal
agreements, and inventories. Unlike scrolls, these are usually written down the
length of the roll latitudinally. Rolls may be wider than most scrolls, up to
perhaps 60 cm or two feet wide. Rolls were often stored together in a
special cupboard on shelves.

A special Chinese form of short book, called the "whirlwind book," consists
of several pieces of paper bound at the top with bamboo and then rolled up.[2]

[edit]
See also

Codex

Hanging scroll

Paleography

Papyrus

Parchment

Sefer Torah

Vellum

Woodblock
printing

[edit]
References

^ Rhodesjewishmuseum.org

^ International Dunhuang Project - Chinese scroll and "whirlwind"
forms from C10th

[edit]
External links

Look up scroll in Wiktionary, the free
dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: scrolls

Encyclopaedia Romana: "Scroll and codex"

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scroll&oldid=455006829"

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