Collecting Practices and Opisthographic Collections in Qumran and Herculaneum

Ayhan Aksu, Ph.D. (2022, University of Groningen), is a postdoctoral researcher at the KU Leuven. His research focuses on ancient Judaism and the Dead Sea Scrolls, with special attention to ancient manuscript practices.

• AcknowledgementsList of TablesAbbreviationsIntroduction1 Opisthographs and Questions of Text Collections and Communities2 Studying Ancient Manuscript Culture3 Methods and Research Approaches4 Comparative Approach5 Outline of This StudyPart1 The Material Variety of the Qumran OpisthographsIntroduction to Part11 Opisthographic Practices in the Dead Sea Scrolls1 What is an Opisthograph?2 Recto and Verso on Ancient Papyri3 Opisthographic Practices in the Dead Sea Scrolls4 Unidentified Opisthographic Manuscripts5 Qumran Tefillin6 Manuscripts Carrying Titles on the Verso7 Opisthograph with Continuous Text on Both Sides: 4Q5048 Documentary Opisthographs9 Documentary Opisthographs on the Verso of Literary Texts2 Five Literary Opisthographs from Qumran1 Introduction2 Literary Opisthograph 4Q415/4Q4143 Literary Opisthograph 4Q433a/4Q2554 Literary Opisthograph 4Q499/4Q4975 Literary Opisthograph 4Q503/4Q5126 Literary Opisthograph 4Q509/4Q496/4Q5063 The Palaeography of the Literary Opisthographs1 Introduction2 4Q433a3 4Q2554 4Q4995 4Q4976 4Q5037 4Q5128 4Q5099 4Q49610 4Q50611 General Discussion12 Opisthographs and the Choice for Papyrus4 Concluding Remarks to Part1Part2 Literary Diversity and the Opisthograph 4Q509/4Q496/4Q506: A Case StudyIntroduction to Part25 4Q509/4Q496/4Q506: Three Compositions and the Question of Classification1 The Publication History of 4Q509/4Q496/4Q5062 4Q509: A Prayer Cycle of Festival Prayers3 General Reflections on Devorah Dimant’s Model of Classification4 4Q509 and Its Classification According to Dimant5 4Q496: A Copy of the War Scroll6 4Q506: A Prayer Cycle for Days of the Week7 Words of the Luminaries: Sectarian, Non-Sectarian, Pre-Sectarian?6 Opisthograph 4Q509/4Q496/4Q506 and the Question of Textual and Literary Diversity1 The Opisthograph: An Emic Category?2 A Codicological Analysis of 4Q509/4Q496/4Q5063 Extracts and Excerpts4 4Q509/4Q496/4Q506 and Literary Diversity5 Graeco-Roman Reading Culture: Texts and Events6 4Q509/4Q496/4Q506 as a Prayer Collection and Historical ReflectionPart3 Collections and Textual Diversity: Graeco-Roman Evidence and the Villa of the PapyriIntroduction to Part37 Conceptualizing Collections in Literary and Papyrological Sources1 Library, Archive, and Collection: Emic and Etic Conceptions2 Collection from a Comparative Perspective: Book Lists of Papyri Finds8 The Villa of the Papyri and Graeco-Roman Practices of Collection1 Herculaneum and the Villa of the Papyri2 Deposition Context and ‘Lived’ Context3 The Archaeology of the Villa of the Papyri4 The Collection of Papyri5 Diachronicity and Dynamism6 Herculaneum as a Private, Scholarly Collection7 Opisthograph PHerc. 1021 as an ‘Opisthographic Collection’9 Comparing the Villa-Papyri and the Dead Sea Scrolls1 Herculaneum and Qumran: Contrast and Correlation2 4Q509/4Q496/4Q506 RevisitedConclusion1 The Qumran Opisthographs2 Opisthographs: Manuscript Reuse or Collections of Valued Works?3 Opisthograph 4Q509/4Q496/4Q506 and the Question of Classification4 Opisthograph 4Q509/4Q496/4Q506 as an Opisthographic Collection5 Collections and Collecting Practices: Herculaneum and QumranBibliographyIndex of Modern AuthorsIndex of Ancient Sources