Jacob Neusner RIP

[Secret Alias]

I think (and I know nothing) that she is talking about the vertical impressions of the strings impressed on the page (see diagram).

[StephenGoranson]

It's a good thing to find and publish various scribal tools including a mastara (Arabic name), otherwise known as a ruling board or planche à régler, etc. But there are additional, and older, methods for marking ruled lines. E.g. Emanuel Tov mentioned ruled lines in older mss in Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in the Judean Desert (2004).

[StephenGoranson]

A discussion of ms ruling:
http://web.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/MMM/ruling.html

[StephenGoranson]

Would it be hard to use a mastara on pages of a bound paper book?

[Ben C. Smith]

I think (and I know nothing) that she is talking about the vertical impressions of the strings impressed on the page (see diagram).

Okay, but I have no way of evaluating this claim at present. Is there an article to read? Has something been published about this?

[Secret Alias]

About the fact that Mar Saba 65 has features that are suggestive of the use of a mastara? No and very little was previously known about the mastara in Greek monasteries. But (a) I sent it to an expert and (b) look at the straight lines for the writing and especially the margins on the right hand side of the page (unless of course you don't like admitting that you bought into a stupid conspiracy theory initially). Once you are alerted to the mastara it is the best explanation for the 'magical' ability of the scribe to (i) write in a straight line and (ii) have a running 'right margin.' We have an option in word to make all the letters 'fit' so that the text as a whole forms a perfect rectangle. Notice the left margin too. The two left and right 'strings' make an immediate impression in the paper setting up these features. They disappear over time.

[andrewcriddle]

I'm not an expert here at all.

But if a mastara was used it would IIUC leave marks that would be apparent on both sides of a page with the one ruling serving as a guide for writing on both sides.

In this case one would expect the lines of writing on the first of the three pages to coincide with the lines of writing on the second page in a way that does not seem to be true.

Andrew Criddle

[StephenGoranson]

1) Yes, as Andrew noted, the lines on the first page--28 lines--and the lines on the second page--26 lines--compare in a way such that mastara use "does not seem to be true."

2) And prior to that is the question whether a mastara was typically used on an already-bound book. (In this case on a sheet from the printer and then a sheet from the binder?) Would such an attempt damage the book? Did line-marking typically happen first on scrolls and later on sheets that were bound afterward?

[andrewcriddle]

1) Yes, as Andrew noted, the lines on the first page--28 lines--and the lines on the second page--26 lines--compare in a way such that mastara use "does not seem to be true."

2) And prior to that is the question whether a mastara was typically used on an already-bound book. (In this case on a sheet from the printer and then a sheet from the binder?) Would such an attempt damage the book? Did line-marking typically happen first on scrolls and later on sheets that were bound afterward?

IIUC typically unbound see Samaritan Scribes.
I would think it would be possible to use a mastara on the end pages of an already bound book but I don't know for sure.

Andrew Criddle

[Secret Alias]

But this is typical of what happens in these discussions at least from a psychological perspective.

1. We start off looking at the MSS and just 'assume' that scribes had a magical ability to (a) write in absolute straight lines (without lines on the page) and (b) magically creating right and left margins.
2. Then in very recent times it is discovered that mastara were used in Greek monasteries and other literary composition traditions. To what extent they were used is difficult to prove (i.e. in the sense did EVERY Greek scribe used a mastara)

So we don't know or can't prove the extent to which mastara were used. But when considering this document in particular it must be asked - if Greek scribes used mastara and at least some of the perfectly symmetrical lines and margins that we see in MSS were the result of mastaras being used in Greek monasteries assuming for the moment that Morton Smith forged the text (which is the necessary 'hoax' starting point) is it likely or even possible that he didn't use a mastara? In other words, are there people who are born with the innate ability to (i) write in perfectly straight lines on blank paper and (ii) also being able to form perfectly formed right and left margins aligned on each side of the text?

I think the reason that at least some if not all (albeit an unprovable assumption) of the Greek scribes used mastara the reason humans need temporary impressions of lines and margins to be formed on blank pages is because it is difficult or impossible to write in straight lines and form perfectly formed right and left margins on blank pages. I saw a number of attempts of Quesnell to replicate not on the form of ligatures but also duplicate the straightness of lines on lined paper and he couldn't pull it off. So it is a hard thing to master even with 'help.' It would seem very unlikely to me that Morton Smith as someone who wasn't a professional scribe (i.e. he didn't live in an age where it would be expected that he would write in Byzantine script or any other similar ligatures on a blank page and form perfect lines of text with perfect right and left margins - something which at least some (if not all) Byzantine scribes need mastara to help them achieve the desired results.

Once the existence of mastara have now been revealed isn't the probability incredibly high that if - as these people claim - Morton Smith forged the text that he must have used a mastara? It seems incredibly unlikely if not impossible that particular human beings have the innate gift to do things that scribes in other age needed artificial 'help' doing. In other words, if Smith forged the text he almost certainly used a mastara and if it is a Byzantine text it is likely that the scribe also used a mastara to form the lines and margins?

The closest example I can think of is my own experience having a son in highly competitive soccer academies. I would have thought starting out that 8 and 9 year old kids just have natural ability to play soccer. I wouldn't have expected for instance that parents give their kids caffeine before games, sudafed before games or hire personal trainers for their 8 and 9 year olds. But now that I know when I see a 8 year old kid who can run non-stop in a 'caffeinated manner' that the parents likely picked him up a frappucino before the game.

A while back my son was with his best friend and the best friend (who is 8) cracked open a Red Bull and said 'try some.' The same kid used to drink frapuccinos before the games.