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Dr.
Monika Amsler
University of Bern

Dr. Monika Amsler is Senior Research Assistant at the University of Bern’s Department of Ancient History and the Classical Tradition. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich, and is the author of The Babylonian Talmud and Late Antique Book Culture (Cambridge, 2023), and the editor of Knowledge Construction in Late Antiquity (Berlin, 2023).

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March 19, 2025

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The Babylonian Talmud and Late Antique Book Culture

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Of Jars, Scraps, and Scrolls: How Ancient Books Were Composed

In biblical times, scraps of writing were stored together in jars, likely based on theme or topic, and these collections were combined and edited into our biblical books. Similarly, Talmudic pericopae began with collections of legal or wise sayings written on pitqi, “scraps,” and stored together in jars, or on a pinqas, wooden slats bound together.

Of Jars, Scraps, and Scrolls: How Ancient Books Were Composed

In biblical times, scraps of writing were stored together in jars, likely based on theme or topic, and these collections were combined and edited into our biblical books. Similarly, Talmudic pericopae began with collections of legal or wise sayings written on pitqi, “scraps,” and stored together in jars, or on a pinqas, wooden slats bound together.

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Biblical criticism is not a theory that one can accept or reject at will. Once one is exposed to its methods and findings, there is no choice but to acknowledge the issues these raise.

Prof.

Tamar Ross

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