What is the difference between Block Hebrew - Aramaic?

[Paul Younan]

But wasn't the Dead Sea Scroll font used at the time of the writing of the Peshitta? Where does the Dead Sea Scroll font fit in the history of the scripts?

Otto

Shlama Akhi Otto,

The "Dead Sea Scroll" font forms a part of the evolution of the modern Hebrew script.

Please reference below the chart which outlines the evolution of what is called "Hebrew" script today (Ktav Ashuri). The order of progression is from left-to-right, with the rightmost portion being the most contemporary version (roughly the last 1,000 years or so.)

The books of of the OT were most likely written in the form referred to below as the "Paleo-Phoenician". The books of the NT were most likely written in the form referred to below as the "Papyri in Late Aramaic" (popularly known as "Dead Sea Scrolls" script).



Please keep in mind that this is the evolution of the writing style of the Jewish People. Other Aramaic scripts were in use contemporary with the scripts below, in different geographic areas, such as Estrangelo. The evolution of Estrangelo starts off the same as the modern Hebrew script, but branches off on its own roughly after Palmyrian.

The reason why the modern Hebrew script is called "Assyrian" (Ktav Ashuri) is because the radical departure of the shape of the letters after the captivity. The image below shows the letters as used in the city of Palmyra: (see the bottom of the column)



The oldest surviving Peshitta manuscripts are in the Estrangelo script, so that's why most people use that. The original Peshitta textual font would probably have looked a lot more like the "Papyri in Late Aramaic" script.

The Samaritans, BTW, still use to this day that first original script in the left-most column. Their copies of the books of Moses are still copied in that script.