Rosetta Project- Part 1

Koran in Arabic.

Torah in Hebrew.

This project gave me a greater appreciation and understanding of the different writing mediums and languages of the world. I have always thought "the Egyptians carved in stone because that what was available to them and they were good at it, it was probably a breeze for them." Now, I can imagine some tired stone-cutter thinking "man, I hate this job, why can't the gods have been more merciful and given mankind an easier writing medium?"

My group's civilization was the Semitic. Specifically the Hebrew and Arabic cultures. We decided that we would use vellum (or vellum looking paper) and roll it up to look like a scroll. Since we had two cultures that are of equal importance in or civilization's region we decided we would write in Hebrew and Arabic. We chose a verse from the Torah and a verse from the Koran. They both talked about Joseph in Egypt and how Potiphar reacted when he heard what his wife told him. It is really interesting to see the differences in the two version

s of this well-known story. In the Torah it says that Potiphar was angry and cast Joseph into prison, in the Koran, it says that Potiphar did not believe his wife but to preserve his honor he put Joseph in prison.

Our group met in the special collections part of the library. We had gotten a caligraphy pen and some vellum from the BYU bookstore which turned out to be imitation vellum. Finding the Torah and the Koran in Hebrew and Arabic was not difficult at all. We just searched some religious websites. That was a piece of cake. Then came the difficult part. We had to use the pen to draw these complicated words on the vellum. We first traced the letters in pencil so we had a base to use as we used the pen. I never want to use a c

aligraphy pen ever again. It was so annoying in the way you had to hold, and sometimes the ink ran out. I can't imagine the skill some of the ancient scribes had. I would have gone crazy with impatience if I had been one of them. The Hebrew was the easiest of the two languages to write using the pen. It is more blockish while the Arabic is more flowing and stylish with complicated twirls.

It took us between two to three hours to finish writing it with each of us taking turns. Doing this first part of the Rosetta project has given me greater appreciation for the technology of my day. Paper is cheap is plentiful and pens and pencils are very easy to use. There is also typing, which has greatly increased clarity and speed in writing.

(I apologize for the lack of photos from my group. There will be some from part 2 of my group's Rosetta Project.)