Not Checked|25/10/2011 OA|Reader Checked|04/09/2012 SE
This chapter introduces the focus on documented cases of transmission history (also termed “empirical” study of biblical formation), starting with a brief survey of prior such studies by Jeffrey Tigay, Emanuel Tov, and others. The balance of the chapter is devoted to extended discussion of two such cases of documented growth of ancient texts far removed from each other both chronologically and geographically: the Gilgamesh Epic and Temple Scroll. Both cases display the sort of “memory variants” discussed in the previous chapter along with a range of other sorts of textual revision, including expansion, conflation, and even (in specific circumstances) omission of elements of prior sources.