{"id":800,"date":"2016-01-05T07:39:15","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T07:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/richardabbott.datascenesdev.com\/blog\/?p=800"},"modified":"2016-01-05T17:14:41","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T17:14:41","slug":"back-in-the-past-the-first-known-use-of-end-rhyme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/richardabbott.datascenesdev.com\/blog\/index.php\/2016\/01\/05\/back-in-the-past-the-first-known-use-of-end-rhyme\/","title":{"rendered":"Back in the past – the first known use of end-rhyme"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Horus
Horus in Roman Costume – British Museum picture<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I thought for today I would jump back into the past, and in particular writing. I recently visited the British Museum’s “Faith after the Pharaohs” exhibition.<\/a>\u00a0This\u00a0is well worth a trip if you get the opportunity – it is on display until February 7th, so there’s a bit of time left yet.<\/p>\n

Now,\u00a0among other things I noticed a fragment on display from the Cairo Genizah. This is regarded as the world’s most important and comprehensive store of historical Jewish documents, and consists of around 300,000 fragments. It is a vast and perplexing mix of overtly religious material, together with secular works and everyday documents, and so has illuminated many different aspects of Jewish middle eastern life.<\/p>\n

Now, some of the\u00a0fragments – and in particular the one I saw – were written by a Jewish poet called Yannai. He is variously said to have lived in the 5th, 6th or 7th centuries CE (AD) and was a highly creative innovator in the field of piyyut<\/em> –\u00a0Hebrew or Aramaic poetry composed either in place of or as adornments to Jewish statutory prayers. His innovations include:<\/p>\n