Ink-Horn
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]
( קֶסֶת , Ke'Seth, a round Vessel, an inkstand. worn in the girdle ( Ezekiel 9:2-3; Ezekiel 9:11). This implement is one of considerable antiquity; it is common throughout the Levant, and is often seen in the houses of the Greeks. To one end of a long brass tube for holding pens is attached the little case containing the moistened sepia used for ink, which is closed with a lid and snap, and the whole stuck with much importance in the girdle. This is, without doubt, substantially the instrument borne by the individual whom Ezekiel mentions as "one man clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side." We find the Egyptian scribes had likewise a cylindrical box for ink, which was probably carried in a similar manner. Besides these, the modern Egyptians have a regular inkstand for more extensive writing. The ancient Egyptians had writing-tablets, which are square pallets of wood; with longitudinal grooves to hold the kash or small reeds used for writing; the well, for color, in some is in the usual form of an oval or signet; towards the upper end of the pallet on others is inscribed the name of the owner. In bronze, there are cylindrical boxes for ink, with a chain for the pen-case, the whole similar to the hieroglyphical symbol for scribe or writing. The monuments likewise represent scribes with inkstands in their left hands, containing two bottles for different colored inks (Wilkinson, 2, 176). (See Writing).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [2]
ink´hôrn ( קסת = קשׂת , keṣeth ̂ keseth , Bdb , 903): This term "inkhorn" occurs 3 times in Ezekiel 9:1-11 ( Ezekiel 9:2 , Ezekiel 9:3 , Ezekiel 9:11 ), in the phrase "writer's inkhorn upon his loins" (or "by his side"). The word is more exactly "implement case," or "writing-case" ( calamarium atramentarium , theca calamaria , theca libraria , graphiaria ). This may have been the Egyptian palette (Budge, Mummy , 350-52) seen so often in the monuments of all periods, or the later form of pen-case with ink-well attached, which is a modified form adapted for ink carried in fluid form. The Egyptian palette was carried characteristically over the shoulder or under the arm, neither of which methods is strictly "upon the loins." The manner of carrying, therefore, was doubtless in the girdle, as in modern oriental usage (Benzinger, Hebrew Archaeol ., 185). A good example of the pen-case and inkwell writing-case (given also in Garucci, Daremberg-Saglio, Gardthausen, etc.) is given from the original in Birt, Die Buchrolle in der Kunst , 220, and is reproduced ( a ) in this article, together with (b) an Egyptian palette. Whether the form of Ezekiel's case approached the palette or the ink-well type probably depends on the question of whether dry ink or fluid ink was used in Ezekiel's time (see Ink ). Compare Hieronymus at the place, and for literature, see Writing , and especially Gardthausen, Greek Palestine , 1911, I, 193-94.
