Bible Dictionary
INK-HORN
An ink-horn was a writing case or container for ink and writing tools. Ezekiel describes a writer carrying such a case at his side or in his girdle.
Definition
An ink-horn was a writing case or implement case containing ink and writing tools. In Ezekiel it is associated with a writer carrying the case at his side or in his girdle.
Biblical Usage
The term occurs in Ezekiel 9:2, 3, and 11 in the phrase “writer’s inkhorn upon his loins” or “by his side.”
Historical Background
The case may have resembled an Egyptian palette or a later pen-case with an attached ink-well. The supplied material suggests it was probably carried in the girdle, as in modern Oriental usage, though its exact form depends partly on whether dry or fluid ink was used.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ink'-horn (keceth equals keseth, BDB, 903): This term "inkhorn" occurs 3 times in Eze 9 (9:2,3,11), 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.</p><p>E. C. Richardson</p>