Samaritan Pentateuch

Title:

Samaritan Pentateuch

Alternative title:

The Burnt Codex
Codex Zurbil

Date:

Written c. 1100 (no later than 1149 CE).

Description:

The Samaritan Pentateuch contains the text of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, written in the consonantal Samaritan script, a development from the Paleo-Hebrew script. Add.1846 is believed to be the earliest extant manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch and dates from the early 12th century CE. Epigraphs and scholia in Samaritan Hebrew/Aramaic and Arabic follow the end of each biblical book. They are in various hands. The copying of the book itself is the product of five different hands. Some notable features of the manuscript are: f. 53r: An epigraph at the end of the book of Genesis states that the codex was owned (and restored) by Mešalma b. Abi Beraḵata, c. 1275, whose daughter sold the manuscript in the 14th c. f. 103r: An epigraph at the end of the book of Exodus records the purchase of the codex by Miṯpaṣia b. Meṯuḥia from his brother for 25 shekels, in the year 5752 of the Exodus, 544 of the rule of Ishmael = 1149-50 CE. f. 188v: A marginal scholium at the end of the book of Numbers suggests unconvincingly that this manuscript was saved from the fire at the time of the King of Babylon, in the presence of Zerubbabel the Jew (hence, Codex Zurbil). f. 137v: An epigraph at the end of the book of Leviticus explains how this manuscript was saved from a fire that broke out in a manuscript store-room (a Samaritan Genizah?) in 1201 CE. f. 147r: There is marked grease stain on f. 147r, where worshippers have kissed the Priestly Blessing, Numbers 6:24–26.Condition: Some small holes; margins cropped; occasional staining; a few leaves badly faded and/or rubbed; several leaves lost at the beginning and end, some being replaced by leaves in a different hand. The beginning of the book of Genesis (up to 1:28) and the end of Deuteronomy (after 33:1) are lost. Some erasures and corrections. Pricked in outer margins; ruled. Foliated, but some leaves have an alternative foliation.Layout: 28 lines

Language:

Hebrew

Type (Narrower):

Manuscripts

Type (Broader):

Text

Geographic region:

Nablus

Provenance:

Acquired in 1895; examined previously in Jerusalem (1864). Written c. 1100 (no later than 1149 CE), probably in Nablus.

Medium:

Vellum

Extent:

Leaf: (height: 270 mm, width: 210 mm)

Publisher:

Cambridge University Library

Rights:

Images made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-NC 3.0)
This metadata is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

Identifier:

MS Add.1846

Format:

Codex

Is part of:

Hebrew Manuscripts Collection

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