The actual image of the Codex Sassoon is now displayed in Tel Aviv, Israel before its sale at an auction. | Credits: Sotheby’s
(BBC News) — The oldest most complete Hebrew Bible is on display in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv before its sale at an auction.
The Codex Sassoon is thought to have been created about 1,100 years ago by a scribe in Egypt or the Levant.
It is the earliest surviving example of a single manuscript containing all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible with punctuation, vowels, and accents.
It will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New York in May, where it could fetch $30m to $50m (£24m-£41m).
It could become the most expensive historical document ever sold at auction if the winning bid exceeds the $43.2m paid two years ago for a rare first-edition copy of the Constitution of the United States.
The Hebrew Bible comprises 24 books divided into three parts: the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Writings. Christians refer to them as the Old Testament.
The text of the Hebrew Bible remained in flux until the early Middle Ages, when Jewish scholars known as Masoretes began to create a body of notes that standardised it.
The Aleppo Codex, which was assembled around 930, is considered the most authoritative Masoretic text. However, damage from a fire in the Syrian city of Aleppo in 1947 means that only 295 of the original 487 pages survive today.
The Codex Sassoon, which carbon dating shows was created around 900, is missing only 12 pages, according to Sotheby’s.
“It presents to us the first time an almost-complete book of the Hebrew Bible appears with the vowel points, the cantillation and the notes on the bottom telling scribes how the correct text should be written,” Sharon Mintz, senior Jewish artefact specialist at the auction house, told AFP news agency.
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Jason Jeth Newshub 