Codex Sassoon: a 1,000-year-old Hebrew Bible
The book weighs 120 kilograms and will be on show in London before an auction in New York.
Sotheby's, CNN · LONDON · 17 FEBRUARY 2023 · 14:23 CET
A London gallery, Sotheby’s, will have on show between 22-28 February what is thought to be the oldest Hebrew Bible, known as the Codex Sassoon.
The Bible has most of the Jewish sacred texts in 792 parchment pages (made of animals skins), weighing 120 kilograms.
It is from the late 10th century, a “lavish production that only the most wealthy could have afforded”, said the auctioneer, “one of the most important and singular texts in human history”.
The codex has been on show in Jerusalem and in the US and will go on auction in New York in May. It could be sold for a figure between 30 and 50 million dollars, becoming “the most valuable historical document ever sold at auction”.
This Codex is not only valuable for its antiquity, but also for the handmade inscriptions added over the centuries, which help trace the journey the book made from one family to another.
Only the Aleppo Codex, in the Israel Museum, is thought to be as old as the Sassoon Codex.
Published in: Evangelical Focus - europe - Codex Sassoon: a 1,000-year-old Hebrew Bible