Damascus Pentateuch
The Damascus Pentateuch or Codex Sassoon 507 is a 10th-century
It is distinct from the 13th-century Damascus Crown (Keter Damascus) of Spanish origin, a manuscript containing 24 canonical books. It is also distinct from the privately-owned Codex Sassoon 1053.
History
The Damascus Pentateuch came to renown owing largely to the works of the bibliophile,
The Codex is written on parchment, in three columns to the page, in large oriental square script typical of writing scripts used in the 9th century. Like other codices of its era, it bears
The style of lettering follows an archaic style; the leg of the Hebrew character qof (ק) is joined to its roof, while the he (ה) is made like the ḥet (ח), with hardly any distinction between the two letters. The lamed (ל) is written exceptionally long, and hooked towards the outside. The final nun (ן) is written almost the same as the letter zayn.
All the qərē[8] and kətiv[9] are marked by the writer of the text with a final nun in the margin without any further direction as to what the reading should be.[6]
A summary of the Damascus Pentateuch was made by Israel Yeivin, in connection with the problems of the Aleppo Codex.[10] According to Yeivin, the textus receptus of the Damascus Pentateuch is mostly harmonious with the Leningrad Codex. As for the variants in vocalization it follows that of Ben Asher up to 52% of the time, and that of Ben Naphtali up to 46% of the time, for which diversity it has been called by him "a mixed manuscript where one can find in it a few 'improvements,' but which differs in several aspects regarding its vocalization and trope symbols from the Aleppo Codex."[10]
A two-volume
See also
References
- anno mundi(or what corresponds to 1183 CE).
- ^ Jerusalem National Library (Ms. Heb. 24°5702 ; Sassoon 507 (formerly). Microfilm no. F-8886
- Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, pub. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1978 (2 volumes)
- ^ Israel Yeivin, The Aleppo Codex of the Bible (A Study of its Vocalization and Accentuation), Jerusalem 1968, p. 361.
- Ben-Zvi Institute), Jerusalem 1989, p. 309 [33].
- ^ a b c d David Solomon Sassoon, Ohel Dawid – Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London, vol. 1, London: Oxford University Press 1932, pp. 22–23
- ^ In the Hebrew Bible, it is Genesis 32:29
- ^ That is, what is not written in the text, but must be read aloud in the text.
- ^ That this, what is actually written in the text, but is not read in the text. Instead, the word is replaced by a different reading.
- ^ a b Israel Yeivin, The Aleppo Codex of the Bible (A study of its vocalization and accentuation), Jerusalem 1968, pp. 361-362 (Hebrew: כתר ארם צובה : ניקודו וטעמיו).
External links
- Damascus Pentateuch A description by the Library of Congress with a link to a downloadable pdf facsimile and jpeg images
- The Damascus Pentateuch, by the National Library of Israel
- Overview of Damascus Codices by the National Library of Israel