Manuscript Summary:The Samaritan Pentateuch contained in this manuscript is incomplete – it begins with Gn 11:17 (f. 1r) and ends with Dt 24:15 (f. 266v) – and it is also out of order – f. 2r/v with Dt 18:15–19:8 should be between f. 259 and f. 260.The two-language manuscript is copied in Samaritan-Hebrew characters in two columns (ff. 1r-237r), with the Hebrew text on the right and the Arabic translation on the left, and then in four columns with the same alternation of languages (ff. 237v-266v). The main part of this volume was copied by the scribe Ab Nēṣāna ban Ṣidqa ban Yāqob (fl. 1468-1502), known for producing eight other copies of the Pentateuch, some of which have been dated to between 873 and 890 AH, or between 1468/1469 and 1485 CE (cf. Evelyn Burkhardt, Katalog samaritanischer Pentateuchhandschriften). Thus, while the Bodmer Pentateuch does not have a date, its production can be dated to the second half of the fifteenth century. Two other scribes worked on this copy. The first completed the missing parts of the manuscript: two leaves from the book of Numbers (ff. 219r-220v), as well as the text from Dt 4:21 onwards (f. 232r). The last scribe copied, later and on paper, parts of Exodus (f. 66r/v, 78r/v). Concerning this Pentateuch’s provenance, an acquisition note placed at the end of Numbers (f. 224r) states that it was sold in 1532. It appeared in Nablus in 1861, when it was bought by a London antiquities merchant, Mr. Grove, who resold it that same year to the count of Paris, Philippe d’Orléans, as his stamp attests (e.g., f. 38r, 52r, 67r). In 1960, Martin Bodmer bought it at auction at Sotheby’s in London.(rou)
Online Since: 09/26/2024
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 23
Parchment · 266 ff. · 36 x 30 cm · Cairo (?) · second half of the 15th century
Samaritan Pentateuch
How to quote:
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 23, f. 237v – Samaritan Pentateuch (https://www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/fmb/cb-0023)