11th Century ‘Bible’ seized by police as two men tried to sell it
POLICE have confiscated what is believed to be an ancient Bible written on gazelle skins and inscribed with crosses and what appears to be the face of Jesus Christ.
What is believed to be an ancient Bible written on gazelle skins was confiscated by police
Officers in the city of Aksaray in Turkey seized the Bible and arrested two men who were trying to sell the manuscript which is believed to date back to the 11th century.
The men, named only as SG, aged 53, and CU, 42, were arrested on their way to meet a potential buyer after a tip off.
It is not known how they came to be in possession of the book which was damaged, and had only 20 surviving pages.
Local museum experts are currently examining the Bible in an attempt to discover whether it is an authentic 11th-Century edition.
The book is inscribed with crosses and what appears to be the face of Jesus Christ
Aksaray was once an important city in the ancient Cappadocia region, which was a major centre for early Christianity (4th Century).
The manuscript is believed to date back to the 11th century
The community thrived long before the start of the spread of Islam there in the 11th Century.
The oldest bible fragment ever discovered is a manuscript fragment of St John's Gospel written on papyrus and dating back to c. AD 125 - commonly known as the Rylands Library Papyrus P52.
It is not know how the men acquired the book which was damaged and had only 20 surviving pages
It is fitting, therefore, that the actual word 'bible' meant 'papyrus' or 'scroll' in Hebrew, before becoming the word for 'book' in Latin and appearing in Middle English via Old French.