Ancient Hebrew Bible Auctioned for $38.1 Million

May 25, 2023160 views0

Ancient Hebrew Bible Auctioned for $38.1 Million

2023-05-25T10:30:44+01:00

By Church News

The Ancient Hebrew Bible referred to as ‘Codex Sassoon’ dating from the late 9th or early 10th century was sold for $38.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday, 17^th May 2023.Scholars have been aware of the Codex named after renowned Judaica Collector, David Sasson (1880-1942), but the Ancient Hebrew Bible was retained largely out of public view.The Ancient Hebrew Bible is believed to be the earliest and most nearly detailed Hebrew Bible. It was sold by Sotheby’s following a 4-minute bidding battle between two bidders.This Ancient Hebrew Bible has been in existence for more than 1000 years. It sets a record for the most valuable manuscripts ever sold at auction.It was bought by the former US diplomat named Alfred Moses on behalf of an American nonprofit organization that will then give it to the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, Israel.The Ancient Hebrew Bible is the most influential book in history and it constitutes the bedrock of Western civilization. ‘I rejoice in knowing that the book belongs to the Jewish people’ said Moses Alfred an ambassador under President Bill Clinton.Sales of other valuable books have been in existence before, but this Hebrew Bible has the highest bidding which is 38.1 million dollars compared to Leonardo Davinci’s Leicester manuscripts in 1994 which cost 30.8 million dollars.This Ancient Hebrew Bible is one of only two codices, or manuscripts containing all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible to have survived into the modern era. It is substantially more complete than the Aleppo Codex and older than the Leningrad Codex, two other famous early Hebrew Bibles.The historical significance of the Codex is not just the printed material but the handwritten annotations and inscriptions added over the years – hitting at the epic journey it has taken.ALSO READ: Earliest and Most Complete Hebrew Bible to be Auctioned