Ancient Syriac bible found in Cyprus
Feb 8th, 2009 by Christine
From Reuters: Ancient Syriac bible found in Cyprus.
Authorities in northern Cyprus believe they have found an ancient version of the Bible written in Syriac, a dialect of the native language of Jesus.
The manuscript was found in a police raid on suspected antiquity smugglers. Turkish Cypriot police testified in a court hearing they believe the manuscript could be about 2,000 years old.
The manuscript carries excerpts of the Bible written in gold lettering on vellum and [continue]
The police were going on what the criminals said, but I’d go with the scholars on this.
But even if not as old as all that, still an interesting find.
There have been other such “ancient” manuscripts showing up lately. They’re crude forgeries.
See this message from the Hugoye discussion list, a list for discussing Syriac and related issues.