“Codex Sassoon” is an important document pertaining to Jewish culture and religion, believed to be one of the most valuable manuscripts in the world.
Codex Sassoon is regarded as the oldest and most complete record of the Hebrew Bible ever discovered. This manuscript is dated to the 9th century and serves as a crucial link between ancient documents found at the Dead Sea and the Bible as we know it today.
Codex Sassoon has been largely undisclosed for centuries – displayed from February 22. (Photo: Sotheby’s).
The auction for the “Codex Sassoon” Bible manuscript was held by Sotheby’s in New York, USA, at 2 PM (local time) on May 17.
Codex Sassoon sold for $38.126 million (approximately 894 billion VND). The auction started with a bid of $26 million and concluded in just over six minutes.
With this price, Codex Sassoon becomes the most expensive book in the world. Previously, this record was held by the Codex Leicester – a notebook by Leonardo da Vinci – which was purchased by Bill Gates for $30.1 million.
Codex Sassoon is named after its famous owner, David Solomon Sassoon (1880-1942), who assembled one of the most significant collections of Jewish artifacts and Hebrew manuscripts in the world.
Although Codex Sassoon has been recognized by scholars across generations for its importance, it has remained largely unseen by the public for centuries.
According to Sotheby’s, current research indicates that the manuscript was written approximately 1,100 years ago by a scribe in modern-day Israel or Syria.
Consisting of about 400 large parchment pages, it contains the entire Hebrew Bible, written in a script similar to that found in Torah scrolls in today’s synagogues. After changing hands several times, it eventually ended up in a synagogue in northeastern Syria, which was destroyed around the 13th or 14th century. It then disappeared for nearly 600 years.
Since re-emerging in 1929, this Bible manuscript has been in private collections. David Solomon (Suleiman) Sassoon directed a lifelong search across the Middle East to build a religious library that provided the world with codes and documents related to the origins of the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
He acquired this artifact in 1929, and Codex Sassoon, one of the Hebrew Bible manuscripts, has since become a valuable item in his vast collection.
The manuscript also includes annotations from several owners throughout the centuries, including a note dated to the early 11th century regarding the sale by Khalaf ben Abraham, believed to be a Near Eastern businessman operating in Palestine and Syria, to Isaac ben Ezekiel al-Attar.
The auction moved quickly. (Photo: Sotheby’s).
The reason Codex Sassoon was sold for a record price lies in its historical significance, the rarity of the manuscript, and its integrity. With 24 “books” compiled into three sections, Codex Sassoon is the manuscript most similar to the Old Testament (with 39 “books” also forming the foundation of Christian doctrine). Many ancient stories surrounding the figure of Abraham are also found in early Islamic texts, all of which contribute to the value of this monumental manuscript.
Not only is it the oldest and most complete record of the Hebrew Bible ever discovered, but Codex Sassoon is now regarded as an important link between ancient documents found at the Dead Sea and the Bible today.
