The Bologna Torah Scroll (also known as the University of Bologna Torah Scroll, circa 1155–1225 CE) is the world's oldest complete extant Torah scroll. The

scroll A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus ...

contains the full text of the

five Books of Moses The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...

in Hebrew and is kosher. The scroll was returned to the

Biella Synagogue The Biella Synagogue is an early 17th-century synagogue in Biella, Italy. The synagogue occupies the top floor of a medieval house at Vicolo del Bellone 3, in the heart of the historic Jewish quarter. It is a modestly sized, rectangular room wit ...

during a ceremony on March 6, 2016.

Background

The scroll was discovered at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

's library by Mauro Perani, a professor of Hebrew. While updating the university's catalogue, Perani came across a Torah scroll that he believed to have been erroneously dated to the 17th century after a textual analysis. Two independent carbon-dating tests were performed (one at the University of Sorrento and another at the University of Illinois) and indicated that the scroll was actually written between the second half of the 12th century to the beginning of the 13th century.

Features

The scroll measures 36 meters by 64 cm (39 yards by 25 inches) and is made of sheepskin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bologna Torah Scroll Torah Hebrew Bible manuscripts 12th-century biblical manuscripts 13th-century biblical manuscripts