Professor Mauro Perani, who teaches Hebrew at the University of Bologna, said he has found what is believed to be the world's oldest Torah scroll, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. Professor Perani said the scroll originally was believed to be no more than a few hundred years old, but studies and carbon dating test suggest it may have been written around 850 years ago, BBC News reported.
As Professor Perani re-examined the scroll he noticed that it used a script of the oriental Babylonian tradition, suggesting that it was older than what was first imagined. After having the scroll carbon-dated by laboratories at the University of Salento and at the University of Illinois in the U.S., tests confirmed that the scroll dated from approximately the late 13th century.
"This was a scroll for liturgical use in the synagogue, with just consonants spelled out," Professor Perani said. The scroll is made up of 58 sections of soft sheep leather and is 36 meters and 64 centimeters wide, news media reported. According to the university, one of its librarians, Leonello Modona in 1889,examined the scroll and dated it to the 17th Century. The university added that that the text has many features forbidden in later copies under rules laid down by the scholar Maimonides (or to Jews, the Rambam) in the 12th Century.
The scroll was in the university library but had been mislabelled.
The university says that in 1889 one of its librarians, Leonello Modona, examined the scroll and dated it to the 17th Century, but when he re-examined the scroll, he realised the script used was that of the oriental Babylonian tradition, indicating that the scroll had to be older.
The Torah is the central concept in the Jewish tradition, containing the five books of Moses. It consists of the foundational narrative for the Jews, signifying their covenant with the Lord.
