Cambridge, University Library Taylor-Schechter Collection 12

The siglum AqTaylor (also: Taylor-Schechter 12.186 + AS.78.412; 12.187; 12.188; vh203, TM 62306, LDAB 3469) are fragments of a

palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...

containing a portion of the Palestinian Talmud in upper script, and part of the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

of Aquila's

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

translation of the Hebrew Bible in lower script. This latter is a Greek biblical manuscript written in codex form. This manuscript has been dated after the middle of the fifth century C.E., but not later than the beginning of the sixth century C.E.

History

A number of manuscripts were found at

Geniza A genizah (; , also ''geniza''; plural: ''genizot'' 'h''or ''genizahs'') is a storage area in a Jewish synagogue or cemetery designated for the temporary storage of worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics prior to proper ceme ...

, in the Ben Ezra Synagogue, Egypt, and these palimpsest fragments were brought to Cambridge by

Solomon Schechter Solomon Schechter ( he, שניאור זלמן הכהן שכטר‎; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the ...

. The fragments were published by Charles Taylor in his work ''Hebrew-Greek Cairo Genizah Palimpsests'' in 1900, pp. 54–65.

Description

The manuscript consists of three leaves. The manuscript contains two texts: the text of part of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, and the Palestinian Talmud. The texts have been written 90 degrees apart.

Aquila's translation

Aquila's translation was undertaken around the year c.130 C.E. Aquila's text contains parts of

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

90-103. The fragments contain Psalms 90:17, 91:1-16, 92:1-10, 93:3, 96:7-13, 97:1-12, 102:16-29, and 103:1-13. According to Taylor, the script of this manuscript is similar to that of the AqBurkitt, in bold uncial letters, without capital letter either at beginnings or paragraphs or as the first letter of the page.

Tetragrammaton

The manuscript is written in koine Greek, but it contains the

tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', and ...

in archaic Hebrew script characters ( Phoenician he