A Collection of ancient Hebrew manuscripts discovered in Afghanistan provide evidence Jewish people lived in country 1,000 years ago
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | January 5, 2013 1:46
collection of manuscripts from caves in Afghanistan has provided the first evidence of Jewish communities living in the devoutly Muslim country 1,000 years ago.
The cache of Hebrew documents are thought to have originated from the country’s northeast region, a Taliban stronghold.
The documents, which include biblical commentaries, personal letters and financial records, were unveiled by Israel’s National Library after being purchased from private dealers.
The collection of documents has provided scholars with fascinating details into the lives of early Jewish communities in ancient Persia.
The documents include writings in Hebrew, Aramaic, Judea-Arabic and the unique Judeo-Persian language from that era.
Haggai Ben-Shammai, the National Library’s academic director said the manuscripts included mentions of distinctly Jewish names and evidence of their commercial activities along the ‘Silk road’ connecting Europe and the East.
The library refused to say how much it paid for the collection, adding that it hoped to purchase more in the future and did not want to drive up prices.
Facebook
Tweet This
RSS Feed
Email This Post
Loading ...
