The scriptural collection
The Samaritan Pentateuch comprises Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It is the scriptural foundation of Samaritan religion. Its textual form is studied alongside other witnesses to the biblical text.
A surviving witness: Or 6461
The British Library catalogues Or 6461 as a parchment Samaritan Pentateuch produced in Damascus in 1339–1340. It contains 199 folios. The record identifies its scribe as Abraham ben Jacob ben Tanya ben Saʿadia ben Abraham of the Pijma family.
What a manuscript can tell us
The same volume preserves later sale and ownership records. These traces make it evidence for both the biblical text and the social history of its custodians. The age of a manuscript and the antiquity of the textual tradition it transmits are separate questions.
Sources & further reading
- British Library — Samaritan Pentateuch, Or 6461 ↗Collection record