Turkey recovers 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible in smuggling raids

ANKARA — An ancient Hebrew Bible and more than 100 Roman coins were recovered by Turkish military police as Turkey's efforts to contain smuggling continue.

Military police seized the manuscript and 101 late Roman-Byzantine coins during an anti-smuggling operation in Istanbul on Sunday, authorities confirmed to Al-Monitor on Tuesday. Four people were detained during the raids.

The coins were taken to the city’s archeology museum, according to authorities. The 28-page leather-bound papyrus scripture, which is thought to be 1,100 years old, was handed over to country’s Culture Ministry.

An official from the Culture Ministry told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that an inspection of the manuscript was underway and that it wasn’t immediately clear whether text was written in ancient Hebrew or Aramaic, which can look similar.

A photo of pages of the illuminated manuscript, released by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, displays an excerpt from the text and a Byzantine illustration.

The four suspects, who were rounded up in three simultaneous raids in the Istanbul neighborhood of Eyupsultan, were caught red-handed under surveillance by Istanbul’s military police acting on a tip. The individuals were seeking to sell the artifacts on the black market together for only $500,000, authorities said. 

Last month, a 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible called the Codex Sassoon sold for a record for $38.1 million in New York. The 792-page manuscript is thought to be the oldest and most complete Hebrew Bible, according to Sotheby's.

Turkey, which lies on a smuggling route for plundered artifacts in conflict-torn countries, particularly in Syria and Iraq, has stepped up its counter-smuggling efforts and recovered several similar medieval-era Hebrew Bibles over the past two years. In 2021, a collection of gold-foiled religious scriptures were seized in Turkey’s southeastern province of Mardin.