Manuscript
Codex Ambrosianus (the Syriac Old Testament)
Also known as Milan B. 21 inf. · 7a1 · the Ambrosian Peshitta
translationssyriacpeshittaold-testament
Summary
The earliest complete Old Testament in Syriac, and the manuscript the modern scholarly edition is built on.
- Copied Sixth to seventh century AD.
- Written in syriac on parchment.
- Kept at Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan (B. 21 inf.).
- Contains The complete Old Testament in Syriac.
Sources (3)
- Peshitta Institute Leiden, Universiteit Leiden · accessed 2026-08-06The body producing the critical edition based on this manuscript.
- "Following the Footnotes: The Syriac Bible", Tyndale House, Cambridge · accessed 2026-08-06
- Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (Fortress Press, 2012) · accessed 2026-08-06The standard handbook of Hebrew Bible textual criticism.
What it is
It carries the whole Old Testament in the Peshitta version, together with several books that Syriac tradition read alongside it, and it has been in Milan since the seventeenth century.
Its shelfmark, 7a1, is how it appears in the apparatus of the Leiden Peshitta — the critical edition that has been appearing volume by volume since 1966 and takes this manuscript as its base text.
Manuscript details
- Date
- Sixth to seventh century AD
- Language
- Syriac
- Script
- Estrangela
- Material
- Parchment
- Held at
- Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan (B. 21 inf.)
- Found at
- Brought to Milan from the monastery of the Syrians, Egypt, in the seventeenth century
- Contains
- The complete Old Testament in Syriac
Why it matters
The Syriac Bible is a witness that stands outside the Greek and Latin worlds entirely — a separate early translation made from the Hebrew, which makes its agreements with the Hebrew text independent evidence rather than an echo.
The passages the manuscripts argue over
The places where the manuscripts differ, the ending of Mark, the woman caught in adultery, the three heavenly witnesses, with the case each way.