The Syriac Pentateuch of AD 463/464 (BL Add. 14425)
Summary
The oldest biblical manuscript that tells you the year it was written — a Syriac Pentateuch, copied in AD 463 or 464.
- Copied AD 463/464, by its own colophon.
- Written in syriac on parchment.
- Kept at British Library, London (Add MS 14425).
- Contains Genesis, Exodus, Numbers.
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Sources (2)
- "Following the Footnotes: The Syriac Bible", Tyndale House, Cambridge, 26 February 2025 · accessed 2026-08-06Specialist account of the Syriac manuscripts.
- British Library, Archives and Manuscripts catalogue · accessed 2026-08-06The holding institution's catalogue.
What it is
It carries the Pentateuch without Leviticus, in Syriac, the language of the churches east of the Roman world. It was written at Amid, and its own colophon records the date.
The precision matters. Older biblical manuscripts survive — Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, the papyri, the Dead Sea Scrolls are all earlier — but none of them says what year it was made. This one does, which is a different and narrower claim than "the oldest Bible."
The Peshitta itself is older than any of its copies: the version was made between the second and fifth centuries, and the surviving manuscripts begin here.
Manuscript details
- Date
- AD 463/464, by its own colophon
- Language
- Syriac
- Script
- Estrangela
- Material
- Parchment
- Held at
- British Library, London (Add MS 14425)
- Found at
- Written at Amid; from the monastery of the Syrians, Wadi Natrun, Egypt
- Contains
- Genesis · Exodus · Numbers · Deuteronomy
Why it matters
The passages the manuscripts argue over
The words used here: papyrus
- papyrus
- paper made from reed, the cheap writing material of Egypt.
The places where the manuscripts differ, the ending of Mark, the woman caught in adultery, the three heavenly witnesses, with the case each way.