Aramaic Old Testament Manuscript Oo. I. 1,2

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Manuscript Oo. I. 1,2 is a 12th century manuscript of the entire Aramaic Old Testament or Peshitta Tanakh which probably originated in the Tur Abdin area. It is written in the Estrangela script. It is referred to as 12a1 in the Leiden Peshitta Institute Edition of the Aramaic Old Testament. It is currently located in Cambridge University Library in England.

Aramaic Old Testament Manuscript Oo. I. 1,2 was written in northern Mesopotamia, but was later moved to Kerala in India, probably some time in the eighteenth century. In 1806, the Syrian Orthodox bishop Mar Dionysius I (Mar Thomas VI) presented it to Dr. Claudius Buchanan, then Vice-Principal of Fort William College Calcutta. Due to its connection with Buchanan, Manuscript Oo. I. 1,2 became known as the Buchanan Bible. Dr. Buchanan used it to print a Syriac Bible in England in 1823, copies of which were subsequently sent back to Kerala. In 1979, this edition was re-issued by the United Bible Societies, making it the best witness of this important textual family.

Aramaic Old Testament Manuscript Oo. I. 1,2 includes all the books of the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible as well as Wisdom (of Solomon), Letter of Jeremiah, Baruch, Bel and the Dragon, Susanna, Judith, Sirach, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Tobit, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, 1 Esdras and the Letter of Baruch. It also contains some illustrations of Biblical characters.

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