1,000-Y-O Bible Found in Turkey Shows Images of Jesus

By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, October 29, 2015

Researcher lists through 1,000-year-old Bible, written in the old Assyriac language and illustrated with religious motifs made of gold leafs, in a video posted on October 28, 2015. | (Photo: Screencapture/Anadolu Agency video)

A 1,000-year-old Bible has reportedly been recovered in Turkey after police detained smugglers trying to sell it along with other priceless artifacts.

The origin of the ancient Bible is not yet known, MailOnline reported, but police in the central city of Tokat said it only has 51 pages, is written in the old Assyriac language, and contains pictures of Jesus Christ made of gold leafs, along with other biblical figures.

A collection of jewelery and coins were also sized by police.

Anadolu Agency posted a video of a researcher listing through the Bible, with the Assyriac text displayed on the right of the pages, and the illustrations on the left.

Theologians are hoping that the 1,000-year-old document will shed clues about how Christianity developed in past centuries.

Discoveries of biblical artifacts have made news a number of times this past year, with a team of scholars claiming to have discovered the world's earliest-known version of the Gospel back in January.

The researchers, headed by Craig Evans, a professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia, said that they found a sheet of papyrus used to make an ancient mummy's mask in Egypt which contains a written portion of the Gospel of Mark, and dates back to as early as 80 A.D.

"Where did we find it? We dug underneath somebody's face and there it was," Evans said. " It was from one of these masks that we recovered a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that is dated to the 80s. We could have a first century fragment of Mark for the first time ever."

The oldest surviving copies of the Scripture had been dated to the second century, between the years 101 to 200 A.D.

Back in July, archaeologists in Israel announced that they had discovered a rare inscription of the name of an apparently influential person from the time of King David, which is also mentioned in the Bible.

The researchers found a 3,000-year-old large ceramic jar with the inscription of the name "Eshbaal Ben Beda," which is mentioned in the Old Testament book of 1 Chronicles in 8:33 and 9:39.

Archaeologists Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor expressed doubts, however, that the jar belonged to the same Eshbaal that is mentioned in the Bible.