Top 10 Artifacts at Museum of the Bible

10 ARTIFACTS TOP

FROM THE MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

museumoftheBible.org

1

Bar Kokhba Revolt Year 2 Sela AD 133

– This coin was minted within 70 years of the destruction of the Jewish Temple. During the second year of the Bar Kohkba Revolt, Jewish patriots re-struck imperial Roman silver coins with mottos of their independence. The front presents the façade of the Second Temple, one of the only depictions of the temple from antiquity. The Hebrew inscription on the front reads Yerushalayim, “Jerusalem.” The back shows agricultural symbols associated with the harvest festival Sukkot. The Hebrew inscription reads L’Herut Yerushalayim, “For the Freedom of Jerusalem.”

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE’S TOP 10 ARTIFACTS

2

Original Draft of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” November 19, 1861

– This the original draft of Julia Ward Howe’s American classic, “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” One night during Howe’s stay at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, she recounted that she “awoke in the gray of the morning twilight; and as I lay waiting for the dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to twine themselves in my mind.” She scribbled down the words of the poem on a sheet of paper before she could forget. Her words, inspired by and drawn from the Bible, became the battle cry of a nation at war.

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE’S TOP 10 ARTIFACTS

3

The Book of Hours and Psalter of Elizabeth de Bohun ca. 1330–1335, with additions ca. 1340

– Books of Hours were popular medieval Christian devotional works that included selections from the Bible, often from the Gospels and Psalms, and included prayers to be read at appointed hours of the day.

This luxurious and expensive manuscript is a well-known example produced for Elizabeth de Bohun, Countess of Northampton, a powerful and well-connected woman in England.

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE’S TOP 10 ARTIFACTS

4

Codex Climaci Rescriptus ca. AD 500–599 (Western Palestinian Aramaic), ca. AD 700–799 (Greek), and ca. AD 800–899 (Syriac)

– Codex Climaci Rescriptus is what scholars call a palimpsest, a recycled manuscript. Monks took good leaves from over ten worn-out manuscripts, erased the ink, and wrote new text on them. The original ink permanently marked the parchment and the older words began to resurface, sometimes even upside down in relation to the overlying Syriac text (as shown here). The new text is a Syriac translation of a work by John Climacus, a Christian monk. The older underlying writings include classical Greek texts and biblical texts in Greek and Western Palestinian Aramaic. Scholars use modern imaging technology to read these underlying texts.

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE’S TOP 10 ARTIFACTS

5

Codex Valmadonna I July 9, 1189

– Codex Valmadonna I is the only known dated Hebrew codex produced in England that dates prior to King Edward I’s expulsion of the Jews in 1290. The codex contains the well-known rabbinic commentary by Radak on the Torah, as well as major portions of the Hebrew Bible and several Aramaic commentary translations (known as Targumim), including the oldest example of Targum Ruth.

Codex Valmadonna I offers a rare glimpse into medieval Jewish culture in England.

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE’S TOP 10 ARTIFACTS

6

P.Oxy. 1780/Papyrus 39 ca. AD 250–350

– Papyrus 39, containing John 8:14–22, is one of the oldest surviving papyrus fragments of the New Testament in Greek. Of the entire codex, only this fragment has been discovered to date. The professional handwriting, large format, and beautiful letters suggest it was intended for public, liturgical use.

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE’S TOP 10 ARTIFACTS

7

Gutenberg Bible Leaf 1 Samuel 20–22, ca. 1454

_ The Latin Vulgate Bible was the first major book printed on Johannes Gutenberg’s metal movable-type printing press in the mid-1450s. Gutenberg produced approximately 180 copies of his Bible, but only only twenty-one complete copies are known to survive today. Gutenberg’s press marked the beginning of an information revolution that allowed for the rapid spread of ideas, information, and the Bible.

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE’S TOP 10 ARTIFACTS

8

The Holy Bible

Containing the Old and New Testaments 1782

– After the British crown embargoed the sale and export of Bibles to the American colonies, Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken was determined to publish an English Bible. In 1781, he petitioned the Second Continental Congress for approval or authorization “to print and vend” his Bible. In 1782, the Congress “highly approve[d] the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken, as subservient of the interest of religion as well as an instance of the progress of arts in this country . . .” Aitken’s Bible was the first English Bible printed in America.

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE’S TOP 10 ARTIFACTS

9

First Edition King James Bible 1611

– This is a first edition of the King James Bible, printed in 1611 by Robert Barker. In this first edition, Ruth 3:15 reads “and he went into the citie” because some Hebrew texts have a masculine verbal form, “he went.” This led to its nickname, the “He” Bible. The next edition, prioritizing different Hebrew texts, reads, “she went into the citie.” Because of this, this second edition is known as the “She” Bible. The King James Bible has had an enormous influence on the English language and literature. The rarity of first editions makes this an especially important artifact.

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE’S TOP 10 ARTIFACTS

10

Mikraot Gedolot (“Great Scriptures”), or Rabbinic Bible 1524–1525

– This is the second edition of the Hebrew Bible called the “Mikraot Gedolot” (Great Scriptures), or the “Rabbinic Bible.” Edited by the Masoretic scholar Yaakov ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah, it was produced from 1524–1525 in Venice by the Christian printer Daniel Bomberg. The four printed volumes contains the Masoretic Text, as well as the Masorah (Masoretic notes on the biblical text), the Aramaic Targum Onkelos, and commentaries including those of Rashi and Ibn Ezra. This Rabbinic Bible served as the foundation of printed Hebrew Bibles for the next four hundred years and was the basis of the Old Testament translation in the 1611 King James Version.

MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE’S TOP 10 ARTIFACTS