Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Bamiyan Genizah

Mysterious manuscripts found at Bamiyan in a genizah similar to the Cairo genizah. "Nearly One Hundred 1,000-Year-Old Mysterious Manuscripts Discovered in Afghanistan" - "A mysterious collection of nearly 100 manuscripts have been discovered in an Afghan Cave. An analysis of the texts revealed that they were owned by a Jewish family that lived along the ancient Silk Road about 1,000 years ago. The manuscripts had been written in a plethora of languages , including Aramaic, Hebrew, Persian, Judeo-Arabic, and Judeo Persian. The family that owned the manuscripts was headed by Abu Ben Daniel from the northern Afghan city of Bamyan. For many centuries, this area was famous for the giant Buddha statues, built in the 6 th century, and tragically destroyed by the Taliban in 2001."