The oldest known Hebrew Bible, which is 1,100 years old, will be displayed in Tel Aviv and then auctioned off in May. The Codex Sassoon is one of only two codices, or manuscripts, containing all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible - the Christian Old Testament - to have survived into the modern era. Sharon Mintz, a specialist in Jewish texts at Sotheby's, said carbon dating and other forms of analysis showed the Codex Sassoon was written around the year 900, either in the land of Israel or Syria. The manuscript bridges the Dead Sea Scrolls - which date back as early as the third century BC - and today's standard texts of the Hebrew Bible, which are based on the work of Greek translators or early mediaeval Jewish scribes. To Shaham Gover, curator of the ANU Museum of the Jewish People, the Codex Sassoon's display at her institution is "rare and moving."

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