Las autoridades del norte de Chipre creen haber encontrado una versión de la Biblia escrita en siríaco, un dialecto del idioma de Jesús.

El manuscrito fue encontrado en una operación policial contra supuestos traficantes de antigüedades. La policía turcochipriota testificó en una vista judicial que creen que tiene unos 2.000 años.

Vía: Reuters, Nicosia (Chipre) | Terra.com, 6 de febrero de 2009
(Reporte de Sarah Ktisti y Simon Bahceli; Traducido por la Redacción de Madrid)

El manuscrito tiene extractos de la Biblia escritos en letras de oro sobre pergamino, según las fotos proporcionadas a Reuters. Una página muestra un dibujo de un árbol, y en otra hay ocho líneas de escritura en siríaco.

Sin embargo, los expertos se mostraron divididos sobre su procedencia y si es un original, lo que lo daría un valor incalculable, o si es falso.

Varios expertos dijeron que el uso de letras de oro supondría que sería muy posterior.

"Sospecho que lo más probable es que tenga menos de 1.000 años", dijo a Reuters un conocido experto, Peter Williams, de la Universidad de Cambridge.

Las autoridades turcochipriotas incautaron la reliquia la semana pasada y nueve personas están arrestadas en espera de más investigaciones. Además se está buscando a otros sospechosos en relación con el hallazgo, añadieron.

Otras investigaciones revelaron una figura religiosa y una escultura de Jesús que se cree que procede de una iglesia en la zona norte de la isla mediterránea, controlada por los turcos, así como dinamita.

La policía ha acusado a los detenidos de contrabando de antigüedades, excavaciones ilegales y posesión de explosivos.

El siríaco es un dialecto del arameo -la lengua nativa de Jesús-, que se habló en gran parte de Oriente Medio y Asia Central. Aún se habla donde hay sirios cristianos y sobrevive en la Iglesia ortodoxa siria de India.

El arameo aún se emplea en ceremonias religiosas de los cristianos maronitas en Chipre.

"Una fuente muy probable (del manuscrito) podría ser la zona Tur-Abdin de Turquía, donde todavía hay una comunidad que habla siríaco", dijo a Reuters Charlotte Roueche, profesora de Estudios Bizantinos y de la Tardoantigüedad en el King's College de Londres.

Tras mirar atentamente las fotos, el especialista en manuscritos de la Universidad de Cambridge y socio del Wolfson College JF Coakley sugirió que el libro podría haber sido escrito mucho después.

"La escritura en siríaco parece estar en la letra del siríaco oriental con puntos en las vocales, y no hay ese tipo de manuscritos antes del siglo XV", señaló.

"Basándose en una foto (...) si no me equivoco algunas palabras al menos parecen ser en siríaco moderno, un idioma que no se escribió hasta mediados del siglo XIX", dijo a Reuters.

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"Ancient" Syriac bible found in Cyprus

By Sarah Ktisti and Simon Bahceli. NICOSIA (Reuters Life!)
(Editing by Michele Kambas and Paul Casciato)

Authorities in northern Cyprus believe they have found an ancient version of the Bible written in Syriac, a dialect of the native language of Jesus.

The manuscript was found in a police raid on suspected antiquity smugglers. Turkish Cypriot police testified in a court hearing they believe the manuscript could be about 2,000 years old.

Photo: An undated handout photo released to Reuters February 6, 2009 shows an ancient manuscript which authorities in northern Cyprus believe is an ancient version of the Bible written in Syriac, a dialect of the native language of Jesus. The manuscript was found in a police raid on suspected antiquity smugglers. Turkish Cypriot police testified in a court hearing they believe the manuscript could be about 2,000 years old. Experts were however divided over the provenance of the manuscript, and whether it was an original, which would render it priceless, or a fake. To match Reuters Life! CYPRUS-BIBLE / REUTERS/Kibris/Handout.

The manuscript carries excerpts of the Bible written in gold lettering on vellum and loosely strung together, photos provided to Reuters showed. One page carries a drawing of a tree, and another eight lines of Syriac script.

Experts were however divided over the provenance of the manuscript, and whether it was an original, which would render it priceless, or a fake.

Experts said the use of gold lettering on the manuscript was likely to date it later than 2,000 years.

"I'd suspect that it is most likely to be less than 1,000 years old," leading expert Peter Williams, Warden of Tyndale House, University of Cambridge told Reuters.

Turkish Cypriot authorities seized the relic last week and nine individuals are in custody pending further investigations. More individuals are being sought in connection with the find, they said.

Further investigations turned up a prayer statue and a stone carving of Jesus believed to be from a church in the Turkish held north, as well as dynamite.

The police have charged the detainees with smuggling antiquities, illegal excavations and the possession of explosives.

Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic - the native language of Jesus - once spoken across much of the Middle East and Central Asia. It is used wherever there are Syrian Christians and still survives in the Syrian Orthodox Church in India.

Aramaic is still used in religious rituals of Maronite Christians in Cyprus.

"One very likely source (of the manuscript) could be the Tur-Abdin area of Turkey, where there is still a Syriac speaking community," Charlotte Roueche, Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at King's College London told Reuters.

Stories regarding the antiquity of manuscripts is commonplace. One case would be the Yonan Codex, carbon dated to the 12th century which people tried to pass off as earlier.

After further scrutiny of photographs of the book, manuscripts specialist at the University of Cambridge library and Fellow of Wolfson College JF Coakley suggested that the book could have been written a good deal later.

"The Syriac writing seems to be in the East Syriac script with vowel points, and you do not find such manuscripts before about the 15th century.

"On the basis of the one photo...if I'm not mistaken some words at least seem to be in modern Syriac, a language that was not written down until the mid-19th century," he told Reuters.