Picture The psalter prior to conservation
'Irish Dead Sea Scrolls' in bog
Posted on 09/07/2010 9:05:00 AM PDT by Palter
Irish scientists have found fragments of Egyptian papyrus in the leather cover of an ancient book of psalms that was unearthed from a peat bog, Ireland's National Museum said on Monday.
The papyrus in the lining of the Egyptian-style leather cover of the 1,200-year-old manuscript, "potentially represents the first tangible connection between early Irish Christianity and the Middle Eastern Coptic Church", the Museum said.
"It is a finding that asks many questions and has confounded some of the accepted theories about the history of early Christianity in Ireland."
Raghnall O Floinn, head of collections at the Museum, said the manuscript, now known as the "Faddan More Psalter", was one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in Ireland.
It was uncovered four years ago by a man using a mechanical digger to harvest peat near Birr in County Tipperary, but analysis has only just been completed.
O Floinn told AFP the illuminated vellum manuscript encased in the leather binding dated from the eighth century but it was not known when or why it ended up in the bog where it was preserved by the chemicals in the peat.
"It appears the manuscript's leather binding came from Egypt. The question is whether the papyrus came with the cover or if it was added.
"It is possible that the imperfections in the hide may allow us to confirm the leather is Egyptian.
"We are trying to track down if there somebody who can tell us if this is possible. That is the next step."
O Floinn said the psalter is about the size of a tabloid newspaper and about 15 percent of the pages of the psalms, which are written in Latin, had survived.
The experts believe the manuscript of the psalms was produced in an Irish monastery and it was later put in the leather cover.
"The cover could have had several lives before it ended up basically as a folder for the manuscript in the bog," O Floinn said.
"It could have travelled from a library somewhere in Egypt to the Holy Land or to Constantinople or Rome and then to Ireland."
The National Museum in Dublin plans to put the psalter on public display for the first time next year.
Bog book, ping.
Okay, who wants to bring up the fact that the Egyptians invented beer.......
Must’ve been stashed there by the Sandy Berger of his day.
Going from pic 2 to pic 1 is an amazing job of restoration! Wow!
Dig deeper. Maybe they’ll find BO’s birth certificate!
I dug for a month and a half in Ireland and all i found was some slag!
Interesting and cool, but what does it mean?
B I N G O !!!!
The first tangible link between early Christianity in Ireland and the Middle-Eastern Coptic Church.
Off hand I’d say the newsies are trying to make much ado about nothing. The Romans had long established outposts throughout Britain and it would not have been out of the realm of possibility for them to establish outposts in Ireland. Rather than coming from some previously unknown Egyptian trade, I’d wager that the psalm book written in Latin as it is, probably came from the Romans. Especially since the Romans imported so many trade goods from Egypt.
I guess I didn’t know there was supposed to be a connection. I always thought the Catholic Church was the connection.
Wonder if the psalter had ever belonged to St Patrick or
one of his acolytes?
if you dig deeper you might find the remains of the mummy. but be careful - he ain’t dead.
Except the Romans were long gone by then.
Except the Romans were long gone by then.
BEST.....GRAPHIC......EVER.......
The Greeks had contacts all over long before the Romans and far after... into Byzantium.
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