The Damascus Keter', Hebrew Bible with Vocalization, Accents, Masorah Magna and Masorah Parva

"Keter" (crown) was the name originally used for the Aleppo Codex (Keter Aram Tzova), a manuscript of the Old Testament. The term Keter has come to refer to any codex of the Bible or Book of the Bible which has punctuation and vocalization.

According to the colophon, the Damascus Keter was written in Burgos, Castile, in 1260, by Menahem, son of Abraham ibn Malek. At one point, the manuscript found its way to the Khush al-Basha al-'Anabi synagogue in Damascus, and this is the origin of its name. The Damascus Keter was stolen from the synagogue in 1940 and purchased for the National Library in 1962. ln 1975, the Library acquired a second manuscript
from Damascus, this one from the tenth century. A single carpet page (a page covered entirely by illustrations) from the end of the Codex was auctioned off in 1987 and is now in the collection of the Jewish Museum in Toledo, Spain.

Each page of the Masorah Magna is written in delicate micrography, and a carpet page divides the three sections of the Bible: Pentateuch, Prophets and Hagiographa. llluminated designs and illustrations mark the start of the Torah portions and Books of the Bible. The pages displayed here, from the Book of Exodus, describe the construction of the Tabernacle, the first lsraelite "art project." The beginnings of Sections ('Sedarim') 26 and 27 are distinguished by their ornamental color markings.