Bibles in Middle Eastern Languages
Bible translations in non-European languages began to appear in the latter half of the sixteenth century. This section of the exhibition features five translations of the scriptures into languages of the Middle East. Two of the books preserve translations that originated in the greater Middle East during the fifth century: a Syriac New Testament printed in 1562 and a manuscript of the Armenian Gospels written in 1650. The other translations, into Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish, were prepared by European translators of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the hope of evangelizing largely Muslim communities.
Also exhibited in the galleries:
[Farsi and Latin Gospels]. Quatuor Evangeliorum Domini Nostri Iesu Christi, versio Persica. London: Jacob Flesher, 1657.
[Turkish (Osmanli) New Testament]. [Paris: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1819].