Hunt for the Crown of Aleppo…
But it’s not a crown of gold, nor a crown of thorns: also known as the Aleppo Codex, it was transcribed around 930AD on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, before being seized by Crusaders in Jerusalem in 1099. From there, it travelled to Cairo, and then onwards to Aleppo in Syria where it remained for centuries.
What is it? Though not a cipher manuscript (unless you happen to believe in the Bible Code, yada yada yada), to Jews it contains the authoritative version of the Old Testament. The problem is that, in all the post-WW2 chaos in Syria, the book was smuggled around the Middle East (allegedly in a washing machine at one point) to safeguard it, with about 40% of its 491 pages being somehow dispersed in the process.
So: where are the lost pages now? Though new fragments turn up every few years, nobody really knows – investigators get close, but then everyone keeps schtum. It’s a fascinating literary detective story: but will it have a happy ending?
