| Cod. Levy 160
Text column no. 14 (sheet no. 4) surrounded by the hand-painted decoration and the scene is incorporated in it. The roundel in the upper margins contains a bust of a young woman. In the column of the text containing Haman's sons section (Es. 9:6-10), the scene of the hanging of his ten sons (Es. 9:14) is represented. From every rung of a high gallows, a single body is suspending and a high ladder leans on the structure. In the frame in the lower margin, there is a mermaid with a bow in her hand who is aiming towards the bodies suspending from the gallows that is a unique representation for this scroll.
The text column is flanked by a pillar surmounted by a putto with a basket on his head (on the right) and a composition of plants, flowers, grapes, and a ribbon (?); it continues until the lower margin. Below the pillar on the right, a depiction of a building appears.
The Book of Esther in Hebrew
The scroll is formed of 4 sheets containing 16 columns of the text with 22 lines, except for col. 14 with 11 lines divided into two parts.
The text is inscribed the square Hebrew Ashkenazi script with tagim, in black ink, on parchment sheets.
The letter ח (Es. 1:6) is highlighted by its size and form (it is decorated with scrolling feet and tagim placed on both ends of the roof). The letter ת (Es. 9:29) is enlarged too. Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 14.
The letters in the Tetragrammaton are marked by short strokes bent to the right.
There are some erasures and corrections in the text.
The membranes in the scroll are stitched.
None
The stickers with the name of the collection and the manuscript's number on the right edge of the first membrane are placed. There are also a calculation of the date (?) and a stamp on it.
Falk Wiesemann, Codex Levy 160, [in:] Irina Wandrey ed., Manuscript Cultures, vol. 6, 260-262.
Ernst Róth, Hans Striedl, Die Handschriften der Sammlung H. B. Levy an der Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg. Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland, vol. VI, 3, Wiesbaden 1984, no. 9.
Images of the scroll are available on https://resolver.sub.uni-hamburg.de/kitodo/PPN893258369 (accessed on 24.09.2020).