(ABC) Rome-An Italian professor believes he has found the world’s oldest and most complete Torah scroll safely tucked away in the archives of University of Bologna,
the oldest university in the Western world.

The ancient scroll of Judaism’s most important text is almost 120 feet long and made
of sheep skin.

The manuscript had been stored in the university’s library at least since the 18th century, but had been incorrectly dated and had remained unnoticed.

On Tuesday the university released a statement announcing that Mauro Perani, who
has been professor of Hebrew at the university since 1977, came upon the scroll while compiling the library catalogue and has since been able to date it somewhere between 
the 12th and 13th centuries.

University of Bologna, one of the largest in Italy.