Haikian alphabet; Armenian script

This book of Bible lessons is written in square, slanted Armenian script which was created about the year 400 by St. Mesrop in collaboration with St. Sobek and Rufanos, a Greek. This example is written in the Haikian Alphabet of thirty-eight characters; sometimes called Iron Writing. The zoomorphic initials are drawn with great precision and rendered in a permanent magenta pigment. Although the magenta used at this time was, as a rule, a fugitive color, this leaf shows no sign of deterioration. The ornament has so much character that it makes this leaf compare favorably with the finest contemporary Greek manuscripts. The paper and alphabet used indicate a XVth century writing though the colophon gave an earlier date, namely 1122 A.D., which is doubted by experts.