The word “Mahzor,” familiar to most Jews as the term used for the prayer book for the High Holidays, means “cycle.” It can therefore be used to describe a book containing any liturgical cycle. Sometimes the term was also used to describe a text created in codex = book form, as opposed to a traditional Jewish scroll.  

The Bamberg Mahzor, completed in Bamberg, Germany, in 1279, includes prayers for the entire year according to Ashkenazi custom. It is distinguished by its Ashkenazi script and the style of its decoration. 

The images in the rondels at the bottom is an illustration of the biblical story of the Akedah—the Binding of Isaac. On the right, we see Abraham wearing a Jew hat but with a less bird-like face than other images in this manuscript; he is carrying the knife with which he will slaughter Isaac, the barely drawn small person to Abraham’s right. In the left rondel we see the ram that will replace Isaac for slaughter.