Writing and literature emerged between the seventh and fourth millennia BC. A wide variety of materials were used to record text, including clay, silk, ceramics, papyrus, and even gold. So the question of what is the oldest book on Earth depends largely on how you classify it.
We have attempted to compile a list of the ten oldest surviving books in the world.
10. Gutenberg Bible – Estimated Age: 559 years
This book, also known as the 42-line Bible (for the number of lines per page), is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive Bible in the world. Many also consider it to be the world's first printed book. In fact, this is not true. The book, created by Gutenberg, is one of the first printed editions. It differs from other incunabula in the excellent quality of its design.
Its first copies were printed in 1454-1455 by Johannes Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany. There are 48 known original copies of the Gutenberg Bible.
9. Celtic Psalter – 938 years old
Next on the list of the top 10 oldest books in human history is a pocket psalter housed at the University of Edinburgh. It is believed to have been created in the 11th century AD, making it Scotland's oldest surviving book.
The Celtic Psalter is thought to have been made for a very important person, and the fact that some of the book's decorations were done in the English "Winchester" style may indicate that it was intended for St. Margaret of Scotland, who was descended from the Anglo-Saxon royal family.
8. Diamond Sutra – 1150 years
This Buddhist sacred text is the second oldest printed book in the world.
The Diamond Sutra was discovered in the Mogao Caves in China in the early twentieth century. It contains sayings of Shakyamuni Buddha that should be reconsidered by those who aspire to the path of the bodhisattvas.
Today, one of the oldest books in the world is kept in the British Museum, but is not accessible to visitors. Light is harmful to it, so we can only look at photographs posted on the Internet.
7. Siddur – 1178 years old
An ancient Jewish prayer book, or siddur, discovered in 2013 dates back to around 840 CE. The parchment, which contains 40,000 sacred texts, is so old that it contains Babylonian vowels, allowing experts to date the book to the time of the Geons (spiritual leaders of the Jewish people) in Babylon.
6. The Book of Kells – 1218 years old
The Book of Kells, also known as the Book of Columba, is housed in the library of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. It is believed to have been created by Celtic monks around 800 AD.
The book is generously decorated with colored miniatures and ornaments, and contains four Gospels in Latin. Due to numerous decorations, the text of the manuscript on some pages is difficult to discern. However, the Book of Kells was hardly intended for reading, but rather for use during worship services. And the reader quoted the text from memory.
5. Ushnisha Vijaya Dharani Sutra – 1314 years
In 1966, the Ushnisha Vijaya Dharani sutra was discovered in the Bulguksa Buddhist Temple in South Korea. It was created using the woodblock printing method and is the earliest example of a printed book in the world.
This scroll was printed between 704 and 751 CE on Japanese paper tree paper. The printed letters of the sutra found in Korea compare favorably with the Chinese Diamond Sutra, as does the thin paper.
4. Cuthbert Gospel – 1320 years old
The oldest book in Europe is the St Cuthbert Gospel, bought by the British Library in 2012 for £9 million.
The book was a gift placed in the tomb of St Cuthbert, an early British Christian leader. It dates back to around 698 AD.
The book, along with the saint's relics, was later moved to Durham Cathedral to prevent them from being destroyed by one of the Viking raids.
3. Library from Nag Hammadi - 1693
It is one of the oldest libraries in the world. It contains 13 leather papyrus codices that were discovered in 1945 in the Egyptian village of Nag Hammadi.
The books containing the Gnostic texts date back to around the first half of the fourth century AD. They are written in Coptic, and are believed to have been copied from a Greek original. The Nag Hammadi codices are currently housed in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, Egypt.
2. Golden tablets from Pyrgi – over 2500 years old
Three gold plates were found in 1964 during excavations at a sanctuary in the ancient Etruscan port of Pyrgi, Italy. They have holes around the edges, and scientists believe that the plates were once connected to each other.
Two of the plates contain inscriptions in Etruscan, and one contains text in Phoenician (Punic).
The Pyrgi tablets tell that the ruler Tefarius Veliana of the city of Caere brought gifts to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, also known as Ishtar.
1. The Golden Book of the Etruscans – 2678 years
In May 2003, the Bulgarian National History Museum in Sofia put on public display an ancient book consisting of six gold pages connected by two gold rings. The 5 x 4.5 cm plates contain an Orphic text written in Etruscan, as well as images of a horse, a rider, a siren, a lyre and a soldier. The book's contents suggest that it was created for the funeral of a nobleman who was a member of the Orpheus cult that originated in ancient Greece.
The oldest multi-page book in the world dates back to around 660 BC. It was donated to the museum by an 87-year-old Bulgarian man from Macedonia, who wished to remain anonymous. He discovered the treasure in a grave excavated 60 years ago when he was a soldier working on the construction of a canal along the Struma River. According to the museum’s director, Bozidar Dimitrov, the find was confirmed by experts in Sofia and London.
The Etruscans were an ancient people who migrated from Lydia (in modern-day Turkey) and settled in central Italy in the first millennium BC.
Оставить Комментарий