Codex Sinaiticus: Oldest bible goes online
The world's oldest surviving Bible has been made available online.But this was not as easy as it sounds, the 800 pages were spread across institutes from the UK, Germany, Egypt, and Russia.
Written in Greek on parchment leaves this bible was penned in the fourth century, and discovered in the Sinai desert in Egypt by German scholar Constantine Tischendorf in 1844.
Since then the bible has been owned by various governments who generally kept a couple of pages when they sold it, hence the collaboration in digitizing it.
By the way Don't worry if your reading of fourth century Greek isn't up to much, there will be translations on the site too.
A spokesperson for the project said: "Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in the world. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament."
A spokesperson for the British Library who hold the largest part of the oldest bible said: "By bringing together the digitised pages online, the project will enable scholars worldwide to research in depth the Greek text, which is fully transcribed and cross-referenced, including the transcription of numerous revisions and corrections.
"It will also allow researchers into the history of the book as a physical object to examine in detail aspects of its fabric and manufacture."
LINKS
Codex Sinaiticus
A spokesperson for the British Library who hold the largest part of the oldest bible said: "By bringing together the digitised pages online, the project will enable scholars worldwide to research in depth the Greek text, which is fully transcribed and cross-referenced, including the transcription of numerous revisions and corrections.
"It will also allow researchers into the history of the book as a physical object to examine in detail aspects of its fabric and manufacture."
LINKS
Codex Sinaiticus
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