Thus the oldest book in the world must surely be the gutenberg bible oldest printed book in the west, from c. Not so the socalled other gospels, which were pseudepigraphical gnostic works written 100300 years later. To date we have over 5800 greek manuscripts of the new testament, with an astounding 2. The oldest book in the world was found in bulgaria and you can see it at the national historical museum, in sofia, bulgaria. I found this little book to be more than i expected. The epic of gilgamesh is the oldest known piece of literature in the world. Which of the following is the oldest printed book still in existence. The 2,000yearold scroll has been in the hands of archaeologists for decades. A list of literature and documented scrolls that date back hundreds to thousands of years. Erica eisen the oldest printed book in the world lrb 12 october. This makes it one of the oldest known jewish prayer books in existence. Just to give a few specific examples out of the many ancient texts that are known to still exist. The rarity consists of 6 pages made of 24carat gold and fastened together.
This is a list of tables of the oldest people in the world in ordinal ranks. For a long time it was proclaimed to be the oldest book in the world. The precise date makes this particular edition of diamond sutra the world s oldest printed and dated book in existence. The world s oldest book in the history of mankind written in etruscan, the language that is now lost, can be seen in bulgarias national museum of history in sofia. The oldest complete manuscripts of the hebrew bible, containing all the canonical texts, are dated at the 9th10th century ce, although individual books of the bible and fragments were found among the dead sea scolls at qumran. Two of their oldest known literary works are the kesh temple hymn and the instructions of shuruppak, both of which exist in written. Fezs al qarawiyyin library, part of the oldest continually operating university in the world theres also a mosque on the site, was founded in 859 by a woman named fatima alfihri. The discoverie of witchcraft 1 is a skeptical book written by an englishman in the name reginald scot in 1584. For example, the bible an old book but not the oldest was writtencompiled between 3200 and 2500 years ago. The purpose of the book was to expose witchcraft, since still people were being accused of witchcraft and put on the stake at the time in the europe. Here are some of the oldest surviving books in the world. However, the oldest complete bible manuscript is about years old. If the printing defined what a book was, then the oldest book would be the gutenberg bible, printed about 1450.
Carbon dating confirms world s oldest torah scroll. Written in 2100 bce it predates homers iliad by 1500 years. The dead sea scrolls are fragments of the oldest hebrew bible text, while the aleppo codex and the leningrad codex are the oldest complete versions, written by the masoretes in the 10th and 11th centuries, respectively. Here are a few of the most wellknown, odorous old texts still in existence. The earliest new testament manuscripts bible archaeology. Worlds oldest illustrated book discovered in egyptian. In 2011, it was recognized by the guinness book of records as the world s oldest hotel. The gutenberg bible, also known as the 42line bible, is listed by the guinness book of world records as the worlds oldest mechanically printed. It is often described as a way of life and is widely practiced in india and other parts of the indian subcontinent as well as parts of southeast asia. The explicit public domain dedication is also the first in the history of creative work.
Written thousands of years ago, the judeochristian bible is a best sellerif not the best seller. Written in hebrew and dating to the second century b. What is the oldest book in the world still in existence. This 15th century gutenberg bible is pretty old but not nearly old enough to hold the record as the oldest book in the world. All of these predictions, however, would be incorrect. Chinese cultures were printing pages of booklike structures using carved wood plates and simple presses hundreds of years before gutenberg. The incredible garima gospels are named after a monk who arrived in the african country in the fifth century and is said to have copied them out in just one day. The earliest written literature dates from about 2600 bce classical. Regula sancti benedicti the rule of st benedict, 8th century. A book and a text are, of course, very different things. Much more about bulgaria for foreigners and expats at.
A copy of this sacred text, which was discovered in the mogao caves of dunhuang, china, has been described as being the world s earliest complete survival of a dated printed book. A correct description of the book would be that it contains the oldest surviving complete manuscript of the new testament, together with sections of the old testament and books of the apocrypha. To avoid including false or unconfirmed claims of old age, names here are restricted to those people whose ages have been validated by an international body that specifically deals in longevity research, such as the gerontology research group grg or guinness world records gwr, and others who have otherwise been. The oldest manuscripts of the rigveda known to exist date from the 11th century ce.
It was first written at bc through 500 bc and the words were given by god to its writers. There are only 24 copies of book of two ways in existence, and experts say that the one found most recently is, in fact, the oldest 4,000 years. The oldest book in the bible is smack in the middle of the old testament. This is the section of the book that will now be on display at the british museum.
The book of job is one of the lesser read books of the bible, despite the fact that it is referenced repeatedly throughout scripture. Hinduism is believed to have the oldest roots among all religions. Of all the ancient writings, most scholars agree that the old testament of the bible is the oldest of religious books. In spite of continuous opposition through the centuries to destroy it under different civilizations by religious extremists and secular governments, the bible has emerged triumphantly. Since hebrew documents were typically written on scrolls, this book marked a.
The oldest book in the world is the filled with wisdom quotes and teachings on how one is to conduct ones life and how to treat his fellow man. The epic is a rich literary text that explores themes of. The earliest history of books actually predates what would conventionally be called books today and begins with tablets, scrolls, and sheets of papyrus. According to the guinness book of world records this bardsey, north leeds england pub is the oldest in britain.
The oldest book in the bible is, unsurprisingly, found in the old testament. There are claims that the i ching is the oldest book in the world, however, it can safely be assigned to the th century, bce thus about the same age as the mosaic attribution for the pentateuch. According to the guinness book of records, iceland is the oldest existing state which had a government as far back as 163 ad, but japan often claims to be the oldest country in the world. We have babylonian correlates to these but they are not as simple. Though officially records show it opened in 953 ad, theres evidence it goes back to 905 ad. It is a 50page volume containing hebrew writing, which remarkably still has its original binding.
Certain literary texts are difficult to date, such as the egyptian book of the. Sumerian literature, akkadian literature, ancient egyptian literature, hittite texts, tamil literature. The oldest book in the world is almost certainly the first five chapters of the book of genesis. The bible is not a single work but rather an anthology of 66 books written by approximately 40 authors over a 1,400year period that ended nearly 2,000 years ago. Among the hundreds of caves was a chamber that served as a storeroom for books. The diamond sutra is part of a larger canon of early mahayana sutras known as the prajnaparamita meaning perfection of wisdom sutras. The three oldest biblical texts bible archaeology report. Most christians would likely predict that genesis was the oldest book in the bible given that it details the creation of. The oldest stories in the world by theodor herzl gaster. She lived on her own until the age of 110, when she had to move into a nursing home. Scientists finally read the oldest biblical text ever.
Ethiopian bible is oldest and most complete on earth. Discovered in spain in the 1860s, the madrid codex also known as the trocortesianus codex is one of the only surviving. The instruction of ptahhotep, the oldest book in the world but with that in mind, there is one piece of ancient egyptian literature that many people consider to be one of the oldest. Its unknown when the first sidebound book was produced but the oldest known side bound book still in existence is probably a 1200 year old siddur, a jewish prayer book hand written on parchment. The worlds earliest illustrated christian book has been saved by a british charity which located it at a remote ethiopian monastery. The oldest book in the world is entitled the instructions of shurupak, which dates from 3000 bce. Two years later, on 11 january 1988, she became the oldest living person.
In fact experts believe this is the oldest illustrated book currently in existence. Although not much is known about the etruscan gold book, it is believed to be oldest book in the world as it dates back to around 600 bce. All of the books of the new testament were written within a lifetime of the death of jesus of nazareth. The precision with which one can date the creation of this book is. If by book you mean a collection of pages bound together between a front and back cover, then the oldest known book in the world with its pages and cover intact is the st cuthbert gospel, a leatherbound edition of the latin translation of the gospel of st. Scientists have finally been able to read the oldest biblical text ever found.