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. Therefore, the question of the oldest book on Earth largely depends on how you classify it.
We have attempted to compile a single 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 World Records as the most expensive Bible in the world. Many also consider it the world's first printed book. In fact, this is not true. Created by Gutenberg, the book is one of the first printed editions. It stands out from other incunabula for its superb quality of 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 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 the oldest surviving book in Scotland.
It is believed that the Celtic Psalter was created for a very important person. The fact that some of the book's decorations were executed in the English "Winchester" style may indicate that it was intended for Saint Margaret of Scotland, who 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 reinterpreted by those who seek to attain the bodhisattva path.
Today, one of the oldest books in the world is housed in the British Museum, but is inaccessible to visitors. Light is harmful to it, so we can only gaze at photographs posted online.
7. Siddur – 1178 years old
An ancient Jewish prayer book, a "siddur," discovered in 2013 dates back to approximately 840 CE. This parchment, containing 40,000 sacred texts, is so old that it contains Babylonian vowels. This allowed experts to date the book to the time of the Geonim (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 lavishly decorated with colorful miniatures and ornaments and contains the four Gospels in Latin. Due to the numerous decorations, the text of the manuscript is difficult to discern on some pages. However, the Book of Kells was hardly intended to be read, but rather used during liturgical services. The reader recited 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 woodblock printing and is the earliest example of a printed book in the world.
This scroll was printed between 704 and 751 CE on Japanese paperwood. The printed letters of the sutra found in Korea compare favorably to 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 Saint 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 a Viking raid.
3. Library from Nag Hammadi - 1693
This 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 Gnostic texts date back to approximately the first half of the fourth century CE. 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 along the edges, and scientists believe the plates were once bound together.
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 an ancient book on public display. It consists of six gold pages bound together 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 it was created for the funeral of a nobleman who was a member of the Orpheus cult, which originated in ancient Greece.
The oldest multi-page book in the world dates back to approximately 660 BC. It was donated to the museum by an 87-year-old Bulgarian man from Macedonia, who wishes to remain anonymous. He discovered the treasure in a grave excavated 60 years ago while serving as a soldier constructing a canal along the Struma River. According to museum director Bozhidar 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.