From Cave Paintings to the Internet A Chronological and Thematic Database on the History of Information and Media Religious Texts / Religion Outline

The Oldest Known Religious Texts
(Circa 2,400 BCE – 2,300 BCE)

The God of Writing. . . .
(Circa 646 BCE)

The Oldest Surviving Texts from the Hebrew Bible
(Circa 600 BCE)

Destruction of Solomon's Temple
(586 BCE)

The Earliest Known Document in the History of Religious Toleration
(537 BCE)

Ezra Introduces Public Reading of the Torah
(Circa 536 BCE)

Disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments
(535 BCE)

The Dead Sea Scrolls
(300 BCE – 68 CE)

The Septuagint
(Circa 250 BCE)

The Very Long Process of Canonization of the Hebrew Bible
(Circa 200 BCE – 200 CE)

The Oldest Hebrew Manuscript Fragment before the Dead Sea Scrolls
(Circa 150 BCE – 100 BCE)

The Isaiah Scroll
(Circa 100 BCE)

The Oldest Surviving Substantial Collection of Buddhist Manuscripts
(Circa 1 CE – 100 CE)

Christianity Emerges
(30 CE – 100 CE)

The New Testament Was Probably Written over Less than a Century
(Circa 65 CE – 150 CE)

Destruction of the Second Temple
(66 CE – 73 CE)

Composition of the Four Gospels
(70 CE – 110 CE)

The Continuing Process of Canonization of the Hebrew Bible
(Circa 70 CE – 90 CE)

Process of Canonizing the Old Testament
(Circa 90 CE)

Translation of the Bible From Greek into Coptic
(Circa 100 CE – 200 CE)

One of the Earliest Known Fragments of Any Gospel
(Circa 100 CE – 200 CE)

The Earliest Known Fragment of the New Testament
(Circa 100 CE – 150 CE)

The Form of the Manuscript Book Gradually Shifts from the Roll to the Codex
(Circa 150 CE – 450 CE)

Insisting on Only Four Gospels
(Circa 185 CE)

The Making of a Gospel Book
(Circa 200 CE – 300 CE)

Pamphilius Establishes a Library and Scriptorium
(200 CE – 300 CE)

The First Important Work of Rabbinic Judaism
(Circa 220 CE)

Possibly the Earliest Record of Rabbinic Texts
(244 CE – 256 CE)

The Crosby-Schoyen Codex: One of the Earliest Extant Manuscripts in Codex Form
(Circa 250 CE)

One of the Earliest, Most Widely-Used Cross-Indexing Systems
(Circa 280 CE – 340 CE)

The Codex Vaticanus
(300 CE – 400 CE)

The Codex Sinaiticus
(300 CE – 400 CE)

Confirmation of the Adoption of the Codex Form of the Book by the Early Christians
(300 CE – 350 CE)

The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians
(February 24, 303 CE)

The Beginning of Constantine's Conversion
(October 28, 312 CE)

The Edict of Milan Proclaims "Religious Toleration"
(313 CE)

Constantine's Religious Toleration Does Not Apply to Jews
(October 18, 315 CE)

Contantine Orders Fifty Luxurious Bibles for the Churches of Constantinople
(326 CE – 327 CE)

The Earliest Surviving Manuscript of the Old Latin Gospels
(Circa 350 CE)

Origins of the Lateran Library
(Circa 350 CE – 650)

The Earliest Document of the Christian Book Trade
(Circa 355 CE)

New Testament Canonization in Process
(367 CE)

The First Collection of Bio-Bibliographies
(392 CE)

The First Western Autobiography
(397 CE – 398 CE)

The Oldest Surviving Illustrated Biblical Manuscript
(Circa 398 CE)

Herald of Christianity and Magus
(Circa 400 CE)

Codex Bezae Cantabridgensis
(Circa 400 CE)

Jerome Criticizes Conspicuous Luxury in Christian Books
(Circa 400 CE)

The City of God
(413 CE)

Early Fifth Century Palimpsest
(Circa 425 CE)

Saxons, Angles, and Jutes Invade Britain
(449 CE)

Fragments of a Fifth or Sixth Century Codex
(Circa 450 CE – 550)

The Codex Alexandrinus
(Circa 450 CE)

The Church Replaces the Roman State as the Source of Order and Stability
(Circa 450 CE – 650)

Composition of the Babylonian Talmud
(Circa 490 CE – 542)

The Franks Convert to Christianity
(497 CE)

The Earliest, Most Significant Rabbinic Texts Are Preserved in Stone
(Circa 500 CE – 600)

Possibly the Earliest Surviving Illuminated Christian Manuscripts
(Circa 500 CE – 650)

The Codex Argenteus, Written in Silver and Gold Letters on Purple Vellum
(Circa 520)

St. Benedict Introduces Monastic Life to Europe
(529)

Considered the Oldest, Well-Preserved Illustrated Biblical Codex
(Circa – 540)

Codex Brixianus
(Circa 550)

Written in the Imperial Scriptorum of Constantinople and Dismembered by Crusaders
(Circa 550)

The Earliest Manuscript of the New Testament in Christian Palestinian Aramaic
(Circa 550)

Among the Earliest Surviving European Papyrus Codices
(Circa 550)

One of the Oldest Surviving Illuminated Manuscripts of the New Testament
(Circa 555)

A Dispute over a Psalter Resulting in Battle
(Circa 560)

From the Monastery on the Small Island of Iona, the Conversion of Pagan Scotland and Much of Northern England
(Circa 563)

Birth of the Prophet Muhammad
(570)

"Source Z"
(Circa 575 – 599)

The Ashburnham Pentateuch
(Circa 580 – 620)

The Syriac Bible of Paris
(Circa 585)

Signed by the Scribe Rabbula in 586
(586)

St. Columbanus Founds the Monastery and Library at Luxeuil
(590)

A Manuscript from Pope Gregory's Scriptorium
(590 – 604)

Augustine of Canterbury Preaches to the Anglo-Saxons
(597)

A Volume Brought by St. Augustine to England in 597
(597)

The Earliest Western Metalwork Bookcovers
(Circa 600)

The Springmount Bog Wax Tablets
(Circa 600)

The Qur'an
(Circa 610 – 613)

During the Middle Ages Book Production is Concentrated in Monasteries
(Circa 610 – 1200)

Foundation of the Monastery and Library at Bobbio
(614)

Muhammad's Hijra
(622)

Possibly the Earliest Surviving Irish Codex
(Circa 625)

The Illuminated Gospel Book as a Tool for Evangelization
(627)

Among the Oldest Qu'rans Known
(628)

Death of Muhammad
(632)

Foundation of the Monastery on Lindisfarne
(634)

Possibly the Oldest Irish Manuscript
(Circa 650)

The Book of Mulling
(Circa 650)

One of the Smallest Surviving Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts and the Earliest Surviving Western Binding in Europe
(Circa 650)

Codification of the Qur'an
(653)

King Oswiu Causes Britain to Embrace the Mainstream of Christianity
(664)

The Earliest Surviving Complete Bible in the Latin Vulgate, and One of the Earliest Surviving Images of Bookbindings and a Bookcase
(Circa 685)

The Ceolfrid Bible
(Circa 685 – 710)

Building the Dome of the Rock
(691)

One of the Oldest Hebrew Fragments Written in Europe
(Circa 700)

The Oldest Surviving Block Printing
(704 – 751)

Creation of the Lindisfarne Gospels
(715 – 720)

One of the Oldest, Largest, and Most Signficant Medieval Libraries
(719)

The Oldest English Translation of Any Portion of the Bible
(725 – 750)

The Earliest Surviving Copy of St. Benedict's Rules
(Circa 725)

From the Libraries of Richard Mead and Anthony Askew
(736 – 760)

The Book of Dimma
(Circa 750)

The Stockholm Codex Aureus, Looted Twice by Vikings
(Circa 750)

One of the Great Treasures of Early Carolingian Metalwork
(760)

One Million Copies
(764 – 770)

"The Oldest Western European Codex in Private Hands"
(Circa 775)

The Codex Aureus of Lorsch and its Dispersal
(778 – 820)

The Carolingian Revival
(779 – 814)

The Educator Alcuin and the Emperor Charlemagne
(780 – 796)

About 7000 Manuscripts and Fragments Survive from the Late 8th and 9th Centuries
(Circa 780 – 875)

The Gellone Sacramentary: a Masterpiece of Carolingian Manuscript Illumination
(Circa 790)

The First Treasure Binding Associated with its Original Codex
(790 – 795)

Vikings Sack the Monastery and Library of Lindisfarne in the First Viking Raid on Britain
(January 6, 793)

The Book of Kells
(Circa 800)

The Book of Durrow
(Circa 800)

Charlemagne Renews Book and Library Culture
(800 – 877)

Carmina Figurata Word Pictures
(Circa 810)

The Earliest Surviving Dated Manuscript Written in Greek Minuscule
(815 – 835)

"A Perfect Relationship between Text and Picture"
(Circa 820 – 830)

Rules for the Scriptorium and the Library
(Circa 825)

Lavishly Illuminated for Charles the Bald
(846)

The First Byzantine Encylopedia
(Circa 850)

The Oldest Surviving Fragments of the Babylonian Talmud May Date from the Ninth Century
(Circa 850)

Byzantine Iconophile Psalter from the Time of the Iconoclasm
(Circa 850)

The Earliest Surviving Dated Complete Printed Book
(May 11, 868)

The Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram
(Circa 870)

The Magnificent Upper Cover of the Lindau Gospels
(Circa 875)

Jews Seem to Have Adopted the Codex Around 900
(Circa 900)

The Earliest Surviving Manuscript of the Complete Hebrew Bible
(Circa 930)

Possibly the Earliest Surviving Manuscript Produced in Scotland
(Circa 950)

The Oldest Surviving Translation of the Gospels into English
(Circa 950 – 960)

The Oldest and Most Important Complete Manuscript of the Mishna
(Circa 950 – 1050)

Possible Inspiration for Picasso's Guernica?
(June 19, 960)

5,048 Printed Volumes Containing 130,000 Pages
(972 – 983)

The Earliest Picture Cycle of the Life of Christ in Manuscript Illumination
(Circa 977 – 993)

The Golden Gospels of Henry VIII
(Circa 977 – 993)

Possibly the Most Valuable Book in the World
(Circa 998 – 1001)

The Oldest Surviving Haggadah(s)
(Circa 1000)

The Earliest Extant Complete Text of the Bible in Hebrew
(Circa 1010)

Book-Shaped Reliquary from the Circle of the Master of the Registrum Gregorii
(Circa 1020)

The Oldest Scottish Book Remaining in Scotland
(Circa 1025)

Medieval Encyclopedia, of which the Autograph Manuscript Survived
(Circa 1090 – 1125)

First Translation of the Qur'an into a Western Language
(1143)

Origins of the Paris Book Trade
(Circa 1170)

The Hunterian Psalter
(Circa 1170)

Massacre of the Jewish Community of York, England Reflected in the Survival of a Single Hebrew Manuscript
(March 16, 1190)

Knowledge of Greek and Greek Texts During the Middle Ages
(Circa 1200 – 1450)

The Largest Extant Medieval Manuscript- The Devil's Bible
(1229)

Gregory IX Condemns Jews to Inferior Status
(1234)

Pope Gregory IX Orders the Seizure and Burning of Jewish Books
(June 9 – June 20, 1239)

French Copies of the Talmud Seized
(June 3, 1240)

Louis IX Orders the Burning of 12,000 Manuscripts of the Talmud
(June 1242)

The Domus Conversorum, Later the Public Record Office
(1253)

The Oldest Surviving Literary Document in Yiddish
(1272)

Edward I's Statute of the Jewry
(1275)

Edward I Expells the Jews from England
(1290)

The Oldest Surviving Ashkenazi Illuminated Manuscript
(Circa 1300)

Logical Machines for the Production of Knowledge
(1305)

The Oldest Sephardic Haggadah
(Circa 1350)

The Papal Library Contains 2,059 Volumes
(1369)

The Most Famous Late Medieval Illuminated Manuscript
(Circa 1413 – 1416)

The Earliest Dated European Woodblock Print
(1418)

Lorenzo Valla Proves that the Donation of Constantine is a Forgery
(1440)

The First Bible Concordance in Hebrew
(1448)

The Giant Bible of Mainz
(April 4, 1452 – July 9, 1453)

The 42-Line Bible
(1454)

The Earliest Dated European Document Printed by Moveable Type
(October 22, 1454)

Completion of the 42-Line Bible
(1455 – 1456)

"The Sale of a Printed Bible"
(March 12, 1455)

The Mainz Psalter. . . .without "Any Driving of the Pen"
(August 14, 1457)

The 1459 Mainz Psalter
(August 29, 1459)

The First Book Set in Fere-Humanistica or Gotico-Antiqua Types
(October 6, 1459)

Second Printed Edition of the Bible
(1460)

Gutenberg's Last Production? An Early Form of Stereotyping?.
(1460 – 1469)

The Third Printed Edition of the Bible
(Circa 1461)

The First Publication with a Printed Title Page
(1463)

The Value and Difficulty of Preparing an Accurate Manuscript for Printing
(1466)

The First Edition of the Bible in a Modern Language
(June 1466)

The First Printed Encyclopedia
(1467)

Possibly the Earliest Printed Book for which the Printer's Manuscript Remains Extant
(June 12, 1467)

The Earliest Books Printed in Hebrew
(1469 – 1472)

The First Printed Edition of the Confessions of St. Augustine
(1470)

The First Dated Book Printed in Hebrew
(February 17 – February 18, 1475)

The First Printed Haggadah
(1486)

Handbook for Witch-Hunters and Inquisitors
(April 1487)

The Beginning of Prepublication Censorship
(November 17, 1487)

The First Complete Printed Hebrew Bible
(April 22, 1488)

Gershom Soncino Sells the First Copy of His First Book
(December 19 – December 29, 1488)

The Second Book Printed in Lisbon
(July 16, 1489)

Departure of Columbus for the New World & the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain
(July 30 – August 3, 1492)

Sultan Bayezid II Wellcomes Jewish Refugees from Spain
(August 1492)

The First Book Printed in the Ottoman Empire
(December 13, 1493)

The Earliest Subject Bibliography
(1494)

The Persistence of Illuminated Manuscript Production
(Circa 1499)

Early Printing in Hebrew
(1500)

The Aberdeen Breviary, the First Major Book Printed in Scotland
(1509 – 1510)

Maximillian I Orders the Confiscation of Jewish Books, but Eventually Rescinds the Order
(August 19, 1509 – June 6, 1510)

The First Book in Arabic Printed by Moveable Type
(1514)

Launching the Protestant Reformation
(October 31, 1517)

The First Printed Edition of the Complete Babylonian Talmud
(1519 – 1523)

The Pope Responds to the 95 Theses
(June 15, 1520)

The Manifesto of the Reformation
(August 1520)

Luther Burns the Papal Bull
(December 10, 1520)

The Pope Excommunicates Luther
(January 3, 1521)

"The Law of Printing" Issued in Response to Exsurge Domine
(May 26, 1521)

Dissolution of the Monasteries Brings Destruction and Dispersal of Libraries
(1536 – 1541)

First Printed Edition of the Qur'an in Arabic
(1537 – 1538)

The First Book Printed in the Western Hemisphere
(June 12, 1539)

First Printed Edition of the Latin Translation of the Qur'an
(1542 – 1543)

The First Work of Modern Antisemitism
(1543)

Henry VIII Restricts the Reading of the Bible
(May 12, 1543)

Masterpiece of High Renaissance Manuscript Illumination
(1546)

Spiritual Exercises
(1548)

Medical Discovery, Heresy, and Martyrdom
(1553)

The Inquistion Publishes its First List of Censored Works
(1554)

Index Librorum Prohibitorum
(1559)

Destruction of the Maya Codices
(July 12, 1562)

The First Dated Book Printed in Russia
(March 1, 1564)

The First Book Printed in a Goidelic Language
(April 24, 1567)

Book Collector Matthew Parker Donates his Library
(1574)

The First Book Printed in the Middle East
(1577)

First Complete Slavic Bible
(July 20, 1580 – August 12, 1581)

The Medici Press
(1584)

The First Bibliography Published in the New World
(1606)

The First Book Printed in the Arab World
(1610)

The Earliest Documented 15th Century Book in North America
(1635)

The First Book Printed in North America
(1640)

Sixty Printed Books and Three Newsbooks Ordered to be Burned
(1640 – 1660)

The First Complete Bible Published in the Western Hemisphere
(1661 – 1663)

The First Books Printed in Arabic in the Middle East
(1706)

Jews Receive Full Citizenship in France
(September 27, 1791)

The First Edition of the Qur'an Printed by Muslims
(1801)

A Press in Malta to Print Books in Arabic & Turkish
(1825)

Constantin von Tischendorf Discovers the Codex Sinaiticus
(1859)

The First Printer Authorized to the Print the Qur'an in Constantinople
(1866)

Prayerbook Woven by the Jacquard Loom
(1886 – 1887)

The Largest and Most Diverse Collection of Medieval Manuscripts in the World
(1896 – 1897)

The Beginning of "Talk Radio"
(February 1924)

Discovery of the "Dead Sea Scrolls"
(1947)

The Origins of Humanities Computing
(1949)

Pioneer Televangelist
(1951)

Finding Additional Pages of the Codex Sinaiticus
(May 1979)

A Book of Psalms from the Ninth Century is Found in a Bog
(July 25, 2006)

The World's Oldest Oil Paintings Restored After Taliban Dynamite
(February 19, 2008)

Virtual Reunification of the Codex Sinaiticus
(July 6, 2009)