Although there is no exact date known, between 618 and 907 CE —the period of the Tang Dynasty— the first printing of books started in China. The oldest extant printed book is a work of the Diamond Sutra and dates back to 868 CE, during the Tang Dynasty.
Thought to be the oldest multi-page book in the world, dating to about 660 BC, the Etruscan Gold Book was discovered 70 years ago whilst digging a canal off the Strouma river in Bulgaria. The book is made from 6 sheets of 24 carat gold, bound together with rings.
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. The entire book is made out of 24 carat gold and consists of six sheets bound together, which have illustrations of a horse-rider, a mermaid, a harp, and soldiers.
The Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist book from Dunhuang, China from around 868 A.D. during the Tang Dynasty, is said to be the oldest known printed book.
Around the 2nd or 3rd century CE, the Romans began to create the first "books". A codex was an ancient book form in which individual sheets of papyrus, parchment, or paper were folded in half and sewn together at the fold. The reader would open the pages to reveal two columns of text that shared a page.
The oldest extant printed book is a work of the Diamond Sutra and dates back to 868 CE, during the Tang Dynasty.
One of the first 'books' can be seen in the creation of ancient scrolls, going as far back as the 4th millennium BCE. These rolled up manuscripts were often made using a Papyrus plant and when unraveled, could be between 14 to 52 feet wide.
Oldest Confirmed Writing: The Kish Tablet
It originates from the Uruk Period which ended around the time that the Bronze Age started. While it isn't a true text, some of the markings show a transition from symbolism to readable cuneiform.
So the oldest Biblical text we found is about 2700 years old. Of course, this is just what we've been able to locate and date. The first Biblical stories were passed down orally and only written down later by various authors. Most Biblical scholars believe the Book of Genesis was the first book to be written down.
A monument in the history of typography, the Gutenberg Bible was the first large-format typographic book printed in Europe. Crafted in Mainz, Germany in 1454/1455 by Johannes Gutenberg and his partner, Johannes Fust, the Gutenberg Bible enjoyed a print run of perhaps as many as 180 copies.
An epic poem concerning or (very) loosely based on the historical King Gilgamesh, who ruled Sumerian Uruk (modern day Iraq) in 2700 BC. This is the oldest written story, period, anywhere, known to exist. The oldest existing versions of this poem date to c 2000 BC, in Sumerian cuneiform.
The earliest portion of the Bible was written over 3,500 years ago. The first five books of the Bible are attributed to Moses and are commonly called the Pentateuch (literally meaning “five scrolls”).
The earliest written literature dates from about 2600 BC (classical Sumerian). The earliest literary author known by name is Enheduanna, a Sumerian priestess and public figure dating to ca. 24th century BC.
The Rigveda, a scripture of Hinduism, is dated 1500 BCE. It is one of the oldest known complete religious texts that has survived into the modern age.
Context. The St Cuthbert Gospel is significant both intrinsically as the earliest surviving European book complete with its original binding and by association with the 7th-century Anglo-Saxon saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne.
Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus, Oxford.
Knowing that versions written in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament does predate the Quran, scholars recognize the borrowing from Persian, Jewish and Christian texts. Muslims believe the Quran to be direct knowledge from an omnipotent God.
Old Testament: The Single Author Theory
That single author was believed to be Moses, the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt and guided them across the Red Sea toward the Promised Land.
Christianity began in the 1st century after the birth of Jesus as a Judaic sect with Hellenistic influence, in the Roman province of Judea. The disciples of Jesus spread their faith around the Eastern Mediterranean area, despite significant persecution.
What is the first language? Sumerian can be considered the first language in the world, according to Mondly. The oldest proof of written Sumerian was found on the Kish tablet in today's Iraq, dating back to approximately 3500 BC.
The oldest recorded god in human history is the Sumerian deity Anu, dating back to around 4000 BCE. Other ancient gods considered to be among the oldest include the Egyptian god Ra, the Babylonian god Marduk, the Hindu god Brahma, and the Greek god Zeus.
That very first text, sent on the 3rd December 1992, simply said, “Merry Christmas.” Neil Papworth who sent the world's first text message on 3 December 1992. One year later in 1993, Nokia introduced an SMS feature with a distinctive 'beep' to signal an incoming message.
The Buddhist text known as the Diamond Sutra is believed to be the oldest surviving printed book in the world. Made in 868 AD and written in Chinese, the text contains a significant dialogue on perception, and is one of the most important sacred works of the Buddhist faith.
The first written language that we know of was archaic cuneiform. It is believed to have appeared around 3400 BC during the early period of ancient Sumerian civilization in the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers in what is now Iraq.