Funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council has succeeded in reuniting virtually more than 800 pages and fragments from the world’s oldest surviving Christian bible, Codex Sinaiticus.
A remarkable collaboration between scholars at institutions in the UK, Germany, Egypt, and Russia means for the first time people all around the world will be able to explore high resolution digital images of all the extant pages of the fourth-century book. Codex Sinaiticus. was written in Greek on parchment leaves by several scribes and had its text revised and corrected over the course of the following centuries.
The virtual reunification of Codex Sinaiticus is the culmination of a four-year collaboration between the British Library, Leipzig University Library, the Monastery of St Catherine (Mount Sinai, Egypt), and the National Library of Russia (St Petersburg), each of which hold different parts of the physical manuscript.
Professor David Parker from the University of Birmingham’s Department of Theology, who directed the team funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which made the electronic transcription of the manuscript said: “The process of deciphering and transcribing the fragile pages of an ancient text containing over 650,000 words is a huge challenge, which has taken nearly four years. This project has made a wonderful book accessible to a global audience.”
To mark the online launch of the reunited Codex, the British Library is staging an exhibition, From Parchment to Pixel: The Virtual reunification of Codex Sinaiticus, which runs from Monday 6 July until Monday 7 September, 2009 in the Folio Society Gallery at the Library’s St Pancras site. Visitors will be able to view a range of historic items and artefacts that tell the story of the Codex and its virtual reunification. In addition they will see, on display in the Treasures Gallery, both volumes of Codex Sinaiticus held at the British Library.
See: www.codexsinaiticus.org
AHRC Media contact: Emi Spinner, Communications Officer, 0117 9876 770
Notes to Editors:
Arts & Humanities Research Council: Each year the AHRC provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.
Codex Sinaiticus is the world's oldest Bible and the most important Biblical manuscript. It was written by hand in the mid-fourth century around the time of Constantine the Great. Though it originally contained the whole of the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha in Greek, half of the Old Testament has since been lost. The surviving manuscript concludes with two early Christian texts, an epistle ascribed to the Apostle Barnabas and ‘The Shepherd’ by Hermas.
Codex Sinaiticus is named after the Monastery of St Catherine in Sinai, Egypt. St Catherine's is one of the oldest, continuously active, Christian monastic communities in the world and traces its origins back to the fourth century.
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages www.bl.uk
St Catherine's Monastery, Sinai. Built at the foot of Mount Moses, Sinai, St Catherine's Monastery was constructed by order of the Emperor Justinian between 527 and 565. It is built on the traditional site of Moses' Burning Bush. The Monastery was built to house the bones of the Christian martyr St Catherine. It is one of the oldest continually-working monasteries in the world, a Greek Orthodox holy place connected with the Prophet Moses and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
Leipzig University Library. The University Library of Leipzig was established in 1543 and is one of the oldest German University libraries. It serves as a literature and information supplier for the University of Leipzig as well as for the general public of Leipzig and the region. The precious and extensive historical and special collections give the University Library a high national and international reputation. The collections range from important medieval and modern manuscripts to incunabula, papyri, autographs, ostraka and coins. The current stock comprises 5 million volumes and about 7,700 periodicals.
National Library of Russia, in St Petersburg, is one of the world's largest libraries, holding nearly 33 million items, of which 6 million are in foreign languages. It possesses the most complete collection of publications in Russian. Its staff perform intensive research, mount exhibitions and conduct conferences as well as serving visitors in the reading rooms. It also operates an electronic document supply service, allowing users around the world to receive electronic copies of material from its collections.
The Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the University of Birmingham is at the cutting edge of research developing digital tools and editions. Its staff are involved in editions of many of the world’s great works, including the New Testament, The Canterbury Tales, Dante’s Divine Comedy and Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. See www.itsee.bham.ac.uk
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