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British Museum to showcase world oldest bible

Codex Sinaiticus, image courtesy of the British Library.

The British Museum is set to showcase the world's oldest Bible as part of its exhibition on Egyptian history.

‘Egypt: Faith after the Pharaohs’ will exhibit 200 objects dating back to the period between Egypt’s integration into the Roman Empire in 30 BCE and the fall of the Islamic Fatimid dynasty in 1171. 

One of the highlights of the event is part of the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus. Written in Greek on animal skin by monks on Mount Sinai, the book contains the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. 

"It is without question the most important book in Britain. It is a remarkable chance to see it in the context of the world in which it was made," said British Museum director Neil MacGregor.  

One of the most important books in the world, the codex was bought by Britain from the Soviet government of Joseph Stalin in 1933. Experts believe the book was the work of four scribes living not long after the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great in Greece.

‘Egypt: Faith after the Pharaohs’ will run from October 29, 2015 to February 7, 2017, with the aim of portraying the transition of Egypt from a pharaoh-worshipping society to a majority-Christian and then majority-Muslim society.


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