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The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1780 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.

500–401 BC

The Fifth Century BC

1 work

c. 495–399 BC

Aramaic

The Elephantine Papyri

The Jewish garrison at Elephantine

The archive of a Jewish military colony on an island in the Nile: marriage contracts, loans, slave sales, a Passover letter, and a petition to the governor of Judah asking permission to rebuild their temple to Yahu after the priests of Khnum tore it down.

Second Temple Jewish · DocumentsEzraNehemiahJeremiahDeuteronomyRead elsewhere

100–1 BC

The First Century BC

1 work

c. 100–50 BC

Greek

Third Maccabees

Anonymous

Nothing to do with the Maccabees. Ptolemy IV is repelled from the temple by an invisible force, and in revenge herds the Jews of Egypt into the hippodrome to be trampled by five hundred drugged elephants. The plan fails three days running, and the elephants finally turn on his own troops.

Hellenistic Jewish · NarrativeEstherDanielExodusRead elsewhere

1101–1200

The Twelfth Century

1 work

c. 1184

Armenian

The Lawcode

Datastanagirk

Mkhitar Gosh · c. 1130–1213

A code of civil and ecclesiastical law compiled for Armenians living under foreign rulers, so that they might be judged by their own law rather than a stranger's.

Armenian · LawRead elsewhere

1501–1600

The Sixteenth Century

1 work

1512–1513

Armenian

The Urbatagirk and the First Armenian Printing

Hakob Meghapart · 16th century

A book of prayers for healing and protection, printed at Venice — the first book ever printed in Armenian.

Armenian · Prayer bookRead elsewhere