The History of the Bible, Animated | National Geographic

Along the shores of the Dead Sea, three Bedouin shepherds were tending their flocks when one of their goats strayed from the herd. Thinking it had wandered into a cave, one of them threw a stone to scare the animal out. The unexpected sound sparked their curiosity, and inside, the young shepherds uncovered clay jars that contained one of the greatest archeological discoveries of the 20th century: the oldest biblical texts ever found, the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The scrolls were handwritten some 2,000 years ago on durable animal skin, with a few written on papyrus. They were mostly composed in Hebrew from right to left, with sheets written in columns then sewn together, creating a single scroll for safekeeping. Some of them would be wrapped in linen and encapsulated in tall jars. The scroll was eventually replaced by the Codex as the format for Christian manuscripts. They were made by folding sheets of papyrus and stitching them together.

As time passed, courtesies began to grow larger and more complex. During the medieval period, books were reproduced by hand. Monks spent their days copying text in Latin and Greek while others illustrated the pages. It was a grueling process that required great skill and training. The books were very expensive to illuminate; the text was created using various pigments and goldleaf, and the pages could require the hides of hundreds of sheep or calves.

But it was the introduction of the printing press that transitioned the Bible in the Middle Ages into the early modern world. This invention revolutionized book production, ultimately making the Bible available to the masses. Today, it is the best-selling book of all time. Inside its pages, you can find the stories of the creation of the world, Noah's Ark in the flood, Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, the construction of Solomon's Temple, the birth of Jesus, his crucifixion, and resurrection, the Holy Spirit coming to the Apostles, and many more.

Large portions of these biblical stories are represented in 400 of the oldest manuscripts studied so far. Although a few are complete, most are either incomplete or fragments. Today, the search for more manuscripts continues. What other treasures, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, are yet to be found?