2006-06-29 08:39:12 · 8 answers · asked by enlight100 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The Upanishads?
2006-06-29 08:42:41 · answer #1 · answered by truebeliever_777 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You need to be more exact. Books are a fairly new concept. Before the book, as we know it (bound pages), There was scrolls. Before scrolls there was tablets... And even before Tablets they wrote on jars prior to baking them.
The earliest known writing was of course a bill of sales. Its all about the taxes. Around 4100-3800 BCE
Things later got more complicated with the Phoenician (spelling). they had language (they traded a lot) so written language was important.
Because clay tablets survive but paper doesn't. There aren't any very old books left. Books were copied and re-copied and re-copied when by monks. Of course this lead to errors (both on purpose and just from honest mistakes).
The Dead Sea Scrolls are believed to be the oldest surviving documents on paper, because they were lost and stored in dry and air tight containers. But even they are extremely damaged.
2006-06-29 15:51:30 · answer #2 · answered by escapefromspringfield 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think Job is the oldest known book of the Bible, but I'm not sure it is the oldest book known to mankind.
2006-06-29 15:45:21 · answer #3 · answered by Red-dog-luke 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The oldest book printed by machine was a copy of the Bible. As for the oldest book in general, I have no idea.
2006-06-29 15:43:19 · answer #4 · answered by x 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Other than the cave paintings found somewhere in France [I think?], I believe it's the Sumerian cuneiform etched in stone. These were thought to be the precursor of the Egyptian heiroglyphics... the same ones that Moses was educated on as he grew up with the Pharaoh's sister.
Peace be with you!
2006-06-29 16:05:36 · answer #5 · answered by Arf Bee 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They found some tablets a while back written in sandscrit near the euphrates river that are about 20,000 years old.
2006-06-29 15:43:23 · answer #6 · answered by judy_r8 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Rig Veda is old but the tablets of Mesopotamia could be older...
2006-07-05 13:39:21 · answer #7 · answered by Da Bangalore Torpedo, Gopal 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Isn't it the Iliyad?
2006-06-29 15:42:42 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋