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59-590: The Cologne Mani-Codex ( Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis ) is a tiny parchment codex , dated on paleographical evidence to the fifth century AD, found near Asyut (the ancient Lycopolis) in Egypt. Measuring 4.5 × 3.8 cm, the codex is the smallest ancient book yet discovered. It contains a Greek text describing the life of Mani , the founder of the religion Manichaeism . The codex became known via antique dealers in Cairo. It consisted of four deteriorated lumps of vellum

118-437: A close examination of the physical attributes of a codex, it is sometimes possible to match up long-separated elements originally from the same book. In 13th-century book publishing , due to secularization, stationers or libraires emerged. They would receive commissions for texts, which they would contract out to scribes, illustrators, and binders, to whom they supplied materials. Due to the systematic format used for assembly by

177-971: A literary work (not just a single copy) being published in codex form, though it was likely an isolated case and was not a common practice until a much later time. In his discussion of one of the earliest parchment codices to survive from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, Eric Turner seems to challenge Skeat's notion when stating, "its mere existence is evidence that this book form had a prehistory", and that "early experiments with this book form may well have taken place outside of Egypt." Early codices of parchment or papyrus appear to have been widely used as personal notebooks, for instance in recording copies of letters sent (Cicero Fam. 9.26.1). Early codices were not always cohesive. They often contained multiple languages, various topics and even multiple authors. "Such codices formed libraries in their own right." The parchment notebook pages were "more durable, and could withstand being folded and stitched to other sheets". Parchments whose writing

236-475: A number of times, often twice- a bifolio , sewing, bookbinding , and rebinding. A quire consisted of a number of folded sheets inserting into one another- at least three, but most commonly four bifolia, that is eight sheets and sixteen pages: Latin quaternio or Greek tetradion, which became a synonym for quires. Unless an exemplar (text to be copied) was copied exactly, format differed. In preparation for writing codices, ruling patterns were used that determined

295-400: A scroll, which uses sequential access ). The Romans used precursors made of reusable wax-covered tablets of wood for taking notes and other informal writings. Two ancient polyptychs , a pentaptych and octoptych excavated at Herculaneum , used a unique connecting system that presages later sewing on of thongs or cords. A first evidence of the use of papyrus in codex form comes from

354-752: The Agri Decumates , southwestern Germany ), the Illyricum (modern-day Northern Albania , Montenegro , Bosnia and Herzegovina and the coast of Croatia ), the Macedonian region , Thrace (corresponding to modern-day Southeastern Bulgaria , Northeastern Greece and the European portion of Turkey ), Moesia (roughly corresponding to modern-day Central Serbia , Kosovo , Northern Macedonia , Northern Bulgaria and Romanian Dobrudja ), and Pannonia (corresponding to modern-day Western Hungary ,

413-543: The amatl paper . There are significant codices produced in the colonial era, with pictorial and alphabetic texts in Spanish or an indigenous language such as Nahuatl . In East Asia , the scroll remained standard for far longer than in the Mediterranean world. There were intermediate stages, such as scrolls folded concertina -style and pasted together at the back and books that were printed only on one side of

472-584: The Austrian Länder of Burgenland , Eastern Slovenia and Northern Serbia ). Also included were Dacia (roughly corresponding to modern-day Romania and Moldavia ), Nubia (a region roughly corresponding to the far south of Egypt and modern-day Northern Sudan ), Mauretania (corresponding to modern-day Morocco , Western Algeria and Northern Mauritania ), Arabia Petraea (corresponding to modern-day Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia , Jordan , Southern Syria and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula ), and

531-468: The Heian period (794–1185) were made of paper. The ancient Romans developed the form from wax tablets . The gradual replacement of the scroll by the codex has been called the most important advance in book making before the invention of the printing press . The codex transformed the shape of the book itself, and offered a form that has lasted ever since. The spread of the codex is often associated with

590-655: The Iberian Peninsula , the Anatolian Peninsula (modern-day Turkey ), Gaul (modern-day France ), the Syrian region (modern-day Levantine countries , Central and Northern Syria , Lebanon and Palestine ), Egypt and Roman Africa (corresponding to modern-day Tunisia , Eastern Algeria and Western Libya ). Occupying the periphery of that world were the so-called "Roman Germany" (the modern-day Alpine countries of Austria and Switzerland and

649-526: The Jewish-Christian Elkesaite baptising sect. Mani's teachings are revealed to him through his spiritual companion and celestial twin (his syzygos ). The Greek text bears traces that demonstrate it had been translated from an Eastern Aramaic or Old Syriac original. The logoi of Mani himself are repeatedly cited. That it is a compilation from earlier texts is suggested by the names, apparently of teachers that head each section of

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708-521: The Latin word caudex , meaning "trunk of a tree", "block of wood" or "book". The codex began to replace the scroll almost as soon as it was invented, although new finds add three centuries to its history (see below). In Egypt , by the fifth century, the codex outnumbered the scroll by ten to one based on surviving examples. By the sixth century, the scroll had almost vanished as a medium for literature. The change from rolls to codices roughly coincides with

767-472: The Middle Ages . The scholarly study of these manuscripts is sometimes called codicology . The study of ancient documents in general is called paleography . The codex provided considerable advantages over other book formats, primarily its compactness, sturdiness, economic use of materials by using both sides ( recto and verso ), and ease of reference (a codex accommodates random access , as opposed to

826-458: The Nag Hammadi library , hidden about AD 390, all texts (Gnostic) are codices. Despite this comparison, a fragment of a non-Christian parchment codex of Demosthenes ' De Falsa Legatione from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt demonstrates that the surviving evidence is insufficient to conclude whether Christians played a major or central role in the development of early codices—or if they simply adopted

885-883: The Parthenon and the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, and the Erechtheum , next to the Parthenon, is Ionic. By AD 211, with Caracalla 's edict known as the Constitutio Antoniniana , and although one of the edict's main purposes was to increase tax revenue, all of the empire's free men became citizens with all the rights this entailed. As a result, even after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire ,

944-677: The Ptolemaic period in Egypt, as a find at the University of Graz shows. Julius Caesar may have been the first Roman to reduce scrolls to bound pages in the form of a note-book, possibly even as a papyrus codex. At the turn of the 1st century AD, a kind of folded parchment notebook called pugillares membranei in Latin became commonly used for writing in the Roman Empire . Theodore Cressy Skeat theorized that this form of notebook

1003-602: The Res Gestae , exemplifies the official recognition of the dual vehicles for the common culture. The familiarity of figures from Roman legend and history in the Parallel Lives by Plutarch is one example of the extent to which " universal history " was then synonymous with the accomplishments of famous Latins and Hellenes . Most educated Romans were likely bilingual in Greek and Latin. Graeco-Roman architecture in

1062-402: The incipit , before the concept of a proper title developed in medieval times. Though most early codices were made of papyrus, the material was fragile and supplied from Egypt, the only place where papyrus grew. The more durable parchment and vellum gained favor, despite the cost. The codices of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America) had a similar appearance when closed to

1121-617: The late Middle Ages ] were written in gold and silver ink on parchment...dyed or painted with costly purple pigments as an expression of imperial power and wealth." As early as the early 2nd century, there is evidence that a codex—usually of papyrus—was the preferred format among Christians . In the library of the Villa of the Papyri , Herculaneum (buried in AD 79), all the texts (of Greek literature) are scrolls (see Herculaneum papyri ). However, in

1180-403: The libraire , the structure can be used to reconstruct the original order of a manuscript. However, complications can arise in the study of a codex. Manuscripts were frequently rebound, and this resulted in a particular codex incorporating works of different dates and origins, thus different internal structures. Additionally, a binder could alter or unify these structures to ensure a better fit for

1239-408: The 21st century. How manufacturing influenced the final products, technique, and style, is little understood. However, changes in style are underpinned more by variation in technique. Before the 14th and 15th centuries, paper was expensive, and its use may mark off the deluxe copy. The structure of a codex includes its size, format/ ordinatio (its quires or gatherings), consisting of sheets folded

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1298-645: The Byzantine Empire (the Eastern Roman Empire) fell to the Turks led by Mehmed II in 1453. There is a perception that these events led to the predecessor of Greek nationalism through the Ottoman era and even into modern times. Greco-Roman mythology , sometimes called classical mythology , is the result of the syncretism between Roman and Greek myths, spanning the period of Great Greece at

1357-474: The European codex, but were instead made with long folded strips of either fig bark ( amatl ) or plant fibers, often with a layer of whitewash applied before writing. New World codices were written as late as the 16th century (see Maya codices and Aztec codices ). Those written before the Spanish conquests seem all to have been single long sheets folded concertina -style, sometimes written on both sides of

1416-597: The Persian emperor Darius III and conquest of the Persian empire , or the later Roman generals' difficulties with the Persian armies, such as Pompey the Great , and of Marcus Licinius Crassus (conqueror of the slave general Spartacus ), who was defeated in the field by a Persian force and was beheaded by them. In the schools of art , philosophy , and rhetoric , the foundations of education were transmitted throughout

1475-531: The Roman world followed the principles and style that had been established by ancient Greece. That era's most representative building was the temple. Other prominent structures that represented that style included government buildings like the Roman Senate . The three primary styles of column design used in temples in classical Greece were Doric , Ionic , and Corinthian . Some examples of Doric architecture are

1534-599: The Tauric Chersonesus (modern-day Crimea and the coast of Ukraine ). The Greco-Roman world had another "world" or empire to its east, the Persians, with which there was constant interaction: Xenophon 's Anabasis (the ' March Upcountry ' ), the Greco-Persian wars , the famous battles of Marathon and Salamis , the Greek tragedy The Persians by Aeschylus , Alexander the Great 's defeat of

1593-534: The Western world, the main alternative to the paged codex format for a long document was the continuous scroll , which was the dominant form of document in the ancient world . Some codices are continuously folded like a concertina , in particular the Maya codices and Aztec codices, which are actually long sheets of paper or animal skin folded into pages. In Japan, concertina-style codices called orihon developed during

1652-437: The codex is very different to that of producing and attaching the case. The first stage in creating a codex is to prepare the animal skin. The skin is washed with water and lime but not together. The skin is soaked in the lime for a couple of days. The hair is removed, and the skin is dried by attaching it to a frame, called a herse. The parchment maker attaches the skin at points around the circumference. The skin attaches to

1711-482: The copying occurred. The layout (size of the margin and the number of lines) is determined. There may be textual articulations, running heads , openings, chapters , and paragraphs . Space was reserved for illustrations and decorated guide letters. The apparatus of books for scholars became more elaborate during the 13th and 14th centuries when chapter, verse, page numbering , marginalia finding guides, indexes , glossaries , and tables of contents were developed. By

1770-434: The experiments of earlier centuries, scrolls were sometimes unrolled horizontally, as a succession of columns. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a famous example of this format, and it is the standard format for Jewish Torah scrolls made to this day for ritual use. This made it possible to fold the scroll as an accordion. The next evolutionary step was to cut the folios and sew and glue them at their centers, making it easier to use

1829-466: The flesh side. This was not the same style used in the British Isles, where the membrane was folded so that it turned out an eight-leaf quire, with single leaves in the third and sixth positions. The next stage was tacking the quire. Tacking is when the scribe would hold together the leaves in quire with thread. Once threaded together, the scribe would then sew a line of parchment up the "spine" of

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1888-586: The following decade, and it was found that some of the minute fragments associated with the codex could be successfully incorporated into the body of text. A second edition was published in 1988. Two symposia have been devoted to the codex, and their papers published: in Rende (Calabria) (1984) and in Cosenza (1988). The text, which bears the ambiguous title On the Origin of His Body , recounts Mani's introduction to

1947-426: The form (as opposed to the scroll), as well as the convenience with which such a book can be read on a journey. In another poem by Martial, the poet advertises a new edition of his works, specifically noting that it is produced as a codex, taking less space than a scroll and being more comfortable to hold in one hand. According to Theodore Cressy Skeat , this might be the first recorded known case of an entire edition of

2006-499: The format to distinguish themselves from Jews . The earliest surviving fragments from codices come from Egypt, and are variously dated (always tentatively) towards the end of the 1st century or in the first half of the 2nd. This group includes the Rylands Library Papyrus P52 , containing part of St John's Gospel, and perhaps dating from between 125 and 160. In Western culture , the codex gradually replaced

2065-419: The herse by cords. To prevent it from being torn, the maker wraps the area of the skin attached to the cord around a pebble called a pippin. After completing that, the maker uses a crescent shaped knife called a lunarium or lunellum to remove any remaining hairs. Once the skin completely dries, the maker gives it a deep clean and processes it into sheets. The number of sheets from a piece of skin depends on

2124-598: The lands of Greek and Roman rule. Within its educated class, spanning all of the "Greco-Roman" eras, the testimony of literary borrowings and influences are overwhelming proofs of a mantle of mutual knowledge. For example, several hundred papyrus volumes found in a Roman villa at Herculaneum are in Greek. The lives of Cicero and Julius Caesar are examples of Romans who frequented schools in Greece. The installation, both in Greek and Latin , of Augustus 's monumental eulogy,

2183-614: The language, culture, government and religion of the Greeks and Romans . A better-known term is classical antiquity . In exact terms the area refers to the "Mediterranean world" , the extensive tracts of land centered on the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins, the "swimming pool and spa" of the Greeks and the Romans, in which those peoples' cultural perceptions, ideas, and sensitivities became dominant in classical antiquity . That process

2242-534: The languages of the urban and cosmopolitan elites and the Empire's lingua franca for those who lived within the large territories and populations outside the Macedonian settlements and the Roman colonies . All Roman citizens of note and accomplishment, regardless of their ethnic extractions, spoke and wrote in Greek or Latin. Examples include the Roman jurist and imperial chancellor Ulpian of Phoenician origin;

2301-401: The layout of each page. Holes were prickled with a spiked lead wheel and a circle. Ruling was then applied separately on each page or once through the top folio. Ownership markings, decorations, and illumination are also a part of it. They are specific to the scriptoria , or any production center, and libraries of codices. Watermarks may provide, although often approximate, dates for when

2360-680: The manuscript to protect the tacking. The materials codices are made with are their support, and include papyrus, parchment (sometimes referred to as membrane or vellum), and paper. They are written and drawn on with metals, pigments , and ink . The quality, size, and choice of support determine the status of a codex. Papyrus is found only in late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages . Codices intended for display were bound with more durable materials than vellum. Parchment varied widely due to animal species and finish, and identification of animals used to make it has only begun to be studied in

2419-634: The mathematician and geographer Claudius Ptolemy of Greco-Egyptian ethnicity; and the theologian Augustine of Berber origin. Note too the historian Josephus Flavius , who was of Jewish origin but spoke and wrote in Greek. Based on the above definition, the "cores" of the Greco-Roman world can be confidently stated to have been the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea , specifically the Italian Peninsula , Greece , Cyprus ,

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2478-521: The membrane, whether they are from the original animal, human error during the preparation period, or from when the animal was killed. Defects can also appear during the writing process. Unless the manuscript is kept in perfect condition, defects can also appear later in its life. Firstly, the membrane must be prepared. The first step is to set up the quires. The quire is a group of several sheets put together. Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham point out, in "Introduction to Manuscript Studies", that "the quire

2537-400: The new binding. Completed quires or books of quires might constitute independent book units- booklets, which could be returned to the stationer, or combined with other texts to make anthologies or miscellanies. Exemplars were sometimes divided into quires for simultaneous copying and loaned out to students for study. To facilitate this, catchwords were used- a word at the end of a page providing

2596-495: The next page's first word. Greco-Roman world The Greco-Roman civilization ( / ˌ ɡ r iː k oʊ ˈ r oʊ m ən , ˌ ɡ r ɛ k oʊ -/ ; also Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture ; spelled Graeco-Roman in British English ), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were directly and intimately influenced by

2655-551: The paper. This replaced traditional Chinese writing mediums such as bamboo and wooden slips , as well as silk and paper scrolls. The evolution of the codex in China began with folded-leaf pamphlets in the 9th century, during the late Tang dynasty (618–907), improved by the 'butterfly' bindings of the Song dynasty (960–1279), the wrapped back binding of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368),

2714-422: The papyrus or vellum recto-verso as with a modern book. Traditional bookbinders would call one of these assembled, trimmed and bound folios (that is, the "pages" of the book as a whole, comprising the front matter and contents) a codex in contradistinction to the cover or case, producing the format of book now colloquially known as a hardcover . In the hardcover bookbinding process, the procedure of binding

2773-474: The people who remained within the lands (including Byzantium) that the empire comprised continued to call themselves Rhomaioi . ( Hellenes had been referring to pagan, or non-Christian, Greeks until the Fourth Crusade .) Through attrition of Byzantine territory in the preceding 400 or so years from perceived friends and foes alike (Crusaders, Ottoman Turks, and others), Constantinople, the capital of

2832-513: The rise of Christianity , which early on adopted the format for the Bible . First described in the 1st century of the Common Era, when the Roman poet Martial praised its convenient use, the codex achieved numerical parity with the scroll around 300 CE, and had completely replaced it throughout what was by then a Christianized Greco-Roman world by the 6th century. The word codex comes from

2891-640: The scroll. Between the 4th century, when the codex gained wide acceptance, and the Carolingian Renaissance in the 8th century, many works that were not converted from scroll to codex were lost. The codex improved on the scroll in several ways. It could be opened flat at any page for easier reading, pages could be written on both front and back ( recto and verso ), and the protection of durable covers made it more compact and easier to transport. The ancients stored codices with spines facing inward, and not always vertically. The spine could be used for

2950-696: The size of a palm, and was in very poor condition. It was purchased for the Institut für Altertumskunde at the University of Cologne in 1969, and two of its scientists, Albert Henrichs  [ de ] and Ludwig Koenen , produced a first report (1970) and the first edition of this ancient manuscript, hence known as the Cologne Mani-Codex, which they published in four articles in the Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik (1975–82). Many emendations and alternate readings were offered in

3009-424: The size of the skin and the final product dimensions. For example, the average calfskin can provide three-and-a-half medium sheets of writing material, which can be doubled when they are folded into two conjoint leaves, also known as a bifolium . Historians have found evidence of manuscripts in which the scribe wrote down the medieval instructions now followed by modern membrane makers. Defects can often be found in

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3068-526: The stitched binding of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing dynasties (1644–1912), and finally the adoption of Western-style bookbinding in the 20th century. The initial phase of this evolution, the accordion-folded palm-leaf-style book, most likely came from India and was introduced to China via Buddhist missionaries and scriptures . Judaism still retains the Torah scroll , at least for ceremonial use. Among

3127-526: The text was entered and with vertical bounding lines that marked the boundaries of the columns. From the Carolingian period to the end of the Middle Ages, different styles of folding the quire came about. For example, in continental Europe throughout the Middle Ages, the quire was put into a system in which each side folded on to the same style. The hair side met the hair side and the flesh side to

3186-605: The text. Codex By convention, the term is also used for any Aztec codex (although the earlier examples do not actually use the codex format), Maya codices and other pre-Columbian manuscripts. Library practices have led to many European manuscripts having "codex" as part of their usual name, as with the Codex Gigas , while most do not. Modern books are divided into paperback (or softback) and those bound with stiff boards, called hardbacks . Elaborate historical bindings are called treasure bindings . At least in

3245-447: The transition from papyrus to parchment as the preferred writing material, but the two developments are unconnected. In fact, any combination of codices and scrolls with papyrus and parchment is technically feasible and common in the historical record. Technically, even modern notebooks and paperbacks are codices, but publishers and scholars reserve the term for manuscript (hand-written) books produced from late antiquity until

3304-578: Was aided by the universal adoption of Greek as the language of intellectual culture and commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean and of Latin as the language of public administration and of forensic advocacy , especially in the Western Mediterranean. Greek and Latin were never the native languages of many or most of the rural peasants, who formed the great majority of the Roman Empire 's population. However, they became

3363-585: Was invented in Rome and then spread rapidly to the Near East. Codices are described in certain works by the Classical Latin poet, Martial . He wrote a series of five couplets meant to accompany gifts of literature that Romans exchanged during the festival of Saturnalia . Three of these books are specifically described by Martial as being in the form of a codex; the poet praises the compendiousness of

3422-504: Was no longer needed were commonly washed or scraped for re-use, creating a palimpsest ; the erased text, which can often be recovered, is older and usually more interesting than the newer text which replaced it. Consequently, writings in a codex were often considered informal and impermanent. Parchment (animal skin) was expensive, and therefore it was used primarily by the wealthy and powerful, who were also able to pay for textual design and color. "Official documents and deluxe manuscripts [in

3481-413: Was the scribe's basic writing unit throughout the Middle Ages": Pricking is the process of making holes in a sheet of parchment (or membrane) in preparation of it ruling. The lines were then made by ruling between the prick marks.... The process of entering ruled lines on the page to serve as a guide for entering text. Most manuscripts were ruled with horizontal lines that served as the baselines on which

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