{"id":24243,"date":"2023-04-25T22:32:21","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T20:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=24243"},"modified":"2023-04-25T22:32:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T20:32:21","slug":"what-is-the-oldest-dated-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/2023\/04\/25\/what-is-the-oldest-dated-book\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the oldest dated book?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Q&A<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

What is the oldest dated book?<\/h2>\n\n
\"\"
MAGNIFICENT MANUSCRIPT <\/strong>The frontispiece of the British Library\u2019s Diamond Sutra shows the historical Buddha addressing his elderly disciple, Subh\u016bti <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\u2022 <\/span>SHORT ANSWER<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

A 1,150-year-old copy of the Diamond Sutra <\/em>is our shining example <\/p>\n\n

\u2022 <\/span>LONG ANSWER<\/span> <\/h5>\n\n

In 1900, tens of thousands of preserved ancient manuscripts were discovered in the Mogoa Caves, or the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas, in northwest China. Among them was a copy of a text known as the <\/span>Diamond Sutra <\/em>(so named because its teachings would apparently cut through pre-existing perspectives like a diamond), printed using woodblocks on a five-metre scroll and containing lessons from the historical Buddha.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

What made the copy significant was a line declaring that it had been printed on \u201cthe 13th of the fourth moon of the ninth year of Xiantong\u201d, or 11 May AD 868, making it the oldest book in the world with a definite date. The copy found its way into the hands of the Hungarian-born archaeologist Aurel Stein before being obtained by the British Library. <\/p>\n\n

GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q&A What is the oldest dated book? \u2022 SHORT ANSWER A 1,150-year-old copy of the Diamond Sutra is our shining example \u2022 LONG ANSWER In 1900, tens of thousands of preserved ancient manuscripts were discovered in the Mogoa Caves, or the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas, in northwest China. Among them was a copy of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":24583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"68","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"68","purple_seq_number":"2","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"2","purple_source_article":"article_68-2.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_68-2.xml","purple_source_issue":"May-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"May-2023","purple_external_id":"May-2023-68-2","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"May-2023-68-2","purple_issue_code":"|0000090409||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000090409||","purple_android_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.120","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.120","purple_ios_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.120","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.120","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"a2288b80-d22c-492c-8b11-acb0804789ee","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\""},"categories":[18],"tags":[55],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2023\/04\/GettyImages_500839913-e1680782438789.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2023\/04\/GettyImages_500839913-e1680782438789.jpg",1490,1000,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2023\/04\/GettyImages_500839913-e1680782438789-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2023\/04\/GettyImages_500839913-e1680782438789-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2023\/04\/GettyImages_500839913-e1680782438789-768x515.jpg",768,515,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2023\/04\/GettyImages_500839913-e1680782438789-1024x687.jpg",800,537,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2023\/04\/GettyImages_500839913-1536x1034.jpg",1536,1034,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2023\/04\/GettyImages_500839913-e1680782438789.jpg",1490,1000,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Q&A What is the oldest dated book? \u2022 SHORT ANSWER A 1,150-year-old copy of the Diamond Sutra is our shining example \u2022 LONG ANSWER In 1900, tens of thousands of preserved ancient manuscripts were discovered in the Mogoa Caves, or the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas, in northwest China. Among them was a copy of…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24243"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24655,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24243\/revisions\/24655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}