The Bible has been one of the most controversial works in history, inspiring many of the world's greatest works of literature and art, but also leading indirectly to warfare and conflict that has claimed millions of lives.  People to this day continue to fight and die over which interpretation of the book is considered the accurate work of God.

Thus it is intriguing that the oldest known Bible is at last going on line for the world to see.  Known as the Codex Sinaiticus, the Bible was handwritten on just over 400 large leaves of animal skin parchment in the fifth century.  The book was discovered in the Sinai desert in Egypt by German scholar Constantine Tischendorf in 1844. 

Constantine Tischendorf took part of the book, a few pages back home with him.  He returned in 1853 and in 1859 and retrieved 694 pages, which he transported to St. Petersburg, Russia.  The Russian government sold the book to England for £100,000 in 1933 -- to raise money to buy tractors and other agricultural equipment.   The pages currently mostly reside in Britain, with some in Russia and Germany still.  Many pages are being restored.

The Bible provides a very different text from modern Bibles.  Noticeably absent are many of the verses supporting the theory of a physical resurrection of Jesus a central component of the dogma of many Christian sects, such as the Catholic and Baptist Churches.  The text does contain some passages, such as part of Luke that refers to a resurrection, though others are noticeably absent. 

In the early Christian church there was debate over whether a resurrection literally occurred, and the view that it did indeed prevailed in most modern Biblical texts.  The resurrection story proved a popular draw to the religion echoing such past myths as story of the death and repair of Egyptian God Osiris and the Roman god Dionysus, who was resurrected and reborn from only a heart after being brutally murdered.

The book also contains Old Testament passages such as 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 1 & 4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach, which are considered apocryphal (of questionable authorship) and not included in most Bibles.  Many other noticeable differences in both the Old and New Testaments exist

Juan Garces, the British Library project curator, says placing the work online will inspire in a modern era.  He states, "The Bible as an inspirational text has a history.  There are certainly theological questions linked to this.  Everybody should be encouraged to investigate for themselves."

The home of the online version can be visited here.