History · The material record
Historic artifacts Learn from what survives.
Explore the objects that carry the history of Scripture and Christian life. Look closely, place each object in its setting, and follow the sources to see what it can—and cannot—tell us.
12 artifacts
- ManuscriptsSecond century BCE; approximately 125 BCE
The Great Isaiah Scroll
Judean Desert; Qumran Cave 1
A long Hebrew scroll preserves the whole book of Isaiah from the world of Second Temple Judaism. Its joined sheets, columns, and corrections make an ancient biblical book visible as a physical object made and used by people.
Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem; 1QIsaᵃStudy the artifact - Archaeology14–37 CE
A Silver Denarius of Tiberius
Minted at Lugdunum, Roman Gaul; found in Suffolk, England
This silver coin places the emperor Tiberius on one side and a seated female figure on the other. An ordinary instrument of payment also circulated an image of imperial authority across the Roman world.
British Museum, London; 1988,0917.15Study the artifact - ManuscriptsSecond–third century CE; handwriting date debated
P52: A Fragment of John
Egyptian acquisition history; exact ancient findspot uncertain
Only a few lines survive on either side of this small papyrus fragment, containing parts of John 18. Writing from the same work on both faces identifies it as a leaf from a codex, a book with turning pages.
John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester; Greek P 457Study the artifact - ArchaeologyThird century CE; Christian use before approximately 256 CE
The Dura-Europos Baptistery
Dura-Europos, Roman Syria; present-day eastern Syria
A baptismal space in a third-century Christian building preserves some of the earliest surviving Christian narrative paintings. Images associated with healing, rescue, and shepherding surrounded a font used by a local congregation.
Architectural site in Syria; surviving paintings at Yale University Art GalleryStudy the artifact - ManuscriptsMiddle of the fourth century CE
Codex Sinaiticus
Eastern Mediterranean; exact production site uncertain
This large parchment Bible preserves the complete New Testament alongside substantial portions of the Greek Old Testament. Its surviving pages carry corrections that make repeated reading and copying visible across generations.
British Library; Leipzig University Library; National Library of Russia; Saint Catherine’s MonasteryStudy the artifact - ArtApproximately 500–550 CE
The Antioch ‘Chalice’: A Reconsidered Object
Eastern Mediterranean; reported Syrian provenance
A silver vessel with an openwork vine and seated figures became famous as a supposed Holy Grail. The Met now interprets its form as a standing lamp, making it a case study in how historical identifications change.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; 50.4Study the artifact - ManuscriptsApproximately 820–845 CE
The Utrecht Psalter
Reims or nearby Hautvillers, present-day France
Energetic line drawings accompany the Psalms in this Carolingian manuscript. Rather than merely decorating a book, the images turn poetic language into scenes that invite comparison between reading, prayer, and visual interpretation.
Utrecht University Library, Netherlands; MS 32Study the artifact - Manuscripts966 CE; later binding and annotations
Armenian Gospels Copied by Sargis
Armenian Christian world; precise production location unidentified
A colophon names the priest Sargis as the copyist of this Armenian Gospel book. Its text, portraits, and later annotations preserve a history of community use that extends beyond the manuscript’s original production.
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; W.537Study the artifact - Printed worksApproximately 1454–1455 CE; later bindings
The Gutenberg Bible: Library of Congress Copy
Mainz, present-day Germany
This vellum copy of the Gutenberg Bible joins movable-metal-type printing with hand-finished initials and headings. Its pages reveal a technological transition that retained the appearance and labor of manuscript culture.
Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Otto Vollbehr CollectionStudy the artifact - ManuscriptsFirst half of the sixteenth century CE
An Ethiopian Gospel Book in the Gunda Gunde Style
Gunda Gunde, Tigray, Ethiopia; attribution by style and handwriting
This Ethiopian Gospel book brings together Geʽez text, evangelist portraits, decorated headpieces, and tables connecting parallel Gospel passages. Its bold colors and detailed ornament belong to a distinctive African Christian book culture.
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; W.850Study the artifact - Printed works1808 CE copy; first edition published in 1807
The Censored ‘Select Parts’ Bible at Fisk
Printed in London for use among enslaved Africans in the British Caribbean
This deliberately abridged biblical selection, often called the ‘Slave Bible,’ exposes the use of religious publishing to preserve slavery. Large omissions shaped what enslaved readers were permitted to encounter in the biblical text.
Fisk University Special Collections and Archives, NashvilleStudy the artifact - InscriptionsTwentieth-century rubbing of an inscription dated 781 CE
The Xi’an Christian Stele: A Later Rubbing
China; ancient inscription associated with Tang-era Chang’an, now Xi’an
This paper rubbing records an ancient inscription associated with Christianity in Tang China. The Smithsonian dates the inscription to 781 but the surviving rubbing to the twentieth century: two dates describe two different material witnesses.
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution; F1976.28.1a-cStudy the artifact