The Codex Argenteus - The Mystery of the Gothic Silver Bible

Since the invention of printing, books have been readily available and relatively cheap. Since the advent of the Internet, e-books are only a mouse click away. It is hard, therefore, to imagine a time when a book represented something fragile and precious, the loss of which would be incalculable in terms of human knowledge.

Before printing, books existed in manuscript form, each book copied by hand, on papyrus (an early form of paper), parchment (sheepskin), or vellum (calfskin). A manuscript is unique - even a copy of a copy has distinctive features; each page is the product of patient scribal labour. Sometimes, due to the accidents of war, fire and flood, a manuscript is our only link to a particular author or his language.

An example of the importance of such a single manuscript is the Codex Argenteus, the 6th Century Bible said to have been made for Theodoric the Great. Written on vellum dyed imperial purple, the Silver Bible, so-called because of the gold and silver ink (with silver predominating) used for the letters, is one of the oldest sources for the Gothic language in existence today.