The Library
1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
401–500
2 works
c. 410–435
Armenian
Mesrop Mashtots, Sahak, and their pupils
Made within a generation of the invention of the Armenian alphabet, and made for that purpose. Begun from Syriac, then revised against Greek manuscripts brought back from Constantinople and Alexandria after Ephesus.
c. 443
Armenian
Koriun
A pupil's account of the man who invented the Armenian alphabet: the years of searching, the vision of a hand writing on stone, the first sentence set down — to know wisdom and instruction — and then the schools, the translations, and an alphabet made for Georgian and Caucasian Albanian as well.
801–900
1 work
begun 863
Old Church Slavonic
Constantine-Cyril and Methodius · Cyril, c. 826 – 869; Methodius, c. 815 – 885
The gospels, the psalter, the epistles, and the liturgy rendered into Slavonic in a purpose-built alphabet, for a mission to Moravia. Frankish clergy objected that God could be worshipped in three languages only; the brothers took the case to Rome and won.
901–1000
2 works
c. 894–906
Old Church Slavonic
Constantine of Preslav
An acrostic prayer whose lines begin with the letters of the Slavonic alphabet in order, and a cycle of fifty-one sermons on the Sunday gospels — the first original preaching composed in a Slavic language rather than translated.
c. 900–920
Old Church Slavonic
Chernorizets Hrabar
A short defence of the Slavic alphabet against Greeks who said only three languages were fit for scripture. The Greeks did not have letters either until Palamedes, he answers, and theirs were made by pagans over centuries, while ours were made at once by a holy man.
5 of 1774 works