The sacred meets Indiana Jones in the Sackler Gallery’s exhibit “In the Beginning: Bibles before the Year 1000.” Some of the artifacts were bought years ago in hazy back-street deals in Cairo or Ethiopia. Some were found in long-forgotten rooms in the ancient Holy Monastery of St. Catherine, nestled at the foot of Mt. Sinai. A Bedouin shepherd famously discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls squirreled away in a cave in the desert. A sixth century text of 2nd Kings peeks out from behind ninth century poetry in an example of ancient recycling. The eighth century Middleton Leaves were found in the library of a musty English castle because they were used to wrap sixteenth century papers. The thrill of discovery permeates the collection. The gallery, one of the Smithsonian Museums on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., has put together the most comprehensive compilation of early Biblical texts ever displayed in the United States. In a respectful presentation, the exhibit tracks the evolution of the Bible from an assortment of circulating, hand-written pamphlets to the formalized sacred text so many hold dear today.

The first room holds ancient Hebrew copies of the Old Testament, including one of the Isaiah scrolls from the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, dating from before 73 A.D. Other pieces date from the sixth or seventh century. Written mainly on scrolls, these are some of the oldest Hebrew Scriptures known. They form the basis for the modern Tanak — Jewish Scripture — as well as the Old Testament of Christianity. One beautiful example demonstrates the art of micrography, building pictures out of tiny script to avoid the idolatry of creating images outright.

The second room contains humble codices, small and simple books, which were circulated and used among the early church. Some contained one Gospel, or a single letter from St. Paul. Many early congregations possessed only part of what we consider the New Testament, perhaps a single Gospel or a few epistles. One can picture the excitement when a congregation received a new book, the care taken to copy it correctly, and the desire to know its history and whether it was genuine. Especially moving are three quarter-sized fragments of the Gospel of Matthew dated to 200 A.D., and as early as 100 A.D. by some. These fragments, once thought to be from an original version of the apostle’s eyewitness account of the life of Christ, can only be steps away from Matthew himself.

Gradually, the various books were gathered in logical groupings, e.g., the Four Gospels or the catholic (intended for all churches) letters. The displayed Freer Gospels (fourth or fifth century) are some of the earliest groupings of all four gospels in one book, and are accompanied by a later wooden binding decorated with images of the four Gospel writers. Not many of these early codices exist; in 303, the Emperor Diocletian recognized the importance of the emerging scriptures to the church he was trying to suppress and commanded all Christian writings be destroyed.

As the church grew geographically from its roots in Israel and Rome, and chronologically from the days of the Apostles, there was a need to separate the books considered trustworthy from those less valuable. The exhibit shows some of the books left out of the canon, such as a Gnostic text known as the Codex Bruce. It also highlights lists that were kept by various church leaders in diverse places as to which books were considered trustworthy — lists that, for the most part, confirm each other. By the end of the fifth century, the canon of the Bible was considered closed.

One of the most spectacular items on display is a leaf from the Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest known complete Christian Bible, dating from the fourth century. Found at the St. Catherine Monastery at Mt. Sinai, the page on display shows signs of a former leather tab that would allow a pilgrim quickly to find the passage in Exodus in which Moses strikes a rock at Mt. Sinai with his staff and water flows from it. Like pilgrims today, travelers through the Holy Land in the first millennium would meditate on the passages that are believed to have happened at the place they were visiting. Indeed, a Spanish nun, traveling to Sinai in the fourth century, recorded in her journal just such an experience.

Everywhere early missionaries went, they carried copies of the Bible with them. The exhibit highlights the passion of early missionaries to translate the Gospel into local languages, often creating written characters for languages that had been purely oral. St. Cyril created what would become the Cyrillic alphabet in his mission to Slavic peoples. Some of these early translations are in the form of dual texts, the original Greek on one side and the new language on the other. Similar Bibles are available today, with Greek on one side and English on the other. This speaks to the desire of the ancients both to study the Word in its original language and to ensure the accuracy of translations. Indeed, the Syhrohexapla Exodus (a copy of Exodus) contains a detailed account of the manuscripts the scholar consulted, in 697, to create his translation. St. Jerome, beginning around 382, also poured over all available manuscripts to create his work, the Vulgate. This version was a scholarly work to correct prior errors and translate into the common, or vulgar, language of Latin. A later copy of his work is on display. Even the Codex Sinaiticus shows heavy correction from the time of its creation and later correction when manuscripts became available for reference.

In later centuries, the books became more ornate. The Codex Brixianus, a purple manuscript, is written in gold on pages of expensive purple-dyed velum. Its commissioner, Emperor Theodoric, felt that the Word of God should receive as grand a treatment as the emperor. Similar bibles demonstrate all manner of luxury: grand illustrations of the stories, pages infused with gold dust, shimmering gold leaf on the pages, and ornate carved ivory covers. One gold-laden book was plundered by the Vikings, and subsequently ransomed. Not everyone appreciated these elaborate bibles. St. Jerome called them “written burdens rather than books.” The church walks the same tightrope today, balancing the desire for simple, functional buildings against the desire to glorify God with beautiful and grand structures.

“In the Beginning” appeals to a wide range of people. Anyone with interest in the Christian Bible or Jewish Scripture will be edified. Those fascinated by history will be mesmerized by the way the drive to spread the Bible around the world impacted art, language, and kingdoms. The Bible was instrumental in the very transition from scroll to book. The exhibit offers scholars a chance to witness famous and extremely rare artifacts they have studied, to this point, only in books. It offers the novice the chance to stand in awe before the very pen strokes of ancient scribes. For anyone with a hint of historical interest, it’s worth a visit. For anyone who believes the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, it’s worth a pilgrimage.

In the Beginning: Bibles Before the Year 1000 is on display at the Sackler Gallery until January 7, 2007. The Sackler Gallery is the only location for the exhibit.

— Rebecca Cusey writes from Washington, D.C.