Codex
book with handwritten content
A codex (plural codices) is a book-like object with writing on it.[1] On a codex there are separate pages bound together at one edge, whereas a scroll is one continuous long document. The term is used for book-type objects written by hand, and includes books written on vellum or parchment.
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Devil_codex_Gigas.jpg/220px-Devil_codex_Gigas.jpg)
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Scroll.jpg/220px-Scroll.jpg)
The codex transformed the shape of the book itself. As an object, books can last for centuries, and many codices are in the great modern libraries.[2] The codex was first described by the 1st-century AD Roman poet Martial, who praised it. The codex was as common as scrolls by about AD 300.[3] It had completely replaced scrolls in the Greco-Roman world by the 6th century.[4]
Related pages
changeReferences
change- ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed: Codex: "a manuscript volume".
- ↑ Lyons M. 2011. Books: a living history. London: Thames & Hudson, 8.
- ↑ "Codex" in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991, 473. ISBN 0195046528
- ↑ Roberts, Colin H. & Skeat T.C. 1983. The birth of the Codex. London: British Academy. pp. 15–22; 75. ISBN 0-19-726061-6