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1st Century

46

Emperor Claudius renovates the Tabularum in Rome. (RJ)

66

Jewish Temple archives set on fire to destroy evidence of the debt owed by Jerusalem's poor. (Josephus, Wars, 2:247). (RJ)

70

Romans succeed in burning the Jewish Temple archives. (RJ)

2nd Century

100

circa - Christians adopt the codex form. (BS)

105

circa - T’sai Lun develops a papermaking process in China. (BS)

100

circa - Axumites of Ethiopia develop a written language known as Ge'ez. (TJ)

3rd Century

250

Paper use spreads to central Asia. (BS)

258

August 6 St. Lawrence the Deacon, one of the patron saints of archivists, is murdered, purportedly by being burned to death on a giant gridiron. His feast day is honored by archivists the world over by the eating of cold cuts (meats), in honor of the method he died. He protected the sacred books of the Church of Rome (probably including baptismal & marriage registers) from being sezied by the pagan Roman authorities. (RJ)

4th Century

300

circa - Codex achieves parity with the roll. (BS)

350

circa - Ge'ez language used to form a body of literature in Axumite civilization. (TJ)

366-384

December 11 According to J.N.D. Kelly, St. Damasus, Pope, organized and rehoused the papal archives. Further, Joseph Tylenda indicates that, during his pontificate, Latin became the principle liturgical language in Rome. St. Damasus also provided housing for the papal archives and commissioned St. Jerome, his secretary, to revise the then-existing Latin translation of the New Testament. (RA)

5th Century

450

Inked seals stamped on paper (a form of printing) in China. (BS)

450

Ge'ez language is given vowels. (TJ)

450

Ge'ez script is taken into the caucasas and forms the basis of several European scripts-Armenian, Georgian, & Argvan. (TJ)

490

circa - Under Ezana II of Axum (region in modern Ethiopia) literature florishes. (TJ)

6th century

525

circa - The Bible is translated into Ge'ez in Axum (region in modern Ethiopia) during the reign of Kaleb. (TJ)

8th Century

794/95

First paper mill established in Baghdad. (BS)

9th century

868

First book printed in China using wood blocks. (BS)

10th Century

900

Writing is developed into a art form of calligraphy in Ethitiopia. (TJ)

940

Greek Linqua Franca is the standard in the Nubian (modern Sudan) Christian Church. (TJ)

950

circa - Papermaking arrived in Cairo. (BS)

950

Apographal books which include the book of Enoch and the Ascension of Isiah are kept alive among the Ethopian Christian church. (TJ)

999

circa - Old Nubian (Medieval Nubian) written in Coptic alphabet. Surving records from Nubia include Canonical Christian texts (pieces of gospel codex-sayings and lives of saints, homily of pseudo-Christian Prayer books), legal documents. (TJ)

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