The Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican Library) - among the greatest in the world- have joined efforts in a landmark digitization project with the aim of opening up their repositories of ancient texts. The project focuses on Greek manuscripts, among others, chosen for their “scholarly importance and for the strength of their collections in both libraries.”

It is noteworthy that the Vatican Library’s collection of Greek manuscripts is of exceptional importance, including immensely valuable works by Homer, Sophocles, Plato and Hippocrates, as well as manuscripts of the New Testament and of the Church Fathers, many of them richly decorated with Byzantine miniatures. Furthermore by the end of the 17th century, the Bodleian was already established as the most important repository of Greek manuscripts in the British Isles, whereas among the Bodleian's treasures is MS. Laud Gr. 35, a manuscript of the Acts of the Apostles from around 600 AD.

See also: Leonard Polonsky on the importance of ancient texts [video]