Google Digitizes Ten Commandments, Book of Genesis

Googlers can now read the Ten Commandments in its original script, assuming you can understand ancient Hebrew.

In collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority, Google has launched the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, an online collection of 5,000 images of scroll fragments, at what Google boasted is a "quality never seen before."

The texts include one of the earliest known copies of Deuteronomy, which contains the Ten Commandments, part of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, and hundreds of more 2,000-year-old texts, "shedding light on the time when Jesus lived and preached, and on the history of Judaism," Google said.

"Millions of users and scholars can discover and decipher details invisible to the naked eye, at 1215 dpi resolution," Eyal Miller, principle of Google's new business development, and Yossi Matias, head of the Israel research and development center, wrote in a blog post. "The site displays infrared and color images that are equal in quality to the Scrolls themselves."

A database containing information for 900 manuscripts, as well as interactive content pages, are available now in the new digital library. The project is hosted on the Google Storage and App Engine, and utilizes Maps, YouTube, and Google image technology.

"This partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority is part of our ongoing work to bring important cultural and historical materials online, to make them accessible and help preserve them for future generations," the Google team said.

Other similar projects include the Yad Vashem Holocaust photo collection, the Google Art Project, World Wonders, and the Google Cultural Institute.

Google published a set of Dead Sea Scrolls on the Web in Sept. 2011, offering searchable, high-resolution images of the Book of Isaiah, the Temple Scroll, and three others, accompanied by informative videos, background information, and historical data.

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Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413358,00.asp?kc=PCRSS05079TX1K0000993

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