| AUTHOR | BOOK | DATE WRITTEN | TIME GAP to Earliest Copies | NUMBER OF COPIES |
| Homer | Iliad | 800 BC | 400 years | 643 |
| Heroditus | History | 480-425 BC | 1,350 years | 8 |
| Thucydides | History | 460-400 BC | 1,300 years | 8 |
| Plato | Philosophy | 400 BC | 1,300 years | 7 |
| Julius Caesar | Gallic Wars | 100-44 BC | 1,000 years | 10 |
| Tacitus | Annals | AD 100 | 1,000 years | 20 |
| Pliny Secundus | Nature | AD 61-113 | 750 years | 7 |
| New Testament | AD 50-100 | 50 yrs (fragments)
100 yrs (complete books) 150 yrs (most NT) 225 yrs (complete NT) |
5,366 |
| Time gap between original composition and earliest existing manuscripts |
| New Testament |
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| Pliny
Secundus |
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| Tacitus |
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| Julius
Caesar |
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| Plato |
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| Thucydides |
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| Heroditus |
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| Homer |
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| Number of existing early manuscript copies | |||||||||
New Testament |
7 Pliny Secundus |
20 Tacitus |
10 Julius Caesar |
7 Plato |
8 Thucydides |
8 Heroditus |
Homer |
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