8 Oldest books that have survived fire, wars and revolutions

1. The Diamond Sutra (c. 868 CE): Found sealed in the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China, this Buddhist text is the world's oldest dated printed book.

2. Codex Sinaiticus (4th Century CE): A manuscript containing a large portion of the Christian Bible, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament.

3. Codex Vaticanus (Early 4th Century CE): Another very early manuscript of the Bible, housed in the Vatican Library. Its continuous presence within the relatively stable Vatican archives has contributed to its survival.

4. The Homeric Papyri (Various dates, some as early as the 3rd Century BCE): Fragments of papyrus containing texts from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey have been discovered in Egypt.

5. The Nag Hammadi Library (c. 4th Century CE): A collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered in Egypt. Their burial in sealed jars helped them survive centuries of religious and political turmoil.

6. The Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd Century BCE - 1st Century CE): A collection of thousands of fragments of ancient Jewish religious texts found in caves near the Dead Sea.

7. The Cairo Genizah Fragments (Mostly 10th-13th Century CE, with some older): A vast collection of Jewish manuscript fragments found in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo.

8. The Vedas (Oral tradition from c. 1500-500 BCE, written down later): While the exact dating of the written versions varies, the oral tradition of the Vedas is one of the oldest surviving religious traditions.