Cleveland, MS. Own small farm near Booneville, MS | This chart shows the relative validity of ancient documents from various writers. It is somewhat strange (at least to me) that the only one that is questioned is the New Testament, in spite of the fact that it is, by far, the most attested document. Author | Date Written | Earliest Copy | Approximate Time Span between original & copy | Number of Copies | Accuracy of Copies | | | | | | | Pliny | 61-113 A.D. | 850 A.D. | 750 yrs | 7 | ---- | Plato | 427-347 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 1200 yrs | 7 | ---- | Demosthenes | 4th Cent. B.C. | 1100 A.D. | 800 yrs | 8 | ---- | Herodotus | 480-425 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 1300 yrs | 8 | ---- | Suetonius | 75-160 A.D. | 950 A.D. | 800 yrs | 8 | ---- | Thucydides | 460-400 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 1300 yrs | 8 | ---- | Euripides | 480-406 B.C. | 1100 A.D. | 1300 yrs | 9 | ---- | Aristophanes | 450-385 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 1200 | 10 | ---- | Caesar | 100-44 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 1000 | 10 | ---- | Livy | 59 BC-AD 17 | ---- | ??? | 20 | ---- | Tacitus | circa 100 A.D. | 1100 A.D. | 1000 yrs | 20 | ---- | Aristotle | 384-322 B.C. | 1100 A.D. | 1400 | 49 | ---- | Sophocles | 496-406 B.C. | 1000 A.D. | 1400 yrs | 193 | ---- | Homer (Iliad) | 900 B.C. | 400 B.C. | 500 yrs | 643 | 95% | New Testament | 1st Cent. A.D. (50-100 A.D. | 2nd Cent. A.D. (c. 130 A.D. f.) | less than 100 years | 5600 | 99.5% | |