Complutensian Polyglot Bible

Timeline

1. 1502–1513University of Alcalá · Alcalá de HenaresCisneros gathered Hebrew, Greek, and Latin scholars at Alcalá to collate manuscripts and emend the text, aiming to present the biblical originals alongside authoritative translations in parallel columns for humanist scriptural study.
2. 1514–1517Alcalá · Alcalá de HenaresThe Greek–Latin New Testament was printed in January 1514, the dictionary and appendix volume completed in 1515, and the four-language Old Testament finished in 1517. About six hundred copies of the six-volume folio edition were printed, one of the earliest printed editions of the Greek New Testament and the complete Septuagint.
3. 1520–1522Alcalá and the Roman Curia distribution network · ItalyDue to papal approval, Cisneros's death, and political circumstances in Castile, the printed edition was delayed several years before public release. Its parallel polyglot columns became a formal precedent for later large scholarly projects such as the Antwerp Plantin Polyglot Bible.