Codices are thought to have been invented somewhere in the Roman Empire in the first century. — around the time that the first Christian cults arrived on the scene. It would be very fortunate for a cult because a codex with its hard covers was much tougher than a scroll. That would be good for a cult leader who often found it necessary to flee from one town to another! In addition, it would be easier for random access. That means you could easily go to any page you wanted in the text — unlike a scroll which you’d first need to unwind carefully while you searched.
