Not everyone agrees that it is a historical text. Some people, like myself, have problems with the fact that everything in it was written long after the time period that any given text describes and that most people and events in it can't be found anywhere else that wasn't derived from its source documents. It's 66 books written by a wide variety of authors living in a wide variety of time periods, in different cultures about alleged events that they personally could not have witnessed. It was assembled and massaged into its present state over centuries by religious zealots with different agendas. Some may disagree from some point of faith that it is an "inspired" work, but I think anyone would be hard pressed to say what I've said about its origins is untrue. In short, its only a historical text if you place faith in the notion that it is divinely inspired. Otherwise its a collection of various myths, legends, and questionable oral histories constructed by 'believers' for 'believers.' Fortunately in this time in history everyone is free to believe what they want to about it. Sadly it hasn't always been so (the religious zealot thing again.)
