- Oxyrhynchus Papyri
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The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a very numerous group of manuscripts discovered by archaeologists including Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt (28°32′N 30°40′E / 28.533°N 30.667°E, modern el-Bahnasa). The manuscripts date from the 1st to the 6th century AD. They include thousands of Greek and Latin documents, letters and literary works. They also include a few vellum manuscripts, and more recent Arabic manuscripts on paper (for example, the medieval P. Oxy. VI 1006).
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are currently housed in many institutions all over the world. A substantial number are housed in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University.
Although the initial hope of finding many of the lost literary works of antiquity at Oxyrhynchus was not realized, many important Greek texts were found at the site. These include poems of Pindar, fragments of Sappho and Alcaeus, along with larger pieces of Alcman, Ibycus, and Corinna.
There were also extensive remains of the Hypsipyle of Euripides, fragments of the comedies of Menander, and a large part of the Ichneutae of Sophocles.[1] Also found were the oldest and most complete diagrams from Euclid's Elements. Another important find was the historical work known as the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia, whose author is unknown but may be Ephorus or, as many currently think, Cratippus. A life of Euripides by Satyrus the Peripatetic was also unearthed, while an epitome of seven of the 107 lost books of Livy was the most important literary find in Latin.
The classical author who has most benefited from the finds at Oxyrhynchus is the Athenian playwright Menander (342–291 BC), whose comedies were very popular in Hellenistic times and whose works are frequently found in papyrus fragments. Menander's plays found in fragments at Oxyrhynchus include Misoumenos, Dis Exapaton, Epitrepontes, Karchedonios, Dyskolos and Kolax. The works found at Oxyrhynchus have greatly raised Menander's status among classicists and scholars of Greek theatre.
There is an on-line table of contents briefly listing the type of contents of each papyrus or fragment.[2]
Contents
Theological manuscripts
Main article: Biblical manuscriptAmong the Christian texts found at Oxyrhynchus, were fragments of early non-canonical Gospels, Oxyrhynchus 840 (3rd century AD) and Oxyrhynchus 1224 (4th century AD). Other Oxyrhynchus texts preserve parts of Matthew 1 (3rd century: P2 and P401), 11–12 and 19 (3rd to 4th century: P2384, 2385); Mark 10–11 (5th to 6th century: P3); John 1, and 20 (3rd century: P208); Romans 1 (4th century: P209); the First Epistle of John (4th-5th century: P402); the Apocalypse of Baruch (chapters 12–14; 4th or 5th century: P403); the Gospel according to the Hebrews (3rd century AD: P655); The Shepherd of Hermas (3rd or 4th century: P404), and a work of Irenaeus, (3rd century: P405). There are many parts of other canonical books as well as many early Christian hymns, prayers, and letters also found among them.
All manuscripts classified as "theological" in Oxyrhynchus Papyri are listed below. A few manuscripts that belong to multiple genres, or genres that are inconsistently treated in the volumes of Oxyrhynchus Papyri are also included. For example, the quotation from Psalm 90 (P. Oxy. XVI 1928) associated with an amulet, is classified according to its primary genre as a magic text in Oxyrhynchus Papyri, however it is included here among witnesses to the Old Testament text. In each volume that contains theological manuscripts, they are listed first, according to an English tradition of academic precedence (see Doctor of Divinity).
Old Testament
Main article: Old TestamentThe original Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) was translated into Greek between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC. This translation is called the Septuagint (or LXX, both 70 in Latin), because there is a tradition that seventy Jewish scribes compiled it in Alexandria, Egypt. It was quoted in the New Testament and is found bound together with the New Testament in the 4th and 5th century Greek uncial codices Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus and Vaticanus. The Septuagint included books, called the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical by Christians, which were later not accepted into the Jewish canon of sacred writings (see next section). Portions of Old Testament books of undisputed authority found among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri are listed in this section.
- The first number (Vol) is the volume of Oxyrhynchus Papyri in which the manuscript is published.
- The second number (Oxy) is the overall publication sequence number in Oxyrhynchus Papyri.
- Standard abbreviated citation of Oxyrhynchus papyri is:
-
- P. Oxy. <volume in Roman numerals> <publication sequence number>.
- Context will always make clear whether volume 70 of Oxyrhynchus Papyri or the Septuagint is intended.
- P. Oxy. VIII 1073 is an Old Latin version of Genesis, other manuscripts are probably copies of the Septuagint.
- Dates are estimated to the nearest 50 year increment.
- Content is given to the nearest verse where known.
Vol Oxy Date Content Institution City, State Country IV 656 150 Gen 14:21–23; 15:5–9; 19:32–20:11;
24:28–47; 27:32–33, 40–41Bodleian Library; MS.Gr.bib.d.5(P) Oxford UK VI 845 400 Psalms 68; 70 Egyptian Museum; JE 41083 Cairo Egypt VI 846 550 Amos 2 University of Pennsylvania; E 3074 Philadelphia
PennsylvaniaU.S. VII 1007 400 Genesis 2–3 British Museum; Inv. 2047 London UK VIII 1073 350 Gen 5–6 Old Latin British Museum; Inv. 2052 London UK VIII 1074 250 Exodus 31–32 University of Illinois; GP 1074 Urbana, Illinois U.S. VIII 1075 250 Exodus 11:26–32 British Library; Inv. 2053 (recto) London UK IX 1166 250 Genesis 16:8–12 British Library; Inv. 2066 London UK IX 1167 350 Genesis 31 Princeton Theological Seminary
Pap. 9Princeton
New JerseyU.S. IX 1168 350 Joshua 4-5 vellum Princeton Theological Seminary
Pap. 10Princeton
New JerseyU.S. X 1225 350 Leviticus 16 Princeton Theological Seminary
Pap. 12Princeton
New JerseyU.S. X 1226 300 Psalms 7–8 Liverpool University
Class. Gr. Libr. 4241227Liverpool UK XI 1351 350 Lev 27 vellum Ambrose Swasey Library; 886.4
Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School
(prior to private sale)Rochester
New YorkU.S. XI 1352 325 Pss 82–83 vellum Egyptian Museum; JE 47472 Cairo Egypt XV 1779 350 Psalm 1 United Theological Seminary Dayton, Ohio U.S. XVI 1928 500 Ps 90 amulet Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK XVII 2065 500 Psalm 90 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK XVII 2066 500 Ecclesiastes 6–7 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK XXIV 2386 500 Psalms 83–84 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK L 3522 50 Job 42.11–12 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK LX 4011 550 Ps 75 interlinear Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK LXV 4442 225 Ex 20:10–17, 18–22 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK LXV 4443 100 Esther 6–7 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK Old Testament Deuterocanon (or, Apocrypha)
This name designates several, unique writings (e.g., the Book of Tobit) or different versions of pre-existing writings (e.g., the Book of Daniel) found in the canon of the Jewish scriptures (most notably, in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Tanakh). Although those writings were no longer viewed as having a canonical status amongst Jews by the beginning of the second century A.D., they retained that status for much of the Christian Church. They were and are accepted as part of the Old Testament canon by the Catholic Church and (most) Eastern Orthodox churches. Protestant Christians, however, follow the example of the Jews and do not accept these writings as part of the Old Testament canon.
- PP. Oxy. XIII 1594 and LXV 4444 are vellum ("vellum" noted in table).
- Both copies of Tobit are different editions to the known Septuagint text ("not LXX" noted in table).
Vol Oxy Date Content Institution City, State Country III 403 400 Apocalypse of Baruch 12–14 St. Mark's Library
General Theological SeminaryNew York City U.S. VII 1010 350 2 Esdras 16:57–59 Bodleian Library
MS.Gr.bib.g.3(P)Oxford UK VIII 1076 550 Tobit 2
not LXXJohn Rylands University Library
448Manchester UK XIII 1594 275 Tobit 12
vellum, not LXXCambridge University Library
Add.MS. 6363Cambridge UK XIII 1595 550 Ecclesiasticus 1 Palestine Institute Museum
Pacific School of ReligionBerkeley
CaliforniaU.S. XVII 2069 400 1 Enoch 85.10–86.2, 87.1–3 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK XVII 2074 450 Apostrophe to Wisdom [?] Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK LXV 4444 350 Wisdom 4:17–5:1
vellumAshmolean Museum Oxford UK Vol Oxy Date Content Institution City, State Country IX 1173 250 Philo Bodleian Library Oxford UK XI 1356 250 Philo Bodleian Library Oxford UK XVIII 2158 250 Philo Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK XXXVI 2745 400 onomasticon of Hebrew names Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK New Testament
Main article: New TestamentThe Oxyrhynchus Papyri have provided the most numerous sub-group of the earliest copies of the New Testament. These are surviving portions of codices (books) written in Greek uncial (capital) letters on papyrus. The first of these were excavated by Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt in Oxyrhynchus Egypt, at the turn of the 20th century. Of the 124 registered New Testament papyri, 50 (40%) are from Oxyrhynchus. The earliest of the papyri are dated to the middle of the 2nd century, so were copied within about a century of the writing of the original New Testament documents.[3]
Grenfell and Hunt discovered the first New Testament papyrus (P1), on only the second day of excavation, in the winter of 1896–7. This, together with the other early discoveries, was published in 1898, in the first volume of the now 70-volume work, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri.[4]
- The third column (CRG) refers to the now standard sequences of Caspar René Gregory.
- P indicates a papyrus manuscript, a number beginning with zero indicates vellum.
- The CRG number is an adequate abbreviated citation for New Testament manuscripts.
- Content is given to the nearest chapter; verses are sometimes listed.
New Testament Apocrypha
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri collection contains around twenty manuscripts of New Testament apocrypha, works from the early Christian period that presented themselves as biblical books, but were not eventually received as such by the orthodoxy. These works found at Oxyrhynchus include the gospels of Thomas, Mary, Peter, James, The Shepherd of Hermas, and the Didache. Among this collection are also a few manuscripts of unknown gospels. The three manuscripts of Thomas represent the only known Greek manuscripts of this work; the only other surviving manuscript of Thomas is a nearly complete Coptic manuscript from the Nag Hammadi find.[5] P. Oxy. 4706, a manuscript of The Shepherd of Hermas, is notable because two sections believed by scholars to have been often circulated independently, Visions and Commandments, were found on the same roll.[6]
- P. Oxy. V 840 and P. Oxy. XV 1782 are vellum
- 2949?, 3525, 3529? 4705, and 4706 are scrolls, the rest codices.
Vol Oxy Date Content Institution City, State Country Early Writings LXIX 4705 250 Shepherd, Visions 1:1, 8–9 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK LXIX 4706 200 The Shepherd of Hermas
Visions 3–4; Commandments 2; 4–9Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK L 3526 350 Shepherd, Commandments 5–6
[same codex as 1172]
Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK XV 1783 325 Shepherd, Commandments 9 IX 1172 350 Shepherd, Parables 2:4–10
[same codex as 3526]
British Library; Inv. 224 London UK LXIX 4707 250 Shepherd, Parables 6:3–7:2 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK XIII 1599 350 Shepherd, Parables 8 L 3527 200 Shepherd, Parables 8:4–5 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK L 3528 200 Shepherd, Parables 9:20–22 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK III 404 300 Shepherd XV 1782 350 Didache 1–3 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK Pseudepigrapha I 1 200 Gospel of Thomas Bodleian Library
Ms. Gr. Th. e 7 (P)Oxford UK IV 654 200 Gospel of Thomas British Museum; Inv. 1531 London UK IV 655 200 Gospel of Thomas Houghton Library, Harvard
SM Inv. 4367Cambridge
MassachusettsU.S. XLI 2949 200 Gospel of Peter? Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK L 3524 550 Gospel of James 25:1 Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK L 3525 250 Gospel of Mary Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK LX 4009 150 Gospel of Peter? Ashmolean Museum Oxford UK I 6 450 Acts of Paul and Thecla VI 849 325 Acts of Peter VI 850 350 Acts of John VI 851 500 Apocryphal Acts VIII 1081 Gnostic Gospel II 210 250 Unknown gospel Cambridge University Library
Add. Ms. 4048Cambridge UK V 840 200 Unknown gospel Bodleian Library
Ms. Gr. Th. g 11Oxford UK X 1224 300 Unknown gospel Bodleian Library
Ms. Gr. Th. e 8 (P)Oxford UK - Four exact dates are marked in bold type:
Vol Oxy Date Content Institution City, State Country biblical quotes VIII 1077 550 Amulet: magic text
quotes Matthew 4:23–24Trexler Library; Pap. Theol. 2
Muhlenberg CollegeAllentown
PennsylvaniaU.S. LX 4010 350 "Our Father" (Matthew 6:9ff)
with introductory prayerPapyrology Room
Ashmolean MuseumOxford UK creeds XVII 2067 450 Nicene Creed (325) Papyrology Room
Ashmolean MuseumOxford UK XV 1784 450 Constantinopolitan Creed (381) Ambrose Swasey Library
Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity SchoolRochester
New YorkU.S. church fathers III 405 250 Irenaeus, Against Heresies Cambridge University Library
Add. Ms. 4413Cambridge UK XXXI 2531 550 Theophilus of Alexandria
Peri Katanuxeos [?]Papyrology Rooms
Sackler LibraryOxford UK unknown theological works XIII 1600 450 treatise on The Passion Bodleian Library
Ms. Gr. Th. d 4 (P)Oxford UK I 4 300 theological fragment Cambridge University Library Cambridge UK III 406 250 theological fragment Library; BH 88470.1
McCormick Theological SeminaryChicago
IllinoisU.S. dialogues (theological discussions) XVII 2070 275 anti-Jewish dialogue Papyrology Rooms
Sackler LibraryOxford UK XVII 2071 550 fragment of a dialogue Papyrology Rooms
Sackler LibraryOxford UK apologies (arguments in defence of Christianity) XVII 2072 250 fragment of an apology Papyrology Rooms
Sackler LibraryOxford UK homilies (short sermons) XIII 1601 400 homily about spiritual warfare Ambrose Swasey Library
Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity SchoolRochester
New YorkU.S. XIII 1602 400 homily to monks (vellum) University Library
State University of GhentGhent Belgium XIII 1603 500 homily about women John Rylands University Library
Inv R. 55247Manchester UK XV 1785 450 collection of homilies [?] Payrology Room
Ashmolean MuseumOxford UK XVII 2073 375 fragment of a homily
and other textPapyrology Rooms
Sackler LibraryOxford UK liturgical texts (protocols for Christian meetings) XVII 2068 350 liturgical [?] fragments Papyrology Rooms
Sackler LibraryOxford UK III 407 300 Christian prayer Department of Manuscripts
British MuseumLondon UK XV 1786 275 Christian hymn
with musical notationPapyrology Rooms
Sackler LibraryOxford UK hagiographies (biographies of saints) L 3529 350 martyrdom of Dioscorus Payrology Room
Ashmolean MuseumOxford UK libelli (certificates of pagan sacrifice) LVIII 3929 250 libellus from between
25 June and 24 July 250Payrology Room
Ashmolean MuseumOxford UK IV 658 250 libellus from the year 250 Beinecke Library
Yale UniversityNew Haven
ConnecticutU.S. XII 1464 250 libellus 27 June 250 Department of Manuscripts
British MuseumLondon UK XLI 2990 250 libellus from the 3rd century Papyrology Rooms
Sackler LibraryOxford UK other documentary texts XLII 3035 256 warrant to arrest a Christian
28 February 256Payrology Room
Ashmolean MuseumOxford UK other fragments I 5 300 early Christian fragment Bodleian Library
Ms. Gr. Th. f 9 (P)Oxford UK Homer
- Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 20 – Iliad II 730-828
- Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 21 – Iliad II 745-764
See also
- List of Egyptian papyri by date
- List of New Testament minuscules
- List of New Testament papyri
- List of New Testament uncials
- Novum Testamentum Graece
- Palaeography
- Papyrology
- POxy 413
- Tanakh at Qumran
- Textual criticism
- Zooniverse - Ancient Lives
References
- ^ Sophocles' Ichneutae was adapted, in 1988, into a play entitled The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus, by British poet and author Tony Harrison, featuring Grenfell and Hunt as main characters.
- ^ Search by table of contents; "Oxyrhynchus Online Image Database". Imaging Papyri Project. http://163.1.169.40/cgi-bin/library?site=localhost&a=p&p=about&c=POxy&ct=0&l=en&w=utf-8. Retrieved 25 May 2007. A listing of what each fragment contains.
- ^ Eberhard Nestle, Erwin Nestle, Barbara Aland and Kurt Aland (eds), Novum Testamentum Graece, 27th edition, (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2001).
- ^ Philip W Comfort and David P Barrett. The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Incorporated, 2001.
- ^ Kirby, Peter. "Gospel of Thomas" (2001-2006) earlychristianwritings.com Retrieved June 30, 2007.
- ^ Barbantani, Silvia. "Review: Gonis (N.), Obbink (D.) [et al.] (edd., trans.) The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Volume LXIX. (Graeco-Roman Memoirs 89.)" (2007) The Classical Review, 57:1 p.66 Cambridge University Press doi:10.1017/S0009840X06003209
External links
- Oxford University: Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project
- Oxyrhynchus Online
- Table of Contents. Oxyrhynchus Papyri.
- Trismegistos.org Online database of ancient manuscripts.
- GPBC: Gazetteer of Papyri in British Collections
- The Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri. P. Oxy.: The Oxyrhynchus Papyri.
- Wieland Willker Complete List of Greek NT Papyri
P. Oxy volumes available online
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. I, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt] at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. II, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt] at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. III, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt] at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. III, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection. Reprinted by Cornell University Library Digital Collections
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. IV, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. V, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. VI, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. VII, edited with translations and notes by Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. VIII, edited with translations and notes by Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. IX, edited with translations and notes by Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. X, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection. Reprinted by Cornell University Library Digital Collections
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. X, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. XI, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. XII, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. XIII, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. XIV, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, at the Internet Archive
- The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. XV, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
Categories:- New Testament papyri
- Oxyrhynchus papyri
- Egyptian papyri
- Papyrology
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