Oxyrhynchus Papyri

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The Oxyrhynchus papyri are a very numerous group of manuscripts discovered by archaeologists at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus (modern el-Bahnasa) in Egypt. 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).

Theological manuscripts

See Also Biblical manuscript

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

See Also Old Testament [[File:UPennE3074.JPG|thumb|right|250px|P. Oxy. VI 846: Amos 2 (LXX)]] The 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 72 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, of disputed authority (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.

Old Testament Apocrypha

The Apocrypha is a name given to those books that have canonical status in the Old Testament of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox denominations, but were not part of the Hebrew Bible, and are not included in the Protestant Old Testament.

• 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).

Other related papyri

New Testament

Papyrus P¹: Matthew 1

See Also New Testament The 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, over 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 second century, so were copied within about a century of the writing of the original New Testament documents.<ref>Eberhard Nestle, Erwin Nestle, Barbara Aland and Kurt Aland (eds), Novum Testamentum Graece, 27th edition, (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2001).</ref>

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.<ref>Philip W Comfort and David P Barrett. The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Incorporated, 2001.</ref>

• 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 not listed.

New Testament Apocrypha

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri collection contains around 20 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.<ref>Kirby, Peter. "Gospel of Thomas" (2001-2006) earlychristianwritings.com Retrieved June 30, 2007.</ref> 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.<ref>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 Template:Doi</ref>

• P. Oxy. V 840 and P. Oxy. XV 1782 are vellum

• 2949?, 3525, 3529? 4705, and 4706 are scrolls, the rest codices.

Other related texts

• Four exact dates are marked in bold type:

three libelli are dated: all to the year 250, two to the month, and one to the day;

a warrant to arrest a Christian is dated to 28 February 256.

See also

• List of Egyptian papyri by date
• List of New Testament papyri
• List of New Testament uncials
• List of New Testament minuscules
• Novum Testamentum Graece
• Palaeography
• Papyrology
• POxy 413
• Tanakh at Qumran
• Textual criticism

References

• 1. Eberhard Nestle, Erwin Nestle, Barbara Aland and Kurt Aland (eds), Novum Testamentum Graece, 27th edition, (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2001).
• 2. Philip W Comfort and David P Barrett. The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Incorporated, 2001.
• 3. Kirby, Peter. "Gospel of Thomas" (2001-2006) earlychristianwritings.com Retrieved June 30, 2007.
• 4. 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 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. 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