Papyrus 104 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by the symbol 𝔓¹⁰⁴, is a fragment that is part of a leaf from a

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

, it measures 2.5 by 3.75 inches (6.35 by 9.5 cm) at its widest. It is conserved in the Papyrology Rooms at

Sackler Library The Sackler Library holds a large portion of the classical, art historical, and archaeological works belonging to the University of Oxford, England. History The Sackler Library building was completed in 2001 and opened on 24 September of tha ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, UK. The front (recto) contains lines from the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...

21:34-37, in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, the back (verso) contains tentative traces of lines from verses 43 and 45.

Description

This papyrus ranks among the earliest surviving texts of

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

. It consists of six verses from the

, in a fragmentary condition, and is dated from early to late 2nd century. The text of the manuscript concurs with the

NA27 (''The New Testament in Greek'') is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek, forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical criticism. It is also known as the Nestle–Aland edition after its mos ...

/ UBS4 (Greek New Testaments) completely, with the exception that it does not include Matthew 21:44. This verse is also omitted in manuscripts:

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...

Minuscule 33 Minuscule 33 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 48 ( Soden), before the French Revolution was called ''Codex Colbertinus 2844''. It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament on parchment, dated palaeographically to the 9th century. ...

, some Old-Latin manuscripts,

Syriac Sinaiticus The Syriac Sinaiticus or Codex Sinaiticus Syriacus (syrs), known also as the Sinaitic Palimpsest, of Saint Catherine's Monastery (Sinai, Syr. 30), or Old Syriac Gospels is a late-4th- or early-5th-century manuscript of 179 folios, containing a nea ...

(syr^s), Diatessaron. However, it is included in

Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts) ...

, Vaticanus, Ephraemi, Regius, Washingtonianus, and Dublinensis. This verse thus belongs to the so-called

Western non-interpolations Western non-interpolations is a term coined by F. J. A. Hort for certain phrases that are absent in the Western text-type of New Testament manuscripts, but present in one of the two major other text-types. The Alexandrian text-type is generally ter ...

, making 𝔓¹⁰⁴ the earliest witness to the interpolated nature of this verse.

Greek text

The papyrus is written on both sides, and the surviving portion also includes part of the top and outer margins of the page. Since the text for the verso is nearly illegible, only the text for the recto is given. The characters that are in bold style are the ones that can be seen in Papyrus 𝔓¹⁰⁴. ''

21:34-37'' (recto) A total of 110 legible letters are visible on the recto side of the fragment, representing 18 out of the 24 letters of the

Greek Alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as we ...

; zeta, theta, xi, phi, chi, and psi being missing. "The scribe uses rough breathings, but no other lectional feature or punctuation is found".P. M. Head,
Some recently published NT Papyri from Oxyrhynchus: An Overview and Preliminary Assessment
," ''

Tyndale Bulletin The ''Tyndale Bulletin'' is an academic journal published by Tyndale House in Cambridge, England. The publication began life as ''The Tyndale House Bulletin'' in the Summer of 1956, edited by Tyndale House's Librarian Andrew Walls. Sixteen issues o ...

'' 51 (2000), pp. 1-16. The hand is 'early', i.e., before c. 250. It is very carefully written, with extensive use of serifs.

References

External links

Oxyrhynchus Online, P.Oxy.LXIV 4404

University of Münster,New Testament Transcripts Prototype. Select P104 from 'Manuscript descriptions' box

„Fortsetzung der Liste der Handschriften“

Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung The Institute for New Testament Textual Research (german: Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung — INTF) at the University of Münster, Westphalia, Germany, is to research the textual history of the New Testament and to reconstruct its G ...

, Universität Münster. (PDF-Datei; 147 kB) {{DEFAULTSORT:Papyrus 0104 New Testament papyri 2nd-century biblical manuscripts Early Greek manuscripts of the New Testament Gospel of Matthew papyri

Description

Greek text

See also

References

Further reading

External links