Papyrus 46 (''P. Chester Beatty II''), designated by
siglum
Scribal abbreviations or sigla ( singular: siglum) are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mechani ...
(in the
Gregory-Aland numbering), is an early Greek
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
written on
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 ...
, and is one of the manuscripts comprising the
Chester Beatty Papyri
The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri or simply the Chester Beatty Papyri are a group of early papyrus manuscripts of biblical texts. The manuscripts are in Greek and are of Christian origin. There are eleven manuscripts in the group, seven con ...
. Manuscripts among the Chester Beatty Papyri have had several provenances associated with them, the most likely being
the Faiyum. It has been paleographically dated between 175 and 225,
[Griffin, Bruce W. (1996)]
"The Paleographical Dating of P-46"
/ref> or early 3rd century CE. It contains verses from the Pauline Epistles
The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest extan ...
of Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, 1 Corinthians
The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...
, 2 Corinthians
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author named Timothy, and is addressed to the church in Corinth and Christians in the ...
, Galatians Galatians may refer to:
* Galatians (people)
* Epistle to the Galatians, a book of the New Testament
* English translation of the Greek ''Galatai'' or Latin ''Galatae'', ''Galli,'' or ''Gallograeci'' to refer to either the Galatians or the Gauls in ...
, Ephesians
The Epistle to the Ephesians is the tenth book of the New Testament. Its authorship has traditionally been attributed to Paul the Apostle but starting in 1792, this has been challenged as Deutero-Pauline, that is, pseudepigrapha written in Pau ...
, Colossians
The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy, and addressed to the church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately fr ...
, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians
The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle, and is addressed to the church in Thessalonica, in modern-day Greece. It is likely among th ...
, and Hebrews
The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew: / , Modern: ' / ', Tiberian: ' / '; ISO 259-3: ' / ') and ''Hebrew people'' are mostly considered synonymous with the Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still no ...
. Some leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
are part of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, and others are in the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection
The Papyrology Collection of the University of Michigan Library is an internationally respected collection of ancient papyrus and a center for research on ancient culture, language, and history. With over 7,000 items and more than 10,000 individu ...
.
In November 2020, the CSNTM
The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to digitally preserve Greek New Testament manuscripts. Toward that end, CSNTM takes digital photographs of manuscripts at institu ...
in conjunction with Hendrickson Publishers
Hendrickson Publishers is an American academic and reference book house founded in 1980. It is based in Peabody, Massachusetts.
History
The company was established on 12 May 1980 and incorporated in Massachusetts. Apart from working as book publ ...
released a new 1:1 high-resolution imaged facsimile edition of on black and white backgrounds, along with and .
Description
The codex is made from 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 ...
in single quire, with the folio
The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
size approximately . The text is written in single column, with the text-block averaging , between 26 and 32 lines of text per page, although both the width of the rows and the number of rows per page increase progressively. Lines containing text at the bottom of each page are damaged (lacunose), with between 1–2 lines non-extant in the first quarter of the codex, 2–3 lines non-extant in the central half, and up to seven lines non-extant in the final quarter. Though unusual for ancient manuscripts, has each page numbered.
Throughout Romans, Hebrews, and the latter chapters of 1 Corinthians, small and thick strokes or dots are found, usually agreed to be from the hand of a reader rather than the initial copyist, since the ink is always much paler than that of the text itself. They appear to mark sense divisions (similar to verse numbering found in Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
s), and are also found in portions of , possibly evidence of reading in the community which held both codices. Edgar Ebojo made a case that these "reading marks" with or without space-intervals were an aid to readers, most likely in a liturgical context.
Nomina Sacra
uses an extensive and well-developed system of nomina sacra
In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
. It contains the following nomina sacra
In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
in abbreviated form (nominative case): (κυριος / ''Lord'') or (χριστος / ''anointed'') (Ιησους / ''Jesus'') (θεος / ''God'') (πνευμα / ''Spirit'') (υιος / ''Son'') (σταυρος / ''cross'').
The use of nomina sacra
In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
has featured in discussions on the dating for , with Bruce Griffin arguing against Young Kyu Kim, in part, that such an extensive usage of the nomina sacra
In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
system nearly eliminates any possibility of the manuscript dating to the 1st century. He admitted, however, that Kim's dating cannot be ruled out on this basis alone, since the exact provenance of the nomina sacra
In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
system itself is not well-established.
On the other hand, Philip Comfort
Philip Wesley Comfort (born 28 October 1950) is a professor, writer, editor and expert on the Bible who specializes in textual criticism of the New Testament. He served as Professor of Greek and New Testament at Trinity Episcopal Seminary, visiti ...
(preferring a date c. 150–75) notes indications the scribe's exemplar made limited use of nomina sacra
In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
or none at all. In several instances, the word for ''Spirit'' is written out in full where the context should require a nomen sacrum, suggesting the scribe was rendering nomina sacra where appropriate for the meaning but struggling with ''Spirit'' versus ''spirit'', without guidance from the exemplar. The text also inconsistently uses either the short or the long contracted forms of ''Christ''.
Contents
contains most of the Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest extan ...
, though with some folios missing. It contains (in order): the last eight chapters of Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
; Hebrews
The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew: / , Modern: ' / ', Tiberian: ' / '; ISO 259-3: ' / ') and ''Hebrew people'' are mostly considered synonymous with the Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still no ...
; 1–2 Corinthians; Ephesians
The Epistle to the Ephesians is the tenth book of the New Testament. Its authorship has traditionally been attributed to Paul the Apostle but starting in 1792, this has been challenged as Deutero-Pauline, that is, pseudepigrapha written in Pau ...
; Galatians Galatians may refer to:
* Galatians (people)
* Epistle to the Galatians, a book of the New Testament
* English translation of the Greek ''Galatai'' or Latin ''Galatae'', ''Galli,'' or ''Gallograeci'' to refer to either the Galatians or the Gauls in ...
; Philippians; Colossians
The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy, and addressed to the church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately fr ...
; and two chapters of 1 Thessalonians
The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle, and is addressed to the church in Thessalonica, in modern-day Greece. It is likely among th ...
. All of the leaves have lost some lines at the bottom through deterioration
Deterioration may refer to:
* Worsening of health
* Physical wear
See also
* Decadence (disambiguation)
* Degeneracy (disambiguation)
* ''Deteriorata'', a parody of ''Desiderata''
* Decay
* Decline
Decline may refer to:
*Decadence, involves a ...
.
(''CB'' = Chester Beatty Library
The Chester Beatty Library, now known as the Chester Beatty, is a museum and library in Dublin. It was established in Ireland in 1950, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present museum, on the grounds of ...
; ''Mich.'' = University of Michigan)
Missing contents
The manuscript was initially examined by renowned scholar Frederic G. Kenyon, who, using the number of lines per page and letters per line, estimated the contents of the missing pages. Page numbers on existing pages allowed him to conclude that seven leaves were lost from the beginning of the codex, which accords perfectly with the length of the missing portion of ''Romans'', which they undoubtedly contained. Since the codex is formed from a stack of papyrus sheets folded in the middle, magazine-style, what is lost is the outer seven sheets, containing the first and last seven leaves of the codex.
The contents of the seven missing leaves from the end is uncertain as they are lost. Kenyon Kenyon may refer to:
Names
* Kenyon (given name)
* Kenyon (surname)
Places
* Kenyon, Cheshire, United Kingdom, a village
* Kenyon, Minnesota, United States, a city
* Kenyon, Rhode Island, United States, a village
* Kenyon, former name of Pineridg ...
calculated that 2 Thessalonians would require two leaves, leaving only five remaining leaves (10 pages) for the remaining canonical
The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical example ...
Pauline literature — 1 Timothy
The First Epistle to Timothy is one of three letters in the New Testament of the Bible often grouped together as the pastoral epistles, along with Second Timothy and Titus. The letter, traditionally attributed to the Apostle Paul, consists m ...
(estimated 8.25 pages), 2 Timothy
The Second Epistle to Timothy is one of the three pastoral epistles traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle.. Addressed to Timothy, a fellow missionary, it is traditionally considered to be the last epistle he wrote before his death.
Alt ...
(6 pages), Titus
Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death.
Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...
(3.5 pages) and Philemon (1.5 pages) — requiring ten leaves in total (19.25 pages). Thus Kenyon concluded as originally constructed did not include the pastoral epistles.
Overall, Kenyon was open to different possibilities regarding the contents of the lost leaves at the end of the codex. He entertained the idea that the last five leaves could have been left blank or that additional leaves could have been added to the quire to create space for the pastoral letters. In 1998, Jeremy Duff vigorously argued in favor of Kenyon's second suggestion, emphasizing that the scribe of was increasing the number of letters per page in the second half of the codex. Duff argued that this indicated that the scribe intended to include all of the traditional 14-letter collection and would most likely have added extra leaves if the original quire lacked sufficient space. Duff also pointed to several ancient codices that he considered as good evidence for the attachment of additional leaves to codices to allow for the inclusion of more material. The relevance of the ancient evidence that Duff presented has been challenged, but a survey of surviving examples of ancient single-quire codices does show evidence for the practice of leaving some blank pages at the end of a codex. However, this survey also showed that single-quire codices sometimes had more inscribed pages in the second half of the codex than in the first half (due to, for example, blank front fly-leaves). This leaves open the possibility that the original quire may have contained the traditional 14-letter collection after all. Brent Nongbri summarizes:
The question of the contents of the codex as originally constructed thus remains open.
Text
The Greek text of the codex has been considered a representative of the Alexandrian text-type
In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Alexandrian text-type is one of the main text types. It is the text type favored by the majority of modern textual critics and it is the basis for most modern (after 1900) Bible translations.
Over 5,8 ...
. Kurt Aland
Kurt Aland (28 March 1915 – 13 April 1994) was a German theologian and biblical scholar who specialized in New Testament textual criticism. He founded the '' Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung'' (Institute for New Testament Textua ...
placed it in Category I.
;Some notable readings
Romans 8:28
: (''God works all things together for good'') - A B 81 sa eth
: (''all things work together for good'') - Majority of manuscripts
: - (singular reading)
: - Majority of manuscripts[ (UBS3)]
: (''mystery'') - * Α C 88 436 ita, r syrp bo
: (''salvation'') - ℓ ''598'' ℓ ''593'' ℓ ''599''
: (''witness'') - B Ψ Majority of manuscripts
: (''plausible wisdom'') - G
: (''plausible words of wisdom'') - Majority of manuscripts
: (''prayer'') - * Α B G Ψ 6 33 81 104 181 629
__NOTOC__
Year 629 ( DCXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 629 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...
630 1739 1877 1881 1962 it vg cop arm eth
: (''fasting and prayer'') - 0150 256 365 Majority of manuscripts[ (NA26)]
: (''by the Spirit'') - (singular reading)
: (''by one Spirit'') - A B 0150 33 81 104 436 459 1175 1881 220 2464 vg
: (''spiritual man'') - (singular reading)
: (''man'') - * B C G 0243 33 1739 it vg bo eth
: (''man, the Lord'') - c2 A Ψ 81 104 181 Majority of manuscripts
: (''deadly perils'') - 630 1739c itd, e syrp, h goth
: (''a deadly peril'') - Majority of manuscripts
: - (singular reading)
: - Majority of manuscripts
: - (singular reading)
: - Majority of manuscripts
: - (singular reading)
: - Majority of manuscripts
Provenance
The provenance
Provenance (from the French ''provenir'', 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art but is now used in similar senses i ...
of the papyrus is unknown. Kenyon believed this codex and the other Beatty Biblical Papyri came from the region of the Fayyum. The coptologist Carl Schmidt was told that the books were found in "‘Alâlme, a village on the east bank of the Nile in the area of Aṭfiḥ, ancient Aphroditopolis."[Brent Nongbri, "The Acquisition of the University of Michigan’s Portion of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri and a New Suggested Provenance," ''Archiv für Papyrusforschung'' 60/1 (2014) 93-116] However, the archaeologists who bought the University of Michigan's portion of the codex believed that it had come from Asyut (ancient Lykopolis). Thus, there is no consensus on the precise find spot.
Date
As with all manuscripts dated solely by palaeography
Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...
, the dating of is uncertain. H. A. Sanders, the first editor of parts of the papyrus, proposed a date possibly as late as the second half of the 3rd century. F. G. Kenyon, editor of the complete editio princeps In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand.
For ...
, preferred a date in the first half of the 3rd century. The manuscript is now sometimes dated to about 200. Young Kyu Kim has argued for an exceptionally early date of c. 80. Kim's dating has been widely rejected. Griffin critiqued and disputed Kim's dating, placing the 'most probable date' between 175–225, with a '95% confidence interval' for a date between 150–250.[See email from Griffin added in 2005 to Griffin's 1996 paper.]
Comfort and Barrett have claimed shares palaeographical affinities with the following:[Comfort, Philip W. and Barrett, David P (2001) 'The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts', Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers Inc.]
* P. Oxy. 8 (assigned late 1st or early 2nd century),
* P. Oxy. 841 (the second hand, which cannot be dated later than 125–50),
* P. Oxy. 1622 (dated with confidence to pre-148, probably during the reign of Hadrian
Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...
(117–38), because of the documentary text on the verso),
* P. Oxy. 2337 (assigned to the late 1st century),
* P. Oxy. 3721 (assigned to the second half of the 2nd century),
* P. Rylands III 550 (assigned to the 2nd century), and
* P. Berol. 9810 (early 2nd century).
They conclude this points to a date during the middle of the 2nd century for . More recently, in a wide-ranging survey of the dates of New Testament papyri, P. Orsini and W. Clarysse have assigned "to the early third century," specifically "excluding dates in the first or the first half of the second century."
See also
*List of New Testament papyri
A New Testament papyrus is a copy of a portion of the New Testament made on papyrus. To date, over 140 such papyri are known. In general, they are considered the earliest witnesses to the original text of the New Testament.
This elite status amo ...
* Collections of papyri
*Chester Beatty Papyri
The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri or simply the Chester Beatty Papyri are a group of early papyrus manuscripts of biblical texts. The manuscripts are in Greek and are of Christian origin. There are eleven manuscripts in the group, seven con ...
*University of Michigan Papyrus Collection
The Papyrology Collection of the University of Michigan Library is an internationally respected collection of ancient papyrus and a center for research on ancient culture, language, and history. With over 7,000 items and more than 10,000 individu ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
External links
Official WWW of Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, concerning P46
* Robert B. Waltz
Leaves of at the University of Michigan (with images in TIFF)
from the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection
* Klaus Wachtel, Klaus Witte
''Das Neue Testament auf Papyrus: Gal., Eph., Phil., Kol., 1. u. 2. Thess., 1. u. 2 Tim., Tit., Phlm., Hebr''
Walter de Gruyter, 1994, pp. L-LII.
*
Tricky NT Textual Issues: Codex P46
{{DEFAULTSORT:Papyrus 0046
New Testament papyri
3rd-century biblical manuscripts
Early Greek manuscripts of the New Testament
Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library
Epistle to the Romans papyri
Epistle to the Hebrews papyri
First Epistle to the Corinthians papyri
Second Epistle to the Corinthians papyri
Epistle to the Ephesians papyri
Epistle to the Galatians papyri
Epistle to the Philippians papyri
Epistle to the Colossians papyri
First Epistle to the Thessalonians papyri
University of Michigan