Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 228 (P. Oxy. 228 or P. Oxy. II 228) is a fragment of the ''
Laches'', a dialogue of
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, written 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 ...
. It was discovered in
Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was 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 ...
in the form of a roll. It is dated to the second century. It is housed in the
Bodleian Library (Ms. Gr. Class. a 8) in
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 ...
.
[P. Oxy. 228]
at the Oxyrhynchus Online
Description
The document was written by an unknown copyist. It contains the text of the ''Laches'' (197a - 198a) of Plato. The measurements of the fragment are 255 by 150 mm. The text is written in an upright square
uncial
Uncial is a majuscule Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall. (1996) ''Encyclopedia of the Book''. 2nd edn. New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press & The British Library, p. 494. script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to ...
hand of medium size. It has a remarkable number of variant textual readings. The occasional corrections were apparently made by the original scribe.
It was discovered by
Grenfell and
Hunt
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, e ...
in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1899.
[
]
See also
* Oxyrhynchus Papyri
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt (, mo ...
* Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 227
* Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 229
References
228
Year 228 ( CCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Modestus and Maecius (or, less frequently, year 981 ''Ab urbe co ...
2nd-century manuscripts
Bodleian Library collection
Dialogues of Plato
{{OxyrhynchusGR-stub