Uncial 0206 (in the
Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a
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 ...
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
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one ...
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 ...
of the
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 ...
. Using the study of comparative writing styles (
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") ...
), it has been dated to the 4th century.
Description
The surviving leaf contains a small part of the
First Epistle of Peter
The First Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament. The author presents himself as Peter the Apostle. The ending of the letter includes a statement that implies that it was written from "Babylon", which is possibly a reference to Rome. T ...
5:5-13, on one parchment leaf (14 cm by 10 cm). The manuscript leaf is small, and text is written in one column per page, 8 lines per page, in large monumental uncial letters. It originally formed part of a deluxe manuscript book collecting an extensive corpus of Christian texts.
The handwriting resembles
Codex 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) ...
.
Papyrologist Don Barker notes a page number added to the head of the verso (reverse side) had been misread by papyrologist
Bernard Grenfell
Bernard Pyne Grenfell FBA (16 December 1869 – 18 May 1926) was an English scientist and Egyptologist.
Life
Grenfell was the son of John Granville Grenfell FGS and Alice Grenfell. He was born in Birmingham and brought up and educated at Clif ...
, the original editor, as 229 (represented by Greek letters functioning as
numerals
A numeral is a figure, symbol, or group of figures or symbols denoting a number. It may refer to:
* Numeral system used in mathematics
* Numeral (linguistics), a part of speech denoting numbers (e.g. ''one'' and ''first'' in English)
* Numerical d ...
), but is in fact 829 (or possibly 819; represented by Greek letters or - middle letter is unclear). This demonstrates the copyist had already filled over 800 pages of text before reaching the First Epistle of Peter. Even allowing for the exceptionally large scale of the writing, and the relatively small parchment pages, this would imply the original codex must have contained a very substantial corpus of Christian writings; and would, for example, have been consistent with it containing the entirety of the eventual canon of Pauline and Catholic epistles.
Text
The Greek text of this
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 ...
is 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 ...
. The text-types are groups of different New Testament manuscripts which share specific or generally related readings, which then differ from each other group, and thus the conflicting readings can separate out the groups. These are then used to determine the original text as published; there are three main groups with names:
Alexandrian,
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
, and
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. Textual critic and biblical scholar
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 III of his New Testament manuscript text classification system. Category III manuscripts are described as having "a small but not a negligible proportion of early readings, with a considerable encroachment of
yzantinereadings, and significant readings from other sources as yet unidentified." According to Grenfell and papyrologist
Arthur Hunt, its text is close to
Codex Vaticanus
The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...
.
History
It is dated by the
INTF
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 ...
to the 4th century. Papyrologist
Pasquale Orsini Pasquale Orsini (born 1970) is an Italian palaeographer, librarian, and Professor from Università di Catania-Siracusa.
Life
Orsini studied at the Sapienza University of Rome. He was a pupil of prof. Guglielmo Cavallo. He works at the Universit ...
dated it to the second half of the 4th century.
Don Barker proposes a wider and earlier range of dates for Uncial 0206, along with
Papyrus 39
Papyrus 39 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), signed by 𝔓39, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of John, it contains only John 8:14-22. The manuscript paleographically had been assigned to ...
,
Papyrus 88
Papyrus 88 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by 𝔓88, is a single leaf from an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Mark. The surviving texts of Mark are verses 2:1-26. The manuscript ...
and
Uncial 0232
Uncial 0232 (in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numbering), is a Greek language, Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament. The manuscript Palaeography, palaeographically has been assigned to the 5th or 6th century.
It con ...
; and states that all four could be dated as early as the late second century or as late as the end of the fourth century.
The manuscript was found in
Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchus (; grc-gre, Ὀξύρρυγχος, Oxýrrhynchos, sharp-nosed; ancient Egyptian ''Pr-Medjed''; cop, or , ''Pemdje''; ar, البهنسا, ''Al-Bahnasa'') is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo ...
by
B. P. Grenfell
Bernard Pyne Grenfell FBA (16 December 1869 – 18 May 1926) was an English scientist and Egyptologist.
Life
Grenfell was the son of John Granville Grenfell FGS and Alice Grenfell. He was born in Birmingham and brought up and educated at Clift ...
and
A. S. Hunt. They published a description of its text.
B. P. Grenfell
Bernard Pyne Grenfell FBA (16 December 1869 – 18 May 1926) was an English scientist and Egyptologist.
Life
Grenfell was the son of John Granville Grenfell FGS and Alice Grenfell. He was born in Birmingham and brought up and educated at Clift ...
& A. S. Hunt
''Oxyrhynchus Papyri''
XI (London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1915), pp. 5-6.
The manuscript was added to the list of the New Testament manuscripts by textual critic and theologian
Ernst von Dobschütz
Ernst Adolf Alfred Oskar Adalbert von Dobschütz (9 October 1870 – 20 May 1934) was a German theologian, textual critic, author of numerous books and professor at the University of Halle, the University of Breslau, and the University of Strasbou ...
in 1933.
[ ]
The codex leaf is housed at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. Its previous home was the
United Theological Seminary
United Theological Seminary is a United Methodist seminary in Trotwood, Ohio. Founded in 1871 by Milton Wright (father of the Wright brothers), it was originally sponsored by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. In 1946, members o ...
(name P. Oxy. 1353) in
Dayton
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
.
See also
*
List of New Testament uncials
A New Testament uncial is a section of the New Testament in Greek or Latin majuscule letters, written on parchment or vellum. This style of writing is called ''Biblical Uncial'' or ''Biblical Majuscule''.
New Testament uncials are distinct fro ...
*
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 ...
*
1 Peter 5
1 Peter 5 is the fifth (and final) Chapters and verses of the Bible, chapter of the First Epistle of Peter in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. The author identifies himself as "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ" and the epis ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uncial 0206
Greek New Testament uncials
4th-century biblical manuscripts
1353
Year 1353 ( MCCCLIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–December
* March 3 – Bern signs an alliance with the Old Swiss Confederacy.
Date unknown ...