Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5101, designated by 2227 (in the Alfred Ralhfs numbering of

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 ...

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

manuscripts) or P.Oxy.LXXVII 5101
LDAB 140272
is a manuscript of the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

in the Greek Septuagint version, 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 ...

roll Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation) ...

form. It has survived in only a few fragments. Using the study of comparative writings styles (

palaeography Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

), it has been dated to between 50 and 150 CE. It uses the

Tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', and ...

(name of God in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' palaeo-Hebrew script instead substituting the Greek title , and is currently the earliest extant copy of the Septuagint Psalms.

Description

The manuscript was originally a papyrus roll, of which fragments from six columns have survived. The fragments contain

26:9-14; 44:4-8; 47:13-15; 48:6-21; 49:2-16; 63:6-64:5 according to the numbering of the Septuagint (the Hebrew Bible Psalms number them slightly differently). According to biblical scholar

Larry Hurtado Larry Weir Hurtado, (December 29, 1943 – November 25, 2019), was an American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, and Emeritus Professor of New Testament Language, Literature, and Theology at the University of Edinburgh ( ...

, “ is is probably the earliest extant copy of the Septuagint Psalms.” The text was written by an inexperienced writer in

uncial script 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 ...

characters. The manuscript contains the tetragrammaton to represent the Divine Name of God (

YHWH The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', and ...

) written in the palaeo-Hebrew script ().Michael P. Theophilos
''Recently Discovered Greek Papyri and Parchment of the Psalter from the Oxford Oxyrhynchus Manuscripts: Implications for Scribal Practice and Textual Transmission''
. Australian Catholic University.

History

The manuscript was discovered at Oxyrhynchus (

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

), and has been catalogued with number P. Oxy 5101. The manuscript has been given an Alfred Rahlfs number of 2227 in the list of Septuagint manuscripts. The fragments were published in 2011 by ''Danielę Colomo'' and ''W.B. Henry'' in ''The Oxyrhynchus Papyri'', vol LXXVII (77). The manuscript is currently housed in the

Papyrology Papyrology is the study of manuscripts of ancient literature, correspondence, legal archives, etc., preserved on portable media from antiquity, the most common form of which is papyrus, the principal writing material in the ancient civilizations ...

section of the

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 ...

(shelf number 20 3B.36/J(4)B + 27 3B.38/N(1)B + 27 3B.41/J(1-2)c).

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* 1st-century biblical manuscripts 2nd-century biblical manuscripts 5101 Psalms Septuagint manuscripts {{OxyrhynchusGR-stub