P.Oxy. 82.5291, a fragment of a leaf of a papyrus codex containing works of Philo of Alexandria; image source: POxy: Oxyrhynchus Online
It might not look like much at first glance, but one of the scraps published in the 2016 volume of The Oxyrhynchus Papyri (volume 82) belongs to a quite fascinating codex. I’m talking about P.Oxy. 82.5291, a small corner of a papyrus leaf with the remains of four lines of writing on each side. This fragment is part of the so-called Oxyrhynchus Philo codex. This book contained several of the works of the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria. Philo wrote in the first half of the first century CE, and according to most palaeographers, this codex was probably copied in the third century CE. So, it provides a reasonably early witness to the text of Philo’s works. Continue reading
A question concerning papyrus (rather than parchment) palimpsests came up recently in the comments over on Bart Ehrman’s blog. I thought I would post here a good example of a papyrus palimpsest, namely the papyrus codex containing the commentary on the Psalms by Didymus the Blind. This codex was discovered in Tura, Egypt in 1941 (I discussed the discovery of the books here and linked to some actual black and white archival film of the site of the discovery in 1941 here). Whoever constructed the codex containing the commentary on the Psalms used recycled papyrus. The papyrus was first used for a document. At some later point, the document was rotated 90 degrees and cut into sheets. The ink that was originally on the papyrus had been washed off, but whoever cleaned the papyrus did a kind of spotty job. Here is an image of one of the leaves of this codex kept at BYU. The horizontal writing is Didymus’s commentary, but in the background you can see traces of the earlier writing (which is oriented perpendicularly to the writing of the commentary). Can you see the Greek letters nu (N) and kappa (K) in the upper margin?
Tura Codex V, Commentary on the Psalms by Didymus the Blind; image source: BYU Library Digital Collections
Limestone head of a woman, attributed to Oxyrhynchus; World Museum, Liverpool, 1970.160
As I have been looking into a set of sculptures attributed Oxyrhynchus (in previous posts here and here), some patterns have emerged in terms of acquisition. It seems that the best thing to do is to make a list of pieces that have been attributed to Oxyrhynchus (modern Bahnasa and its environs). This will not include all sculpture attributed to Oxyrhynchus–just the limestone pieces of adults or children in framed niches (or which appear to have been removed from framed niches). So, I’ll use this post to create a running inventory of such pieces, adding (when possible) dates of acquisition, the dealers from whom the pieces were purchased, and the precise stated provenance. Entries in bold have a secure archaeological provenance. A map below shows the locations. Items without a hyperlink are illustrated below the list. Additions and corrections are welcome.
Last updated 18 May 2018 (with thanks to Kathy Zurek-Doule of the Brooklyn Museum). Continue reading
In an earlier post, I discussed a set of limestone sculptures usually described as funerary reliefs found at Oxyrhynchus. One of the pieces was a portrait of a woman acquired by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1972. I noted that she resembles a more fragmentary piece in the Brooklyn Museum. A bit more searching has turned up some of the other examples of this type of sculpture. Continue reading
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of visiting the University of Edinburgh. In addition to chatting with a fascinating group of graduate students, I was able to squeeze in a quick trip to the National Museum of Scotland. While there, I encountered a life-size limestone statue: Continue reading
Over on his blog, Larry Hurtado has responded to my last post on textual transmission, and I fear we may be talking past each other. Just to try to clarify the actual points of our disagreement:
Hurtado writes: “Nongbri seems to doubt that we can view the term [apomnemoneumata] as referring to the familiar NT Gospels.”
No, this oversimplifies and blurs the matter under discussion. What I wrote was this: Continue reading
My recent invocation of Matthew Larsen’s article has generated a good bit of discussion both on and off the blog. In one of these exchanges, Mike Holmes raised some good questions about the article and agreed to let me post them. I invited Matthew Larsen to respond, and I’ve posted his response below Mike’s observations. Thanks to both Mike and Matthew for sharing their thoughts.
Here is Mike’s query: Continue reading
In my first posting prompted by Larry Hurtado’s reflections on textual transmission, I brought up a recent article by Matthew Larsen, “Accidental Publication, Unfinished Texts and the Traditional Goals of New Testament Textual Criticism.” In a response (here), Hurtado has offered a critical reading of Larsen’s article. Continue reading
The Early History of the Codex
Thoughts on History, Religion, Archaeology, Papyrology, etc. by Brent Nongbri
Everyday Stories from the Ancient Past
Patristics, Apocrypha, Coptic Literature and Manuscripts
Pedagogical Approaches to Palaeography and Codicology
Thoughts on History, Religion, Archaeology, Papyrology, etc. by Brent Nongbri
Thoughts on History, Religion, Archaeology, Papyrology, etc. by Brent Nongbri
Thoughts on History, Religion, Archaeology, Papyrology, etc. by Brent Nongbri
Variant Readings 