Paris Philo Codex (sort of?) Online

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Brent Nongbri
Paris Philo Codex

Bibliothèque nationale de France (Ms. Suppl. grec 1120, Philo of Alexandria

In an earlier pair of posts, I described the extant fragments of a substantial papyrus codex of the works of Philo of Alexandria that was found at Oxyrhynchus (LDAB 3540). The other major Roman-era source for Philo’s works is a shorter but much better preserved papyrus codex containing Quis rerum divinarum heres sit and De sacrificiis Abelis et Caini kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Ms. Suppl. grec 1120, LDAB 3541). It is generally assigned to the roughly the same period as the Oxyrhynchus Philo (3rd century CE).

I discuss this codex at some length in my forthcoming book, so I don’t want to give away all the secrets, but I just discovered that the BnF has made some images of the codex available online at Gallica (and they have been online since January of 2017!). Continue reading →

Posted in Book covers, Codices, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Paris Philo of Alexandria | 3 Comments

The Green Collection 1 Samuel Papyrus and Mummy Cartonnage

Posted on June 15, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In the course of rooting around online for further insight into the early Christian papyrus fragments I have been discussing (here and here), I’ve followed in the tracks of others (like Brice Jones and Roberta Mazza) who were already going down this rabbit hole years ago. Today that path led to another papyrus in the Green Collection that travelled widely in the Passages exhibition. Unlike some of the other camera shy fragments in the collection, this manuscript appeared prominently in promotional materials. It is a papyrus containing the beginning of 1 Samuel in Greek. Here is an image published in the online version of The Oklahoman in May 2011:

1 Samuel Passages Exhibit

Papyrus containing 1 Samuel 1:1-5 in the Green Collection in 2011; image source: The Oklahoman

Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Green Collection, Green Collection 1 Samuel, Mummy cartonnage, Scott Carroll | 13 Comments

P129, P130, and P131: A Couple More Observations

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In my previous post, I tried to direct attention to the source of certain papyri in the Green Collection and/or the Museum of the Bible that seem to have been acquired at about the same time as “first century” Mark was allegedly for sale. A substantive comment to that post by Greg Given brings together some related issues.

So, to recap, the pieces under discussion are, according to the INTF Liste: Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Anton Fackelmann, First Century Mark, Green Collection, Green Collection 1 Corinthians, Green Collection 1 Samuel, Green Collection Hebrews, Green Collection Romans, Mummy cartonnage, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Scott Carroll | 4 Comments

“First Century” Mark and “Second Century” Romans and “Second Century” Hebrews and “Second Century” 1 Corinthians

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

[[Update 18 October 2019: It has now been shown that the papyri containing Romans and 1 Corinthians mentioned in this post were in fact stolen from the Oxyrhynchus collection. See details here.]]

Elijah Hixson has posted a nice update on the latest developments regarding questions around P.Oxy. 83.5345, the recently published papyrus fragment of the Gospel According to Mark. It’s well worth a read.

The lack of clarity on all sides in this episode is unfortunate. One part of Dan Wallace’s latest statement on the matter was especially striking to me: Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Codices, First Century Mark, Green Collection 1 Corinthians, Green Collection Hebrews, Green Collection Romans, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Scott Carroll | 38 Comments

Still more on P.Oxy. 83.5345

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In an earlier posting, I noted that the updated statement from the Egypt Exploration Society still left some lingering questions about the treatment of this papyrus fragment and that some of these questions could best be answered by Dan Wallace and others involved in the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) related to this papyrus. Now Dan Wallace has himself offered an update shedding some light on the NDA he signed. This is all very strange. It would be helpful if the “major collection that was interested in purchasing the papyrus” would identify itself and release all parties from this NDA so that the academic community can get a little clarity about the recent history of this papyrus.

 

Posted in Antiquities Market, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 16 Comments

Refining Radiocarbon Calibration for the Southern Levant

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

At the website for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a new article has been posted in pre-print format: “Fluctuating radiocarbon offsets observed in the southern Levant and implications for archaeological chronology debates.”

While the title isn’t exactly catchy, this is an interesting article that is potentially significant for the dating of ancient manuscripts that may have been produced using materials native to this area. Continue reading →

Posted in Dendrochronology, Radiocarbon analysis | 8 Comments

Some Observations on the Updated EES Statement on P.Oxy. 83.5345

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

Thanks to Stephen Goranson for noting that the Egypt Exploration Society has posted an updated statement regarding some of the questions surrounding P.Oxy. 83.5345.

There is a good deal of helpful and interesting information in this update. For now, I’ll just comment upon a a few points. Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Scott Carroll | 12 Comments

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri in the 1930s

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

From 1898 to 1927, Grenfell and/or Hunt edited the first seventeen volumes of The Oxyrhynchus Papyri series (Grenfell’s periodic illnesses limited his participation in a couple volumes, and Hunt was away from Oxford during World War I). But over a decade elapsed between the publication of Volume 17 (1927) and Volume 18 (1941). What was happening with the papyri during this time? In an earlier post, I mentioned the movement of the Oxyrhynchus collection after the death of Arthur Hunt in 1934. Eric Turner has provided a bit more detail about that process by working through the minutes of committee meetings of the Egypt Exploration Society. I quote at length from Turner’s obituary for Edgar Lobel (identified as “EL” in the following excerpt): Continue reading →

Posted in Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 3 Comments

A Bit More on the Storage and Inventory of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri

Posted on June 1, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

As Grenfell and Hunt’s team extracted papyri from the garbage heaps in Oxyrhynchus, they placed them in baskets, which Grenfell and Hunt eventually packed away in tin boxes. As Grenfell famously wrote in his report of the first season’s excavation at Oxyrhynchus: Continue reading →

Posted in Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 5 Comments

Some Observations on the “Provisional Dating” of P.Oxy. 83.5345

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

I want to dwell a little bit on one of the lines from the Egypt Exploration Society’s statement on P.Oxy. 83.5345:

“This is the same text that Professor Obbink showed to some visitors to Oxford in 2011/12, which some of them reported in talks and on social media as possibly dating to the late first century AD on the basis of a provisional dating when the text was catalogued many years ago.”

There are a number of things worthy of further consideration here, but I want to focus on the “provisional dating” that was made “when the text was catalogued many years ago.”

My working assumption is that this statement refers to the cataloguing process undertaken in the 1960s. Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, Dirk Obbink, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Palaeography | 14 Comments