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
P.Oxy. 57.3890, title from a papyrus roll containing Book 2 of Thucydides’ History; image source: POxy Oxyrhynchus Online
I posted yesterday some initial thoughts about questions of textual fluidity and stability in early Christian manuscripts generated in conversation with a post by Larry Hurtado. Larry has responded in a lengthy post here. I’ll take up some his points in a later post. For now, I want to follow through on my original line of thought: Is there non-Christian (in this case, classical) material that we can look at for the sake of comparing how other literature was published and transmitted in Greek and Roman antiquity? Continue reading
Recently on his blog Larry Hurtado has been reflecting on issues of textual stability and fluidity of early Christian manuscripts. It’s an interesting question to ponder, but as Larry notes, assertions in either direction are tricky because just about everyone agrees that when it comes to the documents of the New Testament, we simply don’t have manuscripts from the very earliest period of transmission. Continue reading
A couple years ago, Roberta Mazza traced the “modern biography” of a fragmentary papyrus leaf containing the Gospel According to John, P.Oxy. 15.1780 (better known to New Testament scholars as P39). It’s a fascinating article that can be downloaded here. In this post, I take a look at another Christian manuscript with a similarly colorful biography.
It’s a parchment codex usually assigned to the fourth or fifth century containing Jeremiah 40-52, Lamentations, the Epistle of Jeremiah, and Baruch in Coptic (LDAB 108176). Continue reading
I’ll just make one last post (for now) on the Bodmer composite codex and its curious features. This post has to do with one of the leaves of the paschal sermon of Melito, P.Bodmer XIII. As was customary for the early volumes in the Papyrus Bodmer series, only a couple of pages were illustrated with photographic plates. One of these pages was a bit of a puzzle. I reproduce the photographic plate below: Continue reading
In my last post, I provided a provisional diagram of the Bodmer composite codex (LDAB 2565). I also mentioned that I did not think the booklet consisting of P.Bodmer XX (the Apology of Phileas) + P.Bodmer IX (Psalms 33-34) was ever a part of the composite codex. I did not fully spell out my reasoning for this, so I will do so here. Continue reading
The so-called Bodmer “Composite” or “Miscellaneous” codex (LDAB 2565), is a fascinating, but somewhat confusing artifact. Continue reading
Even though I have a long chapter on the Bodmer Papyri in my book, there is still much that I didn’t get a chance to discuss in detail. Because of its time on the antiquities market, the ancient find we call the Bodmer Papyri has unclear borders. While there is disagreement about the exact contents of the find, one of the pieces that everyone agrees was a part of the ancient collection is a papyrus codex containing three works of comic playwright Menander (LDAB 2743). What is it doing there among all these Christian books? Continue reading
In 2016, I gave paper that revisited the old question of the rise of the codex. There has been a lot of work done over the years on why the codex may have come to replace the roll, but there has been much less concern about the question of how: What technological developments were involved in bringing about the multi-quire codex with its characteristic stitching that became the medium for the transmission of literature for a millennium? Continue reading
I intended to write some thoughts on this symposium earlier, but I’ve been busy finishing up the proofs and index for my book (more on that later). This was a wonderful event. The day began with a guided tour of the exhibition, The Codex and Crafts in Late Antiquity, which includes an interesting mix of artifacts from New York area museums, excellent models produced by the curator Georgios Boudalis and others, and some really nice digital animations illustrating binding techniques. 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 