TY - JOUR
T1 - Losing a curious christian scroll but gaining a curious christian codex an oxyrhynchus papyrus of exodus and revelation
AU - Nongbri, Brent
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - British Library Pap. 2053 is a Greek papyrus fragment from Oxyrhynchus. Its two sides, written in distinctly diffferent hands, were published separately in 1911 as P.Oxy. 8.1075 (Rahlfs 909, the last verses of Exodus) and P.Oxy. 8.1079 (P18, early verses of Revelation). The original editor of the piece, Arthur S. Hunt, described Pap. 2053 as part of a roll rather than a codex. He speculated that at some point after Exodus was copied along the f.ibers, the reverse was then reused for a copy of Revelation written against the f.ibers. I argue that, for at least three reasons, it is worth entertaining the possibility that Pap. 2053 is not part of a roll but rather a leaf from a codex. First, the amount of text and the format of the text on the papyrus are appropriate for a codex leaf. Second, we now have good evidence (unavailable to Hunt) for the existence of Christian codices with an eclectic mix of contents copied by diffferent scribes. Third, when the back sides of rolls were reused, they were often rotated 180° such that the texts on the two sides of the papyrus were upside down relative to one another, rather than same-side-up, as the columns of Pap. 2053 are.
AB - British Library Pap. 2053 is a Greek papyrus fragment from Oxyrhynchus. Its two sides, written in distinctly diffferent hands, were published separately in 1911 as P.Oxy. 8.1075 (Rahlfs 909, the last verses of Exodus) and P.Oxy. 8.1079 (P18, early verses of Revelation). The original editor of the piece, Arthur S. Hunt, described Pap. 2053 as part of a roll rather than a codex. He speculated that at some point after Exodus was copied along the f.ibers, the reverse was then reused for a copy of Revelation written against the f.ibers. I argue that, for at least three reasons, it is worth entertaining the possibility that Pap. 2053 is not part of a roll but rather a leaf from a codex. First, the amount of text and the format of the text on the papyrus are appropriate for a codex leaf. Second, we now have good evidence (unavailable to Hunt) for the existence of Christian codices with an eclectic mix of contents copied by diffferent scribes. Third, when the back sides of rolls were reused, they were often rotated 180° such that the texts on the two sides of the papyrus were upside down relative to one another, rather than same-side-up, as the columns of Pap. 2053 are.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84876570517&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1163/156853612X645350
DO - 10.1163/156853612X645350
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84876570517
SN - 0048-1009
VL - 55
SP - 77
EP - 88
JO - Novum Testamentum
JF - Novum Testamentum
IS - 1
ER -