The document discusses the dating of several early New Testament papyri, including P52, P46, and P67. It argues that the narrow dating of some papyri based on paleographical analysis alone is problematic, as letter formations can persist over long periods of time. Instead, it advocates locating each handwriting sample within its broader graphic stream using dated documentary papyri as comparanda. When this stricter methodology is applied to the discussed papyri, it suggests dating ranges of the 2nd-3rd centuries for P52 and P46, and the late 2nd century for P67.
A history of_classical_greek_literature_v2_1000104793 (1)Joy Mukherjee
This chapter introduces the history of Greek prose literature and discusses the early use of writing in Greece. It argues that writing was likely used in Greece before 700 BC based on early inscriptions. Around this time, lawgivers developed written legal codes and the sayings of wise men were recorded, indicating the growing use and familiarity with writing. However, poetry remained the dominant literary form until special influences in the 6th century encouraged the development of prose. These influences included changes in religion with the spread of Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries, and the dawn of philosophy in Greece.
Ultimate online resources for bible scholarsWorldBibles
This document provides a comprehensive list of online resources for Bible scholars, including:
1. Websites with Hebrew texts of the Old Testament, Aramaic texts of the Targums, Greek texts of the Septuagint and New Testament, and Latin texts of the Vulgate.
2. Interlinear texts, audio recordings, and dictionaries for biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin.
3. Scholarly editions of biblical texts and tools for textual criticism.
The resources cover the major original language texts and translations of the Bible, as well as tools for studying the biblical languages to aid Bible scholars in their research.
Ancient Epistolary Theory a Brief Overview.pdfCarrie Tran
This document provides an overview of ancient epistolary theory based on surviving evidence from ancient times. It discusses how letters were defined, the types of letters that existed, and recommendations for letter composition. Direct evidence comes from brief discussions of letters in the works of Demetrius, Philostratus, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Julius Victor. Indirect evidence is found in the letters of Cicero, Seneca, and Quintilian. Letters were seen as having a primarily practical function and composition guidelines were likely brief and formulaic, focused on different letter types.
Coptic Deuteronomy, Jonah, and Acts of the ApostleBassem Matta
This document provides a summary of a new biblical papyrus manuscript containing Sahidic versions of Deuteronomy, Jonah, and Acts of the Apostles that was acquired by the British Museum. The manuscript, dated to before AD 350, is significant as one of the earliest existing manuscripts containing portions of the Bible. While in Coptic rather than Greek, the language allows determining the underlying Greek text. The document discusses aspects of the manuscript such as the possible multiple scribes based on differences in handwriting between the books, the quire structure, and evidence of later annotations in a different ink.
An Exegetical Analysis Of Matthew 8 5-13Jose Katab
This document provides an exegetical analysis of Matthew 8:5-13. It examines 11 textual variants found in different manuscripts of this passage and makes a judgment on the original or preferred reading for each variant based on both external evidence from the manuscripts and internal evidence from the context. For each variant, the document describes the alternative readings found, cites the manuscripts that contain them, and evaluates which reading is most likely original based on factors such as which manuscripts are earliest and most authoritative as well as which option makes the most sense contextually.
Punctuations - English Language ReportHusseinAzher
The use of spacing, conventional signs, and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading, both silently and aloud, of handwritten and printed texts. The word is derived from the Latin punctus, “point.” From the 15th century to the early 18th the subject was known in English as pointing; and the term punctuation, first recorded in the middle of the 16th century, was reserved for the insertion of vowel points (marks placed near consonants to indicate preceding or following vowels) in Hebrew texts. The two words exchanged meanings between 1650 and 1750.
This document provides a summary of proofs for the Pythagorean theorem. It begins with background on Pythagoras and the theorem. It then lists some Pythagorean triples and properties. The document provides two geometric proofs of the theorem using areas of shapes. It shows that the area of a large square is equal to the sum of the areas of the four shapes formed, proving the theorem algebraically. Overall, the document outlines the history of the theorem and provides two proofs of it.
This document provides a brief introduction to the Hieratic script:
1) Hieratic developed as the cursive form of Hieroglyphic and was used for everyday writing on papyri and potshards, while Hieroglyphic was reserved for monuments.
2) It discusses the basic strategies for reading Hieratic such as determining phonetic values and identifying determinatives.
3) It also outlines some common difficulties in Hieratic including similar signs for different hieroglyphs and vice versa, as well as the reduction of iconic elements over time.
A history of_classical_greek_literature_v2_1000104793 (1)Joy Mukherjee
This chapter introduces the history of Greek prose literature and discusses the early use of writing in Greece. It argues that writing was likely used in Greece before 700 BC based on early inscriptions. Around this time, lawgivers developed written legal codes and the sayings of wise men were recorded, indicating the growing use and familiarity with writing. However, poetry remained the dominant literary form until special influences in the 6th century encouraged the development of prose. These influences included changes in religion with the spread of Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries, and the dawn of philosophy in Greece.
Ultimate online resources for bible scholarsWorldBibles
This document provides a comprehensive list of online resources for Bible scholars, including:
1. Websites with Hebrew texts of the Old Testament, Aramaic texts of the Targums, Greek texts of the Septuagint and New Testament, and Latin texts of the Vulgate.
2. Interlinear texts, audio recordings, and dictionaries for biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin.
3. Scholarly editions of biblical texts and tools for textual criticism.
The resources cover the major original language texts and translations of the Bible, as well as tools for studying the biblical languages to aid Bible scholars in their research.
Ancient Epistolary Theory a Brief Overview.pdfCarrie Tran
This document provides an overview of ancient epistolary theory based on surviving evidence from ancient times. It discusses how letters were defined, the types of letters that existed, and recommendations for letter composition. Direct evidence comes from brief discussions of letters in the works of Demetrius, Philostratus, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Julius Victor. Indirect evidence is found in the letters of Cicero, Seneca, and Quintilian. Letters were seen as having a primarily practical function and composition guidelines were likely brief and formulaic, focused on different letter types.
Coptic Deuteronomy, Jonah, and Acts of the ApostleBassem Matta
This document provides a summary of a new biblical papyrus manuscript containing Sahidic versions of Deuteronomy, Jonah, and Acts of the Apostles that was acquired by the British Museum. The manuscript, dated to before AD 350, is significant as one of the earliest existing manuscripts containing portions of the Bible. While in Coptic rather than Greek, the language allows determining the underlying Greek text. The document discusses aspects of the manuscript such as the possible multiple scribes based on differences in handwriting between the books, the quire structure, and evidence of later annotations in a different ink.
An Exegetical Analysis Of Matthew 8 5-13Jose Katab
This document provides an exegetical analysis of Matthew 8:5-13. It examines 11 textual variants found in different manuscripts of this passage and makes a judgment on the original or preferred reading for each variant based on both external evidence from the manuscripts and internal evidence from the context. For each variant, the document describes the alternative readings found, cites the manuscripts that contain them, and evaluates which reading is most likely original based on factors such as which manuscripts are earliest and most authoritative as well as which option makes the most sense contextually.
Punctuations - English Language ReportHusseinAzher
The use of spacing, conventional signs, and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading, both silently and aloud, of handwritten and printed texts. The word is derived from the Latin punctus, “point.” From the 15th century to the early 18th the subject was known in English as pointing; and the term punctuation, first recorded in the middle of the 16th century, was reserved for the insertion of vowel points (marks placed near consonants to indicate preceding or following vowels) in Hebrew texts. The two words exchanged meanings between 1650 and 1750.
This document provides a summary of proofs for the Pythagorean theorem. It begins with background on Pythagoras and the theorem. It then lists some Pythagorean triples and properties. The document provides two geometric proofs of the theorem using areas of shapes. It shows that the area of a large square is equal to the sum of the areas of the four shapes formed, proving the theorem algebraically. Overall, the document outlines the history of the theorem and provides two proofs of it.
This document provides a brief introduction to the Hieratic script:
1) Hieratic developed as the cursive form of Hieroglyphic and was used for everyday writing on papyri and potshards, while Hieroglyphic was reserved for monuments.
2) It discusses the basic strategies for reading Hieratic such as determining phonetic values and identifying determinatives.
3) It also outlines some common difficulties in Hieratic including similar signs for different hieroglyphs and vice versa, as well as the reduction of iconic elements over time.
The document discusses theories about the nature and origins of the Indus script. It argues that:
1) The transformation from the Early Harappan phase to the mature Harappan phase was rapid, within a century or two, bringing new architecture, artifacts, and symbols.
2) The Harappans executed complex engineering projects by 2600 BC that would have been easier with a more advanced writing system than currently believed.
3) The Indus civilization was likely highly multi-lingual, and its script would have needed to be read by many occupational groups, arguing against theories of a very simple script.
The earliest known example of an Indus seal dates to 1873 in the form of a drawing
published by Alexander Cunningham. Since then, thousands of examples of the Indus script have
been discovered, and the Indus script has been subject to very serious analysis by many scholars
from all over the world and still continues to fascinate, enchant and frustrate innumerable
researchers who have made many a vain attempt to understand its true nature and meaning. The
nature of the Indus script remains elusive and there are currently many different schools of
thought – some think it represented a Dravidian language, some think it represented an Indo-
Aryan language, while some are convinced it belongs to a third language group. Some argue that
it represented a language while others argue it was only a complex ‘symbol system’, either with or
without a linguistic content. In an earlier paper, ‘Syncretism and Acculturation in Ancient India; A
new Nine Phase Acculturation model explaining the process of transfer of power from the
Harappans to the Indo-Aryans’, which was published in two parts in the ICFAI Journal of History
and Culture (January 2009 and 2010), we proposed methods to reconstruct the languages of the
Harappans with ‘smoking guns’, and concluded that the Harappans spoke neither a Dravidian
language nor Sanskrit but were intensely multi-linguistic and spoke several languages which
included remote ancestors of languages which much later came to be known as Prakrits. In this
paper, we take a parsimonious approach with regard to the Indus script, attempt to understand its
nature, examine the logical flaws of current theories with regard to the Indus script and conclude
that it is impossible to draw any hasty conclusions about the nature of the Indus script without
building rock solid theoretical models and that the Indus script issue is probably less simple than
the most simplistic of theories make it out to be. More importantly, we also refute ‘Sproat’s
smoking gun’ which cannot prove that the Indus writing system was not stable, that is was not a
writing system or that it did not have a linguistic component. We will conclude, that all things
considered, further research is only likely to reinforce the idea that it was a logo-syllabic script
and that any other scenario is highly unlikely.
This document is the preface to the book "Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy". It provides background information on early Chinese history, culture, and philosophy prior to the classical period. It discusses early religious beliefs recorded on oracle bones and bronze vessels, including the concepts of Shang Di, ancestral spirits, and divination. It also describes the transition during the Zhou Dynasty towards more "naturalized" concepts like Tian and Tianming. The preface aims to help readers understand the intellectual context for the philosophical works included in the book.
This paper discusses intertextuality and its importance for literary translation between Arabic and English. It argues that awareness of intertextuality undermines the importance of translation theory in favor of improving translation practice. The paper is divided into six parts that: 1) define intertextuality in literary texts, 2) trace early structural studies of intertextuality before Kristeva, 3) demonstrate how allusions gain different meanings across texts over time and cultures, 4) provide examples of intentional and unintentional intertextuality and how writers borrow from other texts, 5) show how the matrix of a text influences its readings as new rewritings, and 6) briefly discuss two views of the origins of texts - theological and scientific. The
A Bibliography of Studies on Egyptian-Mesopotamian Relations.pdfCassie Romero
This document provides a bibliography of studies on Egyptian-Mesopotamian relations from the 1st edition of "A Bibliography of Studies on Egyptian-Mesopotamian Relations" by Mattias Karlsson. It begins with introductory remarks about the purpose and principles used to compile the bibliography. The bibliography is then presented and divided into primary sources, which are source publications, and secondary sources, which are scholarly discussions. After the bibliography, the author notes that some time periods, agents, and topics are focused on more than others in the collected literature.
The present volume contains a collection of old-world legends and tales. The heroes are mostly biblical personages; hence the name given to it by me, 'Bible Historiale.' It resembles in tendency and spirit these mediæval compilations, and is their oldest representative. The Hebrew text exists only in one single manuscript. My translation is as faithful and literal a rendering as such a subject requires. Unlike others, I have followed the older example and have added a full index. It is a complete digest of the whole matter contained in the book. No incident of any importance has wilfully been omitted. For the purpose of preparing it and of facilitating critical and bibliographical investigations, I have divided the text into chapters and paragraphs. Indications in the manuscript guided me. In a long introduction I have investigated firstly the question as to the date and authorship of the chronicle as a whole; then discussed the place of its composition; the relation in which the chronicle of Jeraḥmeel stands to the Book of Yashar and to Yosippon. I have laid bare the connection with the 'Genesis Rabba Major' of Moses ha Darshan; and drawn attention to the parallelism between this chronicle, the 'Historia Scholastica' of Comestor, and other similar Christian compilations. In a second part of the introduction I have studied each chapter and each text separately, and I have minutely investigated each paragraph and smaller incident. Parallels have been adduced by me not only from the Hebrew but also from non-Hebrew literatures. An attempt has been made to ascertain the probable age of each of these legends, to show the historical background of some, and the value for textual criticism of the other texts contained in this chronicle. Five pages of the Hebrew manuscript of decisive importance for the date and for the original character of this compilation have been added. In short, no pains have been spared to make this book a worthy contribution to the study of Biblical Apocrypha, and to place in the hand of the student the means of testing the truth and cogency of the conclusions to which I have arrived. It remains now for me to fulfil a pleasant duty in thanking my friends Dr. W. H. Greenburg and Dr. H. Barnstein for the assistance they have rendered me, and above all Mr. F. F. Arbuthnot, to whose generosity the book owes its appearance. M. GASTER LONDON June 16, 1899 Tammuz 8, 5659
The document outlines several methods used in writing history, including historical methods, epigraphy, codicology, genealogy, heraldry, linguistics, numismatics, paleography, papyrology, prosopography, and sigillography. Each method involves analyzing different types of primary sources such as inscriptions, manuscripts, family histories, coats of arms, languages, currency, handwriting, papyri, biographies, and seals to research and write accounts of the past.
Witness and Perspective; a Quest for the Original Order of the Chapters in 1 ...Hugo Louter
This chapter discusses the sources and recensions of the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It notes there are various versions of the LXX books of Kings and determining the stages of its creation is difficult, as it occurred between the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. The chapter outlines the history of the LXX, including its authority declining as the Hebrew text became normative, and various revisions made to adapt it to the Hebrew, culminating in new Jewish translations. It discusses debates around the origins of the LXX and how the Dead Sea Scrolls support the view it was based on an archetype text. Finally, it introduces the concept of the Old Greek, the original
1. In the late 18th century, scholar William Jones observed similarities between Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek and proposed they derived from a common source no longer existing.
2. In the 19th century, comparative philology developed as a field, with scholars like Rasmus Rask systematically comparing sound correspondences between related languages.
3. August Schleicher took the field further by reconstructing proto-languages and proposing the first tree model of the relationships between major Indo-European languages.
This document provides a research guide for studying the intertestamental period between the Old and New Testaments. It lists reference works such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, books in the library, relevant periodicals, electronic resources, and websites. The guide recommends basic introductory sources on topics like archaeology, Jewish sects, Greco-Roman religion, and the Apocrypha to help start research on the intertestamental history and culture. Subject headings and call numbers are also provided to aid in locating further materials.
1) A book is a collection of pages bound together and protected by a cover. It allows for keeping and sharing information through text or images.
2) As a scholarly item, a book is typically lengthy enough to require time to read and is considered an investment of one's time. Historically, long works had to be written on multiple parchments with each identified by the book it contained.
3) The contents of a book are not limited to just text - they can include drawings, photos, puzzles, or other items. Pages can be left blank or include lines to aid writing. Some books are made thick enough to hold other objects like photos.
Digital image processing can be used to enhance ancient documents like papyri. Edge detection and Fourier filtering are applied to reduce background noise and improve readability. Examples show enhanced texts from 3rd century BC Greek manuscripts. One technique is also applied to the 7Q5 Dead Sea Scroll fragment to aid in identifying letters, with Fourier filtering suggesting a faint line is a substrate defect, not part of an ink pattern.
This document introduces a newly discovered fragment from a Sahidic Coptic manuscript containing a portion of the text of 4 Ezra, a Jewish apocalyptic work. The fragment is from the 14th-15th century and preserved in a bilingual Copto-Arabic manuscript from the White Monastery in Egypt. It provides the earliest attested Sahidic version of 4 Ezra. The document presents an edition of the newly identified fragment, along with analysis and discussion of its significance for understanding the reception and transmission of 4 Ezra in Coptic literature.
A HISTORY OF OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE.pdfYolanda Ivey
This introduction provides context on Anglo-Saxon England and its literature by discussing cultural differences from modern society and changes over time. It describes the invasion of Britain in the 5th century by Germanic tribes with a martial culture reflected in heroic legends. It also describes the introduction of Mediterranean learning through Christian missionaries. Old English literature fused these two cultural strains. It briefly discusses Tacitus' Germania to depict the tribal society of early invaders, noting similarities to Beowulf but also evolution over centuries towards a more centralized English nation by the Norman invasion.
describing calligraphy in interior design
its history
and the role of calligraphy in forming modern interiors
what is the relationship of zaha hadid and calligraphy ?
Topics for paper #1 possible topics for paper #1 a) SALU18
The article examines the narrative significance of verse in Feng Menglong's short story "The Pearl Shirt Reencountered." It argues that Feng utilized the two narrative spaces of prose and verse to juxtapose a moralizing narratorial voice in prose with a counter-voice influenced by Wang Yangming's School of the Mind in verse. While previous scholarship viewed verse as redundant or a sign of orality, the article aims to demonstrate how verse related meaningfully to the prose in this prosimetric story. It seeks to understand the prosimetric form and strengthen interpretations of late imperial Chinese fiction.
This document discusses various terms related to communication and texts from the Middle Ages, including glossing, scriptura continua, punctus, word spacing, ligatures, abbreviations, nomina sacra, and punctuation. It provides definitions and examples for each term. For glossing, it explains that it involves commentary or interpretation within or around the margins of manuscripts. For scriptura continua, it refers to continuous script without punctuation. It also gives examples and discusses forms of punctus like punctus flexus and punctus elevatus. The document examines features like ligatures, abbreviations used in manuscripts as well as nomina sacra, which are abbreviated sacred names. Finally, it discusses the role of punctuation in medieval texts
A Corpus-Based Study Of Relative Pronouns In Spanish Essays Between The 17Th ...Maria Perkins
This document provides a summary of a study analyzing the relative pronouns "que", "el cual", "quien", and "el que" in Spanish essays written between the 17th and 19th centuries. The study examines the distribution of these relative pronouns across four linguistic contexts: 1) restrictive vs. nonrestrictive relative clauses, 2) animacy of the antecedent, 3) presence vs. absence of a preposition, and 4) grammatical function of the relative pronoun. The results provide insights into how the relative pronoun system may have changed over time, with some pronouns expanding their usage in certain contexts while others contracted.
A Critical And Exegetical Commentary On Ecclesiastes Vol. 1Kaela Johnson
This introduction discusses the complex history of interpretation of the book of Ecclesiastes. It notes that while much has been written about Ecclesiastes, there is little agreement among scholars on its themes and message due to various interpretations. The introduction then outlines the author's own views on the presentation and content of the book, including that it is a work of imagination rather than being directly attributed to Solomon. It also previews discussing external context and date of the book, as well as providing an overview of the textual history and different versions of Ecclesiastes.
The document discusses theories about the nature and origins of the Indus script. It argues that:
1) The transformation from the Early Harappan phase to the mature Harappan phase was rapid, within a century or two, bringing new architecture, artifacts, and symbols.
2) The Harappans executed complex engineering projects by 2600 BC that would have been easier with a more advanced writing system than currently believed.
3) The Indus civilization was likely highly multi-lingual, and its script would have needed to be read by many occupational groups, arguing against theories of a very simple script.
The earliest known example of an Indus seal dates to 1873 in the form of a drawing
published by Alexander Cunningham. Since then, thousands of examples of the Indus script have
been discovered, and the Indus script has been subject to very serious analysis by many scholars
from all over the world and still continues to fascinate, enchant and frustrate innumerable
researchers who have made many a vain attempt to understand its true nature and meaning. The
nature of the Indus script remains elusive and there are currently many different schools of
thought – some think it represented a Dravidian language, some think it represented an Indo-
Aryan language, while some are convinced it belongs to a third language group. Some argue that
it represented a language while others argue it was only a complex ‘symbol system’, either with or
without a linguistic content. In an earlier paper, ‘Syncretism and Acculturation in Ancient India; A
new Nine Phase Acculturation model explaining the process of transfer of power from the
Harappans to the Indo-Aryans’, which was published in two parts in the ICFAI Journal of History
and Culture (January 2009 and 2010), we proposed methods to reconstruct the languages of the
Harappans with ‘smoking guns’, and concluded that the Harappans spoke neither a Dravidian
language nor Sanskrit but were intensely multi-linguistic and spoke several languages which
included remote ancestors of languages which much later came to be known as Prakrits. In this
paper, we take a parsimonious approach with regard to the Indus script, attempt to understand its
nature, examine the logical flaws of current theories with regard to the Indus script and conclude
that it is impossible to draw any hasty conclusions about the nature of the Indus script without
building rock solid theoretical models and that the Indus script issue is probably less simple than
the most simplistic of theories make it out to be. More importantly, we also refute ‘Sproat’s
smoking gun’ which cannot prove that the Indus writing system was not stable, that is was not a
writing system or that it did not have a linguistic component. We will conclude, that all things
considered, further research is only likely to reinforce the idea that it was a logo-syllabic script
and that any other scenario is highly unlikely.
This document is the preface to the book "Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy". It provides background information on early Chinese history, culture, and philosophy prior to the classical period. It discusses early religious beliefs recorded on oracle bones and bronze vessels, including the concepts of Shang Di, ancestral spirits, and divination. It also describes the transition during the Zhou Dynasty towards more "naturalized" concepts like Tian and Tianming. The preface aims to help readers understand the intellectual context for the philosophical works included in the book.
This paper discusses intertextuality and its importance for literary translation between Arabic and English. It argues that awareness of intertextuality undermines the importance of translation theory in favor of improving translation practice. The paper is divided into six parts that: 1) define intertextuality in literary texts, 2) trace early structural studies of intertextuality before Kristeva, 3) demonstrate how allusions gain different meanings across texts over time and cultures, 4) provide examples of intentional and unintentional intertextuality and how writers borrow from other texts, 5) show how the matrix of a text influences its readings as new rewritings, and 6) briefly discuss two views of the origins of texts - theological and scientific. The
A Bibliography of Studies on Egyptian-Mesopotamian Relations.pdfCassie Romero
This document provides a bibliography of studies on Egyptian-Mesopotamian relations from the 1st edition of "A Bibliography of Studies on Egyptian-Mesopotamian Relations" by Mattias Karlsson. It begins with introductory remarks about the purpose and principles used to compile the bibliography. The bibliography is then presented and divided into primary sources, which are source publications, and secondary sources, which are scholarly discussions. After the bibliography, the author notes that some time periods, agents, and topics are focused on more than others in the collected literature.
The present volume contains a collection of old-world legends and tales. The heroes are mostly biblical personages; hence the name given to it by me, 'Bible Historiale.' It resembles in tendency and spirit these mediæval compilations, and is their oldest representative. The Hebrew text exists only in one single manuscript. My translation is as faithful and literal a rendering as such a subject requires. Unlike others, I have followed the older example and have added a full index. It is a complete digest of the whole matter contained in the book. No incident of any importance has wilfully been omitted. For the purpose of preparing it and of facilitating critical and bibliographical investigations, I have divided the text into chapters and paragraphs. Indications in the manuscript guided me. In a long introduction I have investigated firstly the question as to the date and authorship of the chronicle as a whole; then discussed the place of its composition; the relation in which the chronicle of Jeraḥmeel stands to the Book of Yashar and to Yosippon. I have laid bare the connection with the 'Genesis Rabba Major' of Moses ha Darshan; and drawn attention to the parallelism between this chronicle, the 'Historia Scholastica' of Comestor, and other similar Christian compilations. In a second part of the introduction I have studied each chapter and each text separately, and I have minutely investigated each paragraph and smaller incident. Parallels have been adduced by me not only from the Hebrew but also from non-Hebrew literatures. An attempt has been made to ascertain the probable age of each of these legends, to show the historical background of some, and the value for textual criticism of the other texts contained in this chronicle. Five pages of the Hebrew manuscript of decisive importance for the date and for the original character of this compilation have been added. In short, no pains have been spared to make this book a worthy contribution to the study of Biblical Apocrypha, and to place in the hand of the student the means of testing the truth and cogency of the conclusions to which I have arrived. It remains now for me to fulfil a pleasant duty in thanking my friends Dr. W. H. Greenburg and Dr. H. Barnstein for the assistance they have rendered me, and above all Mr. F. F. Arbuthnot, to whose generosity the book owes its appearance. M. GASTER LONDON June 16, 1899 Tammuz 8, 5659
The document outlines several methods used in writing history, including historical methods, epigraphy, codicology, genealogy, heraldry, linguistics, numismatics, paleography, papyrology, prosopography, and sigillography. Each method involves analyzing different types of primary sources such as inscriptions, manuscripts, family histories, coats of arms, languages, currency, handwriting, papyri, biographies, and seals to research and write accounts of the past.
Witness and Perspective; a Quest for the Original Order of the Chapters in 1 ...Hugo Louter
This chapter discusses the sources and recensions of the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It notes there are various versions of the LXX books of Kings and determining the stages of its creation is difficult, as it occurred between the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. The chapter outlines the history of the LXX, including its authority declining as the Hebrew text became normative, and various revisions made to adapt it to the Hebrew, culminating in new Jewish translations. It discusses debates around the origins of the LXX and how the Dead Sea Scrolls support the view it was based on an archetype text. Finally, it introduces the concept of the Old Greek, the original
1. In the late 18th century, scholar William Jones observed similarities between Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek and proposed they derived from a common source no longer existing.
2. In the 19th century, comparative philology developed as a field, with scholars like Rasmus Rask systematically comparing sound correspondences between related languages.
3. August Schleicher took the field further by reconstructing proto-languages and proposing the first tree model of the relationships between major Indo-European languages.
This document provides a research guide for studying the intertestamental period between the Old and New Testaments. It lists reference works such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, books in the library, relevant periodicals, electronic resources, and websites. The guide recommends basic introductory sources on topics like archaeology, Jewish sects, Greco-Roman religion, and the Apocrypha to help start research on the intertestamental history and culture. Subject headings and call numbers are also provided to aid in locating further materials.
1) A book is a collection of pages bound together and protected by a cover. It allows for keeping and sharing information through text or images.
2) As a scholarly item, a book is typically lengthy enough to require time to read and is considered an investment of one's time. Historically, long works had to be written on multiple parchments with each identified by the book it contained.
3) The contents of a book are not limited to just text - they can include drawings, photos, puzzles, or other items. Pages can be left blank or include lines to aid writing. Some books are made thick enough to hold other objects like photos.
Digital image processing can be used to enhance ancient documents like papyri. Edge detection and Fourier filtering are applied to reduce background noise and improve readability. Examples show enhanced texts from 3rd century BC Greek manuscripts. One technique is also applied to the 7Q5 Dead Sea Scroll fragment to aid in identifying letters, with Fourier filtering suggesting a faint line is a substrate defect, not part of an ink pattern.
This document introduces a newly discovered fragment from a Sahidic Coptic manuscript containing a portion of the text of 4 Ezra, a Jewish apocalyptic work. The fragment is from the 14th-15th century and preserved in a bilingual Copto-Arabic manuscript from the White Monastery in Egypt. It provides the earliest attested Sahidic version of 4 Ezra. The document presents an edition of the newly identified fragment, along with analysis and discussion of its significance for understanding the reception and transmission of 4 Ezra in Coptic literature.
A HISTORY OF OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE.pdfYolanda Ivey
This introduction provides context on Anglo-Saxon England and its literature by discussing cultural differences from modern society and changes over time. It describes the invasion of Britain in the 5th century by Germanic tribes with a martial culture reflected in heroic legends. It also describes the introduction of Mediterranean learning through Christian missionaries. Old English literature fused these two cultural strains. It briefly discusses Tacitus' Germania to depict the tribal society of early invaders, noting similarities to Beowulf but also evolution over centuries towards a more centralized English nation by the Norman invasion.
describing calligraphy in interior design
its history
and the role of calligraphy in forming modern interiors
what is the relationship of zaha hadid and calligraphy ?
Topics for paper #1 possible topics for paper #1 a) SALU18
The article examines the narrative significance of verse in Feng Menglong's short story "The Pearl Shirt Reencountered." It argues that Feng utilized the two narrative spaces of prose and verse to juxtapose a moralizing narratorial voice in prose with a counter-voice influenced by Wang Yangming's School of the Mind in verse. While previous scholarship viewed verse as redundant or a sign of orality, the article aims to demonstrate how verse related meaningfully to the prose in this prosimetric story. It seeks to understand the prosimetric form and strengthen interpretations of late imperial Chinese fiction.
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1. 1
The dating of New Testament Papyri
Dr. Don Barker
Dept. Ancient History
Macquarie University
Sydney 2109
Australia
Email: don.barker@mq.edu.au
Greek font: SPIonic
Abstract
The narrow dating of some of the early New Testament papyri and the methodological approach that
is used must be brought into question in the light of the acknowledged difficulties with
palaeographical dating and especially the use of assigned dated literary papyri. The thesis of this
paper is that the way forward in dating New Testament papyri, or for that matter any undated literary
papyri, is to first locate the manuscript in its graphic stream and using, on the whole, dated
documentary papyri belonging to the same stream, come to an approximate understanding of where
in the history of the stream the manuscript lies. The following New Testament Papyri will be so
treated: P52
, P67
+ and P46
.
Key Words
Dating; New Testament papyri; P4
; P46
; P52
; P64
Introduction
We do not know: how writing was taught in detail, how the ancients
regarded particular styles of scripts, why they used one rather than another
(one style only to each scribe or scriptorium? or a choice? If so, what sort
of choice? At whom (sic), by the genre of text, by the format of the book?),
how styles spread and changed, lapsed and were revived.1
Palaeographical analysis is fraught with difficulties as Parsons acknowledges. We may also add to
this lament that the thickness of the reed pen, individual variants due to creativity or distortions
caused by a scribe’s haste, the age of the scribe, and deliberate archaisms, may also ‘muddy the
1
P. J. Parsons, ‘Guglielmo Cavallo, Ricerche sulla maiuscola biblica Gnomon 42.4 (1970) 378.
2. 2
waters’. 2
In learning to write a student presumably would seek to emulate the style of his teacher but
with the passing of time, those writing characteristics would become only the underlying method of
writing and individual characteristics may develop that are unique to the scribe.3
Further comparative
difficulties arise in that it is difficult to compare like with like, in other words documentary
manuscripts, which are dated, are often compared to undated book manuscripts. In some cases this
difficulty can be overcome by being able to compare undated book manuscripts with book
manuscripts that can be reasonably dated from information such as a dated document on the recto or
verso or with dated documentary manuscripts that are written in a ‘book’ style. Where no such control
exists palaeographers often resort to assigned dated literary manuscripts as comparanda which of
course leads to circularity of argument.
Methodological Considerations
A stricter methodology is needed especially in regard to the dating of some of the New Testament
papyri. First and foremost identification of the graphic stream to which a hand belongs is of vital
importance as it helps in identifying the fundamental peculiarities of a hand.4
With the aid of
2
See S. R. Pickering, ‘The Dating of the Chester Beatty –Michigan Codex of the Pauline Epistles (P46
)’
Ancient History in a Modern University II, ed Hillard, T.W., et al. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998) 226.
3
R. Cribiore, Writing, Teachers and Students in Graeco-Roman Egypt (Atlanta: Scholars, 1996) has helped in
our understanding of how school children were trained to write; however the questions in regard to the detailed
training of scribes still remain. See also K. Haines-Eitzen, Guardians of Letters: Literacy, Power, and the
Transmitters of Early Christian Literature (Oxford: Oxford University, 2000) 53-75, who devotes a chapter to
the training of Christian scribes and who notes the multifunctional ability of scribes. Haines-Eitzen mentions the
passage from Eusebius, (HE 6.23) who recounts in part that Ambrose placed at the disposal of Origen, ko&raij
e0pi to kalligrfaei=n h0skhme/naij. The quote is tantalising as it leaves us asking, ‘what did Eusebius mean by
kalligrfaei=n and why only girls?’
4
The term ‘graphic stream’ is used by G. Cavallo, ‘Greek and Latin Writing in the Papyri’, The Oxford
Handbook of Papyrology (ed. R. S. Bagnall, Oxford/New York: Oxford University, 2009) 114. Cavallo uses the
term to describe the various scripts that have some sort of characteristic uniformity in style over a period of
time. A particular graphic stream is identified by certain elements that characterise a script. The so-called
‘biblical majuscule’ stream is identified by the contrast between thin horizontal strokes and fatter vertical
3. 3
dateable manuscripts that mirror the same formations and other appropriate data the hand may be
placed within its historical context. The problem with this approach is obvious in that firmly dated
texts are written on the whole in a faster and more cursive script. Embellishments such as serifs may
give way to a more utilitarian style resulting in an appearance that is very different from the texts that
are found in literary works where, as a rule, more care was taken in their production. A possible way
ahead in using dated documentary hands is to detect the underlying formation of letters in a
documentary hand and then compare the characteristics of those formations with that of the literary
text. In dating by handwriting, individual letter shapes need to be studied to detect similarities or
dissimilarities across time, but the graphic stream in which they are embedded remains the
controlling factor.5
In using palaeographical comparisons for dating manuscripts we also need to take
into consideration that a particular graphic stream may persist for some period of time, perhaps even
for a hundred years.6
Along with dated documentary papyri, firmly dated documentary texts that are
written in a ‘bookhand’ are the most obvious comparanda for dating literary manuscripts. Literary
texts that can be roughly dated because of a documentary text written on the verso of the manuscript
may also be of some use; however they are not numerous.7
In view of our limited knowledge of
scribal training and the nature of the comparanda a narrow dating of hands should be avoided unless
there is reliable evidence to warrant otherwise. With these methodological considerations in view,
the following New Testament papyri will be reviewed.
strokes. The ‘severe’ graphic stream is characterised by a contrast in size between broad letters and narrow
letters. The ‘decorated round cursive’ is a graphic stream characterised by rounded letters and vertical strokes
finished with a serif or a roundel. The way that individual letters are formed within these graphic streams is
secondary to the overall style of the script. So for example, whether an alpha is formed with an arched vertical
stroke or is written in a single sequence with a loop is not as important in dating, as is the graphic stream in
which the letter occurs.
5
See Pickering, ‘The Dating of the Chester Beatty –Michigan Codex’, 221.
6
See for example E. G. Turner, Greek Manuscripts of the Ancient World: 2nd ed. rev. and enlarged, /edited by
P. J. Parsons, (London: University of London, Institute of Classical Studies 1987) 29.
7
For example in seeking to date manuscripts with a ‘Biblical Uncial’ script there are only three manuscripts
that can be roughly dated; see the discussion below.
4. 4
P. Ryl. 457 (P52
)8
P.Ryl. 457 has been dated variously. C. H. Roberts (ed. pr.) dated P.Ryl. 457 to the first half of the
second century. For dated documentary parallels Roberts used P.Fay. 110 (letter, AD 94), P.Lond.
inv.2078 (81-96), P. Oslo. 22 (127) and assigned dated documents, Egerton Papyrus 2 and P.Berol.
6845. Turner had no evidence to invalidate Robert’s dating but added the caution that P.Amh. 78
(184) shows similarities with P.Ryl. 457 and dated it simply to the second century. Wilcken, citing
manuscripts in the Apollonios archive (117-120) suggested early II. Comfort suggested very early
second century because of its likeness to P.Oxy. 2533 (early II). Schmidt offered P. Beatty10 (early
III) as a comparative manuscript for dating P.Ryl. 457 and dated it late second century close to 200.
Brent Nongbri has rightly argued for a widening of the possible range of dates for P.Ryl. 457.9
He
investigated Robert’s use of various manuscripts in his dating of P.Ryl. 457, observing that P.Berol.
6845 has some definite similarities with P.Ryl. 457 whilst noting that the formations of phi, alpha,
and epsilon are quite distinct. He also rightly dismisses Egerton Papyrus 2 as of any use for dating
purposes, as it also for its date relies on, for the most part, the same manuscripts. The same can be
said of the use of P.Beatty 10 for dating P.Ryl. 457. Nongbri places quite a deal of emphasis on the
two different ways the alpha is formed in P.Ryl. 457. He notes that in l.3 verso the alpha has an
arched vertical stroke, whilst the other, l.4 verso, is written in a single sequence with a loop. He
observes that in the case of P.Fay. 110 these same two ways of forming the alpha can be seen as well
as 124 -131 years later in P.Oxy. 3694 (218-225). Nongbri rightly rejects P.Lond. inv.2078 as being
comparable to P.Ryl. 457 and also P.Oslo. 22 whose ‘overall appearance is not terribly close’ as
well as BGU 22 and P.Flor. 1. He also notes that many of the features Roberts isolates in papyri from
the late first to the mid second centuries persist into the late second and third centuries. Nongbri
offers some new comparanda; P.Mich. inv.5336 = SB 15782 (c. 152); P.Amh. 78, (184); P.Oxy.
3614 (c.220?); P.Oxy. 3694 (most probably, 218-225) and P.Oxy. 2968 (190).
8
An image of P. Ryl. 457 may be found at the Rylands Papyri Collection website: enriqueta,
man.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/ManchesterDev~93~3 (2010).
9
B. Nongbri, ‘The Use and Abuse of P52: Papyrological Pitfalls in Dating of the Fourth Gospel’, Harvard
Theological Review 98 (2005) 23-48. Nongbri however does not give what he considers to be a reasonable date
range for P52
.
5. 5
In what graphic stream are we to place P.Ryl. 457? Cavallo placed it in a graphic stream, which he
maintained arose in the mid second century and developed into its ideal form, the Alexandrian
Majuscule (Greek Uncial of Coptic Type), in the fifth to sixth centuries. P.Grenf. 2 is cited as an
example of this script. 10
However the graphic stream that P.Ryl. 457 represents is attested in the first
century AD and onwards. It is a round block script that has cursive letter formations written with a
fluid ductus, the two oblique middle strokes of the mu are combined to form a dish shape, omega
and upsilon are generally formed with loops, epsilon has an extended middle hastas and the obliques
of lamda, upsilon, mu and delta are often written with a curl at the top. Whether this graphic stream
developed into the Alexandrian Majuscule is a moot point. Variations occur within this graphic
stream due to the proficiency of the scribe, writing speed, individual stylistic preferences and
document type. The majority of the following documents are documentary and many need to be
viewed from the perspective of how the scribe might write a more formal manuscript such as a
book. Dated examples for the P.Ryl. 457 stream are: P.Oxy. 3466 (81/96), P.Fay. 110 (94), P.Oxy.
3016 (148), P.Mich. inv.5336 (152), P.Oxy. 4060 (159-163), P.Amh. 78 (184), P.Oxy. 2968 (190),
P.Oxy. 3614 (200), P.Mich. inv.2789 a+b, (203-206), P.Oxy. 3694 (218-225), P.Oxy. 3183 (292).11
The question is, where does P.Ryl. 457 fit in this continuum? As can be observed, the graphic stream
in which P.Ryl. 457 is to be located appears to have great holding power in its letter formation
(hence Turner’s II, Schmidt’s early III). Consequently it is difficult to place P.Ryl. 457 in a very
narrow time period. When the general style and individual letter features are kept in close
connection and keeping in mind how a scribe writing a documentary text may write a literary text
differently, it would seem, from the above dated manuscripts, that a date of II or III could be
assigned to P.Ryl. 457. This may be unsatisfactory for those who would like to locate P.Ryl. 457 in a
narrower time frame but the palaeographical evidence will not allow it.
10
G. Cavallo, ‘Gra/mmata Alecandri=na’, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 24 (1975) 23-54.
11
Images of the Oxyrhynchus papyri can be found on the Oxyrhynchus Papyri website
www,papyrology.ox.ac,uk/P.Oxy/ (2010). An image of P.Amh. 78 can be found in The Amherst Papyri II
(London: Oxford University, 1901) plate XVII. For P. Mich. 5336 see Nongbri, ‘The Use and Abuse’, 41.
6. 6
P. Barc. inv. 1 + Magd. Coll. Gr.18 (+ Paris Suppl. Gr.1120 binding?) (P4
/P64
/P67
)12
P64
was dated III by Charles Huleatt who donated the manuscript to Magdalen College. Hunt early
IV. Roberts identified P4
/P64
/P67
(from here on referred to as P67
+ ) as all belonging to the same codex
and dated the codex to c.200 suggesting that the lettering corresponds most closely to P.Oxy. 843
(Plato, Symposium).13
Aland hesitated in affirming a complete identification of P4
with the same
codex as P64
, P67
, because the colour of the papyrus of P64
is much lighter than that of P4
. 14
However
this need not prevent identification, as colour variations occur within the papyrus material. T. Skeat
has argued that all the fragments have originated from a single quire multi-gospel codex.15
Roca-Puig
noted the similarities between P67
and P.Oxy. 661 (latter part of II) and P.Oxy. 224/P.Ryl. 547 (late
II) and dated P67
to the late second century. Carsten Thiede dated P64
to the second half of the first
century.16
P67
+ is written in a formal round block hand with minimal cursive influence and with some contrast
between light and heavy strokes. Bilineriarity is generally maintained except for phi, upsilon, and
rho. P67
+ belongs to a graphic stream that is commonly known as ‘Biblical Uncial’. To narrowly date
12
Images of P4
/P64
/P67
can be found at: http://chrles.multiply.com/photos/album/124/Bible_Papyrus_p4,
(2010); http://chrles.multiply.com/photos/album/64/Bible_Papyrus_p64 (2010) ;
http://chrles.multiply.com/photos/album/61/Bible_Papyrus_p67 (2010)
13
C. H. Roberts, and T. C. Skeat, The Birth of the Codex (London: Oxford University, 1987) 40-41.
14
K. Aland, Neuetestamentliche Papyri II, NTS 12 (1966) 193-95.
15
T. C. Skeat, ‘The oldest Manuscript of the Four Gospels?’ NTS 43 (1997) 1-34. Scott Charlesworth, whilst
agreeing that the all fragments are from the same scribe, argues against a single quire codex and for separate
codices because of the fibre directions, S. D. Charlesworth, ‘T. C. Skeat, / P64+
P67
and P4
, and the Problem of
Fibre Orientation in Codicological Reconstruction’ NTS 53 (2007) 582-604.
16
C. Thiede, ‘Papyrus Magdalen Greek 17(Gregory-Aland P64
). A Reappraisal’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie
und Epigraphik 105 (1995) 13-20. For a consise and helpful critique of Thiede’s dating see R. Bagnall, Early
Christian Books in Egypt (Princeton: Princeton University, 2009) 23-36.
7. 7
this type of hand is problematic as there are very few dateable examples by which we may judge in
what period the manuscript could fall.17
The dateable ‘Biblical Uncials’ are as follows:18
1. P.Oxy. 20 = P.Lond.Lit. 7, Homer, Illiad II, The recto contains Homer’s Iliad
written in a large calligraphic uncial. On the verso are some accounts in a cursive hand
of the late second/early third century. According to Roberts this could possibly date the
hand on the recto to the mid second century.
2. P. Ryl. 16 Fragment of an unknown Comedy. Latter part of II? This literary text
has on the verso a letter (P.Ryl. 236) dated AD 255/256. Hunt (ed.pr.) says of 16 that it
therefore could not be later than 215.
3. P.Oxy. 661, Callimachus, Iambi. On the verso is a cursive hand which according to
Grenfell and Hunt is not later than the third century and which quite likely falls within
the second. The hand of the verso could therefore be dated to the second century.
According to Roberts this is one of the earliest datable examples of the ‘biblical uncial
style’.
Cavallo based the dating of the ‘Biblical Uncial’ hands on the assumption that there is a diachronic
development in the hand so that the characteristics associated with it become more marked in time.
He argues from this evolutionary thesis that the ‘Biblical Uncial’ style took its classic shape in the
middle to late second century AD.19
Peter Parsons rightly notes that the objection to this assumption
is that the objectively datable examples are too few to prove that the more developed examples of the
script are always later than the less developed ones. It may just be that the more and the less
developed are the work of the more and the less artistic and competent scribes working in the same
17
Because of this paucity, Parsons warns against overconfidence in constructing an evolutionary development
for the Biblical Uncial script, Parsons, ‘Guglielmo’, 380.
18
For images of the following manuscripts see, C. H. Roberts, Greek Literary Hands, 350 BC- AD 400
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1955) 16, 22 & 12 respectively.
19
Cavallo, ‘Gra/mmata’, 13-44.
8. 8
period. 20
Parsons is correct in this observation and this of course makes a narrow dating of P67
+
problematic. From table 1 it can be observed that there are enough similarities to suggest that P67
+
could be contemporary with P.Oxy. 661, which has been dated to late II; on the other hand, it could
be closer to the date of Sinaiticus. Comfort argues that some sort of a terminus ad quem can be
proposed, as P4
was used as stuffing for the binding of a codex of Philo, which according to Roberts,
was written in the late third century and which he speculates was hidden when Coptos was sacked by
Diocletian in either 292 or 303. However the terminus ad quem is very tenuous as it relies on the
assumption of the reliability of the assigned date given to the Philo codex by Roberts and that it was
hidden to avoid confiscation during the persecutions of Diocletian.21
Until further evidence is
forthcoming perhaps a date from mid II to mid IV should be assigned to the codex represented by
P67
+.
P. Beatty 2 (P46
)22
Assigned dates for P46
range from between the late first and the third centuries. The first editor,
Kenyon, assigned the hand to the early third century, H. A Sanders preferred a date later in the third
century. However U. Wilken thought that the hand could be of the second century or about A.D. 200.
E. G. Turner supported a dating in the third century but in his chronological inventory of early
codices listed P. Beatty 2 as II/III. Recently Young K. Kim re-dated the papyrus to the end of the
first century based on a number of criteria: 23
20
For a full critique by Parsons of Cavallo’s dating methodology of the Biblical Uncial style see Parsons,
‘Guglielmo’ 375-380.
21
P. Comfort, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 2001)
52-53. Comfort also argues for an early date of P67
+ based on the small number of nomina sacra . The
problem of dating P67
+ on this basis is that it can lead to circularity of argument whereas the treatment of
words as nomina sacra may be far more complex. There is also the possibility that the scribe of P67
+ strictly
adhered to the format, in the Vorlage, of words treated as nomina sacra.
22
Images of P46
can be accessed through: http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2006/01/images-of-P46-
michigan-portions.html (2010)
23
Y. K. Kim, ‘Palaeographical Dating of P46 to the latter First Century’, Biblica 69 (1988) 248-57.
9. 9
1. Literary papyri similar to the style of P46
have been assigned dates between the first century
BC and the early second century AD.
2. Comparable documentary papyri are dated early.
3. The script of P46
with its ligatures and keeping to an upper notional line is very rare after the
first century.
4. The finials at the feet of the letters are seen in manuscripts dated from the last quarter of the
third century BC to the third quarter of the first century AD.
5. The eg form (before compounds with b, d and l) is very early compared to the ek form.
6. The hand of one of the correctors is to be dated early (second century BC to early second
AD) .
However, most have found Kim’s case not compelling. Bruce Griffin, in a detailed response to
Kim’s dating, has offered a dating of c. 175-225. 24
Griffin argues that:
1. The use of ligatures does not so much indicate a time period as it does a lapse in
professionalism.
2. Handwriting became strongly bilinear in the first century and began to break down in the
second century when by the third century it was common to find hands that kept to the
upper notional line but not the lower.
3. The hand of the corrector which appears early because of the ‘separated kappa’ (vertical
stroke separated from rest of the letter) consists of only two letters and therefore a
consistency of formation cannot be established.
4. The decorated style (Zierstil, Schubart) of P46
, which Kim claims is evidence of an early
dating for P46
continued well into the third century.
James Royse, commenting on the eg form, which Kim maintains is very early compared to the ek
form before compounds with b, d and l, notes that Kim is selective in presenting evidence for the
date of the shift and that the available evidence demonstrates that the form is early but also consistent
24
B. Griffin, www.biblical-data.org/P-46%20Oct%201997.pdf (2010)
10. 10
with a dating of P46
to c. 200.25
S. Pickering rightly criticizes Kim’s methodology in that he allows
individual letter forms to take precedence over style (graphic stream).
‘It is in fact fairly easy to find similar letter shapes in hands many
centuries apart which have no stylistic connections apart from a
common heritage of the hand-written letter shapes of the Greek
alphabet’ 26
Phillip Comfort, whilst criticizing Kim’s approach, dates the papyrus to the middle of the second
century on the basis of its similarity to P.Oxy. 1622, P.Oxy. 3721, P.Ryl. 550, P. Berol. 9810, and
the second hand of P.Oxy. 841.27
The text of P46
is written with an upright block script that has been influenced by cursive
formations. Some of the letters are angular in formation (especially phi, beta, upsilon, delta). Serifs
are formed at the top and base of most verticals. Many of the serifs are formed on the vertical strokes
with a short horizontal line to the left. The middle hastas of the epsilon is extended and a detached
form occurs infrequently. The two oblique middle strokes of the mu are combined to form a dish
shape, omega is generally formed with loops and the obliques of lamda, upsilon, mu and delta are
often written with a curl at the top. There is some emphasis on keeping to an upper notional line, but
not always, by writing letters such as the omega and omicron in a smaller script and placing them
closer to the upper line and to ‘hang’ the upsilon and sometimes the beta down from the upper line.
P46
has been placed by Cavallo in a graphic stream which he traced from around AD 150 to around
AD 800 and which he proposes developed, when fully formed, into the ‘Alexandrian majuscule’. 28
However, the graphic stream to which P46
most probably belongs has developed from a script that
can be traced back to the third century BC (P. Hibeh 1, P.Ryl. 490) and is characterized by serifs and
more angular formations for letters such as delta, phi, and upsilon rather than the round ductus for
those letters that represent Cavallo’s proto ‘Alexandrian majuscule’. This graphic stream continued
25
J. R. Royse, Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri (Leiden: Brill, 2008) 249-250.
26
Pickering, ‘The Dating of the Chester Beatty-Michigan Codex’, 221.
27
Comfort, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek, 206.
28
Cavallo, Gra/mmata, 23-54.
11. 11
into the third century (P.Oxy. 3030, AD 207) and into the fourth/ fifth century (P.Ryl. 58). P.Oxy.
1622 also belongs to the same graphic stream and shares many similar features with P46
. P.Oxy.
1622 can be dated to the first half of the second century with reasonable confidence because of the
documentary text on the verso.29
P.Oxy. 1622 and P.Oxy. 3030 differ from P46
in that they lack the
apparent emphasis on the upper notional line, whereas the scribe of P46
has a tendency to sometimes
seemingly favour the upper line. The tendency to favour the upper line, especially with regard to the
omega and omicron, can be observed in the following first, second and third century documentary
scripts, P.Oxy. 2720 (41/54), 3250 (c.63), 3272 (61- 62), 3489 (70), 3910 (99/100), 4867 (122/3),
4871 (122/3), 4058 (154), 3614 (200), 3183 (292). This tendency in P46
is more apparent than actual
and is not consistent. In f.39.v. l.1, for example, an apparent favouring of the upper line may be
observed because of the smaller omicrons, however in l.2 the omicrons are written in a similar size
compared to the other letters and the beta is begun above the upper notional line; a more or less
bilinear result is achieved. Another stylistic feature of P46
influenced by documentary practice is the
occasional angular tails on some of the descendars. At what point along the continuum of the more
angular graphic stream does P46
best fit? Griffin rightly states, ‘it is very difficult to find a very close
comparison for P46
’.30
In assigning any date to P46
four characteristics of the hand need to be kept
closely in mind: the angularity of the letters mentioned above, some emphasis on the upper notional
line, the occasional tail endings on descendars as a decorative style, and the influence of cursive
formations on such letters as alpha, mu, and epsilon. In comparing documentary hands with literary
hands it must be kept in mind that how a scribe wrote a document, such as a contract or bill of sale,
would be quite different to how the same scribe might write a book. However it may also be
expected that some characteristics of letter formation would be shared. If this is the case, it may be
observed from Table 2 below, that the hand characteristics that can be observed in P46
seem to group
around AD 200/223. Of course this observation must by its nature be tentative as it includes only
papyri from Oxyrhynchus, and there are only two papyri that evidence all the attributes of P46
. Given
our limited knowledge of scribal practices and that there are some corresponding style similarities
that appear earlier, perhaps a tentative dating range of AD 150-250 should be assigned to P46
.
29
An image of P. Oxy. 1622 may be found at: http://www.igl.ku.dk/~bulow/Oxy1622.jpg (2010)
30
Griffin, www.biblical-data.org/P-46%20Oct%201997.pdf (2010)
12. 12
If Roger Bagnall is correct in his assumption, that it would be quite unusual to find any Christian
texts in the Egyptian chora before the Severan period, are we able to eliminate any possibility of the
above New Testament papyri being dated to the second century? 31
The answer must be no, for what
Bagnall has not envisaged is the possibility that Christian texts may well have been produced in the
second century in such places as Alexandria or even further afield where there were quite active
Christian churches and then were in the third century brought to Christians living in the chora. So for
instance, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a church in Alexandria gave an old copy of the
collected letters of Paul, produced in the mid second century, to a newly established third century
church in Oxyrhynchus. Provenance does not necessarily equate with origin of production. A far
more fundamental problem with Bagnall’s assumption, as Larry Hurtado has rightly observed, is that
Bagnall’s conclusion relies on too much guesswork to form a compelling argument; further, it is
reasonable to assume from the evidence that Christians may have produced copies of their texts
disproportionate to their number in the general population. 32
Therefore the date range for the above
papyri must include the possibility of a production date in the second century if the palaeographical
evidence warrants it.
31
For Bagnall’s argument concerning the probability of finding almost no surviving Christian manuscripts in
the chora of Egypt dated to the late first or second century see R. S. Bagnall, Early Christian Books in Egypt,
(Princeton: Princeton University, 2009) 2-24. Bagnall argues from probability that we should expect, that the
percentage of Christian papyri among extant second-century papyri correlates with the likely percentage of
Christians in the population of Egypt at that time. Bagnall, in the absence of hard data, adopts Rodney Stark’s
estimation of the number of Christians in the early centuries. Bagnall on this basis proposes that Christians
comprised as much as 1 percent of the Egyptian population only by “the late 220s”. From this he reasons that
Christian manuscripts from the second century should comprise no more than one percent of the total extant, or
about one or two manuscripts.
32
For Hurtado’s complete argument see, L. Hurtado, Review of Roger S. Bagnall, Early Christian Books in
Egypt, Review of Biblical Literature, http://rblnewsletter.blogspot.com/2010_01_01archive.html. (2010)
13. 13
Conclusion
The above examples demonstrate that a methodological approach, which includes the identification
of the graphic stream in which a hand is to be located, is fundamental for the dating of undated
papyri. It is admitted that the extension of the date range for the above New Testament papyri, using
this approach, is perhaps unsatisfying for New Testament scholars and Early Church historians who
would wish for a more specific date. However, the nature of the evidence which we have, as has
been demonstrated in this paper, is not able to deliver the close dating that some others have
attributed to them and which we would desire.
(Place Table 1 and 2 here)