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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID1692
TM IDTM 62045
Findspot (DEChriM ID)-   ()
ClassTextual
MaterialParchment
Writing mediumSheet/roll
Text contentLiterary
LanguageGreek
Description

Small fragment containing Psalm 30:14-18 
Broken off on both the left and right side, the vellum fragment shows the middle part of 8 lines, with only roughly a letter missing at the beginning of each. Line 8 reads αισχυνθείην instead of καταισχυνθείην or κατεσχύνθειην. Pattie notes variants in lines 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7, including the omission of και εκ των καταδιωκοντων με from verse 16, which would sit between lines 5 and 6.
While Pattie considers that the omitted verse part may indicate the use as an amulet, Rahlfs disagrees due to the good orthography and the seemingly random demarcation of the selected verses, which point towards a complete sheet having contained a longer text passage. Furthermore, Rahlfs illustrates that the fragment follows the (originally Sahidic Coptic) Upper Egyptian text version of the Book of Psalms (preserved in Greek by only two documents on papyrus, P.Lips. Inv. 39 [Rahlfs Siglum 2013, 4th c.] and British Library P. 37 [Rahlfs Siglum U, 7th c.]). This would also explain the (according to Pattie 1988) “missing” part of verse 16, which would not have had its own line, but instead would have been part of the previous line 5. Nomina sacra with supralinear stroke: κε, θσ. Verso blank (?).

Selection criteriaLiterary genre (Biblical), Nomina sacra
Date from300
Date to499
Dating criteria

Palaeography (?)

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context

Unknown provenance. Content of a folder discovered among “five wooden boxes, two tin boxes and one cardboard box” of papyrus and parchment fragments “set aside” by Frederic G. Kenyon and Harold Idris Bell at the British Library. Present fragment briefly described by Thomas S. Pattie in a 1988 cursory overview of this collection, which was “purchased […] from dealers such as Nahman” [Maurice Nahman (1868–1948), antiquities dealer based in Cairo].

Accession number

London, British Library folder 507 e

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps
• Pattie, Thomas S. 1988. “A Little-known Collection of Papyri in the British Library.” In Proceedings of the XVII International Congress of Papyrology. Athens 25-31 May 1986. Volume I, edited by Basil G. Mandilaras. Athens: Greek Papyrological Society. 147-150: 149-150, 0507e.

Additional bibliography
• Römer, Cornelia. 1997. “Christliche Texte (1989 – August 1996).“ Archiv für Papyrusforschung (AfP) 43. 107-145: 111, Altes Testament (AT) 13 [134a].
• Rahlfs, Alfred, and Detlef Fraenkel. 2004. Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten Testaments. Vol. 1.1: Die Überlieferung bis zum VIII. Jahrhundert. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 216-217, Sigel 2139.

Authors
Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023
Suggested citation
Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023, "Artefact ID 1692", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1692
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