Artefact ID | 25 |
TM ID | TM 107771 |
Findspot (DEChriM ID) | - () | Class | Textual |
Material | Papyrus |
Writing medium | Codex |
Text content | Literary, Subliterary |
Language | Coptic |
Description | Crosby-Schøyen Codex MS 193 [Schüssler sa 40lit] Papyrus codex containing Melito, On the Passover; 2 Maccabees; 1 Peter; Jonah; Homily written in Coptic (Sahidic dialect). According to the Schøyen collection website, it is possibly the earliest known complete text of the two books of the Bible, Jonah and 1 Peter. Of the latter there is also a Greek papyrus slightly later, ca. 300, from the same hoard, now in the Vatican. The present 1 Peter might have been copied from a Greek exemplar written before 2 Peter existed, i.e. ca. 60-130. Texts 2 and 4 are also the earliest witnesses. Text 5 is unique. Probably the oldest Christian liturgical MS. One of the earliest extant MSS in codex form, and the oldest book in private ownership. It is thought to have been copied from an earlier exemplar in Alexandria and then kept at Dishna (Pachomian monastery); however, there is no solid evidence to support this provenance history. |
Selection criteria | Literary genre (Biblical), Literary genre (Theological), Subliterary genre (Liturgical), Coptic language |
Date from | 250 |
Date to | 350 |
Dating criteria | 14C dating; contents; comparanda; probable find context (Lundhaug 2020). |
Absolute/relative date | Relative date |
Archaeological context | Unclear provenance; the codex is thought to belong to the hoard known as the "Bodmer Papyri", consisting of 9 Greek papyrus scrolls, 22 papyrus codices and ca. 7 vellum codices in Greek and Coptic. These MSS are now mainly located in Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, Geneva. Some of the documents were reportedly found at Ǧabal Abū Mannāʿ near Dishna (Upper Egypt) in 1952 (part of the “Dishna Papers” alongside several other Bodmer Papyri), possibly the location of a Pachomian monastery, see Robinson 2011, Lundhaug 2018. |
Accession number | Oslo, Private collection Schøyen MS 193. sa 40lit (Schüssler) |