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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID	1553
TM ID	TM 61709
Findspot (DEChriM ID)	- ()
Class	Textual
Material	Papyrus
Writing medium	Codex
Text content	Literary
Language	Greek
Description	P. Yale 1 3; Gregory-Aland 𝔓50; van Haelst 482: Acts of the Apostles 8:26-32; 10:26-31 The papyrus is a formerly folded double-leaf (13.8 x 17.9 cm; page width: 8.8 cm), with one column on each of the four pages. Col. I (Acts 8:26-30) has 22 lines, Col. II (Acts 8:30-32; 10:26-27) and Col. III (Acts 10:27-30) have 21 lines and Col. IV (Acts 10:31) ends after just 6 lines. The lines contain between 14 and 23 letters. Each page shows a vertical tear, from the bottom up to 2/3 of the page height, and the papyrus was folded four times horizontally. In Col. II, a horizontal line divides the two sections of Acts from one another after line 15. The scribe had drawn a line after line 14 (which carried over into Col. III) and crossed it out. Either the ink had not yet dried when Col. II and Col. III were folded against each other, or moisture later caused parts of the two columns to bleed onto one another. The scribe made numerous corrections by overwriting the original letters. The use of the text is unclear: some have surmised it to be a writing exercise, amulet or talisman, but space left around the cut separating the double-leaf possibly indicate the placing of a thread, for connecting pages into a miniature codex. What the two passages have in common is the term κολλᾶσθαι, regarding how both apostles, Philip and Peter, “attach” themselves to pagans. Therefore the purpose of the text may have been missionary, such as a preacher’s notes, see Cook 2010. The text mostly correlates with Text B (Codex Vaticanus) and Text א (Codex Sinaiticus). Nomina sacra with supralinear stroke: θ[εό]ς, Ἰ[ερουσα]λήμ, πν[ευμ]α. ἄν[θρωπ]ος is also abbreviated.
Selection criteria	Literary genre (Biblical), Nomina sacra
Date from	275
Date to	399
Dating criteria	Palaeography; the reference edition places the letters in the period of Diocletian, and also points to the use of diaeresis as indicative of an early date. Comfort/Barrett 2019 similarly claim an early dating, comparing the papyrus to P. Oxy. 17 2070 and Gregory-Aland 𝔓53. The ed.pr., Maldfeld 1949, Orsini/Clarysse 2012 and others date it to the 4th c., Aland/Aland 1989 to the 4th/5th c. It is in any case the earliest instance of these two text passages of Acts.
Absolute/relative date	Relative date
Archaeological context	Unknown provenance. Purchased from dealer Maurice Nahman in Paris by Yale University in June 1933 with other manuscripts of Egyptian provenance.
Accession number	New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library P. CtYBR 1543

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference edition
• Oates, John F., Alan E. Samuel and Charles Bradford Welles. 1967. Yale Papyri in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript. I. New Haven/Toronto: The American Society of Papyrologists. 15-21, No. 3.

Editio princeps
• Kraeling, Carl H. 1937. “P 50. Two Selection from Acts.” Quantulacumque. Studies Presented to Kirsopp Lake by Pupils, Colleagues and Friends, edited by Robert P. Casey, Silva Lake and Agnes K. Lake. London: Christophers. 163-172.

Additional bibliography
• Aland, Kurt. 1957. "Zur Liste der Neutestamentlichen Handschriften VI.” Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft (ZNW) 48: 141-191. 149, No. 𝔓50.
• Aland, Kurt. 1976. Repertorium der griechischen christlichen Papyri: 1. Biblische Papyri: Altes Testament, Neues Testament, Varia, Apokryphen. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter. 280, Neues Testament (NT) 50.
• Aland, Kurt. 1967. "Das Neue Testament auf Papyrus." In Studien zur Überlieferung des Neuen Testaments und seines Textes. Berlin: De Gruyter. 91-136: 94, 105.
• Aland, Kurt. 1994. Kurzgefasste Liste der Griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments. Zweite, neubearbeitete und ergänzte Auflage. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter. 10, 𝔓50.
• Aland, Kurt and Barbara Aland. 1981/1989. The Text of the New Testament. An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism, transl. by Erroll F. Rhodes. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans. 85, 99, 159, 245. No. 𝔓50.
• Comfort, Philip Wesley and David P. Barrett. 2019. The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts. Papyri 1-72. Volume 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic. 332-334. No. 𝔓50.
• Comfort, Philip Wesley. 2019. The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts. Papyri 75-139 and Uncials. Volume 2. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic. 363, 434. No. 𝔓50.
• Cook, John Granger. 2010. “𝔓50 (P.Yale I 3) and the Question of its Function.” In Early Christian Manuscripts. Examples of Applied Method and Research, edited by Thomas J. Kraus and Tobias Nicklas. Texts and Editions for New Testament Study (TENT) 5. Leiden/Boston: Brill. 115-128.
• Emmel, Stephen. 1996. “Greek Biblical Papyri in the Beinecke Library.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik (ZPE) 112. 289-294: 294, No. 3.
• Jaroš, Karl. 2006. Das Neue Testament nach den ältesten griechischen Handschriften (CD-Rom). Ruhpolding/Mainz: Franz Philipp Rutzen. 4058-4078, no. 2.36.
• Jones, Brice C. 2016. New Testament Texts on Greek Amulets From Late Antiquity. London/New York: Bloomsbury. 179n363, No. 2.
• Maldfeld, Georg. 1949. "Die griechischen Handschriftenbruchstücke des Neuen Testamentes auf Papyrus." Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft (ZNW) 42. 228-253: 250, No. 𝔓50.
• Metzger, Bruce M. and Bart D. Ehrmann. 2005. The Text of the New Testament. Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. Fourth Edition. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press. 313.
• Montevecchi, Orsolina. 1988. La Papirologia. Ristampa riveduta e corretta con Addenda. Milano: Vita e Pensiero. 315, No. P50.
• Orsini, Pasquale and Willy Clarysse. 2012. “Early New Testament Manuscripts And Their Dates. A Critique Of Theological Palaeography.” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses (Eph. Theol. Lov.) 88(4). 443-474: 458, 470.
• Turner, Eric G. 1977. The Typology of the Early Codex. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 148, P50.
• van Haelst, Joseph. 1976. Catalogue des papyrus littéraires juifs et chrétiens. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne. 174, No. 482.

Authors

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023

Suggested citation

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023, "Artefact ID 1553", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1553

Json data

External links

TM 61709 / LDAB 2861 DCLP (PN) NT.VMR Yale University Library — Digital Collections (P.CtYBR inv. 1543) Wikipedia — Papyrus 50

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