Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 4 (P. Oxy. 4) is a fragment of a Christian theological work in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the early 4th century. It is housed in the library of the University of Cambridge. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898. [1]
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It has the longest documented history of any living Indo-European language, spanning more than 3000 years of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history; other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.
Arthur Surridge Hunt, FBA was an English papyrologist.
Oxyrhynchus is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo in Minya Governorate. It is also an archaeological site, considered one of the most important ever discovered. For the past century, the area around Oxyrhynchus has been continually excavated, yielding an enormous collection of papyrus texts dating from the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. Among the texts discovered at Oxyrhynchus are plays of Menander, fragments from the Gospel of Thomas, and fragments from Euclid's Elements. They also include a few vellum manuscripts, and more recent Arabic manuscripts on paper.
The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a codex. The measures of the original leaf were 127 by 72 mm. On the verso side the text is written in a medium-sized uncial letters. On the recto it is written in cursive letters. The nomina sacra are written in an abbreviated way (ΘΣ). It is a theological text, Gnostic in character, concerning the 'upper' and 'lower' soul. [2]
Papyrus is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge. Papyrus can also refer to a document written on sheets of such material, joined together side by side and rolled up into a scroll, an early form of a book.
Uncial is a majuscule script commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters were used to write Greek, Latin, and Gothic.
In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of Holy Scripture. A nomen sacrum consists of two or more letters from the original word spanned by an overline.
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1 is a papyrus fragment of the logia of Jesus written in Greek. It was among the first of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri discovered by Grenfell and Hunt. It was discovered on the second day of excavation, 12 January 1897, in the garbage mounds in the Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the early half of the 3rd century. Grenfell and Hunt originally dated the fragment between 150-300, but "probably not written much later than the year 200." It was later discovered to be the oldest manuscript of the Gospel of Thomas.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5 is a fragment of a Christian homily, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the late third or early fourth century. It is housed in the Bodleian Library. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 6 is a fragment of the Acts of Paul and Thecla, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the fifth century. It is housed in the Cambridge University Library. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 8 is a fragment of a poem of Alcman, written in Greek. The dialect is a mixture of Aeolic and Doric. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the first or second century. It is housed in the Houghton Library. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 9 is a fragment of the "Ruthmica Stoicheia" of Aristoxenus of Tarentum, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus, in Middle Egypt. The fragment is dated to the third century. It is housed at Trinity College, Dublin. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 10 is a fragment of a comedy by an unknown author, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the second or third century. It is housed at Yale University. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 11 is a fragment of a lost comedy, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the first or second century. It is housed in the British Library. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 13 is a fragment of a letter to a King of Macedon, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the second or third century. It is housed at Columbia University. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 14 is a fragment of an elegiac poem by an unknown author in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the second or third century. It is housed in the Edinburgh University Library. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 17 is a fragment of the second book of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the second or third century and is housed in the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins University. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 19 is a fragment of the first book of the Histories of Herodotus, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the second or third century. It is housed in Princeton University Library. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 24 is a fragment of Chapter X of Plato's Republic, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the third century. It is housed in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 27 is a fragment of Antidosis by Isocrates, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the first or second century. It is housed in the University of Chicago. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 30 is a historical fragment in Latin. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the third century. It is housed in the Department of Manuscripts of the British Library. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 36 contains customs regulations by an unknown author, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the second or the early third century. It is housed in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 38 is a petition to the prefect of Tryphon, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The document was written after 29 March 49 CE. It is housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 42 is a proclamation of Dioscorides written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The document was written on 18 January 323. It is housed in the British Museum (747) in London. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 43 is a fragment with the texts of two documents by unknown authors, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. It is housed in the British Museum (748) in London. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 66 consists of two letters concerning the erection of a statue to a praefect, written in Greek. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The document was written on 4 July 357. Currently, it is housed in the Cambridge University Library in Cambridge. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 67 contains three letters about a dispute concerning property, written in Greek. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The document was written on 28 March 338. Currently it is housed in the British Museum (754) in London. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 254 is a fragment of a census return, in Greek. It was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. It is dated to the years 13-26. Currently it is housed in the Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 256 is a fragment of a census return, in Greek. It was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. It is dated to the year 34. Currently it is housed in the Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
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