Andover Newton Oxyrhynchus Papyri Collection

Collection

Call Number: RG 305

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of sixteen Oxyrhynchus Papyri items. The most notable papyrus fragment (Oxy. P. 1230) relates to the New Testament text of Revelations 5,6. Other items include poetical and prose fragments, orders, contracts, receipts, letters, and a prayer. The items date from the 1st century to the 6th century. The Oxy. P. 1230 item is Papyrus 24 in the Gregory-Aland numbering system. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Book of Revelation, which contains only Revelation 5:5-8; 6:5-8. The manuscript paleographically has been assigned to the early 4th century.

Dates

circa 1st - 6th century CE

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transferred from Andover Newton Theological School in 2017.

Extent

.5 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/divinity.305

Additional Description

Overview

The collection consists of sixteen Oxyrhynchus Papyri items. The most notable item (Oxy. P. 1230) relates to the New Testament text of Revelations 5,6. Other items include poetical and prose fragments, orders, contracts, receipts, letters, and a prayer.

Biographical / Historical

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri were discovered at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus, Egypt by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Egypt Exploration Society was responsible for the the distribution of well over two thousand papyri to about a hundred universities, seminaries, colleges, and schools in Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere between 1900 and 1922. Many individuals contributed to the Egypt Exploration Fund that supported the Grenfell and Hunt excavations and the distribution of the fragments was related to the amount of these contributions as well as other personal connections. It is possible that the papyri in this collection came to Newton Theological Institution in the early 1900s through the connections of Charles Rufus Brown, who was a professor of Hebrew and cognate languages at NTI. In 1910-1911 Brown was resident director of the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem.