Little-Known Artifacts Shed Light on Early Christianity
Christians for centuries have been drawn to relics supposedly having connections to their faith. Bones allegedly from the bodies of martyrs or saints, pieces of the True Cross, and other artifacts have captured the imaginations of many believers. For students of biblical history in the 21st century, however, few artifacts of Early Christianity could prove to be more enlightening than an extensive group of little-known manuscripts called the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.
One of the more surprising facts about the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, named for the town where they were found in Egypt, is that these informative manuscripts are so little known to the general public. Unlike the Nag Hammadi Library or the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Oxyrhynchus Papyri have had little publicity outside scholarly circles. Yet the information they contain keeps opening new doors to understanding the ancient world.
Oxyrhynchus (pronounced "Ox-uh-rink-kus") was a Roman and Christian town in the Nile Valley of Egypt that became known and named for a breed of sharp-nosed fish that lived in the river nearby.
In 1896, the Egypt Exploration Society sent two young British archaeologists, Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, to Oxyrhynchus, according to articles by Stephen J. Patterson in the March-April 2011 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review magazine. The town's buildings and tombs had long since been pillaged, leaving Grenfell and Hunt with little to explore but a few graves and the town garbage dump.
Undeterred, Grenfell and Hunt along with some 70 workers began excavating the dump. Soon they found pieces of papyri. When Hunt began to read the first piece, designated Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1, he found the Greek word karfos, meaning "mote." It reminded him of a saying of Jesus captured in Matthew 7:3-5 and Luke 6:41-42. Upon closer examination, the papyrus was found to hold the conclusion of the verse: "Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye."
The rest of that first papyrus, however, contained hitherto unknown sayings attributed to Jesus. Not until 50 years later would Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1 be correlated with its original source: the Gospel of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt.
Over five years of exploration Grenfell and Hunt found some 500,000 papyri pieces. They published their first volume about the manuscripts in 1898. By 2007, volume 72 of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri had appeared containing the latest in a century of scholarly studies. An astounding 40 more volumes are planned!
Scholars who specialize in studying papyri are known as papyrologists. These experts identify two types of these ancient manuscripts, documentary and literary. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri include many texts that are explicitly Christian, and fragments of classical Greek texts. Some of these manuscripts are well known, while others have been unknown until now.
While the literary papyri, which make up about 10 percent of the total find, are significant to Early Christianity and Classical studies, it's the other 90 percent of documentary papyri that have really excited scholars. Documentary papyri are just what their name implies. They include letters, wills, invoices, lists, notes, government minutes and other kinds of writings that preserve the everyday life of the town of Oxyrhynchus, according to Patterson's article.
Among scholars' findings from Oxyrhynchus, the residents there seemed especially interested in astronomy and astrology. [Astronomical Papyrus from Oxyrhynchus.] This isn't surprising considering that the site of Oxyrhynchus is in the Egyptian desert about 150 miles south of Cairo. Anyone who has visited a desert at night has experienced the extraordinarily clear view of the skies overhead, made possible by the location's low humidity. It's no wonder that the Oxyrhynchites were given to scanning the skies, writing down their observations, and speculating on what those spectacular natural phenomena might mean for humanity.
One of the scholars who has worked with the Oxyrhynchus Papyri since 1960, Peter Parsons, has written a book about the finding of the astounding artifacts. Called City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish, Parsons' book contains details about life in Oxyrhynchus, including its control by the Roman empire and its imperial cult, its pagan past and its Christian influences.
Because the papyri were discovered in a garbage dump, many manuscripts had seriously degraded. However, modern technology is helping to recover much of the illegible writing, according to a 2005 article by James Owen for National Geographic News.
Using a technique known as multi-spectral imaging, researchers at Oxford University in England where the Oxyrhynchus Papyri are housed have discovered ancient works such as an epic poem describing some of the events that led up to the Trojan War, and parts of a tragedy written by Sophocles, the great playwright of Athens whose works from the 5th century B.C. are mostly lost.
Researchers also hope to rediscover more examples of lost gospels that didn't make it into the New Testament.
Patterson, Stephen J., "The Oxyrhynchus Papyri: The Remarkable Discovery You've Probably Never Heard Of", Biblical Archaeology Review, March-April 2011.
Owen, James, "Papyrus Reveals New Clues to Ancient World", National Geographic News, April 25, 2005.
Parsons, Peter, City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish: Greek Lives in Roman Egypt (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2007).
Early Christianity Manuscripts Found 100 Years Ago
One of the more surprising facts about the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, named for the town where they were found in Egypt, is that these informative manuscripts are so little known to the general public. Unlike the Nag Hammadi Library or the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Oxyrhynchus Papyri have had little publicity outside scholarly circles. Yet the information they contain keeps opening new doors to understanding the ancient world.
Oxyrhynchus (pronounced "Ox-uh-rink-kus") was a Roman and Christian town in the Nile Valley of Egypt that became known and named for a breed of sharp-nosed fish that lived in the river nearby.
In 1896, the Egypt Exploration Society sent two young British archaeologists, Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, to Oxyrhynchus, according to articles by Stephen J. Patterson in the March-April 2011 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review magazine. The town's buildings and tombs had long since been pillaged, leaving Grenfell and Hunt with little to explore but a few graves and the town garbage dump.
Garbage Dump's Artifacts Linked to Early Christianity
Undeterred, Grenfell and Hunt along with some 70 workers began excavating the dump. Soon they found pieces of papyri. When Hunt began to read the first piece, designated Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1, he found the Greek word karfos, meaning "mote." It reminded him of a saying of Jesus captured in Matthew 7:3-5 and Luke 6:41-42. Upon closer examination, the papyrus was found to hold the conclusion of the verse: "Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye."
The rest of that first papyrus, however, contained hitherto unknown sayings attributed to Jesus. Not until 50 years later would Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1 be correlated with its original source: the Gospel of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt.
Over five years of exploration Grenfell and Hunt found some 500,000 papyri pieces. They published their first volume about the manuscripts in 1898. By 2007, volume 72 of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri had appeared containing the latest in a century of scholarly studies. An astounding 40 more volumes are planned!
Two Types of Papyri Illuminate Early Christianity
Scholars who specialize in studying papyri are known as papyrologists. These experts identify two types of these ancient manuscripts, documentary and literary. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri include many texts that are explicitly Christian, and fragments of classical Greek texts. Some of these manuscripts are well known, while others have been unknown until now.
While the literary papyri, which make up about 10 percent of the total find, are significant to Early Christianity and Classical studies, it's the other 90 percent of documentary papyri that have really excited scholars. Documentary papyri are just what their name implies. They include letters, wills, invoices, lists, notes, government minutes and other kinds of writings that preserve the everyday life of the town of Oxyrhynchus, according to Patterson's article.
Among scholars' findings from Oxyrhynchus, the residents there seemed especially interested in astronomy and astrology. [Astronomical Papyrus from Oxyrhynchus.] This isn't surprising considering that the site of Oxyrhynchus is in the Egyptian desert about 150 miles south of Cairo. Anyone who has visited a desert at night has experienced the extraordinarily clear view of the skies overhead, made possible by the location's low humidity. It's no wonder that the Oxyrhynchites were given to scanning the skies, writing down their observations, and speculating on what those spectacular natural phenomena might mean for humanity.
One of the scholars who has worked with the Oxyrhynchus Papyri since 1960, Peter Parsons, has written a book about the finding of the astounding artifacts. Called City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish, Parsons' book contains details about life in Oxyrhynchus, including its control by the Roman empire and its imperial cult, its pagan past and its Christian influences.
Technology Is Revealing More from Oxyrhynchus
Because the papyri were discovered in a garbage dump, many manuscripts had seriously degraded. However, modern technology is helping to recover much of the illegible writing, according to a 2005 article by James Owen for National Geographic News.
Using a technique known as multi-spectral imaging, researchers at Oxford University in England where the Oxyrhynchus Papyri are housed have discovered ancient works such as an epic poem describing some of the events that led up to the Trojan War, and parts of a tragedy written by Sophocles, the great playwright of Athens whose works from the 5th century B.C. are mostly lost.
Researchers also hope to rediscover more examples of lost gospels that didn't make it into the New Testament.
Early Christianity Artifact Sources
Patterson, Stephen J., "The Oxyrhynchus Papyri: The Remarkable Discovery You've Probably Never Heard Of", Biblical Archaeology Review, March-April 2011.
Owen, James, "Papyrus Reveals New Clues to Ancient World", National Geographic News, April 25, 2005.
Parsons, Peter, City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish: Greek Lives in Roman Egypt (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2007).
