Chester Beatty Papyri (Bible)

P. Chester Beatty I, (? ⁴⁵ ) Folio 13-14, with parts of the Gospel according to Luke

The Biblical Chester Beatty papyri are manuscripts on papyrus in the Greek language. They contain texts from the Old Testament , the New Testament , one consists of parts of the apocryphal Book of Enoch and an early Christian homily . They all originated in Christian communities in Egypt and are largely dated to the 3rd and 4th centuries. Most were acquired by the American collector Alfred Chester Beatty around 1930 and are now in the Chester Beatty Library ( Dublin ), some at the University of Michigan .

There is also a group of 29 magical and medicinal papyri also known as the Chester Beatty I-XXIX papyrus .

Research history

Around 1930, 12 papyri were purchased from Alfred Chester Beatty in Egypt. In all likelihood, the papyri were originally bought illegally from antique dealers. Because of this, the circumstances under which the find was made are unclear. One assumption is that the manuscripts may have been in jars in a Coptic cemetery near the ruins of the ancient city of Aphroditopolis . On the other hand, the Fajjum dialect of the Coptic language in a papyrus also suggests an origin near Fayyum . A Christian church or a monastery could also have been a site.

The papyri were first presented on November 19, 1931. The papyri were published between 1933 and 1958 by Frederic G. Kenyon in his 8-volume work The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri: Descriptions and Texts of Twelve Manuscripts on Papyrus of the Greek Bible . The papyri are usually cataloged as P. Chester Beatty followed by the associated Roman number between I and XII, one for each manuscript.

In the decades that followed, additional biblical papyri were acquired from the Chester Beatty Library (XIII, XVII, XVIII, 1499).

Manuscripts

New Testament manuscripts

• Papyrus Chester Beatty I, ⁴⁵ ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$
• Papyrus Chester Beatty II , ⁴⁶ ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$
• Papyrus Chester Beatty III , ⁴⁷ ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$
• Papyrus Chester Beatty XVII , ⁹⁷ ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$
• Chester Beatty Papyrus 1499 , ⁹⁹ ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {P}}}$

Old Testament manuscripts

• Papyrus Chester Beatty IV , 4th century, Genesis 9: 1-36 with gaps
• Papyrus V , late 3rd century, Genesis 8: 13–9.1; 24.13-25.21; 30.24-46.33 with gaps
• Papyrus Chester Beatty VI , 2nd century, parts from 4th and 5th books of Moses.
• Papyrus Chester Beatty VII , 3rd century, parts from Isaiah
• Papyrus Chester Beatty VIII , 2nd / 3rd century Century, parts from Isaiah
• Papyrus Chester Beatty IX / X , 2nd / 3rd c. Century, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ester
• Papyrus Chester Beatty XI
• Papyrus Chester Beatty XIII, Psalms
• Papyrus Chester Beatty XVIII, 3rd century, Job

Apocryphal handwriting

• Papyrus Chester Beatty XII

See also

• List of New Testament papyri
• Chester Beatty Papyrus
• Medical papyri Chester Beatty

bibliography

• Frederick Fyvie Bruce : The Chester Beatty Papyri (PDF; 79 kB), The Harvester 11 (1934): 163-164.
• Chester Beatty Papyri . In: The Anchor Bible Dictionary . vol. 1. Doubleday: 1992. pp. 901-903
• Frederic G. Kenyon : Chapter 9 - The Age of Discoveries (continued): The Chester Beatty Papyri. The Story of the Bible . London: J. Murray, 1936.
• Frederic G. Kenyon The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri: Descriptions and Texts of Twelve Manuscripts on Papyrus of the Greek Bible . London: Emery Walker Ltd., 1933, 1937.