::The Pauline Epistles::
In this installment of Reading the Papyri, we examine
one of Michigan's most famous papyri: a 3rd century codex,
written in Greek and found in Egypt, containing the Letters
of St. Paul. Known to New Testament (NT) scholars as P46 (for
Papyrus 46), most of this codex survives today—part
of it here at the University of Michigan, the rest in the
Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland. Through the following
webpages, you will be given the opportunity to explore various
aspects of this nearly two-thousand-year-old papyrus, the
oldest known copy of the writings of St. Paul.
This section includes background information about the
papyrus, such as where and when it was discovered, how old
it might be, and what it contains.
Here, you can take a closer look at the papyrus itself,
and compare the layout of this manuscript to that of a modern
This section offers the opportunity to read some of the
Greek text itself. Assistance is provided in deciphering
the script and reading the Greek.
After you've learned all about the papyrus from the other
three sections, check out this section to put everything
in context and see examples of why the text of P46 is important.
Feel free to click on whatever interests you, but for the
best experience we recommend visiting sections 1-4 in order.
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