Manuscript

The Oxyrhynchus Mark Fragment (P137)

Also known as P137 · 𝔓137 · P.Oxy. LXXXIII 5345 · the "First-Century Mark" fragment

A scrap of Mark the size of a matchbox — famous for six years as a first-century discovery it turned out not to be.

papyrinew-testamentgospel-of-markcorrections

Overview

The Oxyrhynchus Mark Fragment (P137)(Late second to early third century AD (c. 150–250), as published — not first century)— Oxyrhynchus, Egypt (excavated by Grenfell and Hunt from 1896)

It measures 4.4 by 4 centimetres and carries Mark 1:7–9 on one side and Mark 1:16–18 on the other. From 2012 a rumour circulated that a first-century copy of Mark had been found. When the fragment was finally published in 2018, edited by Daniela Colomo and Dirk Obbink, it was dated to the late second or early third century. The specialist who wrote up the affair, Elijah Hixson, put the earlier claim plainly: it "was simply incorrect." The fragment belongs to the Egypt Exploration Society, which did not realise until 2016 that the rumoured find was its own. It had been offered for sale without the Society's authorisation, and the papyrologist who had it was dismissed.

Manuscript Details

Date: Late second to early third century AD (c. 150–250), as published — not first century
Language: Greek
Script: Greek book hand
Material: Papyrus
Current location: Egypt Exploration Society, housed with the Oxyrhynchus Papyri at Oxford
Discovery location: Oxyrhynchus, Egypt (excavated by Grenfell and Hunt from 1896)
Contains books: Mark 1:7–9 · Mark 1:16–18
Tags: papyri · new-testament · gospel-of-mark · corrections

Significance

MannaFest keeps this one because the claim was wrong and Christians made it. A rumour ran for six years, was corrected by the scholars closest to it, and ended in a police investigation. Real evidence survives being checked; that is the whole point of showing it.

The passages the manuscripts argue over

The places where the manuscripts differ — the ending of Mark, the woman caught in adultery, the three heavenly witnesses — with the case each way.

Where the manuscripts differ — all 15 places →Every handwritten copy, shelved and in date order →