PAPYRUS
The papyrus itself is the “Papyrus antignorum”, of the Cyperaceae family (thus, it is neither a grass nor a juncacea). Its triangular stems, up to 2.5 and 3 m high, are crowned by a tuft of flowers.
The papyrus is found in the plain of Sharon, near the Sea of Galilee, and was in the waters of Lake Huleh (waters of Merom, currently dried up). It also thrived on the banks of the Nile, from where it has practically disappeared.
Papyrus lent itself to numerous uses. The Egyptians made items with them such as shoes, baskets, boats and other objects (cf. Ex. 2:3; Is. 18:2). The paper they wrote on was made of fibers taken from the inside of the stem. The apostle John wrote his second epistle on this type of paper, which the Greeks called “chartês” (2 Jn. 12).
Bible scholars should know the history and use of papyrus, which was the base material for the mss. Egyptians since the very dawn of humanity after the Flood, and quite possibly before that.
In 1778 the first papyrus arrived in Europe. It was the famous “Papyrus Borgianus”, whose decipherment marks the beginning of papyrology. The papyrus process was as follows: The heart of the stem was divided into thin bands, which were arranged horizontally to constitute the obverse of a leaf, while the reverse was made with fibers arranged vertically, perpendicular to those of the obverse.
The front and back were then pressed and glued to form the sheets that were joined together to make a roll. There were rolls that measured 38 cm. high, although those of the scribes were usually no more than 25 cm.
As for length, there are Egyptian liturgical scrolls that reached 15 m. and even more. One that exceeds 40 m is preserved. From the beginning of the 2nd century AD, Christians arranged papyrus sheets in notebooks, in imitation of the “codex” (in ancient times, the “codex” were wooden tablets that were tied together).
To obtain this type of book, the papyrus sheets were folded in the middle.
The dry climate and sands of Egypt have allowed the preservation of numerous papyri.
The Nash papyrus, currently preserved at the University of Cambridge, is a small Hebrew fragment of the OT dating to around 100 BC. The John Rylands library has small fragments gr. from the book of Deuteronomy, from the second century BC. In Oxyrhynchus (180 km south of Cairo) some famous “logia” (words of Christ) written on papyrus were discovered. Another papyrus from the library of John Rylands is one of the oldest fragments of ms. of the NT, containing Jn. 18:31-33, 37, 38.
It has been dated to the first half of the 2nd century AD. The most spectacular discovery was that of some fragments of the Gospel of Mark in Cave 7 of Qumran, studied by J. O’Callaghan, S.I., and dated between 50 and 100 AD. (See QUMRAN [MANUSCRIPTS OF], GOSPELS, MARK [GOSPEL OF], JOHN [GOSPEL OF].)
The ms. gr. Freer’s book, preserved in Washington, contains certain sections of the minor prophets. The papyri discovered by M. A. Chester-Beatty present gr. of the OT and the NT. (See CHESTER-BEATTY). The biblical papyri of John H. Scheide (Ez. 19:12-39:29 in Gr., and which have some gaps), date from the end of the 2nd or 3rd century AD. Deposited at Princeton University, they have been edited and published by A. C. Johnson, H. S. Gehman, and E. H. Kase.
The Elephantine papyri form a variety of documents written in Aramaic. Most of it comes from a Jewish garrison colony in Elephantine and Syene, where it remained from the 6th century until around 400 BC, to protect Egypt’s southern border.
Other papyri of importance are those from the Bodmer Collection, of the Bodmer Library in Geneva. A codex of the Gospel of John stands out, whose first fourteen chapters are complete, and the rest in fragmentary condition, and has been dated around the year 200 AD.
Other papyri in this same collection include texts from John and Luke, from the Epistles of Peter, from Jude, all of them also from around the year 200 AD. There are other papyri of later date, with texts from Acts and the Universal Epistles. . (See BIBLICAL MANUSCRIPTS, QUMRÁN.)