Muirhead's inequality

Papyrus 46 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by siglum $\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁶, is one of the oldest extant New Testament manuscripts in Greek, written on papyrus, with its 'most probable date' between 175-225. Some leaves are part of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, and others are in the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection.

Contents

$\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁶ contains most of the Pauline epistles, though with some folios missing. It contains (in order) "the last eight chapters of Romans; all of Hebrews; virtually all of 1–2 Corinthians; all of Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians; and two chapters of 1 Thessalonians. All of the leaves have lost some lines at the bottom through deterioration."

Folio	Contents	Location
1-7	Romans 1:1-5:17	Missing
8	Rom 5:17-6:14	CB
9-10	Rom 6:14-8:15	Missing
11-15	Rom 8:15-11:35	CB
16-17	Rom 11:35-14:8	Mich.
18 (fragment)	Rom 14:9-15:11	CB
19-28	Rom 15:11-Hebrews 8:8	Mich.
29	Heb 8:9-9:10	CB
30	Heb 9:10-26	Mich.
31-39	Heb 9:26-1 Corinthians 2:3	CB
40	1 Cor 2:3-3:5	Mich.
41-69	1 Cor 3:6-2 Corinthians 9:7	CB
70-85	2 Cor 9:7-end, Ephesians, Galatians 1:1-6:10	Mich.
86-94	Gal 6:10-end, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:3	CB
95-96	1 Thess 2:3-5:5	Missing
97 (fragment)	1 Thess 5:5, 23-28	CB
98-104	Thought to be 1 Thess 5:28-2 Thessalonians, and possibly Philemon; 1- 2 Timothy, and Titus were probably not included (see below)	Missing

Dimensions

Folio size is approximately 28x16 cm with a single column of text averaging 11.5 cm. There are between 26 and 32 lines (rows) of text per page, although both the width of the rows and the number of rows per page increase progressively. Rows of text at the bottom of each page are damaged (lacunose), with between 1-2 lines lacunose in the first quarter of the MS, 2-3 lines lacunose in the central half, and up to seven lines lacunose in the final quarter.

Missing contents

From the page numbers on existing pages, we know that seven leaves have been lost from the beginning of the codex, which accords perfectly with the length of the missing portion of Romans, which they undoubtedly contained. Since the codex is formed from a stack of papyrus sheets folded in the middle, magazine-style, what is lost is the outer seven sheets, containing the first and last seven leaves of the codex.

The contents of the seven missing leaves from the end is uncertain. There would be enough space for 2 Thessalonians and possibly Philemon, but not for the Pastoral epistles. Kenyon calculates that 2 Thessalonians would require two leaves, leaving only five remaining leaves (10 pages) for the remaining canonical Pauline literature — 1 Timothy (estimated 8.25 pages), 2 Timothy (6 pages), Titus (3.5 pages) and Philemon (1.5 pages) — totaling ten required leaves (19.25 pages).

Recently, Alessandra Peri has proposed that the final folios could contain the first three chapter of Apocalypse.

Interpunction

Throughout Romans, Hebrews and the latter chapters of 1 Corinthians are found small and thick strokes or dots, usually agreed to be from the hand of a reader rather than the producer of the manuscript since the ink is always much paler than that of the text itself. They appear to mark sense divisions (similar to verse numbering found in Bibles) and are also found in portions of $\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁵, possibly evidence of reading in the community which held both codices.

Nomina Sacra

$\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁶ uses an extensive and well-developed system of nomina sacra. Griffin argued against Kim, in part, that such an extensive usage of the nomina sacra system nearly eliminates any possibility of the manuscript dating to the 1st century. He admitted, however, that Kim's dating cannot be ruled out on this basis alone, since the exact provenance of the nomina sacra system itself is not well-established.

Text

The Greek text of the codex is a representative of the Alexandrian text-type. Kurt Aland placed it in Category I.

In Romans 16:15 it has singular reading Βηρεα και Αουλιαν for Ιουλιαν, Νηρεα.

In 1 Corinthians 2:1 it reads μυστηριον along with א, Α, C, 88, 436, it^a,r, syr^p, cop^bo. Other manuscripts read μαρτυριον or σωτηριον.

In 1 Corinthians 2:4 it reads πειθοις σοφιας (plausible wisdom) for πειθοις σοφιας λογοις (plausible words of wisdom), the reading is supported only by Codex Boernerianus (Greek text).

In 1 Corinthians 7:5 it reads τη προσευχη (prayer) along with $\mathfrak{P}$¹¹, א*, A, B, C, D, F, G, P, Ψ, 6, 33, 81, 104, 181, 629, 630, 1739, 1877, 1881, 1962, it vg, cop, arm, eth. Other manuscripts read τη νηστεια και τη προσευχη (fasting and prayer) τη προσευχη και νηστεια (prayer and fasting).

In 1 Corinthians 12:9 it reads εν τω πνευματι for εν τω ενι πνευματι.

In 1 Corinthians 15:47 it has singular reading reads δευτερος ανθρωπος πνευματικος for δευτερος ανθρωπος (א*, B, C, D, F, G, 0243, 33, 1739, it, vg, cop^bo eth); or δευτερος ανθρωπος ο κυριος (א^c, A, D^c, K, P, Ψ, 81, 104, 181, 326, 330, 436, 451, 614, 629, 1241, 1739^mg, 1877, 1881, 1984, 1985, 2127, 2492, 2495, Byz, Lect).

In 2 Corinthians 1:10 it reads τηλικουτων θανατων, along with 630, 1739^c, it^d,e, syr^p,h, goth; majority reads τηλικουτου θανατου.

Galatians 6:2 — αναπληρωσατε ] αποπληρωσετε

Ephesians 4:16 — κατ ενεργειας ] και ενεργειας.

Ephesians 6:12 — αρχας προς τας εξουσιας ] μεθοδιας

Provenance

The provenance of the papyrus is unknown, although it was probably originally discovered in the ruins of an early Christian church or monastery. Following the discovery in Cairo, the manuscript was broken up by the dealer. Ten leaves were purchased by Chester Beatty in 1930; the University of Michigan acquired six in 1931 and 24 in 1933. Beatty purchased 46 more in 1935, and his acquisitions now form part of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, eleven codices of biblical material.

Date

As with all manuscripts dated solely by palaeography, the dating of $\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁶ is uncertain. The first editor of parts of the papyrus, H. A. Sanders, proposed a date possibly as late as the second half of the 3rd century. F. G. Kenyon, editor of the complete editio princeps, preferred a date in the first half of the 3rd century. The manuscript is now sometimes dated to about 200. Young Kyu Kim has argued for an exceptionally early date of c. 80. Griffin critiqued and disputed Kim's dating, placing the 'most probable date' between 175-225, with a '95% confidence interval' for a date between 150-250.

Comfort and Barrett have claimed that $\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁶ shares affinities with the following:

• P. Oxy. 8 (assigned late 1st or early 2nd century),
• P. Oxy. 841 (the second hand, which cannot be dated later than 125–150),
• P. Oxy. 1622 (dated with confidence to pre-148, probably during the reign of Hadrian (117–138), because of the documentary text on the verso),
• P. Oxy. 2337 (assigned to the late 1st century),
• P. Oxy. 3721 (assigned to the second half of the 2nd century),
• P. Rylands III 550 (assigned to the 2nd century), and
• P. Berol. 9810 (early 2nd century).

This, they conclude, points to a date during the middle of the 2nd century for $\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁶.

See also

• List of New Testament papyri
• Collections of papyri
• Chester Beatty Papyri
• University of Michigan Papyrus Collection

References

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External links

• Official WWW of Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, concerning P46
• Robert B. Waltz. 'NT Manuscripts: Papyri, Papyri $\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁶.'
• Leaves of $\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁶ at the University of Michigan (with images in TIFF)
• Reading the Papyri: $\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁶ from the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection
• Transcription and 172 images of $\mathfrak{P}$⁴⁶
• At Evangelical Textual Criticism
• Klaus Wachtel, Klaus Witte, Das Neue Testament auf Papyrus: Gal., Eph., Phil., Kol., 1. u. 2. Thess., 1. u. 2 Tim., Tit., Phlm., Hebr, Walter de Gruyter, 1994, pp. L-LII.
• Template:Cite web
• Tricky NT Textual Issues: Codex P46