New Testament manuscript |
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The Gospel of John
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Name | P. Bodmer II |
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Text | John 1:1-6:11; 6:35-14:26,29-30; 15:2-26; 16:2-4,6-7; 16:10-20:20,22-23; 20:25-21:9,12,17 |
Date | about AD 200 (Martin), AD 100-150 (Hunger), "early or middle fourth century" (Nongbri) |
Found | Jabal Abu Mana, Egypt |
Now at | Bodmer Library, Geneva |
Cite | Martin, Victor. Papyrus Bodmer II: Évangile de Jean 1-14 (1956); Martin, Victor. Papyrus Bodmer II: Évangile de Jean 14-21 (1958); Martin, Victor and Barns, J.W.B. Papyrus Bodmer II: Supplément, Évangile de Jean 14-21 (1962); Aland, Kurt. "Neue neutestamentliche Papyri III" NTS 20 (1974) pp. 357-381; Hunger, Herbert. "Zur Datierung des Papyrus Bodmer II (P66)," Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften philosophisch-historische Klasse 97 (1961) 12–23; Nongbri, Brent. "The Limits of Palaeographic Dating of Literary Papyri: Some Observations on the Date and Provenance of P.Bodmer II (P66)," Museum Helveticum 71 (2014), 1-35. |
Size | 39 folios; 14.2×16.2 cm; 15-25 lines per page |
Type | Free; scribe+major&minor editors |
Category | I |
Note | very close to P75, B, 0162 |
Papyrus 66 (also referred to as 66) is a near complete codex of the Gospel of John, and part of the collection known as the Bodmer Papyri.
The manuscript contains John 1:1-6:11, 6:35b-14:26, 29-30; 15:2-26; 16:2-4, 6-7; 16:10-20:20, 22-23; 20:25-21:9, 12, 17. It is one of the oldest well-preserved New Testament manuscripts known to exist. Its original editor assigned the codex to the early third century, or around AD 200, on the basis of the style of handwriting in the codex. Herbert Hunger later claimed that the handwriting should be dated to an earlier period in the middle or early part of the second century. More recently, Brent Nongbri has produced a broader study of the codex and argued that when one takes into consideration the format, construction techniques, and provenance of the codex along with the handwriting, it is more reasonable to conclude that the codex was produced "in the early or middle part of the fourth century."
In common with both the other surviving early papyri of John's Gospel; P45 (apparently), P75, and most New Testament uncials, Papyrus 66 does not include the pericope of the adulteress (7:53-8:11); demonstrating the absence of this passage in all the surviving early witnesses of the Gospel of John. The manuscript also contains, consistently, the use of Nomina Sacra.