Papyrus 91
Encyclopedia
Papyrus 91 designed by 
91, is an early copy of the New Testament
in Greek
. It is a papyrus
manuscript
of the Acts of Apostles. The surviving texts of Acts are verses 2:30-37; 2:46-3:2. The manuscript paleographically
has been assigned to the middle of the 3rd century.
, Comfort ascribed it as proto-Alexandrian, though the extant portion is too fragmentary for certainty. It has not been placed yet in Aland's
Categories of New Testament manuscripts
.
91 is housed at the Instituto di Papyrologia (P. Mil. Vofl. Inv. 1224) at the Universita Degli Studi di Milano
. The smaller portion is housed at the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre at Macquarie University
(Inv. 360) in Sydney
.
91, is an early copy of the New TestamentNew Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
. It is a papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
of the Acts of Apostles. The surviving texts of Acts are verses 2:30-37; 2:46-3:2. The manuscript paleographically
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
has been assigned to the middle of the 3rd century.
Text
The Greek text of this manuscript is a representative of the Alexandrian text-typeAlexandrian text-type
The Alexandrian text-type , associated with Alexandria, is one of several text-types used in New Testament textual criticism to describe and group the textual character of biblical manuscripts...
, Comfort ascribed it as proto-Alexandrian, though the extant portion is too fragmentary for certainty. It has not been placed yet in Aland's
Kurt Aland
Kurt Aland was a German Theologian and Professor of New Testament Research and Church History. He founded the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster and served as its first director for many years...
Categories of New Testament manuscripts
Categories of New Testament manuscripts
New Testament manuscripts in Greek are categorized into five groups, according to a scheme introduced in 1981 by Kurt and Barbara Aland in Der Text des Neuen Testaments. The categories are based on how each manuscript relates to the various text-types. Generally speaking, earlier Alexandrian...
.
Location
The larger portion of91 is housed at the Instituto di Papyrologia (P. Mil. Vofl. Inv. 1224) at the Universita Degli Studi di MilanoUniversity of Milan
The University of Milan is a higher education institution in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe, with about 62,801 students, a teaching and research staff of 2,455 and a non-teaching staff of 2,200....
. The smaller portion is housed at the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre at Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
(Inv. 360) in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
Textual Variants
- 2:31: omits του χρυ (of the Christ/Messiah (χρυ being a Nomina SacraNomina sacraNomina sacra means "sacred names" in Latin, and can be used to refer to traditions of abbreviated writing of several frequently occurring divine names or titles in early Greek language Holy Scripture...
)).
- 2:32: According to the reconstruction of Philip Comfort and David Barrett, omits εσμεν (are).
- 2:33: The scribe misspells ακουετε (you hear) as ακουεται (he heard) due to ε and αι being pronounced similarly when spoken.
- 2:36: The scribe misspells Ισραηλ (Israel) as Ισστραηλ.
- 2:36: και (and) is omitted from after οτι (because/that).
- 2:36: Swaps κν αυτον και χρν (Master him and Christ/Messiah (Nomina SacraNomina sacraNomina sacra means "sacred names" in Latin, and can be used to refer to traditions of abbreviated writing of several frequently occurring divine names or titles in early Greek language Holy Scripture...
)) to χρν [αυτον και κν] (Christ/Messiah him and Master (Nomina SacraNomina sacraNomina sacra means "sacred names" in Latin, and can be used to refer to traditions of abbreviated writing of several frequently occurring divine names or titles in early Greek language Holy Scripture...
))
- 2:46: The scribe misspells μετελαμβανον (they were sharing) as μεταλαμβανον (they are sharing).
- 2:46: The scribe misspells αφελοτητι (simplicity) through dittography as [αφελ]οτλοτητι.
Further reading
- Claudio Galazzi, P. Mil. Vogl. Inv. 1224 NT, Act. 2,30-37 e 2,46-3,2, Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 19 (New Haven: 1982), pp. 39-45.
- S. R. Pickering, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 65 (Bonn: 1986), pp. 76-79.