A new 4th century fragment of Justin Martyr!!!

Via Brice C. Jones I learn that the new volume of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (vol. 73) contains a parchment fragment of the 4th century, with 6 lines from Justin Martyr’s First Apology on it! The reference is P.Oxy. 5129.

This is quite a find, since the apologies of Justin are known to us only from ms. Paris graecus 450, written in 1364.   It is by no means unusual for Greek texts to be preserved only in manuscripts of the 14-16th centuries; what is unusual is to get a shred of a manuscript from antiquity.

Jones gives a photograph, transcription and translation.  It’s a shame that it’s so very short; but how very exciting too!

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