Thu Feb 13 09:42:03 1997

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Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 08:36:01 -0700
To: tc-list@shemesh.scholar.emory.edu
From: "Robert B. Waltz" 
Subject: Re: Parchment & papyrus
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On Thu, 13 Feb 1997, REElliott@AOL.COM wrote:

>TC'ers
>Can anyone please confirm or deny that parchment replaced papyrus near the
>end of the second century.

To say that parchment replaced papyrus at any given date is massively
oversimplified. If you check any of the lists of papyri and uncials,
you will see that papyri have been found from the second to the
seventh/eighth centuries. The first parchment manuscripts are found
in the third century, and of course continued to be used exclusively
till about the twelfth century, and occasionally thereafter.

Prior to the fourth century, papyrus was the dominant material.
After the fifth, the use of papyrus declined; eventually it went
out of use altogether.

It should be noted, however, that effectively all papyri were found
in Egypt (the dry climate helps preserve papyrus). And Egypt was
conquered at an early date by the Arabs. While that did not suppress
Egyptian Christianity (the Coptic faith still endures), it *did*
mean that Egyptian Christianity turned largely to the Coptic versions.
So the absence of Greek NT papyri after the eighth century really
doesn't mean much.

I hope that clarifies the situation.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

                            Robert B. Waltz
                         waltzmn@skypoint.com

Want more loudmouthed opinions about textual criticism?
Try my web page: http://www.skypoint.com/~waltzmn
(A very rough draft of part of the Encyclopedia of NT Textual Criticism)

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