Young Kyu Kim
Palaeographical Re-Dating of p46 to the Later First Century
(from: Biblica, 69, 1988)
During the last two years, I have attempted to marshal new palaeographical evidence for evaluating P.Beatty II + P. Mich. 222 (p46). I was encouraged to do this, above all, by the publication of two papyri, P. Oxy. XLI 2987 (AD 78/9) and P. Mich. Inv. 6789(1). As is well known, the first editor of p46 F.G. Kenyon abandoned his former dating perhaps owing to statements by U. Wilcken(2) and then assigned the papyrus to a date not later than the first half of the third century(3). This dating (4) has since been accepted without reference to dated parallel papyri from the third or second centuries. After carefully examining the plates of p46, I have been able to isolate the decisive criteria for establishing the date of the papyrus.
Firstly, I examined the ligature forms of p46, which until now have not received due notice (5). This sort of calligraphic hand with its striking effort to keep the upper line (6) (fol 8r 9 and fol 24v 9) is unknown to me after the first century at least in consistent usage and is found mostly in the later (7) Ptolemaic period. Another calligraphic feature, which belongs to an added hand, seems to determine the papyrus' terminus ad quem. This style (fol 28v 11) appears from the second century BC to the early second century AD (8); within the first century a similar form of writing is found in P. med. I 7 (AD 13/4); P. Oxy. II 326 (AD 45); P. Lond. II 1166 (AD 42); P. Ups. Frid 1 (AD 48); BGU I 350 (AD 98-117) etc.
Secondly, all literary papyri similar to p46 in its exact style (Fig. 1) (9) have been assigned to an early date, e.g:
P. Oxy. XV 1790 -- the middle or rather the latter half of the first century BC (B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt), the reign of Augustus (W. Schubart) (10)
P. Mil. Vogl. Inv. 1181 int. -- I AD (Cl. Gallazzi) (11)
P. Oxy. XXII 2337 -- terminus post AD 65
P. Mich. Inv. 6789 -- the latter part of the first century or the second century AD (T. Renner)
P. Alex. Inv. 443 -- the second half of the first century (G. Cavallo and T. Luzzatto) (12)
P. Med. Inv. 70.01 verso -- AD 55 (O. Montevecchi) (13)
P. Oxy. LIII 3695 (14) -- the first century (E. Lobel), the later first century (M.W. Haslam)
P. Ryl. III 550 -- early in the second century (C.H. Roberts).
Moreover, p46 may be compared with other similar literary hands, which further disclose the particular style of p46:
P. Mon. Gr. Inv. 216 -- the second half of the first century BC (G. Cavallo, C.H. Roberts, E.G. Turner, P. Fabrini and F. Maltomini)
P. Berol 6926 + P. Gen. Inv. 100 -- terminus ad AD 100/1, before the middle of the first century, or probably the last Ptolemaic period (U. Wilcken) (15), the reign of Augustus (W. Schubart) (16), the second half of the first century (C.H. Roberts)
P. Gr. Berol. 19c -- the last decade of the first century (W. Schubart) (17)
P. Oxy. I 8 -- AD 50-150 (B.P. Grenfell) (18)
P. Gr. Berol. 29b -- the first half of the second century (W. Schubart) (19), AD 50-150 (B.P. Grenfell)
P. Hamb. III 193 - I AD (B. Kramer and D. Hagedorn) (20)
P. Oxy. LIII 3721 -- the second half of the second century (M. W. Haslam) (21)
In these papyri we perceive a somewhat independent and widespread style in which the knobbed alpha, and sometimes the same movement of strokes as in P. Oxy. XV 1790, is consistently found. For an understanding of the style I may also suggest a comparison between BGU I 37 (AD 50) and P. Giss. I 69 (AD 118/9), for p46 makes it clear that a book hand is to a certain degree correlative with its running hand. But p46 belongs to the earlier type of these styles(22). The following reasons support this judgement:
1) P46 presents a distinctly early appearance in the form of finials at the feet of letters, which is represented by the examples dated from the last quarter of the third century BC to the third quarter of the first century AD; comparable are P. Cair. 65445, the latter datable hand (?) and P. Med. Inv. 70.01 verso.
2) It exhibits the earlier forms in a few letters, especially the beta and the upsilon; comparable are P. Cair. 65445, the latter datable hand (?) and P. Mon. Gr. Inv. 216.
3) It has not been influenced by the blob-ornamental style, which is found in e.g. P. Oxy. XLI 2987 (AD 78/9), or the decorated style finishing with an obliquely rake-formed serif (23). Among papyri of the same type as p46, P. Hamb. III 193 may be considered a good example of influence by this decorated style. The same applies to P. Gr. Berol. 19c, but P. Hamb. II 193 makes an earlier impression. We are virtually able to determine the precise period of this ornamental style. In particular, P. Oxy. XLI 2987 (24) is comparable with P. Oxy. XXVI 2450 and XXX 2256, which also may be readily compared with P. Hercul. 994, 1676; P. Oxy. VIII 1083, XVII 2453; P. Oxy. Hel. 6. In this connection, P. Oxy. VIII 1082 agrees with P. Brem. 6 (in the early reign of Hadrian) in groups of narrow letters (e, q, o, s), in the first vertical movement of the alpha and the delta, and in the upsilon. The decorated style may, therefore, be assigned at least up to the Trajan-Hadrian period. This also seems to have been the view of A.S. Hunt (25). The decorative form, however, continues even afterwards to have influence on another style, e.g. P. Turner 1, P. Oxy. XLII 3010, XXXIV 2689, and the probably very late P. Oxy. XLII 3030. Here I may suggest that P. Ryl. III 550 belongs to the more or less earlier type than P. Oxy. XIII 1622 (terminus ante AD 148, probably Trajan-Hadrian period).
4) When p87 is compared to the second hand of P. Oxy. V 841 (terminus post the reign of Titus; the first hand is not able to be assigned to a date after the earlier decades of the second century AD), one may say that p46 gives a very early impression of style. Consequently, it may be said, if so useful, that p46 is, in agreement with A.S. Hunt and probably E.G. Turner (26), an upright informal uncial of an early type.
P.S. sentiu shai...se devi sparare cazzate vai in un manicomio. Ci sono studiosi che studiano una vita su questi papiri...e te ne arrivi fresco fresco tu e i tuoi amichetti dal cervello fulminato a sparare minchiate.
STUDIA. Prima di parlare STUDIA. E cerca di rimanere lucido se ti riesce.
Bippone!