Oxyrhychus Papyrus 1354, p-26
Paul's Epistle to the Romans 1:1-16
Papyri at Bridwell Library
In 1922 A. V. Lane
secured the permanent deposit of twelve ancient papyrus fragments from the
British Museum through his connections with the Egypt Exploration Society of
London . These texts, all from Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, are among the few early
papyri collections in Texas.
Oxyrhynchus (modern el-Bahnasa), an ancient provincial capital along a minor
branch of the Nile River in Lower Egypt (Bahr Yussuf), derived its ancient name
from a type of Nile sturgeon that was venerated locally. The site of ancient
archives and monastic libraries, Oxyrhynchus flourished principally during the
Roman era, although earlier and later remains have been found there. The fame of
Oxyrhynchus today rests upon the discovery by the eminent British Bernard P.
Grenfell (1869-1926) and Arthur S. Hunt (1871-1934) of local deep rubbish mounds
containing thousands of ancient papyrus fragments. Excavated between 1897 and
1907 (and now published in 65 scholarly volumes), the papyri preserve Greek
literary texts, private letters, legal documents, and a few scraps of Christian
scriptures, among which is the Bridwell Library fragment recording Paul’s
Epistle to the Romans, dating from around the 6th century CE.
Online Highlights of the Collection
