01 Oxyrhynchus Papyrus

Museum Description: Oxyrhynchus Papyrus

Room: Sir John Ritblat Gallery

Scripture: John 16:14

Papyrus can easily rot if it comes into contact with water, so it is only preserved in very hot, dry climates like Egypt.  Large 'rubbish dumps' of papyrus have been discovered.  Being buried together in large heaps greatly helped them to survive down to our day.  One of these rubbish dumps is in Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, and has produced several famous and important Biblical papyri.  This town was a centre for Egyptian Christianity in the 4th and 5th centuries.  It was only when archaeologists gave up excavating the town and turned their attention to the rubbish dump that they found more than two tonnes of papyrus!  These two examples are from a 3rd century codex of the book of John, from chapters 1, 16 and 20.  Just think, this could be written just a few decades after the original!