P66 and P75 — John and Luke on papyrus
The Gospels of Luke and John were being copied at length around AD 200, in a text very close to the great fourth-century codices.
Named outside the BibleManuscriptc. AD 200
Two substantial codices from about AD 200: P66 carries most of John, P75 large parts of Luke and John. P75's text turned out to be very close to the fourth-century Codex Vaticanus, showing that the type of text in the great parchment Bibles was not a later editorial creation but was already being copied carefully in the second century.
Most of the Gospel of John, and large parts of Luke, on papyrus, around AD 200.
- Found
- Egypt, 1952 — Acquired by Martin Bodmer
- Now held at
- Bodmer Library, Cologny (P66); Vatican Library (P75)
- Language
- Greek
- How it reached us
- Dug up, or still standing where it was built.
What it shows
Both are dated by handwriting, with the usual margin. P66 is a rather careless copy with many corrections; P75 is careful — early copying varied in quality, and that is part of the picture.
How historians use it
The P75–Vaticanus relationship is one of the standard results of twentieth-century textual criticism.
In Scripture
Sources
- Metzger & Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament, 4th ed. (2005)
These summaries are written in English for now. Translations follow.