Papyrus 134

Papyrus 134 (designated as 𝔓¹³⁴ in the Gregory-Aland numbering system) is a small surviving portion of an early copy of part of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of John. The text survives in three discontinuous fragments on one side of a scroll containing parts of verses 1:49,50,51 and 2:1. The manuscript has been assigned paleographically to the third or fourth century.^[1]

𝔓¹³⁴ is housed at the University of Texas Harry Ransom Center, Austin, Texas, in the United States.^[2]

• 1:49: According to the reconstruction of Smith, it reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΕΙ (You are King) along with 𝔓⁷⁵ 02 03 032, versus ΕΙ Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ (You are the King) found in 𝔓⁶⁶ 01 Byz.
• 1:50: According to the reconstruction of Smith, it contains the majority reading ΜΕΙΖΩ versus ΜΕΙΖΩΝΑ of 𝔓⁶⁶ and ΜΕΙΖΩΝ of 𝔓⁷⁵, all meaning "greater than".
• 1:51: It contains the Alexandrian reading without ΑΠ ΑΡΤΙ (from now on).
• 2:1: According to the reconstruction of Smith, it lacks ΤΗ ΗΜΕΡΑ (on the day), with 03.

History

The manuscript was purchased on the antiquities market by Harold R. Willoughby, professor of early Christianity at the University of Chicago, before 1962. In 1990 it was passed it on to a relative in North Haverhill, NH, who listed it for sale on eBay in 2015.^[3] Geoffrey S. Smith, an associate professor and director of University of Texas at Austin's Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins in the Department of Religious Studies, saw the listing and arranged for its purchase through the donation of a generous alumnus. It is the first New Testament continuous text that textual scholars have found written on the back of a scroll rather than in a codex, using the blank side of a scroll containing an unidentified Christian text.^[4]

• List of New Testament papyri