Papyrus 46 - Date

Date

As with all manuscripts dated solely by palaeography, the dating of 46 is uncertain. The first editor of parts of the papyrus, H. A. Sanders, proposed a date possibly as late as the second half of the 3rd century. F. G. Kenyon, editor of the complete editio princeps, preferred a date in the first half of the 3rd century. The manuscript is now sometimes dated to about 200. Young Kyu Kim has argued for an exceptionally early date of c. 80. Griffin critiqued and disputed Kim's dating, placing the 'most probable date' between 175-225, with a '95% confidence interval' for a date between 150-250.

Comfort and Barrett have claimed that 46 shares affinities with the following:

  • P. Oxy. 8 (assigned late 1st or early 2nd century),
  • P. Oxy. 841 (the second hand, which cannot be dated later than 125–150),
  • P. Oxy. 1622 (dated with confidence to pre-148, probably during the reign of Hadrian (117–138), because of the documentary text on the verso),
  • P. Oxy. 2337 (assigned to the late 1st century),
  • P. Oxy. 3721 (assigned to the second half of the 2nd century),
  • P. Rylands III 550 (assigned to the 2nd century), and
  • P. Berol. 9810 (early 2nd century).

This, they conclude, points to a date during the middle of the 2nd century for 46.

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