The Bodmer Papyri are a group of twenty-two papyri found in 1952 at Pabau near Dishna, Egypt, the ancient headquarters of the Pachomian order of monks; the discovery site is not far from Nag Hammadi. The manuscripts were covertly assembled by a Cypriote, Phokio Tano of Cairo, then successively smuggled to Switzerland,^[1] where they were bought by Martin Bodmer (1899-1971). The series Papyrus Bodmer began to be published in 1954, with notes, introduction and French translation. The Bodmer Papyri, now conserved in the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, in Cologny, outside Geneva,^[2] are not a gnostic cache, like the Nag Hammadi Library: they bear some pagan as well as Christian texts, parts of some thirty-five books in all, in Coptic^[3] and in Greek. With fragments of correspondence, the number of individual texts represented reaches to fifty.^[4] Most of the works are in codex form, a few in scrolls. Three are written on parchment. Blank papyrus. ... Coptic icon of St Pachomius Saint Pachomius (ca. ... The town of Nag Hammadi in Egypt Nag Hammâdi (Arabic نجع حمادي; transliterated: Naj Hammādi) (26°03′N 32°15′E), is a town in the middle of Egypt, called Chenoboskion in classical antiquity, about 80 kilometres north-west of Luxor with some 30,000 citizens. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... Geneva (pronunciation //; French: Genève //, German:   //, Italian: Ginevra, Romansh: Genevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich), and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). ... Gnosticism is a blanket term for various religions and sects most prominent in the first few centuries A.D. General characteristics The word gnosticism comes from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis (γνῶσις), referring to the idea that there is special, hidden mysticism (esoteric knowledge... The Nag Hammadi library is a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. ... Coptic is an adjective referring to the original inhabitants of Egypt, the Copts. ... First page of the Codex Argenteus A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a handwritten book, in general, one produced from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages. ... Scroll can have different meanings: A scroll is a roll of parchment, papyrus, or paper which has been drawn or written upon. ... German parchmenter, 1568 Parchment is a material for the pages of a book or codex, made from fine calf skin, sheep skin or goat skin. ...

Books V and VI of Homer's Iliad (P 1), and three comedies of Menander^[5] appear among the Bodmer Papyri, as well as gospel texts: Papyrus 66 (P66), is a text of the Gospel of John,^[6] dating in the early third century CE, in the manuscript tradition called the Alexandrian text-type. Aside from the papyrus fragment in the Rylands Library Papyrus P52, it is the oldest testimony for John; it omits the passage concerning the moving of the waters (John 5:3b-4) and the pericope of the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53-8:11). P72 is the earliest known copy of the Epistle of Jude, and 1 and 2 Peter. P75 is a partial codex containing most of Luke and John. Comparison of the two versions of John in the Bodmer Papyri with the third-century Chester Beatty papyrus convinced Floyd V. Filson^[7] "A comparison of all three, which had their origins in Egypt, shows that there was no uniform text of the Gospels in Egypt in the third century". It has been suggested that Deception of Zeus be merged into this article or section. ... Bust of Menander Menander (342–291 BC) (Greek ), Greek dramatist, the chief representative of the New Comedy, was born in Athens. ... The Gospel of John is the fourth gospel in the canon of the New Testament, traditionally ascribed to John the Evangelist. ... The Alexandrian text-type (also called Neutral or Egyptian) is a group of early manuscripts of the New Testament in the original Greek. ... John Rylands Library Papyrus P52, recto The Rylands Library Papyrus P52, also known as the St Johns fragment, is a papyrus conserved at the John Rylands Library, Manchester, UK. The front (recto) contains lines from the Gospel of John 18:31-33, in Greek, and the back (verso) contains... The Pericope Adulteræ (pur-IC-op-ee uh-DUL-ter-igh), meaning the passage of the adulterous woman in Latin, is the name traditionally given to verses 7:53–8:11 of the Gospel of John, which is usually referred to in English as the woman taken in adultery... The brief Epistle of Jude is a book in the Christian New Testament canon. ... Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875 - 1968) was born in New York city, he graduated from Columbia University as a mining engineer. ...

There are also Christian texts that would become declared apocryphal in the fourth century, such as the Infancy Gospel of James. There is a Greek-Latin lexicon to some of Paul's letters, and there are fragments of Melito of Sardis. Among the works is a Christian Vision of Dorotheus, son of "Quintus the poet" assumed to be the pagan poet Quintus Smyrnaeus, written in archaising Homeric hexameters, the earliest Christian hexameter poem (P 29). Apocrypha (from the Greek word απόκρυφα meaning those having been hidden away[1]) are texts of uncertain authenticity or writings where the authorship is questioned. ... The Gospel of James is an apocryphal gospel also sometimes known as the Infancy Gospel of James or the Protevangelium of James probably written about 150 AD. The document presents itself as written by James: I, James, wrote this history in Jerusalem. ... Look up lexicon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Melito of Sardis, or Melito of Sardes, a Christian saint, was the was the bishop of Sardis in Asia Minor. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Homer (Greek: , Hómēros) was a legendary early Greek poet and aoidos (singer) traditionally credited with the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey. ... Hexameter is a literary and poetic form, consisting of six metrical feet per line as in the Iliad. ...

The collection includes some non-literary material, such as a collection of letters from the abbots of the monastery of Saint Pachomius, raising the possibility that the unifying circumstance in the collection is that all were part of a monastic library.^[8]

The latest of the Bodmer Papyri (P74) dates to the sixth or seventh century.^[9]

Plans announced by the Foundation Bodmer in October 2006^[10] to sell two of the manuscripts for millions of dollars, to capitalize the library, which opened in 2003, drew consternation from scholars around the world, fearing that the unity of the collection would be broken.

Notes

Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875 - 1968) was born in New York city, he graduated from Columbia University as a mining engineer. ... Oxford is a city in Lafayette County, Mississippi, United States. ... Coordinates: Time zone: CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country: Germany State: North Rhine-Westphalia Administrative region: Cologne District: Urban district Mayor: Fritz Schramma (CDU) Basic Statistics Area: 405. ... Location Coordinates : Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Barcelona (Catalan) Spanish name Barcelona Nickname Ciutat Comtal (Catalan) Ciudad Condal (Spanish) Postal code 08001-08080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 93 (Barcelona) Website http://www. ...

References

• Anchor Bible Dictionary 1:766-77 "Bodmer Papyri".
• Robinson, James M. 1987. The Story of the Bodmer Papyri, the First Christian Monastic Library (Nashville) Includes an inventory of the Bodmer Papyri.

External links

• A folio of Bodmer codex containing parts of Luke and John