Papyrus Papyri 𝔓¹³

New Testament manuscript
Portions of two columns of P13, beginning with Hebrews 4:2. Note the surviving numbering at the top of the left column.
Name	P. Oxyrhynchus 657
Text	Hebrews 2:14-5:5; 10:8-22; 10:29-11:13; 11:28-12:17
Date	225-250
Script	Greek
Found	Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
Now at	British Library/Egyptian Museum
Cite	Grenfell & Hunt, Oxyrynchus Papyri 4:36-48. (#657)
Size	12 columns of scroll; 23-27 lines/column; pagination legible: 47-50, 61-65, 67-69.
Type	Alexandrian, often agrees with Vaticanus; 80% with Papyrus 46
Category	I
Note	largest papyrus other than Chester Beatty collection

Papyrus 13, designated by siglum 𝔓¹³ or P¹³ in the Gregory-Aland numbering, is a fragmentary manuscript of the New Testament in Greek. It was copied on papyrus in the 3rd century at approximately 225-250 CE.^[1]

Description

Grenfell and Hunt

Bernard Grenfell		Arthur Hunt

Papyrus 13 was discovered by Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. It is currently housed at the British Library, Inv. Nr. 1532, and Egyptian Museum, SR 3796 25/1/55/2 (11), or PSI 1292.^[2][3][4]

The surviving text is twelve columns, of 23 to 27 lines each, from a scroll. This is all from the Epistle to the Hebrews, namely 2:14-5:5; 10:8-22; 10:29-11:13; 11:28-12:17. Its presence of pagination 47-50 means that Hebrews was preceded by only one book in the original scroll, likely the Epistle to the Romans as in Papyrus 46.^[1] It is the largest papyrus manuscript of the New Testament outside the Chester Beatty Papyri.

It was written on the back of a papyrus containing the Epitome of Livy and some scholars think the manuscript was possibly brought to Egypt by a Roman official and left behind when he left his post.^[5]

It has errors of itacism (ι and ει, ε and αι, υ and οι).^[6]

Text

Papyrus 13 is a representative of the Alexandrian text-type. Aland placed it in Category I.^[2]

It bears strong textual affinity with Codex Vaticanus, and also has an 80% agreement with Papyrus 46. It has numerous distinctive readings.^[2]

Papyrus 13 is written recto-verso, with the verso (back) containing Hebrews and the recto (front) containing part of Livy's History of Rome, dated to around 200 AD.^[7]