Titled First Fragments: Biblical Papyrus from Roman Egypt, the latest exhibition at the Chester Beatty museum in Dublin explores early Christian book and scribal culture through the lens of authors, scribes, bookbinders, translators, readers, and collectors. In the center of the exhibit are the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, a group of 11 Greek papyrus codices that contain texts from both the Septuagint (Greek translation of Hebrew scriptures) and the Christian New Testament. Dating from the second to fourth centuries CE, these are among the earliest surviving Christian manuscripts that Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875–1968) acquired in the 1930s in Egypt. […]
