papyrus · Greek · NT

Papyrus P45 (Chester Beatty I)

Also known as: Chester Beatty Biblical Papyrus I

AD 200 – AD 250 (~AD 225) · dated by paleography

Evidence card

A quick read on the physical object before the interpretive summary.

2 sources

Artifact

papyrus · Greek

Date basis

AD 200 – AD 250 (~AD 225) · paleography

Survival

~15% physically present

Contents

Matthew; Mark; Luke; John; acts

Artifact/map cue

Held at Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (with one leaf in Vienna) · Discovery: c. 1930, Egypt

Date

AD 200 – AD 250 (~AD 225)

Passage represented

Matthew; Mark; Luke; John; acts

Fragmentary or partial witness

How much survives

~15% of the claimed text is physically present

Why it matters

The earliest substantial copy of the four Gospels and Acts together — physical evidence that the four-fold Gospel collection was circulating as a unit by the early 3rd century.

What it contains

Matthew (partial)
Mark (partial)
Luke (partial)
John (partial)
acts (partial)

~15% of the claimed text is physically present.

Where & when

Held at: Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (with one leaf in Vienna)
Discovery: c. 1930, Egypt

Source trail

Named catalogues, editions, libraries, or scholarship used for this manuscript page.