A Papyrus Codex of the Shepherd of Hermas

Abstract

In the University of Michigan collection of papyri is a fragmentary codex (No. 917) of the Shepherd of Hermas, much damaged, yet with many pages almost intact. The portion preserved is confined to the Similitudes. Its range is from Sim. II. 9 (χορηγοῦντες τοῖς πένησιν) to Sim. IX. 5, 1, ending with ἐδόκει, so that it covers a little more than one fourth of the whole work. The book is undoubtedly older than most of the fragments of the Shepherd previously published. So far as I can judge from the available facsimiles, it is the oldest of all texts except the Berlin fragment (P. Berlin 5513) and, possibly, P. Oxyrh. 404, which would probably now be given an earlier date than that assigned to it in 1903 (late third or early fourth century). As far as the new MS. goes, it has preserved most of the sentences missing from the Athos manuscript and heretofore supplied from the Latin versions, and it has a large number of variant readings, of which many are of interest and value. Thus for extent, age, and textual importance, the Michigan codex seems likely to assume a position of great significance in the study of the Shepherd, and especially in the preparation of the much-desired new critical edition.