THE DURA PARCHMENT AND THE DIATESSARON

Abstract

In 1933 an archaeological team digging at Dura Europos on the Euphrates discovered a small fragment of parchment inscribed on one side with Greek gospel text. Classified as Dura Parchment 24, the find was published two years later by the palaeographer Carl Kraeling, with an extensive discussion.' The archaeology of the site made it practically certain that the parchment dated from before the year 256-257. Its text was found not to correspond to any one canonical gospel but to represent a harmony integrating elements of all four of the gospels. Kraeling, after patient discussion, concluded that the fragment was a witness of Tatian's famous Diatessaron. This conclusion was unanimously embraced by Diatessaronic specialists and New Testament textual critics of the day. The main point of discussion was not whether the new witness attested Tatian, but whether it proved anything regarding the original language of the Diatessaron. A few years ago, D. C. Parker, D. G. K. Taylor and M. S. Goodacre published a detailed study attempting to reopen the debate on the Dura parchment.2 New proposals are offered for the reading of the text and for its date (although the 256/7 date ante quem is recognised), and new solutions are sought for some problems of detail. More importantly, the authors come to a revolutionary conclusion: the Dura fragment is not part of Tatian's Diatessaron. Instead, the text was originally composed in Greek and represents an independent attempt to harmonise the four gospels: