Manuscript

The Oxyrhynchus Mark Fragment (P137)

Also known as P137 · 𝔓137 · P.Oxy. LXXXIII 5345 · the "First-Century Mark" fragment

papyrinew-testamentgospel-of-markcorrections

Summary

A scrap of Mark the size of a matchbox — famous for six years as a first-century discovery it turned out not to be.

Copied Late second to early third century AD (c. 150–250), as published — not first century.
Written in greek on papyrus.
Kept at Egypt Exploration Society, housed with the Oxyrhynchus Papyri at Oxford.
Contains Mark 1:7–9, Mark 1:16–18.

Two views of a matchbox-sized papyrus scrap carrying a few Greek letters — Both sides of the Oxyrhynchus Mark fragment, Mark 1:7–9 and 1:16–18: public domain

Sources (2)

Elijah Hixson, "Taking Stock of the 'First-Century Mark' Saga", Text & Canon Institute, 25 January 2022 · accessed 2026-08-06The specialist account of the rumour and its correction.
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri project, University of Oxford · accessed 2026-08-06The publication project for the papyri owned by the Egypt Exploration Society.

What it is

It measures 4.4 by 4 centimetres and carries Mark 1:7–9 on one side and Mark 1:16–18 on the other.

From 2012 a rumour circulated that a first-century copy of Mark had been found. When the fragment was finally published in 2018, edited by Daniela Colomo and Dirk Obbink, it was dated to the late second or early third century. The specialist who wrote up the affair, Elijah Hixson, put the earlier claim plainly: it "was simply incorrect."

The fragment belongs to the Egypt Exploration Society, which did not realise until 2016 that the rumoured find was its own. It had been offered for sale without the Society's authorisation, and the papyrologist who had it was dismissed.

Manuscript details

Date: Late second to early third century AD (c. 150–250), as published — not first century
Language: Greek
Script: Greek book hand
Material: Papyrus
Held at: Egypt Exploration Society, housed with the Oxyrhynchus Papyri at Oxford
Found at: Oxyrhynchus, Egypt (excavated by Grenfell and Hunt from 1896)
Contains: Mark 1:7–9 · Mark 1:16–18

Why it matters

MannaFest keeps this one because the claim was wrong and Christians made it. A rumour ran for six years, was corrected by the scholars closest to it, and ended in a police investigation. Real evidence survives being checked; that is the whole point of showing it.

The passages the manuscripts argue over

The places where the manuscripts differ, the ending of Mark, the woman caught in adultery, the three heavenly witnesses, with the case each way.

Where the manuscripts differ, all 15 places →Every handwritten copy, shelved and in date order →