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Manuscript

Papyrus Bodmer II (P66)

Also known as P66 · 𝔓66 · P. Bodmer II
papyrinew-testamentgospel-of-johntextual-criticism

Summary

A nearly complete Gospel of John, with a working scribe's corrections still visible on the page.

  • Copied c. AD 200–350 — genuinely contested. Martin: c. 200. Orsini & Clarysse (2012): 200–250. Orsini (2015): c. 250–325. Nongbri (2014): early fourth century..
  • Written in greek on papyrus.
  • Kept at Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cologny (Geneva).
  • Contains John.
  • Named in 2 of the places your Bible carries a footnote.
A papyrus page of John's Gospel in Greek with corrections between the lines
A page of Papyrus Bodmer II, the Gospel of John: public domain

Sources (3)

  1. Bodmer Lab, Université de Genève — the Bodmer papyri · accessed 2026-08-06The holding collection's own digital project.
  2. Brent Nongbri, God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts (Yale University Press, 2018) · accessed 2026-08-06The case for a later date. Cite-only.
  3. Metzger & Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 4th ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005) · accessed 2026-08-06The standard handbook of New Testament textual criticism.

What it is

John 1–14 survives largely whole, with fragments of chapters 15–21.

What makes this copy unusual is not the text but the traffic on it: the scribe went back over his own work and corrected it hundreds of times, sometimes against a second copy. You are looking at proofreading from the third century.

Its date is one of the genuinely open questions in the field. The first editor, Victor Martin, put it around AD 200. Orsini and Clarysse read the hand as 200–250; Orsini later moved to roughly 250–325; Nongbri argues an early fourth-century date is at least as likely. The range below covers the argument instead of picking a winner.

Manuscript details
Date
c. AD 200–350 — genuinely contested. Martin: c. 200. Orsini & Clarysse (2012): 200–250. Orsini (2015): c. 250–325. Nongbri (2014): early fourth century.
Language
Greek
Script
Greek book hand (uncial)
Material
Papyrus
Held at
Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cologny (Geneva)
Found at
Egypt; part of the Bodmer papyri acquired in the 1950s
Contains
John
Why it matters
An early, nearly complete Gospel — and a rare look at how copying actually worked. The corrections show a scribe who cared whether he had got it right, which is the human fact underneath every argument about transmission.

Where this witness is read

The words used here: uncial
uncial
a book hand of Greek capital letters, used for the oldest whole Bibles.

The KJV and the ASV translate the Hebrew Masoretic Text. Where Papyrus Bodmer II (P66) reads differently, the footnote in your Bible is pointing here.

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