GA 0162 (P.Oxy. VI 847): John 2 on Parchment
A single Oxyrhynchus parchment leaf preserving John 2:11-22, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Directly witnesses the Cana-sign conclusion, Jesus' temple action, and the early transmission of John's Gospel.
- Artifact date
- 3rd-4th century AD
- Findspot
- Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
- Current location
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 09.182.43
What archaeologists can actually examine
A single Oxyrhynchus parchment leaf preserving John 2:11-22, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The object or complex is catalogued under the names Uncial 0162, P.Oxy. 847, Met 09.182.43. a single parchment leaf with Greek text from John 2:11–22. Its evidentiary force is specific: Directly witnesses the Cana-sign conclusion, Jesus' temple action, and the early transmission of John's Gospel. The cited collection records and scholarly treatments agree on the identity of the evidence while allowing normal differences over date, reconstruction, and interpretation. This dossier therefore distinguishes the observable artifact, the historical reconstruction built from it, and the biblical comparison made on the site. It does not ask the object to prove claims beyond the text, image, context, or manuscript leaves that actually survive.
A specifically identified archaeological record
The evidence is tied to Uncial 0162, P.Oxy. 847, Met 09.182.43 and distinguished from similarly themed records by its own physical identity, custody, and scholarly catalog history.
The physical evidence defines the claim
The surviving evidence consists of a single parchment leaf with Greek text from John 2:11–22, so conclusions are limited to what that material directly preserves.
Its historical setting is explicit
The dossier places the evidence in 3rd-4th century AD and separates that context from any earlier event or person remembered by it.
A calibrated biblical connection
Directly witnesses the Cana-sign conclusion, Jesus' temple action, and the early transmission of John's Gospel.
Uncertainty remains visible
The leaf is small and its date is palaeographic; it does not prove that every Johannine reading was stable by this period. The leaf is small and its date rests primarily on handwriting comparison; individual variants cannot demonstrate the stability of the entire Gospel.
Follow the evidence from discovery to debate
Move through the find in a deliberate order: establish its provenance, examine the surviving object, place it in time, and then weigh the scholarly interpretation.
How the find came to light
GA 0162 (P.Oxy. VI 847): John 2 on Parchment entered modern study through the recovery, cataloguing, or excavation history reflected in its institutional records. The relevant place is Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, while the evidence is now associated with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 09.182.43. Modern catalog names—including Uncial 0162, P.Oxy. 847, Met 09.182.43—can obscure the fact that the dossier concerns one physical object, one dispersed manuscript, or one closely defined archaeological complex. Scholars established its identity by combining find information, material examination, script or inscriptional study, comparison with related evidence, and collection history. Because modern custody and ancient context are not the same thing, this record states both separately. Where the exact ancient findspot, chain of ownership, or original architectural position is uncertain, that uncertainty remains part of the record rather than being filled with a confident story.
What you are looking at
a single parchment leaf with Greek text from John 2:11–22. The description begins with what can be examined rather than with the conclusion a reader might want it to prove. Its date is conventionally expressed as 3rd-4th century AD. Names and catalog identifiers—Uncial 0162, P.Oxy. 847, Met 09.182.43—link publications and collection systems, but they do not create additional independent evidence. The surviving format, language, imagery, or inscription determines what questions the object can answer. In manuscript cases, a leaf or codex directly witnesses only the passages that survive; in monumental and burial cases, architecture, find context, lettering, and associated decoration must be read together. The physical evidence is therefore substantial but bounded. Damage, dispersal, reuse, loss, restoration, and later movement into a museum or archive all affect how confidently the ancient whole can be reconstructed.
Where it belongs in history
GA 0162 (P.Oxy. VI 847): John 2 on Parchment belongs to 3rd-4th century AD. The surviving text links the conclusion of the Cana sign with the temple episode and Jesus’ saying about raising the temple. It also illustrates the recovery and dispersal of Oxyrhynchus manuscripts into modern collections. Dates in this collection distinguish a securely dated inscription or archaeological horizon from a broader palaeographic or stylistic estimate. The stated range should not be narrowed merely for narrative neatness. Historical context helps explain why the evidence exists: manuscripts reflect copying and reading communities; royal monuments communicate political claims; synagogue art frames communal memory; and funerary inscriptions preserve identities and hopes in the setting of burial. Context also guards against anachronism. A later witness may preserve an earlier text or memory without becoming contemporary evidence for the original event. The dossier uses the artifact to illuminate the period to which it actually belongs and labels any connection to an earlier biblical person, text, or episode as transmission, reception, background, or direct attestation as appropriate.
Consensus, questions, and debate
The leaf is small and its date rests primarily on handwriting comparison; individual variants cannot demonstrate the stability of the entire Gospel. The main interpretive problem is not whether the evidence exists, but how far it can responsibly be carried. Cataloguers, excavators, epigraphers, palaeographers, textual critics, and historians may emphasize different features or propose different reconstructions. This record follows the most conservative claim shared by the cited evidence and then identifies the stronger proposals as interpretations. The leaf is small and its date is palaeographic; it does not prove that every Johannine reading was stable by this period. Disagreement is especially important where wording is damaged, fragments are dispersed, iconography is multivalent, or a later object is compared with an earlier biblical setting. The result is neither dismissal nor overstatement: the artifact retains its value while the reader can see which conclusions are direct, which are probable, and which remain contested.
The biblical record beside the artifact
Directly witnesses the Cana-sign conclusion, Jesus' temple action, and the early transmission of John's Gospel. The linked passages are John 2:11-22. These citations are selected because they name the text transmitted, provide the historical comparison, or preserve the biblical tradition later represented by the artifact. They do not imply that every object is contemporary with the passage. The surviving text links the conclusion of the Cana sign with the temple episode and Jesus’ saying about raising the temple. It also illustrates the recovery and dispersal of Oxyrhynchus manuscripts into modern collections. Readers should therefore use the connection at the correct level: direct textual witness for surviving manuscript verses; political or geographic background for royal monuments; and reception history for later inscriptions, mosaics, or burials. That calibrated connection makes the artifact genuinely useful without turning resemblance, shared vocabulary, or later commemoration into proof of an event the evidence does not independently document.
John 2:11–22
11This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
12¶ After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.
13¶ And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
14And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
17And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
18¶ Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
21But he spake of the temple of his body.
22When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
A responsible historical conclusion
Directly witnesses the Cana-sign conclusion, Jesus' temple action, and the early transmission of John's Gospel. The evidence matters because it gives material form to a world otherwise encountered mainly through transmitted texts. It lets readers ask precise questions about writing materials, language, political geography, communal worship, burial, memory, and the movement of biblical traditions. The object’s value does not depend on claiming that archaeology can prove theology. Instead, it shows where surviving evidence intersects with named places, passages, people, textual transmission, or later reception. The distinction is particularly important in an extensive database: this dossier contributes a defined object and claim rather than repeating a broader record already present. Its relevance is strongest when read alongside its explicit limitations and the primary sources linked below.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts: GA 0162 (P.Oxy. VI 847): John 2 on Parchment
Center for the Study of New Testament ManuscriptsThe collection or project record used to identify GA 0162 (P.Oxy. VI 847): John 2 on Parchment, its catalog designation, physical form, present custody, and documented contents.
MF Norwegian School of Theology manuscript catalog: GA 0162 (P.Oxy. VI 847): John 2 on Parchment
MF Norwegian School of Theology manuscript catalogA scholarly or institutional treatment used for the date, provenance, textual or archaeological context, and the principal interpretive cautions surrounding GA 0162 (P.Oxy. VI 847): John 2 on Parchment.
Institute for New Testament Textual Research: GA 0162 (P.Oxy. VI 847): John 2 on Parchment
Institute for New Testament Textual ResearchA separate catalog, edition, or research publication used to check the surviving evidence, historical setting, and limits assigned to GA 0162 (P.Oxy. VI 847): John 2 on Parchment.