GA 0171: Early Parchment Fragments of Matthew and Luke
Related Greek parchment fragments in Berlin and Florence preserving Matthew 10 and Luke 22. Directly witnesses mission teaching in Matthew and the Gethsemane/arrest narrative in Luke at an early date.
- Artifact date
- early 4th century AD
- Findspot
- Egypt; fragments entered collections in Berlin and Florence
- Current location
- Berlin Papyrus Collection and Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence
What archaeologists can actually examine
Related Greek parchment fragments in Berlin and Florence preserving Matthew 10 and Luke 22. The object or complex is catalogued under the names Uncial 0171, PSI I 2, PSI II 124. dispersed Greek parchment fragments preserving parts of Matthew 10 and Luke 22. Its evidentiary force is specific: Directly witnesses mission teaching in Matthew and the Gethsemane/arrest narrative in Luke at an early date. 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 0171, PSI I 2, PSI II 124 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 dispersed Greek parchment fragments preserving parts of Matthew 10 and Luke 22, so conclusions are limited to what that material directly preserves.
Its historical setting is explicit
The dossier places the evidence in early 4th century AD and separates that context from any earlier event or person remembered by it.
A calibrated biblical connection
Directly witnesses mission teaching in Matthew and the Gethsemane/arrest narrative in Luke at an early date.
Uncertainty remains visible
The surviving leaves are dispersed and fragmentary, and their relationship must be stated from manuscript scholarship rather than assumed from shared numbering alone. The leaves are fragmentary and dispersed, and their codicological relationship must rest on handwriting, format, and catalog scholarship rather than numbering alone.
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 0171: Early Parchment Fragments of Matthew and Luke entered modern study through the recovery, cataloguing, or excavation history reflected in its institutional records. The relevant place is Egypt; fragments entered collections in Berlin and Florence, while the evidence is now associated with Berlin Papyrus Collection and Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence. Modern catalog names—including Uncial 0171, PSI I 2, PSI II 124—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
dispersed Greek parchment fragments preserving parts of Matthew 10 and Luke 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 early 4th century AD. Names and catalog identifiers—Uncial 0171, PSI I 2, PSI II 124—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 0171: Early Parchment Fragments of Matthew and Luke belongs to early 4th century AD. The surviving portions join Jesus’ mission discourse with Gethsemane, arrest, Peter’s denial, and the mistreatment of Jesus. Their shared catalog identity reflects manuscript study across separated holdings. 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 leaves are fragmentary and dispersed, and their codicological relationship must rest on handwriting, format, and catalog scholarship rather than numbering alone. 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 surviving leaves are dispersed and fragmentary, and their relationship must be stated from manuscript scholarship rather than assumed from shared numbering alone. 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 mission teaching in Matthew and the Gethsemane/arrest narrative in Luke at an early date. The linked passages are Matthew 10:17-23; Matthew 10:25-32; Luke 22:44-56; Luke 22:61-63. 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 portions join Jesus’ mission discourse with Gethsemane, arrest, Peter’s denial, and the mistreatment of Jesus. Their shared catalog identity reflects manuscript study across separated holdings. 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.
Matthew 10:17–23
17But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
18And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
19But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
21And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against [their] parents, and cause them to be put to death.
22And ye shall be hated of all [men] for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
23But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
Luke 22:44–56
44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
45And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,
46And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
47¶ And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.
48But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
49When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?
50¶ And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.
51And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.
52Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?
53When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
54¶ Then took they him, and led [him], and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.
55And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.
56But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him.
A responsible historical conclusion
Directly witnesses mission teaching in Matthew and the Gethsemane/arrest narrative in Luke at an early date. 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 0171: Early Parchment Fragments of Matthew and Luke
Center for the Study of New Testament ManuscriptsThe collection or project record used to identify GA 0171: Early Parchment Fragments of Matthew and Luke, its catalog designation, physical form, present custody, and documented contents.
PSI Online: GA 0171: Early Parchment Fragments of Matthew and Luke
PSI OnlineA scholarly or institutional treatment used for the date, provenance, textual or archaeological context, and the principal interpretive cautions surrounding GA 0171: Early Parchment Fragments of Matthew and Luke.
Institute for New Testament Textual Research: GA 0171: Early Parchment Fragments of Matthew and Luke
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 0171: Early Parchment Fragments of Matthew and Luke.