Papyrus P103: Matthew 13:55–56 and 14:3–5
Papyrus P103, P.Oxy. LXIV 4403, is a late-second- or early-third-century Greek codex corner preserving questions about Jesus' family and Matthew's account of Herod's imprisonment of John the Baptist.
- Artifact date
- 2nd–3rd century
- Findspot
- Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
- Current location
- Papyrology Rooms, Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library, Oxford, United Kingdom
What archaeologists can actually examine
P103 is the upper corner of a papyrus codex leaf, approximately 5.8 by 4 centimeters, preserving Matthew 13:55–56 on one face and 14:3–5 on the other. More than a centimeter of top margin and over 1.5 centimeters of side margin survive. Reconstruction suggests nineteen or twenty lines per page and an original leaf near 11 by 16 centimeters. Punctuation points and a supralinear correction, probably by a second hand, are visible. Most notably, it is an early Greek witness to the brother's name Joses rather than Joseph in Matthew 13:55. This variant is significant but does not alter the passage's main claim that Jesus' neighbors knew his family.
Early Joses reading
P103 gives early Greek support to Joses rather than Joseph as the brother named in Matthew 13:55.
Correction above the line
A likely second hand supplied an omitted word, demonstrating review while leaving the corrector's identity unknown.
Possible P77 relationship
Size, date, style, and content resemble P77, but distinctive features keep the proposed same-codex identification uncertain.
Margins anchor reconstruction
Preserved top and side margins orient the fragment and support a compact nineteen- or twenty-line page reconstruction.
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
Recovered through the Egypt Exploration Society's Oxyrhynchus excavations, the fragment was published in 1997 as P.Oxy. LXIV 4403 by R. A. Coles and J. David Thomas. It was assigned Gregory-Aland number P103 and is now held in Oxford's papyrology rooms, with controlled identities in the INTF and CSNTM catalogs. Its physical resemblance to P77, another early Matthew manuscript from Oxyrhynchus, prompted a proposal that both came from the same codex. The original editors nevertheless judged distinctive features sufficient to keep that connection uncertain. P103 must therefore retain its own manuscript identity unless a future material or palaeographic study demonstrates a join more convincingly.
What you are looking at
The surviving fragment is a small top corner, about 5.8 centimeters high by 4 centimeters wide. Its preserved margins allow a more secure orientation than many scraps. The reconstructed codex page was approximately 11 by 16 centimeters, with nineteen or twenty lines and about twenty-five to twenty-seven letters per full line. The hand is an elegant literary script with hooks and occasional serifs. Four punctuation points survive, only one matching a modern verse division, and a word omitted during copying was probably supplied above the line by a correcting hand. Damage and brevity still mean that the apparent sequence relies on reconstruction, especially where only parts of names or clauses remain.
Where it belongs in history
Editors and catalogs generally date P103 to the late second or early third century on palaeographic grounds. There is no dated colophon or scientific measurement, and the proposed association with P77 cannot narrow that range securely. Its compact codex format belongs among early Christian Gospel books from Egypt, while punctuation and correction show attention to readability and revision. Those features do not identify a professional scriptorium or liturgical use. Oxyrhynchus is the findspot, not necessarily the production center. P103 contributes to evidence for early Matthew circulation, but preservation bias and the city's extraordinary papyrus deposits prevent a simple calculation of how widely or frequently the Gospel was used from this fragment alone.
Consensus, questions, and debate
Three issues merit careful presentation. First, the Joses reading in Matthew 13:55 is an early Greek attestation and matters for critical reconstruction, but 'earliest surviving' does not automatically mean original. Second, the likely supralinear correction demonstrates scribal review, though the identity and timing of the correcting hand remain uncertain. Third, P103 resembles P77 in page size, date, script, and content; some scholars have suggested the same codex, while the editors noted distinctions and did not regard identity as certain. These debates exemplify how manuscript relationships are argued from cumulative details. Neither a shared findspot nor a generally similar hand alone is enough to merge catalog records.
The biblical record beside the artifact
Matthew 13:55–56 records the hometown crowd identifying Jesus through his carpenter father, mother Mary, brothers, and sisters, then asking where his wisdom came from. Matthew 14:3–5 explains that Herod had bound and imprisoned John because John condemned Herod's marriage to Herodias; Herod wished to kill him but feared the crowd's regard for John as a prophet. P103 preserves pieces of both passages on opposite faces. Its reading Joses in 13:55 is directly relevant to the named family list. The artifact transmits ancient Greek wording, but it cannot independently resolve historical questions about Jesus' siblings, Herodian chronology, or the exact circumstances of John's imprisonment.
Matthew 13:55–56
55Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
56And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this [man] all these things?
A responsible historical conclusion
P103 puts a human-scale Gospel scene and a politically dangerous prophetic confrontation on one small leaf. It preserves a specific family-name variant, visible reading aids, and evidence of correction, giving the fragment value beyond its age. It also offers an excellent example of responsible codicological debate: the possible relationship with P77 is plausible enough to study but not secure enough to state as fact. Together these features show how early Gospel research proceeds—from fibers, margins, letter forms, and tiny readings to carefully bounded historical conclusions. The artifact matters as an early checkpoint in Matthew's transmission, not as proof that every reconstructed letter or proposed manuscript relationship is certain.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
P.Oxy. LXIV 4403: Matthew XIII 55–56, XIV 3–5
University of Oxford Sustainable Digital ScholarshipProvides exact object identity, passages, publication context, provenance, and Oxford documentation.
Manuscript P103
Center for the Study of New Testament ManuscriptsConfirms date range, material, shelfmark, single-column format, line estimate, and surviving text.
INTF manuscript workspace P103
Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung, University of MünsterProvides the controlled Gregory-Aland manuscript identity used in critical-edition work.
Some Recently Published New Testament Papyri from Oxyrhynchus
Tyndale BulletinAnalyzes the page, date, correction, Joses variant, punctuation, and debated relationship between P103 and P77.