Papyrus P111: Luke 17:11–13 and 17:22–23
Papyrus P111, published as P.Oxy. LXVI 4495, is a third-century Greek papyrus codex fragment from Oxyrhynchus preserving parts of Luke 17:11–13 and 17:22–23, including the ten lepers' approach and Jesus' warning about longing to see the Son of Man's days.
- Artifact date
- 3rd century
- Findspot
- Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
- Current location
- Papyrology Rooms, Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library, Oxford, United Kingdom
What archaeologists can actually examine
P111 consists of one very damaged fragment from a Greek papyrus codex of Luke. Text on one face belongs to Luke 17:11–13, where Jesus travels toward Jerusalem and ten lepers stand at a distance; the reverse preserves Luke 17:22–23, where Jesus warns the disciples that they will long to see one of the Son of Man's days and must not chase reports that he is here or there. Reconstruction suggests roughly twenty-one or twenty-two lines per page, but neither original leaf dimension is securely recoverable. The fragment's value lies in its early, material witness to two separated portions of Luke 17, not in completeness.
Two separated Lukan units
The two faces preserve Luke 17:11–13 and 17:22–23; the missing intervening verses belonged to lost portions of the codex.
Early codex witness
Writing on both faces and a reconstructed twenty-one to twenty-two lines per page identify an early Greek codex of Luke.
Locally useful variants
Surviving spellings and the construction at Luke 17:22 contribute evidence to the critical apparatus without defining the lost codex's entire textual profile.
Date remains comparative
Third century, sometimes narrowed to its first half, is a palaeographic estimate rather than an internally dated fact.
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
Grenfell and Hunt's Oxyrhynchus excavations recovered the fragment among the enormous papyrus deposits of the ancient Egyptian city. W. E. H. Cockle edited it in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri volume LXVI in 1999, where it received the publication number 4495; it was subsequently registered as Gregory-Aland P111. Oxford's object record now identifies its excavation inventory as A 3.B4/6B.39 and locates it in the Papyrology Rooms of the Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library. The findspot is therefore well controlled at the city level. It does not identify the ancient owner, copying workshop, church, or precise circumstances in which the codex was discarded.
What you are looking at
The surviving piece carries Greek text on both sides, establishing that it came from a codex leaf rather than a single-sided roll fragment. CSNTM describes one fragment, one column, and approximately twenty-one to twenty-two lines per full page. The hand is commonly characterized as semi-documentary or documentary-influenced, and the surviving abbreviation for Jesus belongs to the established Christian nomen-sacrum convention. Both faces are lacunose; editors identify the passage through the remaining letters, their order, and the expected sequence of Luke. Consequently, a printed transcription contains restorations that should not be mistaken for visible ink. Original page width, height, quire position, and the total contents of the parent codex remain unknown.
Where it belongs in history
Oxford and INTF assign P111 to the third century, while some palaeographers have preferred the first half of that century. This is a comparative handwriting date rather than a date written by the scribe, a radiocarbon result, or a sealed archaeological horizon. The safest description is third century, with a possible early-third-century center. That makes P111 an early witness to Luke in Roman Egypt and evidence for Christian use of the codex. It does not show that the book was copied at Oxyrhynchus, that Luke was uniquely prominent there, or that the recovered fragment belonged to a complete four-Gospel collection rather than a Luke codex or another unknown book arrangement.
Consensus, questions, and debate
Published discussion notes both broad agreement with early Lukan witnesses and several locally interesting readings. At Luke 17:12 P111 supports a form of the verb for meeting and has the spelling πορωθεν, while at 17:22 it supports τοῦ ἐπιθυμῆσαι, a construction also represented in a smaller set of later witnesses. These readings matter in apparatus work, but the fragment is too short to justify a global text-type label or a claim of direct descent from P75 or Vaticanus. Orthographic variation may reflect pronunciation or ordinary copying rather than theology. Scholars also distinguish the publisher's suggested early-third-century placement from the broader institutional third-century date. No surviving colophon identifies the scribe or exemplar.
The biblical record beside the artifact
Luke 17:11–13 opens the ten-lepers episode: Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem, passes through the border region, enters a village, and is addressed from a distance by ten men seeking mercy. P111 preserves only this opening, not the healing, the Samaritan's return, or Jesus' interpretation in verses 14–19. Luke 17:22–23 begins a separate saying to the disciples about future longing for a day of the Son of Man and the danger of following excited location claims. The papyrus therefore connects precisely to two discontinuous units. It witnesses their third-century Greek transmission but does not independently verify the miracle, Jesus' exact words, or the Gospel's authorship.
Luke 17:11–13
11¶ And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
12And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
13And they lifted up [their] voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
A responsible historical conclusion
P111 brings together two themes characteristic of Luke: marginal sufferers appealing for mercy and disciples warned against misplaced eschatological excitement. Materially, it demonstrates that these words circulated in a compact Greek codex in Egypt centuries before the great complete parchment Bibles. Textually, it supplies early comparison points at places where wording and spelling vary. Methodologically, it shows why fragments must be described with discipline: the biblical sequence allows confident identification, yet most of the original page and book is gone. Its importance is cumulative rather than spectacular. P111 strengthens the documentary map of Luke's early transmission without turning a few partial lines into proof of an unchanged complete Gospel or an eyewitness artifact.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
P.Oxy. LXVI 4495: Luke XVII 11–13; 22–23
Oxford Papyrology, University of OxfordConfirms exact identity, excavation inventory, Oxyrhynchus provenance, date, codex format, editor, present location, and image-rights restriction.
Manuscript P111
Center for the Study of New Testament ManuscriptsProvides the Gregory-Aland identity, material, format, approximate page-line count, contents, location, and digital documentation.
Some Recently Published New Testament Papyri from Oxyrhynchus: An Overview and Preliminary Assessment
Tyndale BulletinDiscusses P111's palaeographic placement, codex reconstruction, notable readings, and comparison with other early Lukan witnesses.
INTF Manuscript Workspace P111
Institut für Neutestamentliche TextforschungControls the standard manuscript identity and links P111 to the official New Testament textual-research registry.