Papyrus P112: Acts 26:31–32 and 27:6–7
Papyrus P112, P.Oxy. LXVI 4496, is a fifth-century Greek papyrus codex fragment from Oxyrhynchus preserving Acts 26:31–32 and 27:6–7, from the governors' verdict on Paul to the opening stages of his difficult voyage toward Rome.
- Artifact date
- 5th century
- Findspot
- Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
- Current location
- Papyrology Rooms, Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library, Oxford, United Kingdom
What archaeologists can actually examine
P112 is one fragment of a Greek papyrus codex containing Acts. One face preserves the close of Paul's hearing before Agrippa, Festus, and Bernice in Acts 26:31–32; the other preserves Acts 27:6–7, when the centurion finds an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and the voyage proceeds slowly toward Cnidus and Crete. The physical transition is consistent with a normal lost sequence of codex pages. The manuscript is especially notable for a probable eye-skip in 26:31–32 from one occurrence of 'this man' to the next, omitting intervening words in the surviving copy. It documents both the transmission of Acts and an ordinary mechanism of scribal error.
Judgment and voyage
The two faces preserve the end of Paul's hearing in Acts 26:31–32 and the Alexandrian-ship episode in Acts 27:6–7.
Probable eye-skip
Repeated wording around 'this man' likely prompted the scribe to omit part of Acts 26:32, illustrating an ordinary copying mechanism.
Fifth-century book hand
The formal Greek script and codex format place the witness within late-antique Christian literary production.
Too short for a text type
A few damaged lines can inform individual variants but cannot define the textual ancestry of the entire lost Acts codex.
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
P112 was recovered through the Oxyrhynchus excavations and edited by W. E. H. Cockle in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri LXVI in 1999 as number 4496. It later received Gregory-Aland number P112 and is held in Oxford's Papyrology Rooms. Oxford's digital catalog identifies the exact biblical ranges, papyrus material, codex form, fifth-century date, and Oxyrhynchus provenance. Those controls separate it from similarly numbered papyri and from other Acts fragments. The surviving public metadata does not name an ancient owner, church, or scriptorium. Recovery from Oxyrhynchus establishes where the fragment entered the archaeological record, not necessarily where its parent codex was produced or principally read.
What you are looking at
The remnant is written in Greek biblical majuscule or a comparable formal book hand, in a single column on each face. Letters are generally separated neither by word spaces nor modern punctuation, the normal scriptio-continua practice of many ancient literary books. A contracted form for 'man' is marked with an overline in the passage, an unusual scribal treatment that editors discuss alongside standard Christian abbreviations. Because the leaf is fragmentary, surviving line counts do not reveal the complete page without reconstruction. The two sides belong to sequential parts of Acts, but missing leaves carried the intervening text. Printed continuities therefore combine visible characters, restored text, and codicological inference rather than reproducing a complete ancient page.
Where it belongs in history
INTF, Oxford, and CSNTM place P112 in the fifth century on palaeographic grounds. There is no dated colophon, named scribe, archaeological coin association, or scientific measurement that yields a calendar year. The fifth-century assignment describes the closest handwriting context and should retain normal margins of uncertainty. At that time Acts circulated in Greek codices across the eastern Mediterranean, and an Egyptian find is unsurprising, but the fragment cannot identify the geographical origin of its exemplar. Its formal hand shows intentional literary copying; it does not disclose whether the larger codex contained only Acts, Luke–Acts, the Praxapostolos collection, or another arrangement. Its original reader and use are likewise unknown.
Consensus, questions, and debate
The most discussed feature occurs at Acts 26:31–32. The scribe appears to move from one occurrence of ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος to the next, omitting the clause introducing Agrippa's statement and the words about possible release. This is a classic homoeoteleuton or eye-skip explanation, though the damaged surface requires careful transcription. Another reading may omit τι in 26:31, a variant shared by a limited group of witnesses. These phenomena illustrate why an early manuscript is evidence, not an automatic standard: scribes could omit, spell idiosyncratically, and correct. P112 is too small for a confident overall textual-family classification, and the voyage lines offer only a narrow sample of Acts.
The biblical record beside the artifact
Acts 26:31–32 records the officials' private conclusion that Paul had done nothing deserving death or imprisonment and Agrippa's judgment that he might have been released had he not appealed to Caesar. Acts 27:6–7 shifts to the sea voyage: the centurion transfers the prisoners to an Alexandrian grain ship headed for Italy, and contrary winds force slow progress toward Cnidus and Crete. P112 thus materially links the judicial outcome of Paul's hearing with the narrative logistics that carry him toward Rome. The fragment attests these passages in a fifth-century Greek copy. It does not independently verify Agrippa's words, Paul's innocence, the ship's route, or Luke's participation in the voyage.
Acts 26:31–32
31And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.
32Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Cæsar.
A responsible historical conclusion
P112 preserves the hinge between legal deliberation and travel narrative at the end of Acts 26 and beginning of Acts 27. The shift from elite judgment to the practical details of ship transfer, wind, and coast gives a compact sample of Acts' narrative range. More importantly for textual history, the probable repeated-phrase eye-skip makes a familiar scribal process materially visible. Readers can see that textual criticism does not begin with assumptions of either perfect copying or rampant invention; it compares concrete witnesses and explains specific differences. P112 therefore matters as a fifth-century checkpoint for Acts and as an unusually teachable example of how a copyist's visual movement across similar wording could alter a passage.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
P.Oxy. LXVI 4496: Acts XXVI 31–32; XXVII 6–7
Oxford Papyrology, University of OxfordProvides the exact Oxford object identity, passages, provenance, material, format, editor, date, and present custody.
Manuscript P112
Center for the Study of New Testament ManuscriptsConfirms the Gregory-Aland registration, fifth-century date, codex format, physical extent, Oxford shelfmark, and contents.
Some Recently Published New Testament Papyri from Oxyrhynchus: An Overview and Preliminary Assessment
Tyndale BulletinEvaluates P112's hand, notable omission, surviving readings, and place among recently published Oxyrhynchus New Testament papyri.
INTF Manuscript Workspace P112
Institut für Neutestamentliche TextforschungControls P112's standard identity in the official New Testament manuscript registry.