P.Oxy. VIII 1075/1079: Exodus Reused for Revelation
British Library Papyrus 2053 carries the close of Greek Exodus on one side and Revelation 1:4-7 in a different hand on the reverse, prompting debate over whether it was a reused roll or a mixed codex leaf.
- Artifact date
- Third to fourth century AD
- Findspot
- Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
- Current location
- British Library, Papyrus 2053
What archaeologists can actually examine
British Library Papyrus 2053 is one physical fragment published under two Oxyrhynchus numbers: P.Oxy. VIII 1075, Rahlfs 909, for the Greek Exodus side and P.Oxy. VIII 1079, Gregory-Aland P18, for Revelation. One face preserves Exodus 40:26-32 and a colophon; the other preserves Revelation 1:4-7. The scripts are different, with Exodus written along the fibers and Revelation across them. The fragment directly witnesses both biblical texts and later use of the same sheet. Whether it came from a reused roll or a codex leaf remains debated, so the title must not assume a settled reconstruction.
Two catalog numbers, one papyrus
P.Oxy. 1075 and 1079 designate the Exodus and Revelation faces of British Library Papyrus 2053.
Two hands and two orientations
Exodus runs with the papyrus fibers in a literary hand; Revelation runs across them in a separate semi-cursive hand.
Format remains contested
Scholars argue between a reused roll and a codex leaf using dimensions, orientation, wear, and comparative book culture.
An exceptionally early Revelation witness
The reverse preserves Revelation 1:4-7 in the third century, giving the fragment importance beyond its unusual reuse history.
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
The Egypt Exploration Fund recovered the papyrus at Oxyrhynchus, and Arthur Hunt published its two sides separately in 1911 because they contain different works and hands. The fragment entered the British Museum in a lot presented by the Fund in 1914 and is now British Library Papyrus 2053. Modern cataloging reunites the identifiers and provides full digital coverage. Its publication history helps explain lingering confusion: older lists may mention only P.Oxy. 1075 or P18, although both names refer to opposite sides of one object. The excavation establishes Oxyrhynchus provenance but does not reveal the owner or the circumstances in which the second text was added.
What you are looking at
The framed papyrus measures about 151 by 98 millimeters. One column survives on each side: twenty-three lines for Exodus and seventeen for Revelation. The Exodus hand is a sloping literary uncial often associated with the Severe Style and includes an abbreviation for kyrios; the Revelation hand is heavier, upright, and semi-cursive, with contracted sacred names. Fiber direction proves the two texts occupy opposite surfaces, while different scripts prove separate copying acts. The relative orientation, margins, damage, and amount of text have become central to reconstructing whether the sheet was cut from a roll or originally folded within a codex.
Where it belongs in history
The British Library dates the fragment to the third century AD, while individual scholarship has proposed wider second-to-fourth-century ranges based on paleography. It is among the earliest material witnesses to Revelation and an early copy of the Septuagintal close of Exodus. The texts were not necessarily selected as a theological pair: economical reuse of writing material may explain their conjunction. Yet the codex alternative would place two different biblical works and hands within an eclectic Christian book. Since handwriting and codicological reconstruction are probabilistic, the secure claim is physical coexistence and sequential inscription, not the exact original binding or social setting.
Consensus, questions, and debate
Hunt interpreted the artifact as a reused roll: Exodus occupied the front, then a later Christian writer used the blank back for Revelation. Brent Nongbri argued that dimensions, orientation, and comparison with eclectic codices make a codex leaf plausible. Scott Charlesworth reexamined fibers, wear, hand, and scribal practice and defended the reused-roll explanation, while later discussion has continued. The debate is productive because both models must account for the same physical clues. Agreement is stronger on two hands, two texts, one sheet, Oxyrhynchus provenance, and early date than on format, ownership, whether Revelation was private copying, or the precise sequence of cutting and reuse.
The biblical record beside the artifact
The Exodus side directly preserves instructions completed at the tabernacle and a closing subscription, while the reverse directly preserves Revelation 1:4-7, including greetings to the seven churches, doxology to Jesus Christ, and the announcement that he comes with clouds. The artifact is therefore connected to two precise passages on the same piece of papyrus. Its physical pairing can prompt reflection on early Christian reuse of Jewish Scripture, but it does not demonstrate that a scribe deliberately interpreted Revelation through Exodus. The hands and production stages are distinct, and a material association is not automatically a literary quotation or canonical sequence.
Exodus 40:26–32
26¶ And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the vail:
27And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as the LORD commanded Moses.
28¶ And he set up the hanging [at] the door of the tabernacle.
29And he put the altar of burnt offering [by] the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering; as the LORD commanded Moses.
30¶ And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water there, to wash [withal].
31And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat:
32When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Revelation 1:4–7
4John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
5And from Jesus Christ, [who is] the faithful witness, [and] the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him [be] glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
7Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
A responsible historical conclusion
Papyrus 2053 makes the economy and mobility of ancient books tangible. A sheet that had already carried the last page of Exodus acquired a second life as one of the earliest surviving witnesses to Revelation. Whether that happened in a recycled roll or within an unusual codex, the fragment shows that scriptural texts circulated on vulnerable, reusable material rather than as pristine modern volumes. It also exposes how scholarship works: fiber direction, column dimensions, handwriting, and wear can overturn a seemingly obvious story. Readers gain both two ancient biblical passages and a case study in responsible uncertainty about book form.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
Papyrus 2053: The Exodus-Revelation Papyrus
British Library Archives and Manuscripts CatalogueProvides exact identifiers, dimensions, fiber directions, hands, date, provenance, custodial history, digitization, and bibliography for both sides.
Rahlfs 909
Göttingen Academy Septuagint ProjectCatalogs the Exodus side's standard Septuagint identifier, contents, format, date, edition, and holding information.
Losing a Curious Christian Scroll but Gaining a Curious Christian Codex
Novum Testamentum / BrillSets out the case that dimensions, orientation, and comparative evidence permit reconstruction as a codex leaf rather than a reused roll.
A reused roll or a 'curious Christian codex'?
Buried HistoryReassesses codicology, paleography, scribal tendencies, and physical condition and argues for a Christian reuse of an Exodus roll.