If you have had an NT Introduction class, you have probably heard of p52, the oldest known fragment of the NT.
But do you know what is the oldest known fragment of the LXX? Check out Greek Papyrus 458 of the John Rylands Library. It’s from the 2nd century BCE and contains portions of Deuteronomy 23-28.
Being able to view high resolution digital images of things like this is one of the absolute coolest things about the internet.
Brian W. Davidson 
7 responses to “Oldest Known Fragments of the LXX”
Access denied 😦
Sorry about that, Chris. The link seems to work sometimes, other times it doesn’t. I just clicked it, though, and it worked for me.
I am so glad this blog exists that can show me cool things like this! Please keep it up! 🙂
Speaking of LXX, can you happen to point out any resources that document versification schemes for LXX? I’m trying to digitize LXXE (Brenton’s translation) and eventually LXX for Crosswire’s sword project, but documentation on LXX versification appear woefully missing.
Andrew, the first place I would check would be Swete’s Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek. His discussion of mundane matters like this is so detailed that modern introductions usually just point to him. Futhermore, you might want to send an email to Rick Brannan at Logos Bible Software. I know he has been beating his head against his desk over versification while working on a digital LXX as well. He has tweeted a few times about this 🙂 Even if Swete doesn’t have exactly what you are looking for, you and Rick might be able to trade notes. He blogs here: http://www.supakoo.com/rick/ricoblog/ and tweets: here @rickbrannan
Thanks and very much appreciated.
[…] (and zoom in on) the oldest known pieces of the Septuagint. From Brian Davidson’s great LXX blog. Share this:Email Pin ItLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. August 19, 2012 by abramkj […]