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corpus-paul - Format of Paul's Letters?

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  • From: kraft AT ccat.sas.upenn.edu (Robert Kraft)
  • To: corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Format of Paul's Letters?
  • Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 00:36:46 -0400 (EDT)


> Subject: 2 Cor 6:14-7:1 interpolated? (was: ....... in its context)
> From: "Ron Price" <ron.price AT virgin.net>
> Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 10:20:10 +0100
>
> There are distinct traces in the Corinthian correspondence of the
> papyrus pages on which Paul wrote. For Paul seems to have composed this
> material in sections each of which is close to a whole multiple of a
> fixed unit (measured in Greek letters). This probably corresponds to the
> writing side of a sheet of papyrus, i.e. what we would call a "page". In
> 2 Corinthians the page pattern is broken only by the passage 6:14-7:1,
> which does not fit. It is therefore clear to me that the passage does
> not belong to the letter in which it is now embedded.
> A presentation of all the evidence behind this 'Page Hypothesis' is
> way beyond the scope of an e-mail.

Very interesting suggestion, but how much does it depend on possibly
anachronistic assumptions about the letter format that Paul might be
expected to have used? Do the various available studies of ancient Greek
letters provide guidance in these matters? Do we actually have copies of
long letters written on such "pages" (precursors to the codex?), or does
the extant evidence suggest that the format would more likely be
rolls/scrolls of various sizes? Another alternative could be wax tablets,
although portability might be a problem.

Of course, even a letter in scroll format could have such
indications of physical breaks (between columns). I'm sure there are
studies of the various column formats (line lengths, lines per column)
that have survived -- mostly from Egypt, unfortunately. Could we expect
some sort of standard for these sorts of letters?

I'm sorry for being full of questions rather than solid information here,
but it does seem to me an avenue worth exploring further in the light of
the relative wealth of information available from the papyri, especially.
How much do we really know about the physical composition of relatively
literary letters in this period?

Bob Kraft, UPenn




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