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John's Gospel, Coptic

6th century papyrus, Egypt

Holy Gospel of John in Coptic

Papyrus made into notebook (codex)
BNF MSS: Coptic 164 II frs. 16th, (Coptic P¹⁶⁴)

The Coptic dialect used in this Gospel is the Sahidic, native to Upper-Egypt (the South), which becomes preponderant from 4th century, in the Nile valley. It is at the beginning of the 2nd century that the Christians adopt the notebook form with pages (codex), advantageous for the reading of sacred writings. Flexible, light and solid, the papyrus is the first support of the pharmacopoeia. This double page written in coptic comes from a big notebook of 50 pages made of 25 leaves of papyrus, at least 26 centimetres high by 17 wide, folded in two.

Taken from: Bibliotheque nationale de France, online free exhibit samples