The manuscript had a total of 236 pages, of which approximately 200 are preserved in different institutions
The National Library of Spain (BNE) presents to the public for the first time a complete replica of one of the oldest and most valuable pieces in its collection: ten folios of the ‘Codex of Ezekiel. The history of codex P967’, probably dated to the 3rd century AD.
The exhibition consists of five display cases that follow a circular route, defined by the museographic design. They will be exhibited in rotating shifts for conservation reasons. The exhibition can be visited from this Thursday, May 8, until November 1, 2025.
This papyrus arrived at the institution in 1984, when the Fundación Pastor de Estudios Clásicos deposited it at the BNE for conservation. The Codex of Ezekiel, although from the library of Alexandria, was discovered in the necropolis of Mir (Egypt) in the early 20th century.
The manuscript had a total of 236 pages, which contain the biblical text of Ezekiel, Daniel (with Bel and Susanna), and Esther, in its translation into Greek, very close to the ancient translation of the Seventy. Of these 236 pages, approximately 200 are preserved in different institutions.
After passing through various antique markets, the parchment is distributed in institutions around the world, such as the Chester Beatty Library (Dublin), Princeton University (USA), Montserrat (Spain), and Cologne (Germany). Thanks to digitization and international collaboration, it is the first time that a complete replica of this fundamental document is exhibited.
«This codex not only has incalculable textual value due to its antiquity and biblical content but also testifies to a period of technological transition in the book, when codices began to replace papyrus scrolls,» explained Antonio Alvar Ezquerra, president of the Fundación Pastor de Estudios Clásicos, at a press conference.
The ten folios held by the BNE, from the Fundación Pastor de Estudios Clásicos collection, were donated by collector Penélope Fotiades in the 1960s and officially deposited in 1983.
«These pages belong to the final part of the book of Ezekiel and present a unique characteristic: the reordering of chapters, indicating that they were copied in a period prior to the standardization of the biblical text,» detailed Raquel Martín Hernández, also a papyrologist, Hellenist, and curator of the exhibition.
The discovery of the codex is located, according to various hypotheses, in the necropolis of Mir, south of Cairo (Egypt), where it would have been deposited in a funerary vessel. Its excellent state of preservation suggests that it was protected from direct contact with desert sand.
FRAGMENTED AND SOLD IN ANTIQUE MARKETS LAST CENTURY
After its discovery, the codex began to be fragmented and sold in the antique market in the 1930s and 1950s. This trafficking has made tracking and reconstruction difficult, but today it is possible to contemplate the whole thanks to technology and institutional cooperation.
«The value of this exhibition is not only heritage but also symbolic. Thanks to new technologies and an ethical vision of heritage, we can reconstruct a fragmented history and return an essential work to the world,» said Sofía Torallas Tovar, a papyrologist, Hellenist, and Coptologist.
The exhibition offers an immersive journey through the history of the codex, from its creation to its fragmentation, sale, and reconstruction, making the visitor a witness to the journey of one of the oldest documents in the biblical tradition.