Papyrus 115

Manuscript · 3rd–4th century AD · Bible manuscripts · also called P115, P. Oxy. 4499

Date: 3rd–4th century AD (the handwriting (estimates run from about AD 225 to 375))
Found: Oxyrhynchus (el-Bahnasa), Egypt. Dug up at Oxyrhynchus in the excavations of Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt, which began in the winter of 1896–97, and published by the Egypt Exploration Society in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, volume 66 (1999).
Now: Egypt Exploration Society collection, Papyrology Rooms, Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library (formerly the Sackler Library), University of Oxford, Oxford (P. Oxy. 4499)
Passages: Revelation 13:18

What it is

26 fragments from nine leaves of a papyrus codex of the Book of Revelation in Greek, with scattered text from chapter 2 onwards. It often writes numbers as Greek letter-numerals rather than in words.

How it connects to the Bible

At Revelation 13:18 it gives “the number of the beast” as 616 rather than 666, the reading also found in Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus. Irenaeus already knew of this variant in the 2nd century and argued against it.

What scholars debate

The papyrus is damaged at this point; it is usually read as 616, but some transcriptions mark the reading as uncertain.

Sources

Checked 2026-10-21. All archaeological finds