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 of its collection: ten folios of the Ezekiel Codex. The history of the P967 ‘codex, probably dated in the third century after Christ.
The sample consists of five showcases that follow a circular route, defined by the museum design. They will be exposed in rotary shifts for conservation reasons. The exhibition can be visited from this Thursday, May 8, and until November 1, 2025.
This papyrus arrived at the institution in 1984, when the Pastor Foundation of Classical Studies deposited it in the BNE for its conservation. The Ezekiel Codex, although it comes from the Alexandria Library, was discovered in the Mirpolis of Mir (Egypt) at the beginning of the 20th century.
The manuscript had 236 pages in total, which collect the biblical text of Ezequiel, Daniel (with Bel and Susana) and Esther, in their Greek translation, in a version very close to the old translation of the seventies. Of these 236 pages, approximately 200 in different institutions are preserved.
After going through several antiquities markets, the parchment is distributed in institutions around the world, such as the Chester Beatty Library (Dublin), Princeton University (USA. UU.), Montserrat (Spain) and Colonia (Germany). Thanks to international digitalization and collaboration, it is the first time that a complete replica of this fundamental document is exhibited.
“This codex not only has an incalculable textual value for its age and biblical content, but it is also testimony of a period of technological transition of the book, when the codices began to replace the papyrus rolls,” the president of the Pastor of Classical Studies, Antonio Alvar Ezquerra, explained at a press conference.
The ten folios that houses the BNE, from the Fund of the Pastor Foundation of Classical Studies, were donated by the Penelope Fotiades collector in the 60s and officially deposited in 1983.
“These pages belong to the final part of Ezekiel’s book and present a unique characteristic: the rearrangement of chapters, which indicates that they were copied at a time prior to the normalization of the biblical text,” said the Papyrology and Hellenist and Commissioner of the Exhibition, Raquel Martín Hernández.
The finding of the codex is, according to various hypotheses, in the necropolis of Mir, south of Cairo (Egypt), where it would have been deposited in a funeral vessel. Its excellent state of conservation suggests that it was protected from direct contact with the desert sand.
Fragmented and sold in antiquities markets last century
After its discovery, the codex began to be fragmented and sold in the antiquities market in the 30s and 50s of the twentieth century. This traffic has hindered its monitoring and reconstruction, but today it is possible to contemplate the set thanks to technology and institutional cooperation.
“The value of this exhibition is not only patrimonial, but symbolic. Thanks to the new technologies and an ethical vision of heritage, we can reconstruct a fragmented history and return to the world an essential work,” said the papyrologist, Hellenist and co -ptologist Sofía Torallas Tovar.
The exhibition proposes an immersive tour of the history of the codex, from its creation to its fragmentation, sale and reconstruction, making the visitor a witness of the trip of one of the oldest documents of the biblical tradition.