Rom 16:15 in P46

Almost all manuscripts of Rom 16:15 has Paul extending his greetings to Philologus and Julia (Ἰουλίαν), Nereus (Νηρέα) and his sister, etc. The early third-century papyrus P46, however, has Paul greeting Philologus and Bereus (Βηρέα) and Aoulia (Ἀουλίαν), etc. What is the origin of these apparently nonsensical names in P46?

James R. Royse, Scribal Habits (2008), 333-334, has proposed a very interesting answer. He posits that the exemplar of P46 reversed the order of Nereus and Julia in its text, but indicated that they should be transposed to the proper order by putting the Greek numerals β (2) and α (1) above the two names. "However, our scribe misinterpreted the letters as being intended to replace the letters of over which they were written, and thus created βηρεα αουλιαν" (334). The use of Greek numerals to indicate transposition is attested elsewhere, and, if Royse's proposal is adopted, it is evidence of a corrector in P46's exemplar.

Stephen C. Carlson