| Name: |
Coptic magical and alchemic archive |
| Variants: |
|
| Place: |
00 - Arsinoites (Fayum) |
| Century: |
AD07 AD08 |
| Begin: |
AD 300 |
| End: |
AD 1099 |
| Language/script: |
Coptic (Sahidic) |
| Material: |
papyrus |
| Texts: |
21 |
| ↳ certain: |
21 |
| ↳ uncertain: |
0 |
| ↳ erroneous: |
|
| Type: |
library? of a mantic specialist |
| Protagonist: |
maybe an anonymous mantic specialist (priest or freelance magician) |
| Description: |
Erman suspects these texts originate from a collection of a magician in the Arsinoites who owned all these spells and amulets and beyond this offered his services to petitioners. As religious influences, one can name christian, gnostic, Jewish and Egyptian traditions. The convolute was bought by the German scientist Dr. Reinhardt in 1895 for the Koenigliches Museum in Berlin Collection from a local antiquities dealer in the Fayum who ensured him that the numerous pieces had been found together. This coincidence seems to be confirmed by the similar content of the texts and the Sahidic dialect of the Coptic language. The date in the 7th-8th century AD is based on palaeographical considerations. Magical and religious texts usually offer few indications for a date. Two slips of papyrus were cut from former Arabic documentary texts. |
| Studies: |
Erman, Ein koptischer Zauberer, ZÄS 33 (1895), p. 43-46 (with general information); Erman, Heidnisches bei den Kopten, ZÄS 33 (1895), 47-51 (concerning some aspects of the Egyptian divinities and partial translations) |
| Lists: |
|
| Work: |
A complete reedition of some texts by Siegfried Richter and Georg Wurst is in progress. |
| Collections: |
Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum |
| Note: |
|
