• The Kyprianos Database

    Kyprianos Update (1 December 2020)

    Our latest update to the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects has just gone live. As well as correcting some minor errors in manuscript and text entries, we have added: A whole new Archives table. This table provides information on collections of manuscripts. At present, the online version of Kyprianos contains 10 entries, and we will continue to add more with future updates Among the first archive entries to be put online are the famous Theban Magical Libary (A1), the important archive of texts found in area A House 3 in Kellis (A6), and the Berlin Library (A14), containing over twenty Coptic magical manuscripts with everything from lists of saints…

  • News,  The Kyprianos Database

    Kyprianos Update (30 October 2020)

    Our first update to the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects has just gone live. As well as correcting some minor errors in manuscript and text entries, we have added: 47 new manuscript entries, bringing the total number to 724. The database now includes entries for all of the manuscripts of the PGM (Papyri Graecae Magicae), the Greek Magical Papyri. 6 new texts, bringing the total to 17. Among the most interesting new additions are: Nahman Bone A (T576), a curse calling upon the Powers of Death written on the bone of a camel or cow. For more on the group of manuscripts to which this belongs, you…

  • News

    Kyprianos Digital Database Presentation: 5 November 2020

    Now that the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects has been online for nearly a month, the team would like to hold a short online session via Zoom in order to help demonstrate how it works, and discuss our plans for its development. The session is open to the general public, and held on Thursday 5 November at 4pm Würzburg time (GMT + 1) – this is equivalent to 8am Los Angeles time, 11am New York time, 3pm London time, 5pm Cairo time, 12 midnight Tokyo time, and 2am Sydney time. The session will be held digitally via Zoom. If you’d like to attend, please register here. The…

  • News,  The Kyprianos Database

    2020 Review: The Kyprianos Database Launch and the Second Year of the Coptic Magical Papyri Project

    The Launch of the Kyprianos Database In September, we hit the second year mark, so it’s time to talk about all the things we’ve been up to in the last twelve months. But before we get to that, we should share our big news – the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects is now online! In this first stage, we’re sharing our data on 677 manuscripts and 11 texts, but there will be regular updates to increase the number of published manuscripts and texts, and begin to add information for archives, as well as copies of drawings from the magical texts. At the moment, the database includes manuscript…

  • News

    2019 Review: One Year of the Coptic Magical Papyri Project

    It’s hard to believe it, but a whole year has now passed since the three members of our project first sat around a table in Würzburg and began to talk about our new project on Coptic magic. In this post, we’ll discuss some of our achievements so far, and what we have coming up in the next year. The Kyprianos Database Our biggest achievement so far is the Kyprianos database, which we’re already using as a work tool in our study of ancient magic.  The core of the database consists of the Coptic magical manuscripts. We began with two pre-existing lists of texts, one created by Franziska Naether for Trismegistos…