| Archive name: | Hawara Magical Dossier |
Trismegistos Archive ID: 
Page on the database Trismegistos Collections for the archive. |
|
| Date:
Dates are CE unless preceded by a minus sign <->, in which case they are BCE. |
101 – 300 |
| Provenance: | Haueris (Hawara), Egypt (?) |
| Trismegistos Place ID:
Page on the database Trismegistos Places for the place of provenance. |
|
| Manuscripts: | KYP M483 484 795 |
| Classification: | These manuscripts comprise a “dossier”, meaning that their relationship has been reconstructed by modern scholars based on shared features of content or form. |
| Description: | Three applied love spells in Greek on papyrus. |
| Acquisition: | PGM XXXII (M483) and XXXIIa (M484) seem to have both been found in the surface soil of the cemetery of Hawara, the latter tied in a bundle with a clay figurine, and both represent examples of same-sex love spells, one male the other female. The exact provenance of PGM LXVIII (M795) is unknown, but based on the parallels of format and hand it may come from the same site. |
| Dating: | PGM XXXII (M483) has been dated palaeographically to the first or second century; PGM XXXIIa (M484) and PGM LXVIII (M795) are dated palaeographically to the second or third century. |
| Language/dialect: | All three manuscripts are written in Greek. |
| Materiality/composition: | All three manuscripts are written upon small papyrus sheets less than 20 cm in each direction. |
| Content: | All three manuscripts contain applied love spells, PGM LXVIII (M795) for a woman against a man, PGM XXXII (M483) for a woman against a woman, and PGM XXXIIa (M484) for a man against a man. The texts of PGM LXVIII and PGM XXXIIa are close parallels. |
| Discussion: | Although hypothetical, a relationship between the three papyri seems plausible based on the overlap in hands, content, and findspot (KD 16/12/2020). |
| Bibliography: |
Guéraud, Octave. “Deux textes magiques du Musée du Caire.” Mélanges Maspero 2. Orient grec, romain et byzantin MIFAO 67 (1935-1937): 202-203. |
| Edit History: | KD (29/9/2020); EL (29/9/2020) |