| Archive name: | Schmidt Coptic 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. |
501 – 700 |
| Provenance: | Egypt |
| Trismegistos Place ID:
Page on the database Trismegistos Places for the place of provenance. |
|
| Manuscripts: | KYP M120 121 129 |
| Classification: | These manuscripts comprise a “dossier”, meaning they were (perhaps) produced by the same ancient copyist. Nothing is known about their findspot or acquisition that would allow us to confirm that they were deposited or found together. |
| Description: | Three Coptic formularies, two on parchment (Hs. Schmidt 2 (M121) and P. Mich. Inv. 4932f (M129)), the third on papyrus (Hs. Schmidt 1 (M120). |
| Acquisition: | Hs. Schmidt 1 (M120) & 2 (M121) were acquired by Carl Schmidt in Cairo. P. Mich, Inv. 4932f (M129) was acquired by Bell and Westermann from Maurice Nahman in 1926/1927 (Collection Website 12/11/2018). Given Maurice Nahman’s prominence in the papyrus trade, it is possible that Schmidt’s pieces were also acquired from him. |
| Dating: | The manuscripts can likely be dated to the sixth or seventh centuries on palaeographic grounds (Dosoo/Preininger 2023: 81). |
| Language/dialect: | All three manuscripts are written in a non-standard form of Sahidic. |
| Materiality/composition: | Hs. Schmidt 2 (M121) and P. Mich. Inv. 4932f (M129) are written on parchment, while Hs. Schmidt 1 (M120) is written on papyrus. All three were extensively folded. Hs. Schmidt 1 (M120) and P. Mich. Inv. 4932f (M129) are both approximately the same size (about 14 cm in either direction), while Hs. Schmidt 2 (M121) is narrower and taller (26 cm H x 10.5 cm W). |
| Content: | Hs. Schmidt 1 (M120) and 2 (M121) contain historiolae concerning Horus and Isis, either both for love spells, or else the first for causing sleep, while P. Mich. Inv. 4932f (M129) contains a love spell which mentions Isis. Since Egyptian deities are rarely mentioned in Coptic magical manuscripts, the fact that all three contain mention of Isis is significant. |
| Discussion: | |
| Bibliography: |
Dosoo, Korshi, and Markéta Preininger. Papyri Copticae Magicae. Coptic Magical Texts, Volume 1: Formularies (PCM I 1), Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete – Beihefte 48. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023, p. 80-81. |
| Edit History: | KD (29/9/2020); EL (29/9/2020) |