| Archive name: | Russian-British Akhmimic Curse Group |
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. |
401 – 500 |
| Provenance: | Upper Egypt, Egypt (?) |
| Trismegistos Place ID:
Page on the database Trismegistos Places for the place of provenance. |
|
| Manuscripts: | KYP M60 531 665 |
| Classification: | These manuscripts may comprise a “dossier”, meaning they were likely 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 applied curses in a distinctive form of the Akhmimic dialect, written on papyrus. |
| Acquisition: | P. Hermitage Copt. 79 (M69) is from the collection of N. Likhachov (papyri.info 22/11/2018). P. Lond. Copt. 1224 was acquired from from Rev. Chauncey Murch (1856-1907), a resident of Luxor, in 1901 (EL from British Library Catalogue on 19/12/19). |
| Dating: | Based on the use of the Akhmimic dialect, and the hand, we propose a fifth century date for all of the manuscripts. The hand may be compared to Vienna K 10157 (PAThs Manuscript 1028; KD + EL 22/9/2021) |
| Language/dialect: | All of the curses are written in Akhmimic, but a form which lacks the barred hori (ⳉ). |
| Materiality/composition: | All three are written on sheets of papyrus, ca. 20-30 cm high and 14.20 cm wide. They are written exclusively on the recto, with the exception of P. Hermitage Copt. 70 (M60), which continues on the verso for two lines. |
| Content: | All three texts contain elaborate curses asking God and his subordinate powers for vengeance against several victims. P. Lond. Copt. 1224 (M531) and P. Hermitage Copt. 70 (M69) contain an almost identical curse on whoever opens and reads them. |
| Discussion: | Cf. the Aberdeen Scribal Group (A28), from a similar date and also in Akhmimic, and with a similar, though less formal hand, and IFAO Copte 451 (M468), an Akhmimic curse written in a similar hand. |
| Bibliography: |
Jernstedt, Peter V. Коптские тексты государственного Эрмитажа (P.Hermitage). Moskow-Leningrad: Izd-vo Akademii Nauk SSSR, 1959, p. 151-157, no. 70. |
| Edit History: | KD (6/10/2021) |