In this series, we will take a look at the biblical story of the bleeding woman from Capernaum, the Haemorrhoissa, and its reception in the magical context. In this first post of the series, we will discuss the biblical narrative of her healing and its reception in selected Coptic sources. The story of the bleeding woman appears in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 9:20‑22; Mark 5:25‑34; Luke 8:43‑48) and recounts the pain and healing of a woman who had been suffering from uterine bleeding until she was cured by touching Jesus’ garment. The Latin term Haemorrhoissa, used to designate this woman in later literature, comes from the Greek γυνὴ αἱμορροοῦσα, “a…
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Angels in Coptic Magic II: The Twenty-Four Presbyters
For the second post in this series, we look into one of the most prominent groups of angels in Coptic magical texts, namely the Twenty-Four Presbyters. Their name, from the Greek presbuteros, means “priest”. In the Christian Egyptian and affiliated traditions (such as the Ethiopian and Nubian Churches), they were understood as the angelic priests who carry out the divine liturgy in the Church of the Firstborn in heaven. In the Bible, they first appear in the vision of heaven from Revelation 4.4–11: Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four presbyters. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads … [they]…
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Animals in Coptic Magic V: Helping and Harming Domestic Animals
As we have seen in this series, animals played an important role in the imaginations of Egyptian Christians, but they had an equally, if not more important, material role. In an age before steampower or electricity, animals served as a major “power source”: horses, donkeys, camels, and cattle would transport goods and human riders across hundreds or thousands of kilometres, serve as mounts or logistical support in war, compete in races, or turn wheels to irrigate fields or mill grain. Other animals would serve other roles – sheep providing wool, cows and goats producing milk used to make cheese, chickens laying eggs which could be eaten, and all of these…
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Three Healing Prescriptions from a Now-Lost Codex III: Prayer for Healing Deafness
In the previous posts in this series, we discussed a parchment sheet from a now-lost codex kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), BnF Copte 129 (20) fol. 178, dated to around the 10th century, which contains several healing prescriptions, including the already-discussed fumigation prescription for a quick childbirth. In this post, we will take a closer look at a prayer for healing deafness, which mentions Malchus, the servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas, and appears on page 23 of the codex. BnF Copte 129.20 fol. 178 (135), verso ll. 1–7: ⲕ̅ⲅ̅ ⲙ̣ⲁ̣ⲁϫⲉ̣ ⲙ̇ⲙⲁⲗⲭⲟⲥ ⲧⲉⲛⲟⲩ ⲇⲉ ⲡ̣ϫ̣ⲟⲉ̅ⲥ ⲓ̅ⲥ̅ ⲡⲉⲭ̅ⲥ̅ ⲉⲕⲉⲥⲟⲟⲩⲧ̣ⲛ̇ ⲛ̇ⲧⲉ̣ⲕϭⲓ̇ϫ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲛⲟⲩ̣ⲛⲁⲙ̣ ⲛⲉⲕϫⲱϩ · ⲉⲡⲉⲓ̇ⲁⲗ ϭⲣⲁϩ ·…
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Angels in Coptic Magic I: Introduction
For this year’s first blog post, we start a new series looking at angels in Coptic Magic. As an introduction, this first post provides a brief discussion of the concept of angels and their importance in various ritual and literary traditions, as well as an overview of the main groups of angels found in Coptic magical texts. The following posts in this series will focus on specific groups of angels and individual angels, discussing their roles, names, and descriptions. In the world of Late Antique and early Medieval Egypt, which was predominantly Christian from the fourth to the ninth centuries, angels can be defined as incorporeal beings made of fire…
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2025 Review: The First Year of the Coptic Magical Formularies Project
The Coptic Magical Formularies project finished its first full year in 2025, with some big changes. Former principal investigator Korshi Dosoo started a new position at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France, but he will continue to work with the Coptic Magical Formularies project as an external collaborator. Markéta Preininger will stay on as principal investigator, and the team has grown bigger, as Sophie-Charlotte Gissat has joined as a research assistant. Roxanne Bélanger Sarrazin, currently a fellow on our partner project MagEIA has also joined as a collaborator, and will continue to work as a full member of the team after her fellowship. With all of…
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Three Healing Prescriptions from a Now-Lost Codex II: A Fumigation Prescription and Prayer for Childbirth
In the previous post in this series, we discussed a parchment sheet from a now-lost codex kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), BnF Copte 129 (20) fol. 178, dated to around the 10th century, which contains several healing prescriptions. In this blog post, we will have a closer look at the first one, a fumigation prescription, which is followed by a prayer for quick childbirth: BnF Copte 129 (20) fol. 178 (134), recto ll. 1–12: ⲟⲩⲥϩⲓⲙⲉ ⲉⲥϩⲟⲥⲉ ⲙⲉⲥⲉ ⲕⲁⲡⲛⲓⲍⲉ ⲙⲙⲟⲥ ⲉⲥⲛⲁⲙⲓⲥⲉ ⲧⲁⲭⲏ ⲧⲁⲩⲉ̇ ⲡⲉⲓϣⲗⲏⲗ ⲉϫⲉ̣ⲛ ⲟⲩⲁⲡⲟⲧⲛⲏⲣ̇ⲡ ⲧⲥⲟⲟⲥ ϩⲓⲱϥ ⲥⲛⲁⲙⲓ/ⲥⲉ | ϩⲙ ⲡⲣⲁⲛ ⲛ̇ⲓ̣̅[ⲥ̅ · ⲛ]ⲡ̣ⲉ̣ⲥⲙⲁϩ ⲛⲉⲗⲟⲟⲗⲉ · ⲛⲧ̣ⲁ̣ϥ̣ⲱ̣ⲃ ⲙ̇ⲙⲟϥ ⲉ̣ϫⲙ̇ ⲡϣⲉ · ⲉ̅ⲧ̣̅[ⲟ̅ⲩ̅]ⲁ̣̅ⲁ̅ⲃ̅ [ⲛ̣?]ⲡ̣ⲉⲥ⳨ⲟⲥ ⲉⲕⲉⲃⲟⲏ̅ⲑ̣[ca. 2] [ⲉ]ⲧⲉ̣ⲕϩⲙ̇ϩⲁⲗ ϫⲉ…
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Animals in Coptic Magic IV: Animal Behaviour in Magic of Love and Hate
In the last post in this series, we discussed stories in which transforming a woman or man into an animal served as a way to enslave them, so that they could be made to carry out forced labour or even driven into sexual subjection. These seem to be literary fantasies – we have not come across any magical texts from Egypt or elsewhere which really aim to transform a human into an animal. But, as David Frankfurter has pointed out, we do find texts in Coptic in which animal-like behaviour is wished on the targets of love spells: …I want to make NN, the daughter of NN, spend forty nights…
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Three Healing Prescriptions from a Now-Lost Codex I: Introduction to the Manuscript
In this series of blog posts, we will look at a parchment sheet kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), BnF Copte 129 (20) fol. 178. On April 3rd, 1894, a modern codex was bound in France, comprising various miscellaneous, but mainly liturgical and biblical, texts. The Coptologist Émile Amélineau had acquired the manuscripts and catalogued them for the BnF a few years earlier. In the modern codex, the preceding and the following sheets are written in a different hand, and no other sheets in the codex resemble this one. Because its recto is numbered as page 22 and its verso as 23, we can assume that it originally…
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Kyprianos Update (31 March 2025)
We’re pleased to announce that we have just updated the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, the first of many to come in the framework of the new Coptic Magical Formularies project. As well as the usual corrections and updates, the contents of this update include: For anyone who would like to access the raw data, remember that the Manuscripts and Texts tables may be downloaded from the Database Help page (“About the Kyprianos Database”) in the form of CSV files.