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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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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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…