Looking forward… The Coptic Magical Papyri project ended last year, but we are happy to announce that it will continue in a new form. The Coptic Magical Formularies project has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for three years, from 2024 to 2027, with the research to be carried out by Korshi Dosoo, former leader of the Coptic Magical Texts project, and Markéta Preininger, formerly doctoral and then postdoctoral researcher on the same project. This project will focus on the production of a second volume of the Papyri Copticae Magicae, the series whose first volume appeared last year. This new volume will contain dozens more magical texts written…
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Minor database update (8/3/2024)
We recently became aware of an error in the latest update which meant that the dates of manuscripts were not displaying properly. The latest update fixes this, and adds minor corrections made in the last month.
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Kyprianos Update (2 February 2024)
After a big year preparing the first volume of the Papyri Copticae Magicae (PCM), we’ve finally had time to post a new update to the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects. 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.
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Kyprianos Update (12 December 2022)
We’ve just posted our latest update to the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects. There are two major changes with this update. The first is that we have decided to make available the raw data behind Kyprianos in the form of CSV files, in order to allow other users to explore the data more readily. The files for the Manuscripts and Texts tables may be downloaded from the Database Help page (“About the Kyprianos Database”). These files can be opened with most text editing and spreadsheet or database programs, and will allow the database to be reconstructed, searched, and statistics generated, without the need to use the online version.…
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Kyprianos Update (22 December 2021)
We’ve just posted our latest update to the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects. The update includes: 24 new manuscript entries, bringing the total to 1012. These contain Greek and/or Coptic magical and liturgical texts from Egypt and other parts of the Roman Empire, as well as Aramaic incantation bowls from the Prosopographic Database of Magical Bowls produced by Ortal-Paz Saar. 2 new text entries, bringing the total to 169. The two texts we chose for this update are P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 685 p. 10 ll. 1-18, the instructions for creating an amulet empowered by Nassklnē, a being who protected King Solomon. P. Palau Rib. Inv. 412R, an amulet for protecting…
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Kyprianos Update (12 November 2021)
We’ve just posted our latest update to the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects. The update includes: 30 new manuscript entries, bringing the total to 988. These contain primarily Greek and/or Coptic magical texts from Egypt and other parts of the Roman Empire, but we are also now beginning to include two new categories of manuscript, arising from our collaborations with two outstanding researchers. The first of these are Aramaic incantation bowls, drawn from the Prosopographic Database of Magical Bowls produced by Ortal-Paz Saar as part of the project “Aramaic Magical Texts from Late Antiquity” (2009-2014) conducted by Dan Levene (University of Southampton) and Gideon Bohak (Tel Aviv University) and…
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2021 Review: The Third Year of the Coptic Magical Papyri Project
It’s hard to believe that three years of the project have already passed! As it has been for many others all across the world, 2021 has been a year in which the COVID-19 Pandemic has still had a major effect on our work, but we’re lucky that – while we weren’t able to attend many in-person conferences or visit many papyrus collections – we still managed to have a year of very productive teamwork. The Kyprianos Database When Kyprianos launched online in October last year, it contained only 677 manuscript entries, and 11 Coptic texts. We’re proud to announce that we’ve managed to make it significantly bigger this year –…
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Kyprianos Update (11 October 2021)
We’ve just posted our latest update to the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects. The update includes: 15 new manuscript entries, bringing the total to 958. These contain primarily Greek and/or Coptic magical texts from Egypt. 9 new text entries, bringing the total to 165. Among the texts we’ve chosen for this update are… Rossi’s Gnostic Tractate, a long, now-lost magical prayer, and one of the first-published Coptic magical texts, accompanied by an image of an angel shown here on the right. Louvre E 14.250, a highly-illustrated separation curse written on a piece of parchment shaped like a knife. Vienna K 10335, a short and mysterious text containing the magical names…
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Kyprianos Update (10 August 2021)
We’ve just posted our latest update to the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects. The update includes: 22 new manuscript entries, bringing the total to 943. These contain primarily Greek and/or Coptic magical texts from Egypt. 47 new text entries, bringing the total to 156. Among the texts we’ve chosen for this update are… The recipes from P. Macq. I 1, one of the most famous Coptic magical papyri. Although we have not yet edited the long prayer to the Baktiotha with which it begins, our edition of its 31 recipes resolves several problems which confronted its initial editors. Two more texts featuring the Egyptian goddess Isis: Hs. Schmidt 1, another…
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Kyprianos Update (30 April 2021)
We’ve just posted our latest update to the Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects. As well as correcting some small mistakes in manuscript, text, and archive entries, the update includes: 10 new manuscript entries, bringing the total to 889. These contain primarily Greek and/or Coptic magical texts from Egypt. 26 new text entries, bringing the total to 88. Among the texts we’ve chosen for this update are… the remaining curses and love spells from Cairo JdE 42573, a paper codex from the 10th or 11th century… three recipes from a fragmentary magico-medical text, for treating a woman suffering from uterine bleeding, a crying child, and swelling; the last recipe seems to…