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KYPRIANOS M117

Sigla: question mark icon Modern names for the manuscript, including inventory and publication numbers.

British Library MS Or 4714 (1)
P. Lond. Copt. 368

Category: question mark icon Classification of the contents, e.g. magical (formulary or applied), alchemical, liturgical, documentary or medical.

Magical (formulary)
Contents:

Original use:

1. Patriarchal history.

Re-use (palimpsest):

2. p. 2 l. 1-p. 13 l. 14: “Prayer of Mary in Bartos”, invocation for healing, protection, to open doors, break chains, exorcism.
See all texts in this manuscript.

Language(s):

Egyptian (Coptic)
Script(s):

Coptic
Dialect:

Sahidic
Language/dialect notes:

Bélanger Sarrazin (2017: p. 398). See related texts for further notes.
Date: question mark icon Dates are CE unless preceded by a minus sign <->, in which case they are BCE. 1001 – 1300
Date notes:

“a date not before the 11th century” (Crum 1897); 301-800 (TM 19/9/2018); 501-800 (TM 5/7/2019)
Archive/collection: question mark icon Larger collection to which manuscript belongs.
Archive name:
State of edition:

Published. No published image. New edition desirable.
Image:

Form:

Codex
Material:

Parchment (vellum)
Dimensions (cm): Height: 16.4 Width: 12.6 Depth:
Dimensions (notes):

6.5 x 5 inches (Crum 1897: p. 210)
Folding pattern:
State of preservation:

Complete (almost), 13 of 16 pages survive.
Pages/Columns: question mark icon Total surviving columns in the manuscript for rolls, sheets and rotuli; total number of pages for codices.

16
Pages/Columns (notes):

6-folio codex. Pages numbered ⲃ-ⲓⲅ (2-13). Presumably cover, p. 1, and final two pages are lost, giving total original size of 16 pages.
Hand:

Findspot:

Lykopolis (Assiut), Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 1271)
Place of purchase:

Lykopolis (Assiut), Egypt

(TM places ID: 1271)
Writingspot:

Lykopolis (Assiut), Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 1271)
Present Location:

London, British Library
Collection History:

Purchased in 1890s in Assiut and brought to England by Rev. George Horner (Crum 1897: p. 210). Acquired by the British Library in 1893 (EL from British Library Catalogue 17/12/19)
Trismegistos collection: question mark icon Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript. 192
Collection website:

Notes/Discussion:

Vellum wrongly listed as papyrus on Trismegistos, see Crum 1897.

Palimpsest (written over fragmentary Patriarchal history), subsequently recut.

Bibiliography
Editions:

Crum, Walter Ewing. “A Coptic Palimpsest.” Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 19 (1897): 210-218.
Translations:

Kropp, Angelicus. Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte. Übersetzungen und Anmerkungen. Vol. 2. Bruxelles: Édition de la Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, 1931, p. 127-135, no. 39.
General:

Crum, Walter E. Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the British Museum. London: British Museum, 1905, p. 174, no. 368.

Hevesi, Krisztina. “A Few Remarks on the Persistence of Native Egyptian historiolae in Coptic Magical Texts”. In Current Research in Egyptology 2018: Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Symposium, Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, 25-28 June 2018, edited by Marie Peterková Hlouchová, Dana Belohoubková, Jirí Honzl and Vera Nováková. Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing, 2019, p. 42-54.

Piwowarczyk, Przemysław. “Sethians and Their Texts in Christian Egypt in the 4th and 5th Centuries.” Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 86 (2020): 110-112.

Trismegistos ID:

108910

 PAThs: 1316 3837
PGM: question mark icon Papyri Gracae Magicae SM: question mark icon Supplementum Magicum GEMF: question mark icon Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies (forthcoming) ACM: question mark icon Ancient Christian Magic
Bélanger Sarrazin: question mark icon Bélanger-Sarrazin. “Catalogue des textes magiques coptes”

197

 AKZ: question mark icon Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte

2.39

 CBd: question mark icon Campbell-Bonner Magical Gems Database Mert.-Pack: question mark icon Mertens-Pack online database
Van H: question mark icon van Haelst, Catalogue des papyrus littéraires

108910

 Bruyn-Dijkstra: question mark icon de Bruyn and Dijkstra, “Greek Amulets and Formularies (Checklist)" TheDefix: question mark icon Thesaurus Defixionum To Zodion:
Edit History:

EL (19/9/2018); MPS (5/7/2019); KD (11/9/2019); KD (23/7/2020); EL (2/9/2020); KD (16/5/2023)

How to cite:
Korshi Dosoo & Markéta Preininger (principal editors). "KYP M117," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/manuscript/kyp-m117. Accessed on 08/12/2025

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