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KYPRIANOS M118

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

British Library MS Or 6796 (1-3)

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

Magical (formulary)
Contents:

1. (2) (3), (1) recto: “Prayer of Mary in Bartos” against demons, for healing/protection/exorcism.
2. (2), (3) verso: Invocation for favour, protection, and honour.
3. (1) verso: Invocation for favour and power, perhaps part of previous text, with vowels.
See all texts in this manuscript.

Language(s):

Egyptian (Coptic)
Script(s):

Coptic
Dialect:

Sahidic
Language/dialect notes:
Date: question mark icon Dates are CE unless preceded by a minus sign <->, in which case they are BCE. 551 – 650
Date notes:

c. 600 (Crum in Kropp 1931: p. xi); 475-52 (TM 6/11/2018) (DCLP 6/11/2018); 501-700 (Bélanger Sarrazin 2017: p. 382)
Archive/collection: question mark icon Larger collection to which manuscript belongs. KYP A15
Archive name: British Museum Portfolio
State of edition:

Published.
Image:

Form:

Rotulus
Material:

Papyrus
Dimensions (cm): Height: 162.9 Width: 18 Depth:
Dimensions (notes):

Kropp (1931: p. 55). (3) height 44.3cm, maximum width 17.4cm. (2) height 71.5cm, width 18cm. (1) height 47.1cm, width 14.9cm.
Folding pattern:
State of preservation:

Fragmentary.
Pages/Columns: question mark icon Total surviving columns in the manuscript for rolls, sheets and rotuli; total number of pages for codices.

2
Pages/Columns (notes):

1 column each recto and verso. Recto is written transversa charta.
Hand:

British Museum Scribe

Findspot:

Thebes, Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 2355)
Place of purchase: (TM places ID: )
Writingspot:

Thebes, Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 2355)
Present Location:

London, British Library
Collection History:

Acquired in 1907 with Or 6794, 6795, 6796, 6796 (4) (List of Oriental Manuscripts: p. 301)
Trismegistos collection: question mark icon Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript. 192
Collection website:

Notes/Discussion:

Bibiliography
Editions:

Kropp, Angelicus. Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte. Textpublikation. Vol. 1. Bruxelles: Édition de la Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, 1931, p. 35-40, no. G, p. 41-45, no. H, p. 45-46, no. I.

Kropp, Angelicus. Oratio Mariae ad Bartos. Ein koptischer Gebetstext aus den Giessener Papyrus-Sammlungen. Gießen: Universitätsbibliothek, 1965, p. 14-19, text c.
Translations:

Kropp, Angelicus. Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte. Übersetzungen und Anmerkungen. Vol. 2. Bruxelles: Édition de la Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, 1931, p. 89-96, no. 28; p. 96-97, no. 29; p. 135-143, no. 40; p. 143, no. 41.

Meyer, Marvin W., and Richard Smith. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Princeton (New Jersey): Princeton University Press, 1999, p. 283-289, no. 131.
General:

Department of Oriental P.B. and Mss. (British Library), List of Oriental Manuscripts 1890-1908, Or. 4047-6947, p. 301.

Frankfurter, David. “Heavenly Liturgy and Its Materialization in Early Coptic Magical Texts.” In Above, Below, Before, and After. Studies on Judaism and Christianity in Dialogue with Martha Himmelfarb, edited by Ra‘anan Boustan, David Frankfurter, and Annette Yoshiko Reed. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023, 321-323.

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.

van der Vliet, Jacques. “Tradition and Innovation: Writing Magic in Christian Egypt,” in Rituals in Early Christianity: New Perspectives on Tradition and Transformation, edited by Nienke M. Vos and Albert C. Geljon. Leiden: Brill, 2020, p. 268-271.

Trismegistos ID:

100019

 PAThs:
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

131
Bélanger Sarrazin: question mark icon Bélanger-Sarrazin. “Catalogue des textes magiques coptes”

47

 AKZ: question mark icon Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte

1.G, G’, 1.H, H’, 2.28, 2.29, 2.40, 2.41

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

MPS (6/11/2018); MPS (7/11/2018); KD (5/4/2019); EL (14/6/2019); KD (11/9/2019); EL (2/9/2020); KD (13/10/2020); MPS (5/7/2021); KD (11/12/2023)

How to cite:
Korshi Dosoo & Markéta Preininger (principal editors). "KYP M118," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/manuscript/kyp-m118. Accessed on 30/10/2025

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