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KYPRIANOS M15

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

P. Mich. Inv. 599 + 594 + 603 + 596 + 598 + 597 + 595

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

Magical (formulary)
Contents:

1. P. Mich. Inv. 599, Ro ll. 1-27-Vo ll. 1-24: Invocation of God by Seth and instructions for its use
2. P. Mich. Inv. 599, Vo l. 24-P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 1-2: Against reptile’s bite (healing)
3. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 2-3: For jaundice (healing)
4. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 3-4: For one who is swollen (healing)
5. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 5-6: For rib pain (healing)
6. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro l. 6: For spleen (healing)
7. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 6-7: For headache (healing)
8. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 7-9: For one who has been anointed with enchanted oil (healing from magic)
9. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro l. 9: For fever (healing)
10. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro l. 9-10: For darkness (=blindness?. healing)
11. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 10-11 : For fear of the night (healing)
12. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 11-12: For insomnia (healing)
13. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 12-13: For one who doesn’t sleep with woman (healing? love spell?)
14. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 13-14: For one with a worm (healing)
15. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 14-15: For burning (healing)
16. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 15-16: For strep throat (healing)
17. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 16-17: For gouty joints (healing)
18. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 17-18: For seizure (healing)
19. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 18-19: For one who is slow (healing)
20. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 19-20: For haemorrhage (healing)
21. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro ll. 20-23: For estranged people (reconciliation)
22. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Ro l. 23: To prevent enemies prevailing (protection)
23. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 2-3: For protection of house and sheep enclosures (protection)
24. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 3-5: For woman with issue of blood (healing)
25. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 5-7: For merchant to profit (business ritual)
26. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 7-9: For safety of ships at sea (protection)
27. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 9-12: For ruler to spare you (favour or protection)
28. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 12-14: For dream oracle (divination)
29. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 14-15: To cause desire (love spell)
30. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 15-16: For men of village (favour?)
31. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 16-20: For safety of house and walkway (protection)
32. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 20-21: To protect animals from evil eye (protection)
33. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 21-23: For a woman whose milk doesn’t flow (healing)
34. P. Mich. Inv. 594, Vo ll. 23-25, P. Mich. Inv. 603, Ro ll. 1-5: Further instructions for using the invocation
35. P. Mich. Inv. 603, Ro ll. 6-12-Vo ll. 1-25, P. Mich. Inv. 596, Ro col. 1 l.1-Vo col. 2 l.30, 598 P. Mich. Inv. Ro ll. 1-18: Stela and invocation
36. P. Mich. Inv. 598 Ro ll. 19-20: Erased text
37. P. Mich. Inv. 598 Ro ll. 21-27: Uncertain text
38. P. Mich. Inv. 598 Vo ll. 1-10: Voces magicae
39. P. Mich. Inv. 598 Vo ll. 11-26, P. Mich. Inv. 597 Ro ll. 1-6: Love spell invoking the sun, moon, and angels
40. P. Mich. Inv. 597 Ro ll. 7–16-Vo ll. 1–8: Love spell invoking Isis, Osiris, the angels and Abrasax
41. P. Mich. inv. 597 Vo ll. 8–15, P. Mich. Inv. 595 Ro l. 1: For healing pain in the heart and liver
42. P. Mich. inv. 595 Ro ll. 2–4: To exorcise an evil spirit.
43. P. Mich. Inv. 595 Ro ll. 4–8: For treating blindness (healing)
44. P. Mich. Inv. 595 Ro l. 9: Drawings.
25. P. Mich. Inv. 595 Vo ll. 1-10: For tertian fever (healing)
See all texts in this manuscript.

Language(s):

Egyptian (Coptic)
Script(s):

Coptic
Dialect:

Sahidic
Language/dialect notes:

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. 501 – 700
Date notes:

Michigan APIS (26/9/2018)
Archive/collection: question mark icon Larger collection to which manuscript belongs. KYP A10
Archive name: Coptic Wizard’s Hoard
State of edition:

Partially published.
Image: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2616/599r.tif & http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2616/599v.tif

Form:

Sheets
Material:

Papyrus
Dimensions (cm): Height: 33 Width: 30.2 Depth:
Dimensions (notes):

Dimensions are maximum in each direction of all sheets. P. Mich. Inv. 599: 29.3 H x 29.4 W; P. Mich. Inv. 594: 31.5 H x 29.7 W; P. Mich. Inv. 603: 30.2 H x 20.3 W ; P. Mich. Inv. 596: 33 H x 29.2 W; P. Mich. Inv. 598: 31.5 H x 22.7 W cm; P. Mich. Inv. 597: 18 H x 24.8 W; P. Mich. Inv. 595: 13.2 H x 29.7 W (Col. website 26/9/2018).
Folding pattern:

Various horizontal creases. 595: 7 (?) horizontal creases. 597: 6 vertical creases. 598: 5 (?) vertical creases, horizontal creases possibly present.
State of preservation:

Complete. Well preserved, legible. Slight damage along the horizontal folds.
Pages/Columns: question mark icon Total surviving columns in the manuscript for rolls, sheets and rotuli; total number of pages for codices.

10
Pages/Columns (notes):

P. Mich. Inv. 599: 1 column each recto (↓) and verso (→). Recto 27 lines, verso 24 lines. P. Mich. Inv. 594: 1 column each, recto (→) and verso (↓), 49 lines. P. Mich. Inv. 603: 1 column each, recto (→) and verso (↓). P. Mich. Inv. 596: 2 columns each, recto (↓) and verso (→); P. Mich. Inv. 598: 1 column each, recto (→) and verso (↓). 26 lines recto, 26 lines verso; P. Mich. Inv. 597: 1 column each, recto (→) and verso (↓); 16 lines recto, 15 lines verso; P. Mich. Inv. 595: 13.2 H x 29.7 W ; 1 column each, recto (↓) and verso (→); 9 lines recto and 10 lines verso.
Hand:

Hand 5.

Findspot:

Egypt

(TM places ID: 49)
Place of purchase:

Egypt

(TM places ID: 49)
Writingspot:

Egypt

(TM places ID: 49)
Present Location:

Ann Arbor, Michigan University, Library
Collection History:

Brought from Egypt to the British Museum in Feburary 1921 by Wallis Budge and soon after acquired by the University of Michigan. (Worrell 1930: p. 239). Numbers 593-603 were part of a single find, and 594-603 seem to have been rolled together (Acquisition reports online 26/1/2021).
Trismegistos collection: question mark icon Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript. 12
Collection website: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis?type=boolean&view=reslist&rgn1=apis_inv&select1=regex&from=index&q1=599

Notes/Discussion:

Information on contents, order and coherence of individual sheets from R. Bélanger Sarrazin.

Several of the sheets are given “page” or sequence numbers: P. Mich. Inv. 596 Ro is numbered ⲁ (“1”); P. Mich. Inv. 598 Ro is numbered ⲃ (“2”); P. Mich. Inv. 597 Ro is numbered ⲅ (“3”); P. Mich. Inv. 595 Ro is numbered ⲇ (“4”).

P. Mich. Inv. 599 + 594 + 603 + 596 + 598 Ro ll. 1-18 contain text A (Worrell’s classification), also found in P. Mich. 593.

P. Mich. Inv. 598 + 597 + 595 Ro + 1294 contain text B, also copied in P. Mich. inv. 602.

599 recto (Col. Website): http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2616/599r.tif
599 vecto (Col. Website): http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2616/599v.tif

594 recto (Col. Website): http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3659/594r.tif
594 verso (Col. Image): http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3659/594v.tif

603 recto: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2625/603r.tif
603 verso: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3649/603v.tif

596 recto (Col. Website): http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3657/596r.tif
596 verso (Col. Image): http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3657/596v.tif

597 Recto: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3656/597r.tif
597 Verso: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3656/597v.tif

598 Recto: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3655/598r.tif
598 Verso: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3655/598v.tif

595 Recto (Col. Image): http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3658/595v.tif (referred to as verso)
595 Verso (Col. Website): http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3658/595r.tif (referred to as recto)

Bibiliography
Editions:

★ Worrell, W. H. “A Coptic Wizard’s Hoard.” The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 46 no. 4 (1930): 239–262 (P. Mich. Inv. 599 + 594 + 603 + 596 + 598 Ro ll. 1-18).
Translations:

Meyer, Marvin W., and Richard Smith. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Princeton (New Jersey): Princeton University Press, 1999, p. 304–310, no. 133.

Mirecki, Paul. “The Coptic Wizard’s Hoard.” The Harvard Theological Review vol. 87 no. 4 (1994): 435–460.
General:

“A Wizard’s Hoard” online description at Michigan APIS (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3648/1)

Acquisition reports online 26/1/2021: https://apps.lib.umich.edu/files/libraries/papyrology/acq-reports/Inventory%20of%20Coptic%2C%20Sept.%201921.pdf

Trismegistos ID:

874108
874172
874173
874174

 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

133
Bélanger Sarrazin: question mark icon Bélanger-Sarrazin. “Catalogue des textes magiques coptes”

4

 AKZ: question mark icon Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte 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 (26/9/2018); EL (21/11/2018); KD (4/9/2019); KD (1/6/2020); KD – merged all records of set (1/6/2020); team (5/6/2020); KD (15/10/2020); MPS (26/1/2021); MPS (25/3/2021); MPS (12/1/2022); KD (17/1/2024)

How to cite:
Korshi Dosoo & Markéta Preininger (principal editors). "KYP M15," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/manuscript/kyp-m15. Accessed on 03/11/2025

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