KYPRIANOS DATABASE OF ANCIENT RITUAL TEXTS search icon
MANUSCRIPTS
TEXTS
ARCHIVES
HELP


KYPRIANOS M156

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

PGM VII
P. Lond. 121
P. Lond. I 121

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

Magical (formulary)
Contents:

1. Ro cols. 1-4, ll. 1-148: Homeromanteion
2. Ro col. 4, ll. 149-154: To keep bugs out of the house
3. Ro col. 4, ll 155-167: Days and hours for divination
4. Ro col. 5, ll. 167-186: Demokritos’ Table Gimmicks
5. Ro col. 5, ll. 186-190: Favour and victory charm
6. Ro col. 5, ll. 191-192: Eternal spell for binding a lover
7. Ro col. 5, ll. 193-196: For scorpion stings
8. Ro col. 5, ll. 197-198: For discharge of the eyes
9. Ro col. 5, ll. 199-201: For migraine headache
10. Ro col. 5, ll. 201-202: Another (for migraine)
11. Ro col. 5, ll. 203-205: For coughs
12. Ro col. 6, ll. 206-207: Another (for coughs)
13. Ro col. 6, ll. 208-209: For hardening of the breasts
14. Ro col. 6, ll. 209-210: For swollen testicles
15. Ro col. 6, ll. 211-212: For fever with shivering fits
16. Ro col. 6, ll. 213-214: For daily and nightly fever
17. Ro col. 6, ll. 215-218: Stele of Aphrodite (for favour)
18. Ro col. 6, ll. 218-221: Phylactery for daily fever with shivering fits
19. Ro col. 6-7, ll. 222-249: Request for a dream oracle of Bes
20. Ro col. 7, ll. 250-254: Another to the same lamp
21. Ro col. 7, ll. 255-259: Another to the same lamp
22. Ro col. 7, ll. 260-271: For ascent of the uterus
23. Ro col. 8, ll. 272-283: Astrological calendar
24. Ro col. 8, ll. 284-299: Orbit of the moon
25. Ro col. 9, ll. 300: Dream oracle (?)
26. Ro col. 9, ll. 300a-310: Love charm which acts in the same hour
27. Ro col. 9, ll. 311-316: A phylactery
28. Ro col. 9, ll. 317-318: Another phylactery
29. Ro col. 9, ll. 319-334: Autoptos
30. Ro col. 10, ll. 348-358: Divination by means of a boy
31. Ro col. 10, ll. 359-369: Request for a dream oracle
32. Ro col. 11, ll. 370-373: Against every wild animal, aquatic creature and robbers
33. Ro col. 11, ll. 374-376: Induction of insomnia (for erotic purposes)
34. Ro col. 11, ll. 376-384: Another (induction of insomnia)
35. Ro col. 11, ll. 385-393: A cup spell
36. Ro col. 11, ll. 390-393: Victory charm for the races
37. Ro col. 11, ll. 394-395: Coercive spell for restraining
38. Ro col. 11, ll. 396-404: An excellent spell for silencing, for subjecting, for restraining
39. Ro col. 12, ll. 405-406: Love spell
40. Ro col. 12, ll. 407-410: Dream sending
41. Ro col. 12, ll. 411-416: Spell for causing talk while asleep
42. Ro col. 12, ll. 417-422: A restraining spell
43. Ro col. 12, ll. 423-428: To win at dice
44. Ro col. 12-13, ll. 429-458: A restraining rite for anything
45. Ro col. 13, ll. 459-461: An excellent love charm
46. Ro col. 13, ll. 462-466: Excellent love charm
47. Ro col. 13, ll. 467-477: [Erotic ritual]
48. Ro col. 13-14, ll. 478-490: Dream vision of idios daimon
49. Ro col. 14, ll. 490-504: [Ritual of protection from Isis]
50. Ro col. 14, ll. 505-528: Meeting with idios daimon [considered same as 478-490, form of meeting not explicit]
51. Ro col. 15, ll. 528-539: Victory charm
52. Ro col. 15-16, ll. 540-578: Lamp divination [with boy medium]
53. Ro col. 16, ll. 579-590: Phylactery
54. Ro col. 17, ll. 591-592: Fragmnent of invocation
55. Vo col. 18, ll. 593-619: Fetching charm for an unmanageable woman
56. Vo col. 18, ll. 619-627: From the Diadem of Moses
57. Vo col. 19, ll. 628-642: Dream vision of Memphite Asklepios
58. Vo col. 19, ll. 643-651: Cup spell
59. Vo col. 19, ll. 652-660: Spell to induce insomnia by means of a bat (erotic?)
60. Vo col. 19, ll. 661-663: Love spell
61. Vo col. 20, ll. 664-685: Spell for obtaining dream revelations
62. Vo col. 20-21, ll. 686-702: Bear charm (purpose unclear)
63. Vo col. 21, ll. 703-726: Request for dream oracle
64. Vo col. 21, ll. 727-739: Charm for direct vision of Apollo
65. Vo col. 22, ll. 740-755: Request for dream oracle
66. Vo col. 22, ll. 756-794: Invocation
67. Vo col. 22-24, ll. 795-845: Pythagoras request for a dream oracle and Demokritos’ dream divination
68. Vo col. 24-25, ll. 846-861: Shadow on the sun
69. Vo col. 25-26, ll. 862-918: Lunar spell of Claudianus
70. Vo col. 26, ll. 919-924: Hermes’ wondrous victory charm
71. Vo col. 26-27, ll. 925-939: Another tablet charm but one to subject
72. Vo col. 27, ll. 940-968: Charm to restrain anger and a charm to subject
73. Vo col. 27, ll. 969-972: A good potion
74. Vo col. 27, ll. 973-980: A love spell of attraction through touch
75. Vo, ll. 981-993: Love spell of attraction
76. Vo, ll. 993-1009: [Divination?]
77. Vo, ll. 1009-1016: Divination by dream
78. Vo, ll. 1017-1026: Invocation for victory/favour
See all texts in this manuscript.

Language(s):

Greek
Script(s):

Greek
Dialect:
Language/dialect notes:
Date: question mark icon Dates are CE unless preceded by a minus sign <->, in which case they are BCE. 301 – 400
Date notes:

GEMF (11/7/2019); 225-320 TM (21/9/2020); 3rd century (Keynon 1893: p. 83); 4th or 5th century (Maltomini 1995: p. 107).
Archive/collection: question mark icon Larger collection to which manuscript belongs. KYP A7
Archive name: Hermonthis Archive
State of edition:

Published.
Image: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=papyrus_121_f001r

Form:

Roll
Material:

Papyrus
Dimensions (cm): Height: 33 Width: 200 Depth:
Dimensions (notes):

Collection website (21/9/2020)
Folding pattern:
State of preservation:

Incomplete, fragmentary. Some pieces are missing, especially along folds.
Pages/Columns: question mark icon Total surviving columns in the manuscript for rolls, sheets and rotuli; total number of pages for codices.

27
Pages/Columns (notes):

27 columns, 1126 lines. Written along the fibres in columns of 38-40 lines.
Hand:

2 hands

Findspot:

Memnoneia – Djeme, Thebes West, Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 1341)
Place of purchase:

Memnoneia – Djeme, Thebes West, Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 1341)
Writingspot:

Memnoneia – Djeme, Thebes West, Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 1341)
Present Location:

London, British Library
Collection History:

Purchased in 1888, acquired by Budge from an Egyptian through Messrs. Bywater, Tanqueray & Co, 12 May 1888 as part of purchase including other Hermonthis Archive texts (KD 11/7/2019)
Trismegistos collection: question mark icon Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript. 192
Collection website: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Papyrus_121&index=29

Notes/Discussion:

Bibiliography
Editions:

Eitrem, Samson. “Pap. Brit. Mus. CXXI, Verso Col. I.” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 11 (1925): 80-83 (column 30 only).

★ Kenyon, Frederick G. Greek Papyri in the British Museum I. London: British Museum 1893, p. 83-115, no. 121.

Maltomini, Franco. “P. Lond. 121 (= PGM VII), 1–221: Homeromanteion.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 106 (1995): 107-122 (Homeromanteion only).

Preisendanz, Karl, and Henrichs, Albert. Papyri Graecae Magicae: Die Griechischen Zauberpapyri. Vol. 2. Stuttgart: Teubner, 1974, p. 1-45, no. VII and p. 249 [VII], Hymnen 15.

Wessely, Carl. Neue griechische Zauberpapyri. Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Classe 42.2. Wien: Denkschr. Wien. Akad., 1893, p. 16-55.
Translations:

Betz, Hans D. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Including the Demotic Spells. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986, p. 112-145, no. PGM 7.
General:

D’Alessio, Giovan B. “Danni materiali e ricostruzione di rotoli papiracei: Le Elleniche di Ossirinco (“POxy” 842) e altri esempi.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 134 (2001): p. 38.

Bain, David. “φανταζομένηin PGM VII 888: A Possible Parallel.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 101 (1994): 31-32.

Bagnall, Roger S. The Early Christian Books in Egypt. Princeton: Princeton University Press 2009, p. 84, Table 4.5.

Betz, Hans D. “Jewish Magic in the Greek Magical Papyri.” In Envisioning Magic. A Princeton Seminar and Symposium, edited by Peter Schäfer, and Hans G. Kippenberg. Leiden-New York: Brill 1997, p. 45-64.

Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1888-1893. London: British Museum 1894, p. 390.

Faraone, Christopher A. “New Light on Ancient Greek Exorcisms of the Wandering Womb.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 144 (2003): p. 190 (ll. 260-271).

Gordon, Richard. “Compiling P. Lond I 121 = PGM VII in a Transcultural Context.” In Cultural plurality in ancient magical texts and practices. Graeco-Egyptian Handbooks and Related Traditions, edited by Ljuba M. Bortolani, William Furley, Svenja Nagel, and Joachim F. Quack 2019, Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 32. Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, p. 106-123.

Horak, Ulrike. Illuminierte Papyri, Pergamente und Papiere. Pegasus Oriens. Vol. 1. Wien: Holzhausen Verlag, 1992, p. 246, ViP 193.

Love, Edward O. D. ““Crum’s Chicken”: Alpak, Demonised Donkeys, and Avianised Demons among the Figures of Demotic, Greek, and Coptic Magical Texts”, in Magikon Zōon: Animal and Magic, edited by Korshi Dosoo and Jean-Charles Coulon (forthcoming).

Martín Hernández, ‘Two More Verses for the Homeromanteion (PGM VII)’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 190 (2014), p. 97-98.

Martín Hernández, Raquel. “Two More Verses for the Homeromanteion (PGM VII).” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 190 (2014): p. 97-98.

Martín Hernández, Raquel. “Reading Magical Drawings in the Greek Magical Papyri.” In Actes du 26e Congrès international de papyrologie: Genève, 16-21 août 2010. Genève: Librairie Droz S.A., 2012, p. 493-494.

Martín Hernández, Raquel. “Coherent Division of a Magical Handbook. Using Lectional Signs in P.Lond. I 121 (PGM VII).” Segno e testo 13 (2015): p. 147-164 [on the lay-out of the papyrus].

Martín Hernández, Raquel. “Sobre la ordenación de las prescripciones mágicas en las primeras columnas del P.Lond. I 121 = PGM VII.” In Estudios papirológicos. Textos literarios y documentales del siglo IV a.C. al IV d.C., edited by Maria Jesús Albarrán Martínez, Raquel Martín Hernández, Irene Pajón Leyra Madrid: Fundación Pastor de Estudios Clásicos 2017, p. 117-134.

Martín Hernández, Raquel. “El PGMV II y los papiros del “Archivo mágico de Hermontis”. Algunas consideraciones sobre su contenido.” In Ablanathanalba. Magia, cultura y Sociedad en el Mundo Antiguo, edited by Emilio Suárez de la Torre, Isabel Canzobre Martínez, and Carmen Sánchez-Mañas. Madrid: Clásicos Dykinson 2020, p. 276-291.

Nodar, Alberto, and Sophia Torallas Tovar. “Palaeography of Magical Papyri: An Attempt?” In Los papiros mágicos griegos: entre lo sublime y lo cotidiano, edited by Emilio Suárez de la Torre, Miriam Blanco, Eleni Chronopoulou. Madrid: Dykinson 2015, p. 60-61.

Phillips, Richard L. “In pursuit of Invisibility: Ritual Texts from Late Roman Egypt.” American Studies in Papyrology 47. Durham, N.C.: American Society of Papyrologists, 2009, p. 110-115.

Trismegistos ID:

60204

 PAThs:
PGM: question mark icon Papyri Gracae Magicae

7

 SM: question mark icon Supplementum Magicum GEMF: question mark icon Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies (forthcoming) 74 ACM: question mark icon Ancient Christian Magic
Bélanger Sarrazin: question mark icon Bélanger-Sarrazin. “Catalogue des textes magiques coptes” 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

1077

 Bruyn-Dijkstra: question mark icon de Bruyn and Dijkstra, “Greek Amulets and Formularies (Checklist)" TheDefix: question mark icon Thesaurus Defixionum To Zodion: 3
Edit History:

KD (3/4/2019); MPS (21/9/2020); MPS (23/9/2020); MPS (30/9/2020); KD (1/2/2023)

How to cite:
Korshi Dosoo & Markéta Preininger (principal editors). "KYP M156," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/manuscript/kyp-m156. Accessed on 19/11/2025

Found a mistake? Let us know!