Sigla: Modern names for the manuscript, including inventory and publication numbers. | Ann Arbor, Michigan University, Library Ms. Copt. 166 |
Category: Classification of the contents, e.g. magical (formulary or applied), alchemical, liturgical, documentary or medical. | Magical (formulary) (?) |
Contents: | 1. p. 1: Image of standing figure in orans position |
Form: | Codex |
Material: | Parchment |
Dimensions (cm): | Height: 9.5 | Width: 8 | Depth: |
Dimensions (notes): | PAThs (15/12/2021). |
Folding pattern: | |
State of preservation: | Incomplete, some parts missing (esp. Ecclesiastes). First 15 pages are in good condition. |
Pages/Columns: Total surviving columns in the manuscript for rolls, sheets and rotuli; total number of pages for codices. | 212 |
Pages/Columns (notes): | Codex of 106 folios (=212 pages), 1 column per page, lines per page ca. 16-20, letters per line between 11 and 16. 84 is the highest page number (TM 15/12/2021, numbering of Ecclesiastes). Hair and flesh sides are facing each other. The first leaf is not numbered, the last page is also not numbered. Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and Ruth are numbered separately. Page numbers 6 and 8 are omitted, but the quire number 1 appears on the verso of the 8th leaf and quire 2 on recto of the ninth – there seems to be an error in translation. (Worrell 1942: p. 28-29). Average writing-frame width 6.5 cm, height 8 cm (PAThs 20/12/2021). |
Hand: | Majuscule, upright. Written in 3 different hands (the first wrote the Epistle of Paul, of Abgar and Ruth, the second wrote the reply of Christ to Abgar,Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs, second, 8 pages of the Song are written in a third hand; Worrell 1942: p. 30). Antonios Mikkos, the son of Apa Apollo and Apa Jeremias is the likely copyist of several of the texts. |
Findspot: | Monastery of Apa Jeremias Saqqara (TM places ID: 1344) |
Place of purchase: | (TM places ID: ) |
Writingspot: | Monastery of Apa Jeremias Saqqara (TM places ID: 1344) |
Present Location: | Ann Arbor, Michigan University |
Collection History: | In winter 1924-5 Chester Beatty saw 5 small vellum codices in their original bindings at a dealer in Cairo (the dealer claimed they were found together in a pot in the neighbourhood of the Giza pyramids), 3 were passed into Beatty’s collection and 2 were acquired by the Michigan university library (by F.W. Kelsey). all 5 manuscripts originated in the same scriptorium, of Monastery of Apa Jeremias in Saqqara (Thompson 1932: p. XI; PAThs 20/12/2021). Repaired and re-bound at the Vatican in 1928 (PAThs 20/12/2021). |
Trismegistos collection: Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript. | 12 |
Collection website: |
Notes/Discussion: | Archive: Library of the Jeremias monastery. Originally probably bound in papyrus laminated borads covered with leather (Lamacraft 1939, 213-218, 233, Pl. II.; PAThs 20/12/2021). Per Abd al-Massih, Letter of Jesus Christ to Abgar is on p. 1r-2v, 21v-22r and the letter of Abgar on p. 19v-20r. Reply of Christ on fol. 2 recto is the same as Mich. inv. 6213. There are several colophons in the text giving the name of the copyist: Antonios Mikkos, the son of Apa Apollo and Apa Jeremias |
Bibiliography |
Editions: | Abd al-Masih, Yassā. “An unedited Bohairic letter of Abgar (continued). ” Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 54 (1954): p. 21-28. |
Translations: | |
General: | Lamacraft, Charles T. “Early Book-Bindings from a Coptic Monastery.” The Library: Transactions of The Bibliographical Society 20 (ser. 4a).2 (1039): 214-233. |
Trismegistos ID: | 107871 |
PAThs: | 67 |
PGM: Papyri Gracae Magicae | SM: Supplementum Magicum | GEMF: Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies (forthcoming) | ACM: Ancient Christian Magic | ||||
Bélanger Sarrazin: Bélanger-Sarrazin. “Catalogue des textes magiques coptes” | AKZ: Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte | CBd: Campbell-Bonner Magical Gems Database | Mert.-Pack: Mertens-Pack online database | ||||
Van H: van Haelst, Catalogue des papyrus littéraires | Bruyn-Dijkstra: de Bruyn and Dijkstra, “Greek Amulets and Formularies (Checklist)" | TheDefix: Thesaurus Defixionum | To Zodion: |
Edit History: | MPS from Roxanne Bélanger Sarrazin (15/12/2021); MPS (16/12/2021); MPS (20/12/2021); JS (10/01/2022); MPS (17/1/2022); KD (14/2/2021) |