Sigla: 
Modern names for the manuscript, including inventory and publication numbers.
|
P. Mich. inv. 4278a |
| Category:
Classification of the contents, e.g. magical (formulary or applied), alchemical, liturgical, documentary or medical. |
Magical (?) |
| Contents: | 1. Ro ll. 1-3: Arabic text. |
| Language(s): | Arabic |
| Script(s): | Coptic |
| Dialect: | |
| Language/dialect notes: | |
| Date:
Dates are CE unless preceded by a minus sign <->, in which case they are BCE. |
901 – 1923 |
| Date notes: | Collection website lists date as 9th to tenth century CE (9/10/2023). Since it is paper, a tenth century date at the earliest is most likely. If it is a modern forgery, the latest possible date of production is 1923, the date of the second sale to Askren (KD 9/10/2023). |
| Archive/collection:
Larger collection to which manuscript belongs. |
|
| Archive name: | |
| State of edition: | Unpublished |
| Image: | https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?id=S-APIS-X-4378%5D4278AR.TIF |
| Form: | Sheet |
| Material: | Paper |
| Dimensions (cm): | Height: 18.5 | Width: 13.5 | Depth: |
| Dimensions (notes): | Dimensions from collection website (9/10/2023). |
| Folding pattern: | Approximately 10 horizontal, 2 vertical creases. |
| State of preservation: | Complete (?), some damage to sides and creases. |
| Pages/Columns:
Total surviving columns in the manuscript for rolls, sheets and rotuli; total number of pages for codices.
|
1 |
| Pages/Columns (notes): | 1 column recto, 13 surviving lines and drawing of two figures. |
| Hand: |
| Findspot: | Egypt (TM places ID: 49) |
| Place of purchase: | (TM places ID: ) |
| Writingspot: | Egypt (TM places ID: 49) |
| Present Location: | Ann Arbor, Michigan University, Library |
| Collection History: | Website notes that it was purchased by Dr. Askren, part of lot II (9/10/2023); sent in November 1924 along with 25 other pieces (in 32 fragments) (“Report on Papyri, etc., of 1925 consignment”, p. 16). |
| Trismegistos collection:
Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript. |
12 |
| Collection website: | https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?id=S-APIS-X-4378%5D4278AR.TIF |
| Notes/Discussion: | The style of the drawings of this manuscript, and the style and content of the Coptic text, are very unusual, and clearly divergent from other known manuscripts; it is possible that this is a much later production (i.e., later than the 12th century CE), perhaps being a modern forgery (KD 9/10/2023); cf. the statement on the collection website. It is possible that a genuine original document (which may have included the original three lines of Arabic) was later modified into a Coptic magical text. |
| Bibiliography |
| Editions: | |
| Translations: | |
| General: | “Report on Papyri, etc., of 1925 consignment”, p. 16 online at https://apps.lib.umich.edu/files/libraries/papyrology/acq-reports/Report%20on%20Papyri%2C%20etc.%2C%20of%201925%20consignment.pdf |
| Trismegistos ID: | PAThs: |
| PGM:
Papyri Gracae Magicae
|
SM:
Supplementum Magicum
|
GEMF:
Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies (forthcoming)
|
ACM:
Ancient Christian Magic
|
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| 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: | KD (10/8/2022); KD (19/8/2024) |