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KYPRIANOS M488

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

PGM CXXII
SM 72
Berlin P. 21243
P. Berol. 21243

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

Magical (formulary)
Contents:

1. Ro col. 1 ll. 1-5: Preamble
2. Ro col. 1 ll. 5-14: Love spell in hexameters
3. Ro col. 1 ll. 15-27: Philtre
4. Ro col. 2 ll. 1-3: Love spell
5. Ro col. 2 ll. 4-8: Love spell
6. Ro col. 2 ll. 9-25: Invocation of the sun god
7. Ro col. 2 ll. 26-30: To heal headache
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. -100 – 100
Date notes:

GEMF dating (3/10/2020); identical in TM (5/10/2020). Texts from the same mummy cartonnage date from 52 BCE to 5 CE (Brashear 1995: p. 6).
Archive/collection: question mark icon Larger collection to which manuscript belongs.
Archive name:
State of edition:

Publsihed.
Image: https://berlpap.smb.museum/Original/P_21243_R_001.jpg

Form:

Roll
Material:

Papyrus
Dimensions (cm): Height: 29.7 Width: 339 Depth:
Dimensions (notes):

Brashear 1979, p. 261.
Folding pattern:
State of preservation:

Fragmentary, 8 fragments.
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):

2 columns preserved recto (→). Column 1 is 8.5 cm wide , column 2 is 17 cm. 27 lines column 1, 30 lines column 2.
Hand:

Findspot:

Bousiris (Abusir el-Meleq), Egypt

(TM places ID: 471)
Place of purchase:

Bousiris (Abusir el-Meleq), Egypt

(TM places ID: 471)
Writingspot:

Bousiris (Abusir el-Meleq), Egypt

(TM places ID: 471)
Present Location:

Berlin, Staatliche Museen
Collection History:

Removed from mummy cartonnage found in Abusir by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in 1977 (Brashear 1979, p. 261; Brashear 1995: p. 5-6).).
Trismegistos collection: question mark icon Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript. 40
Collection website: https://berlpap.smb.museum/04436/

Notes/Discussion:

Found in mummy cartonnage.

Image on verso: https://berlpap.smb.museum/Original/P_21243_V_001.jpg

Bibiliography
Editions:

Brashear, William M. “Ein Berliner Zauberpapyrus.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 33 (1979): 261-278, with corrigenda in ZPE 35 (1979): 152.

★ Daniel, Robert W., and Franco Maltomini. Supplementum Magicum. Vol. 2. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1992, p. 106-127, no. 72.
Translations:

Betz, Hans D. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Including the Demotic Spells. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986, p. 316-317, no. 122.
General:

Brashear, William M. Ägyptische Urkunden aus den Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Griechische Urkunden XVI Band (BGU XVI). The Archive of Athenodoros (and assorted Documents of the Augustan Period). Berlin: Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, 1995.

Faraone, Christopher A. “Aphrodite’s ΚΕΣΤΟΣ and Apples for Atalanta: Aphrodisiacs in Early Greek Myth and Ritual.” Phoenix 44 (1990).

Faraone, Christopher A. “Handbooks and Anthologies: The Collection of Greek and Egyptian Incantations in Late Hellenistic Egypt”, Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 2.2 (2000): p. 202-213.

Ioannidou, H. Grace. Berliner Klassikertexte. Catalogue of Greek and Latin Literary Papyri in Berlin. Vol. 9. Mainz am Rhein: von Zabern, 1996, no. 147.

Janko, Richard. “Berlin Magical Papyrus 21243: A Conjecture.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 72 (1988): 293.

Maltomini, Franco. “P. Berol. 21243 (Formulario magico): Due nuove letture.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 74 (1988): 247-248.

Maltomini, Franco. “Osservazioni al testo di alcuni papiri magici greci II.” Civiltà classica e cristiana 1 (1980): 375-376.

Zellmann-Rohrer, Michael. “Notes on Magical Handbooks.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 215 (2020): 27–33.

Trismegistos ID:

65560

 PAThs:
PGM: question mark icon Papyri Gracae Magicae

122

 SM: question mark icon Supplementum Magicum

72

 GEMF: question mark icon Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies (forthcoming) 4 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

06003.000
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:

KD (14/9/2020); ST (3/10/2020); KD (5/10/2020)

How to cite:
Korshi Dosoo & Markéta Preininger (principal editors). "KYP M488," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/manuscript/kyp-m488. Accessed on 29/10/2025

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