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KYPRIANOS M525

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

Berlin P. 8116 + 8117 + P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 392
BKU 1 26 + P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 392
BKU I 26 + P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 392

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

Medical (recipes ?)
Magical (formulary ?)
Contents:

Original use:

1. 8116, 8117 Ro: Arabic document (996-1020 CE) (TM 18/10/2018); The document contains the name of the Khalif Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (r. 996-1020) and refers to the leasing of crops. 10 lines survive on the Heidelberg section.

Re-use (Berlin section):

2. p. 1 ll. 1-11: 4 unclear recipes
3. p. 1 ll. 12-14: Recipe using tongue of bird to restrain anger/prevent fighting
4. p. 1 ll. 15-23: Instructions for finding almôes stone
5. p. 1 ll. 24-25: To heal broken (?) man
6. p. 1 l. 26: To heal (for producing more urine?)
7. p. 2 ll. 1-11: Unclear
8. p. 2 ll. 12-16: Recipe using vulture
9. p. 2 ll. 17-19: To heal possessed man
10. p. 2 ll. 20-21: For healing headache (?)
11. p. 2 ll. 22-24: Unclear
12. p. 2 ll. 25-30: For healing possessed man
13. p. 2 ll. 31-32: Amulet to protect against robbers
14. p. 2 ll. 33-35: For favor
15. p. 2 ll. 36: Love spell
16. p. 4 ll. 1-3: Unclear; for favour?
17. p. 4 ll. 4-11: Unclear recipe using eyes of rooster
18. p. 4 ll. 12-14: To heal child.
19. p. 4 ll. 15-16: To cause conflict/separation
20. p. 4 ll. 17-19: Unclear, uses rooster.
21. p. 4 ll. 20-22: Unclear, uses bat.

(Heidelberg section):

22. Ro l. 1: Recipe for unclear purposes.
23. Ro ll. 2-4: Recipe for unclear purposes.
24. Ro ll. 5-8: Recipe for unclear purposes.
25. Ro ll. 9-12: Recipe for unclear purposes.
26. Ro ll. 13-14: Recipe for unclear purposes.
27. Ro ll. 15-17: Recipe for unclear purposes.
28. Ro ll. 18-19: Recipe for unclear purposes.
29. Vo ll. 1-3; Recipe for unclear purposes.
30. Vo ll. 4-9: Recipe for unclear purposes.
See all texts in this manuscript.

Language(s):

Egyptian (Coptic)
Arabic
Script(s):

Coptic
Arabic
Dialect:

Fayumic
Language/dialect notes:

See related texts for further notes. Cf. Bélanger Sarrazin (2017: p. 385); TM (1/10/2018).
Date: question mark icon Dates are CE unless preceded by a minus sign <->, in which case they are BCE. 996 – 1100
Date notes:

Original use dates to 996-1020 CE, so re-use must date later than this (KD 23/1/2020); 901-1000 CE (TM 1/10/2018). Mößner and Nauerth (2015: p. 304) date the Heidelberg part to the 8th century, but this is too early for paper.
Archive/collection: question mark icon Larger collection to which manuscript belongs.
Archive name:
State of edition:

Published. No published image. New edition forthcoming from Anne Grons and Krisztina Hevesi.
Image:

Form:

Codex
Material:

Paper
Dimensions (cm): Height: 29.5 Width: 14.2 Depth:
Dimensions (notes):

Berlin P. 8116: 29.5 x 28.5 (EL from autopsy 20/11/2019); 29cm x 14cm (Erman 1904: p. 26). Berlin P. 8117: upper part of the right-hand of the sheet, 18 cm high and 14 cm wide. Heidelberg section is 17.11 (H) x 10.67 (W) (Mößner, Nauerth: 2015: p. 304.).
Folding pattern:

1 vertical and apparently 1 horizontal crease in the upper third of Berlin P. 8116, which has broken off.
State of preservation:

Berlin section is fragmentary, consisting of a double page with upper third missing, while all three sheets are damaged with holes. The Heidelberg section is made up of six fragments.
Pages/Columns: question mark icon Total surviving columns in the manuscript for rolls, sheets and rotuli; total number of pages for codices.

8
Pages/Columns (notes):

Berlin section: Probably originally at least 8 pages, of which 6 survive, and 3 are inscribed in magical re-use. 8116a (p. 1) and b (p. 2) are formed from the verso of an original Arabic text, folded in half to produce a bifolio; their upper parts are badly damaged. 8117 (here p. 4, but it could have preceded 8116 in the hypothetical codex, or have followed other intervening pages) is the top part of the right-hand sheet of a bifolio produced in the same way, with another Arabic text on the recto (cf. Erman 1904: p. 26). Two pages original use – one page each constituting the recto of 8116 and 8117. Heidelberg section: 1 column each, recto and verso. Recto 19 lines, verso 12 lines.
Hand:

Findspot:

Tebtunis (Umm el-Baragat), Arsinoites (Fayum), Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 2287)
Place of purchase:

Arsinoites (Fayum), Egypt

(TM places ID: 332)
Writingspot:

Tebtunis (Umm el-Baragat), Arsinoites (Fayum), Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 2287)
Present Location:

Berlin, Staatliche Museen
Collection History:

Berlin section with documents from Tutun (Tebtunis) in the Fayum. Acc. Dr. Nützel and Prof. Abel, gift of Mr. Rud. Mosse in 1894 (Erman 1904: p. 26). Heidelberg segment purchased through K. Reinhardt in 1897 (Collection website 13/12/2019).
Trismegistos collection: question mark icon Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript. 40
Collection website: https://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/papyri/view/p_kopt_392/

Notes/Discussion:

Anne Grons has identified these as translations or original Coptic compositions based on an Arabic text of the “useful properties of animals”.

The Heidelberg section is unpublished; divisions between texts have been made based on structure of headings and recipe divisions.

Bibiliography
Editions:

Erman, Adolf. Aegyptische Urkunden aus dem Koeniglichen Museen zu Berlin: Koptische Urkunden. Vol. 1. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1904, p. 26-29, no. 26.
Translations:
General:

Mößner, Tamara and Claudia Nauerth. “Koptische Text und ihre Bilder.” In Ägyptische Magie und ihre Umwelt, edited by Andrea Jördens, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015, p. 304.

Trismegistos ID:

704842
874192

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

77

 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:

EL (18/10/2018; 20/11/2019); MPS (19/9/2019; 20/9/2019); KD (23/1/2020); KD (24/1/2020); EL (28/8/2020); KD (3/10/2023)

How to cite:
Korshi Dosoo, Edward O.D. Love & Markéta Preininger (chief editors). "KYP M525," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/manuscript/kyp-m525. Accessed on 11/05/2025

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