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KYPRIANOS M91

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

Anchorite’s Grotto texts 25-29

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

Magical (applied)
Contents:

1. Text 25: Incipits of the Four Gospels
2. Text 26: Letter of Jesus to Abgar
3. Text 27a: Names of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste
4. Text 27b: Names of more martyrs
5. Text 28a: Remains of names
6. Text 28b: Sator areto formula, identified as the nails of Christ
7. Text 28c: Names
8. Text 29: Names of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus
(All texts are presumably for protection)
See all texts in this manuscript.

Language(s):

Egyptian (Coptic)
Script(s):

Coptic
Dialect:

Sahidic (non-standard)
Language/dialect notes:

See related texts for further notes.
Date: question mark icon Dates are CE unless preceded by a minus sign <->, in which case they are BCE. 738 – 740
Date notes:

Written between ca. 738 and 740, based on the date of the graffito written by the monk Theophilos in 739 CE (Griffith 1927: p. 88, no. 24)
Archive/collection: question mark icon Larger collection to which manuscript belongs. KYP A13
Archive name: Anchorite's Grotto
State of edition:

Published.
Image:

Form:

Wall inscription
Material:

Wall inscription (plaster)
Dimensions (cm): Height: Width: Depth:
Dimensions (notes):
Folding pattern:
State of preservation:

Fragmentary, right part is lost (DBMNT 1651 (5/11/2018))
Pages/Columns: question mark icon Total surviving columns in the manuscript for rolls, sheets and rotuli; total number of pages for codices.

9
Pages/Columns (notes):

Text 25 is written in four circles, each with 9 lines. Text 26 is written in 1 column of 24 lines. Text 27 is written in 2 columns, the most complete of which has 22 lines. Text 28 is written in 1 column, of which 26 lines survive in part. Text 29 consists of 1 column, of which 8 lines survive.
Hand:

Theophilos

Findspot:

Pachora (Faras), Sudan

(TM places ID: 3170)
Place of purchase: (TM places ID: )
Writingspot:

Pachora (Faras), Sudan

(TM places ID: 3170)
Present Location:

[in situ]
Collection History:

Found and remains in situ.
Trismegistos collection: question mark icon Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript.
Collection website:

Notes/Discussion:

Bibiliography
Editions:

★ Griffith, Francis L. “Oxford Excavations in Nubia–continued.” University of Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 14 (1927): 88-89, nos. 25-29, plates LXX-LXXI.

Sayce, Archibald H. “Gleanings from the Land of Egypt.” Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l’archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes: pour servir de bulletin à la Mission Française du Caire 20 (1898): p. 176, col. IV.
Translations:

Kropp, Angelicus. Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte. Übersetzungen und Anmerkungen. Vol. 2. Bruxelles: Édition de la Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, 1931, p. 221, no. 64b.

Pietschmann, Richard. “Les inscritpions coptes de Faras.” Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l’archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes: pour servir de bulletin à la Mission Française du Caire 21 (1899): 133-135.
General:

Crum, W. E. “Coptic Studies,” EEFAR (1897-98): 63.

Łajtar, Adam and Jacques van der Vliet. Qasr Ibrim. The Greek and Coptic Inscriptions Published on Behalf of the Egypt Exploration Society. Warsaw: Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw et al., 2010, 275.

Pietschmann, Richard. “Les inscriptions coptes de Faras,” Rec. de Trav. 21 (1899): 133-136.

Sanzo, Joseph E. Scriptual Incipts on Amulets from Late Antique Egypt. Text, Typology and Theory, Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen, 2014, p. 77-78.

Sayce, A. H. “Gleanings from the Land of Egypt,” Rec. de Trav. 20 (1898): 169-176.

Wilkinson, Sir John Gardener. Topography of Thebes, and General View of Egypt: Being a Short Account of the Principal Objects Worthy of Notice in the Valley of the Nile to the Second Cataract and Wadee Samneh, with the Fyoom, Oases, and Eastern Desert, from Sooez to Berenice; with Remarks on the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians and the Productions of teh Country, Etc, London, 1835, p. 498.

http://www.dbmnt.uw.edu.pl/ nos. 1649, 1651

Trismegistos ID:

370179
370180
370181
370182
370183
370184
370185
108912

 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” AKZ: question mark icon Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte

2.64b

 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:

MPS (5/11/2018); EL (14/6/2019); KD (11/9/2019); EL (17/8/2020); KD (9/2/2021); MPS (26/3/2021); JS (16/02/2022); MPS (30/3/2023); KD (8/8/2023); SG (15/07/2025)

How to cite:
[Editor names]. "KYP M91," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, Korshi Dosoo, Markéta Preininger, & Roxanne Bélanger Sarrazin (principal editors), www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/manuscript/kyp-m91. Accessed on 24/08/2026
For the "editor names", see the abbreviated names in the field "Edit History", and to resolve the abbreviations, see the help page.

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