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KYPRIANOS M918

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

GMA 32
SEG 55 1005
SEG LV 1005
Greek Magical Amulets 32
IG XIV 2413
Siracusa, Museo Archeologico Nazionale

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

Magical (formulary)
Contents:

1. Ro ll. 1-7: Amulet of Moses for protection.
2. Ro ll. 8-22: Amulet of Moses for protection.
3. Ro ll. 23-29: Amulet of Moses for protection.
4. Ro ll. 30-36: Amulet for protection against fever, animal bites, sorcery, and demons.
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. 101 – 300
Date notes:

GEMF dating (11/7/2019) based on palaeography.
Archive/collection: question mark icon Larger collection to which manuscript belongs.
Archive name:
State of edition:

Published.
Image:

Form:

Sheet
Material:

Metal (copper)
Dimensions (cm): Height: 9.1 Width: 5.6 Depth:
Dimensions (notes):

GEMF (10/1/2021).
Folding pattern:

1 horizontal, 35 vertical creases; the vertical creases seem to have been intended to guide the writing of the lines.
State of preservation:

Complete, some damage to sides.
Pages/Columns: question mark icon Total surviving columns in the manuscript for rolls, sheets and rotuli; total number of pages for codices.

1
Pages/Columns (notes):

1 column recto, 36 lines.
Hand:

Findspot:

Akrai (Palazzolo Acreide), Italy

(TM places ID: 22331)
Place of purchase: (TM places ID: )
Writingspot:

Akrai (Palazzolo Acreide), Italy

(TM places ID: 22331)
Present Location:

Siracusa, Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Collection History:

Said to have been excavated in area of Acre near Syracuse (Kotansky 1994; p.
Trismegistos collection: question mark icon Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript. 1590
Collection website: http://www.edr-edr.it/edr_programmi/res_complex_comune.php?do=book&id_nr=EDR112507

Notes/Discussion:

Often understood as an applied amulet for protection, but seems instead to be a formulary written on a metal tablet.

Bibiliography
Editions:

Bernabò Brea, Luigi and Giovanni Pugliese Carratelli. Akrai. Catania: Cartotecnica, 1956, p. 170-171, no. 52.

Bevilacqua, Gabriella, Scrittura e magia. Un repertorio di oggetti iscritti della magia greco-romana. Opuscula epigraphica 12. Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 2010, p. 65-88.

Chaniotis, Angelos, et al. “SEG 55-1005. Akrai. Formulas for amulets on a bronze tablet, 4th cent. A.D.” In: Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 55 (SEG 55), edited by A. Chaniotis et al., 2005, no. 1005 (SEG 55 1005).

Kaibel, Georg. Inscriptiones Graecae. Vol. 14, Inscriptiones Italiae et Siciliae. Berlin: George Reimer, 1890, no. 2413 (IG XIV 2413).

★ Kotansky, Roy. Greek Magical Amulets. The Inscribed Gold, Silver, Copper, and Bronze Lamellae. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1994, p. 126-154, no. 32.

Rizzo, Francesco P. “I “Formulari di Mosè”. Un documento acrense delle paure e delle speranze dell’uomo tardo-antico.” Atti dell’Accademia di Scienze, Lettere e Arti di Palermo 5,15 (1994-1995): 73-119.

Vogliano A. and Karl Preisendanz, “Laminetta Magica Siciliana.” Acme 1 (1948): 73-85.
Translations:
General:

Calderone, S. “Per la storia dell’elemento giudaico nella Sicilia Imperiale.” Rendiconti dell’ Accademia del Lincei, ser. 8, vol. 10 (1955), p. 489f.

Eitrem, Samson. “Varia.” Papyri Osloenses 27 (1949): 145.

Manganaro, G.”Nuovi documenti magici della Si cilia Orientale.” Rendiconti dell’ Accademia del Lincei, ser. 8, vol. 18 (1963-1964), p. 60.

Peterson, Erik. “Das Amulett von Acre”, Aegyptus 33 (1953), pp. 172- 178.

Peterson, Erik. Frühkirche, Judentum, und Gnosis. Freiburg: Herder, 1959, p. 346-354.

Robert, Jeanne, and Louis Robert. Bulletin Epigraphique 63 (1950), p. 219, no. 242

Robert, Jeanne, and Louis Robert. Bulletin Epigraphique 64 (1951), no. 257

Robert, Jeanne, and Louis Robert. Bulletin Epigraphique 66 (1953), p. 212, no. 286.

Robert, Jeanne, and Louis Robert. Bulletin Epigraphique 67 (1954), p. 4, no. 18

Robert, Jeanne, and Louis Robert. Bulletin Epigraphique 72 (1959), p. 282, no. 546.

Robert, Louis. “Amulettes grecques,” Journal des Savants, 1981, p. 14, n. 23.

Thorlacius, Børge. Monumentorum Siculorum speciminis secundi particula prima. Hauniae: Janus Hostrup Schultz, 1829 [non vidi].

Trismegistos ID:

285014

 PAThs:
PGM: question mark icon Papyri Gracae Magicae SM: question mark icon Supplementum Magicum GEMF: question mark icon Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies (forthcoming) 26 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
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 (21/5/2019); ST (10/1/2021); KD (17/2/2021)

How to cite:
Korshi Dosoo & Markéta Preininger (principal editors). "KYP M918," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/manuscript/kyp-m918. Accessed on 05/11/2025

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