In the previous posts in this series, we discussed a parchment sheet from a now-lost codex kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), BnF Copte 129 (20) fol. 178, dated to around the 10th century, which contains several healing prescriptions, including the already-discussed fumigation prescription for a quick childbirth. In this post, we will take a closer look at a prayer for healing deafness, which mentions Malchus, the servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas, and appears on page 23 of the codex. BnF Copte 129.20 fol. 178 (135), verso ll. 1–7: ⲕ̅ⲅ̅ ⲙ̣ⲁ̣ⲁϫⲉ̣ ⲙ̇ⲙⲁⲗⲭⲟⲥ ⲧⲉⲛⲟⲩ ⲇⲉ ⲡ̣ϫ̣ⲟⲉ̅ⲥ ⲓ̅ⲥ̅ ⲡⲉⲭ̅ⲥ̅ ⲉⲕⲉⲥⲟⲟⲩⲧ̣ⲛ̇ ⲛ̇ⲧⲉ̣ⲕϭⲓ̇ϫ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲛⲟⲩ̣ⲛⲁⲙ̣ ⲛⲉⲕϫⲱϩ · ⲉⲡⲉⲓ̇ⲁⲗ ϭⲣⲁϩ ·…
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Three Healing Prescriptions from a Now-Lost Codex I: Introduction to the Manuscript
In this series of blog posts, we will look at a parchment sheet kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), BnF Copte 129 (20) fol. 178. On April 3rd, 1894, a modern codex was bound in France, comprising various miscellaneous, but mainly liturgical and biblical, texts. The Coptologist Émile Amélineau had acquired the manuscripts and catalogued them for the BnF a few years earlier. In the modern codex, the preceding and the following sheets are written in a different hand, and no other sheets in the codex resemble this one. Because its recto is numbered as page 22 and its verso as 23, we can assume that it originally…