Manuscript: | M361 |
Sigla: | British Library MS Or 5899 (1) |
Text no. ![]() | 2 |
Coptic Scriptorium: | |
Date: | 901 – 1000 |
Text position: | Vo ll. x+1-12 |
Type of text: | Magical (formulary, grave and favour) |
Original title: | |
Original title (translated): | |
Conventional title: | Invocation to bring grace and favour |
Language: | Egyptian (Coptic) |
Dialect: | Sahidic (non-standard) |
Script: | Coptic |
Image: |
Text: | Translation: |
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – |
[1] ⳨̣̣ […] [2] Dathiēl, Ebthiel […] [3] Kardiēl, Labdiēl, Murmphaēl, N[…] [4] Okhaēl, Pithiēl, Rouēl, Serōaēl, Tauriēl Umnouēl (?) [5] Phanoul, Khristuēl, Pserathaēl, Ōlithiēl; [6] I adjure you (pl.) by those who rise with those great stars [7] that shine upon the earth – whose names are these: [8] Araēl, Aranaēl, Anapouēl, Ouriēl, [9] Anatalaēl, Emaēl, Arouēl, Maēl, Asouriēl – [10] that you (sg. m.) give great favour and great, firm exaltedness [11] and ability to speak openly to NN in the presence [of] NN … [12] so that he (?) … [13] |
Tableau: | |
Tracing by: |
Apparatus: | 1-2. Crum omits |
Notes: | 1 – 5: As Crum notes, the first letters of the names of the invoked beings follow the order of the Greek alphabet; this allows us to estimate an additional lost line. The initial sign visible at l. 2 is likely a staurogram, but since such scribal marks are almost always written on the first line, it is probable that we have a very tall staurogram which extends from l. 1 to l. 2. As noted by Łajtar & van der Vliet (pp. 184-190) the alphabetic names belong to a series well known from other magical and literary texts, which allows us to identify them as those of the 24 Presbyters of Revelation 4.4. Based on the close parallel in P. Berol. 11347 ro ll. 16-32 (KYP M220/KYP T425) and the burial vault from Dongola l. 43 (Łajtar & van der Vliet pp. 96-97; KYP M501/KYP T1616), we could suggest that the missing names would have been something like ⲁⲭⲁⲏⲗ, ⲃⲁⲛⲟⲩⲏⲗ, ⲅⲁⲛⲁⲏⲗ or ⲅⲁⲛⲟⲩⲏⲗ (l. 1), ⲍⲁⲣⲇⲓⲏⲗ or ⲍⲁⲣⲧⲓⲏⲗ, ⲏⲗⲓⲏⲗ or ⲉⲑⲁⲏⲗ, ⲑⲓⲇⲁⲏⲗ or ⲑⲁⲑⲓⲏⲗ, ⲓⲱⲭⲁⲏⲗ (l. 2), ⲛⲁⲣⲁⲏⲗ or ⲛⲉⲣⲁⲏⲗ, ⲝⲓⲫⲓⲏⲗ (l. 3), ⲩⲙⲛⲟⲩⲏⲗ (l. 4). The names of l. 1 would not fill the width, so the text likely began with an invocation, adjuration, or description of the names (such as “these are the names of the 24 Presbyters…”). |
Bibliography: | Beer, Beate. “Parrhesia” Reallexikon der Antike und Christentum 26 (2015): 1014-1033. |
Editor: | EL’s transcript from the original, incorporating Crum (19/12/2019); preliminary translation by KD (7/7/2020); KD + SG (20/1/2025) |