KYP T-1321

KYPRIANOS DATABASE OF ANCIENT RITUAL TEXTS

KYPRIANOS T1321

Manuscript:	M166
Sigla:	PCM 1 26 PCM I 26 P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 686
Text no. Position of the text within the manuscript.	23
Coptic Scriptorium:
Date:	951 – 1000

Text position:	p. 16, ll. 28-30 (264)
Type of text:	Favour/for going to superior (magical, formulary)

Original title:	ⲓ̅ⲇ̅ ⸗ ⲟⲩⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ : ⲉⲕⲡⲏⲧ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ϣⲁⲣⲁⲥ
Original title (translated):	14. An authority to whom you are going
Conventional title:	An authority to whom you are going

Language:	Egyptian (Coptic)
Dialect:	Sahidic with Middle Egyptian features
Script:	Coptic
Image:	https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/p_kopt_686/0001/thumbs

Text:	Translation:
p. 16 28. ⲓ̅ⲇ̅ ⸗ ⲟⲩⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ : ⲉⲕⲡⲏⲧ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ϣⲁⲣⲁⲥ ⸗ ⲥϩⲁⲓ ⲡⲓ- 29. ⲧⲉⲛⲁⲙⲓⲥ : ⲉⲧⲥⲁ ⲓⲟⲩⲛⲁⲙ ⸗ ⲙⲁⲣⲉⲥ ⲉϫⲱϥ : ⲡⲱⲧ ⲉ- 30. ϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲡⲉⲣϣⲁϫⲉ ⲙⲁⲛ ϩⲏⲕ ϣⲁⲛ : ⲙ̇ⲟⲩϫⲁⲩⲉⲓ ⸗	[28] 14. An authority to whom you are going. Draw the [29] power which is on the right. Bind it to him. Go [30] to ⟨the authority⟩. Do not speak. Certainly, ⟨you will be⟩ well (?).

Tableau:
Tracing by:

Apparatus:

28. ⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ i.e. Greek ἐξουσία : cf. Greek οὐσία Kropp
29. ⲧⲉⲛⲁⲙⲓⲥ i.e. Greek δύναμις | ⲥⲁⲓ i.e. Sahidic ⲥⲁ | ⲟⲩⲛⲁⲙ i.e. Sahidic ⲛ̅-ⲟⲩⲛⲁⲙ
30. ⲡⲉⲣ i.e. Sahidic ⲙ̅ⲡⲣ haplography with preceding ⲛ ? | ⲙⲁⲛ ϩⲏⲕ ϣⲁⲛ ⲙ̇ ⲟⲩϫⲁⲩⲉⲓ l. e.g. ⲙⲁⲛ ϣⲁⲕⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ : i.e. Sahidic ⲙⲛ̅ ϩⲓⲕ ϣⲱⲱⲛⲕ ⲙⲁⲛ ϩⲓⲕ ϣⲱⲛⲉ followed by ⲙ̅ⲡⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ or ⲙⲟⲟⲩ ⲉⲧ-ϣⲟⲱⲟⲩ translate “no magic can harm you” (“Kein Zauber kann dich schädigen”) or “certainly, magic will become powerless” (“sicherlich wird Zauber kraftlos werden”), following words untranslated but perhaps “of wellbeing” or “dry water” (“trockenes Wasser”) Kropp : translate “no sorcery will deprive (you) of well-being” ? or “surely sorcery will be powerless…” Meyer/Smith : translate “truly the sorcery is rendered impotent” Gardner

Notes:

This text is numbered 264 in Kropp.

28. ⲟⲩⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ : ⲉⲕⲡⲏⲧ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ϣⲁⲣⲁⲥ Here we understand the “authority” to be a human in a position in authority, a translation followed by Meyer/Smith. Justification for this may be found in the Scala Magna, in which ϯⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ is translated as “the sultan” (السلطان; Macomber 2020: p. 70). The term “sultan” is used in several Arabic recipes to refer to one possible authority a client might need to approach; cf. e.g., ʿĪsā ibn ʿAlī, Book on the Useful Properties of Animal Parts (IX CE) 1.10, 2.2, 4.6-7, 18.1, 56.10, 59.22, 67.2 (Raggetti 2018); Guide to the Psalms Psalms 19, 20, 26, 34, 40, 42, 53, 54, 57 (Henein/Bianquis 1975). Cf. Förster WBGW 272 s.v. ⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ, although these instances tend to refer the abstract quality of power in general rather than specific individuals. Both terms would seem to refer, at this time, to “the person who at a particular time is the personification of the impersonal governmental power” (Kramers et al. 2012: §1).
Kropp and Gardner understand this to refer to a supernatural being who has confronted the patient of the ritual, specifically a “ghost” (“Totengeist”); Kropp seems to suggest a confusion with οὐσία, “essence”, the term often used for materials from a human body used in rituals, sometimes taken from dead bodies. Ἐξουσία in reference to a supernatural being is best attested as a rank of angel, however, which would not seem to fit here.
29. ⲙⲁⲣⲉⲥ ⲉϫⲱϥ Kropp suggests that “him” here might be the dead person whose ghost is being encountered.
30. ⲡⲱⲧ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲡⲉⲣϣⲁϫⲉ Gardner translates “Confront, but do not speak”.

Bibliography:

Dosoo, Korshi, Edward O.D. Love, and Markéta Preininger. “The Coptic Magical Papyri Project: Progress Report.” Journal of Coptic Studies 24 (2022): 43–100.

Gardner, Iain. “An Archive of Coptic Handbooks and Exemplars for the Making of Amulets and the Enacting of Ritual Power from the Tenth Century (P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 680–683 and 685–686)”, in Drawing Spirit: The Role of Images and Design in the Magical Practice of Late Antiquity, edited by Jay Johnston and Iain Gardner (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022), 129.

Henein, Nessim Henry and Thierry Bianquis. La magie par les Psaumes: édition et traduction d’un manuscrit arabe chrétien d’Égypte. Cairo: L’Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1975.

Kramers, J.H., C.E. Bosworth, O. Schumann, and Ousmane Kane, “Sulṭān”, in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs. Leiden: Brill, 2012,

Kropp, Angelicus. Der Lobpreis des Erzengels Michael (vormals P. Heidelberg Inv. Nr. 1686). Brussels : Fondation égyptologique reine Elisabeth, 1966.

Macomber, William F. The Scala Magna of Shams al-Riˀāsah Abū al-Barakāt. Volume I: Introduction, Text, Translation and Notes. Leuven: Peeters, 2020.

Meyer, Marvin W., and Richard Smith. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Princeton (New Jersey): Princeton University Press, 1999, p. 326-341, no. 135.

Raggetti, Lucia. ʿĪsā Ibn ʿAlī’s Book on the Useful Properties of Animal Parts: Edition, Translation and Study of a Fluid Tradition. Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Cultures 6. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2018.

Editor:

EL’s edition from the original (23/6/16; 30/1/20); team (20/12/2022)

How to cite:

Korshi Dosoo, Edward O.D. Love & Markéta Preininger (chief editors). "KYP T1321: An authority to whom you are going," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/text/kyp-t-1321. Accessed on 14/05/2025

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