| Manuscript: | M122 |
| Sigla: | PCM 1 9 |
Text no.
Position of the text within the manuscript. | 1 |
| Coptic Scriptorium: | |
| Date: | 501 – 800 |
| Text position: | Ro ll. 1-13 |
| Type of text: | Sleep (healing, magical, formulary) |
| Original title: | |
| Original title (translated): | |
| Conventional title: | Charm for sleep |
| Language: | Egyptian (Coptic) |
| Dialect: | Sahidic (non-standard) |
| Script: | Coptic |
| Image: |
| Text: | Translation: |
| front |
[1] “Afboure, Afboure! Look, the golden cup is in your hand! If I send you on my work, you will go, yea (?), to the well, [2] you will fill it.” “Because of this, if you send me to the water, I will draw it, ⟨if⟩ to the river, I will bring its mud.” [3] No, I did not send you concerning those things, I did not send you concerning those other things; I shall send you to NN, [4] the son of NN, so that you (s.) might bring sleep upon him, and slumber until the sun of the Kushite (?) rises, [5] because the true name is Paplēu.” Say, “It is Isis [the two], this is Sephthys, these two sisters [6] who are afflicted within, who are grieved within, who have gone up to heaven and earth, who are in the abyss, [7] for, behold, Horus, the son of Isis … find them (?), behold, they are far from him. What is wrong with you (f.s.)? … The arrow [8] goes around the sun, the water-wheel goes around the moon in the midst of the sky, as the Pleiades are in the midst of the sky, Isis [9] and Sephthys, the two sisters who are afflicted within, who are grieved within, [10] who are in the abyss, for you are Ax, you are Abrazakh, the angel [11] who sits upon the Tree of Paradise, who set sleep upon Abdemelech [12] for seventy-five (?) years; you (s.) will bring sleep upon NN, the son of NN, [13] now, now, quickly, quickly! |
| Tableau: | |
| Tracing by: |
| Apparatus: | 1. ⲁϥⲃ̣ⲟ̣ⲩ̣ⲣⲉ : unidentified verb ? ⲁϥⲃ̣ⲟ̣ . ⲣⲉ Erman 1904 understands ⲃⲟⲩⲣⲉ as verb : -ⲃⲟⲩⲣⲉ l. ⲡⲱⲱⲣⲉ ? Crum CD 42a | ⲉⲓ̣̈ⲥ : ⲉⲓ̈ⲥ Erman 1904 | ⲡ̣ⲁ̣ⲡⲁⲧ : ⲡⲁ̣ⲡⲁⲧ Erman 1904 | ⲛ̅ⲧⲟⲟⲧⲕ : l. l. ⲛ̅ⲧⲟⲟⲧ〚ⲕ〛 ? | ⲉⲓ̣̈ϫⲟⲟⲩⲕ : ⲉ . ϫⲟⲟⲩⲕ Erman 1904 | ⲙ̅ⲡ̣̅ⲁϩⲱ̣ⲃ̣ ; ⲙ̅ⲡⲁϩⲱⲃ̣ Erman 1904 | ⲕⲛⲁ̅ⲉ̅ⲓ̈ ⲁⲉⲓ̣ i.e. Sahidic ⲉⲓⲉ or dittography ? : ⲕⲛ̅ⲁ̅ⲉ̣ⲓⲁⲉⲓ̈ Erman 1904 : {ⲁⲉⲓ} Bélanger Sarrazin | ⲉ̣ⲡϣⲱⲧ̣ l. ⲧ-ϣⲱⲧⲉ “the well”? : ⲉⲡϣⲱⲧ l. ⲉⲡϣⲟⲓ Erman 1904 |
| Notes: | 1-2. Erman 1894, Kropp, and Pernigotti understand this first phrase as a question “If I send you to my work, will you go…”; Meyer/Smith note it as a possibility. Previous editors translate “your hand”; here we propose that the inserted ⲧ represents a correction. On this understanding, possession of the “golden cup” permits the first speaker to command the second. Alternatively, if we translate “your hand”, the second speaker may be implicitly requested to fill it with water or mud. |
| Bibliography: | Bélanger Sarrazin, Roxanne. “Les divinités gréco-égyptiennes dans les textes magiques coptes : Une étude du syncrétisme religieux en Égypte tardo-antique et médiévale”. PhD Diss, University of Ottawa, 2020. |
| Editor: | EL’s working edition from consultation of the original (17/10/18), improved through KD’s translation and given full apparatus by EL (17/6/2020); edited by team and Roxanne Bélanger Sarrazin (25/11/2020); edited by KD (30/11/2020); minor edits MPS (20/1/2023); updated to PCM version by SG + KD (22/7/2026); JS (9/1/2023) |
How to cite:
[Editor names]. "KYP T179: Charm for sleep," 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/text/kyp-t-179. Accessed on 03/08/2026For the "editor names", see the abbreviated names in the field "Editor", and to resolve the abbreviations, see the help page.