| Manuscript: | M129 |
| Sigla: | PCM 1 8 |
Text no. 
Position of the text within the manuscript. | 1 |
| Coptic Scriptorium: | |
| Date: | 501 – 700 |
| Text position: | Ro ll. 1-20, Vo ll. 1-10 |
| Type of text: | Love spell (magical, formulary, erotic) |
| Original title: | |
| Original title (translated): | |
| Conventional title: | Love spell invoking oil |
| Language: | Egyptian (Coptic) |
| Dialect: | Sahidic with Fayumic features (?) |
| Script: | Coptic |
| Image: | https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2349/4932fv.tif |
| Text: | Translation: |
| Recto 1. ⳨ ⲡⲛⲉϩ ⲡⲛⲉϩ ⲡⲛⲉϩ • ⲡⲛⲉϩ ⲉⲧⲟⲩⲁⲁⲃ Verso 1. ⧸⳨⧹ ϯⲛⲁⲡⲟⲣⲕϥ ⲟⲩⲡⲉⲛⲓⲡⲉ ϯⲛⲁⲃⲟⲗϥ |
[1] ⳨ O oil, O oil, O oil, O holy oil! [2] O oil which flows from beneath the throne of Iao [3] Sabaoth! O oil with which Isis anointed the bones [4] of Osiris! I call to you, O oil! The sun and [5] the moon call to you! The stars of the sky call [6] to you! The servants of the sun call to you! [7] I want to send you; you will go and I will bring you so that you will [8] bring NN, child of NN, to me, I, NN, child of NN, and you will cause my love [9] to be in the her heart, and hers to be in mine [10] [like] a brother and a sister, and ⟨like⟩ a she-bear [11] [who] wants to suckle her offspring, yea, yea! I [12] adjure you, he whose head is in heaven, [13] whose feet are in the abyss, whose forepart has the appearance of a [14] sheep, whose hindpart has the appearance of a serpent, [15] he from whom the whole sky and (?) of all darkness hangs, [16] while the turning … [17] the women who … [18] … which is upon […] [19] …khouba… “…, [Verso, 1] ⳨ I will tear it out; iron, I will dissolve it”. [2] “No, my lord, do not hand me [3] over to Temeluchus, he who is set [4] over the judgement, rather I want [5] you to go down to hell and tear out [6] all the thoughts of the Devil [7] concerning NN, the ⟨child of⟩ NN [8] and you cause my love to be in her [heart] [9] and hers to be in mine, for it is I [10] who calls, ⟨and⟩ you are the one who does the desire.” |
| Tableau: | |
| Tracing by: |
| Apparatus: | Recto 2. ⲑⲣⲟⲛⲟⲥ i.e. Greek θρόνος Verso 1. ⲟⲩⲡⲉⲛⲓⲡⲉ l. ⲛ̅ⲟⲩⲡⲉⲛⲓⲡⲉ Worrell, Skiles |
| Notes: | Recto 10. ⲙⲛ̅ ⲟⲩⲗⲁⲃⲟⲓ Worrell, following a suggestion of Youtie, suggests that this text is translated from a Greek original, in which an original καὶ γάρ οὕτως (“and indeed thus”) was miscopied as καὶ ἄρκτος; the original translation of ll. 9-11 according to this reconstruction would have been “and make my love arise in her heart. and hers in mine, in the manner of a brother and a sister, and indeed thus I desire to beget her children”. This seems unnecessary, though, given the frequent use of animal metaphors to describe emotion; cf. P. CtYBR inv. 1791 Vo ll. 17.18 (M284/T330): “until she becomes like [black] dogs … which are mad for their children” (ϣⲁⲛ̅ⲧⲉ̣ⲥⲉⲣ ⲑⲉ ⲛ̅ⲛⲓⲟⲩϩⲱⲱⲣ ⲛⲕ̣[ⲁⲙⲉ]ⲉⲧⲗⲟⲃⲉ ⲛ̅ⲥⲁ ⲉⲩϣ[ⲏ]ⲣⲉ) and P. Berlin 8314 ll.8-9 (M77/T58) “a black dog, whose children he is about to take away before her eyes” ⲟⲩϩⲟⲣⲉ ⲕⲁⲙⲉ ⲉϥⲛⲁⲃⲓ ⲛⲉⲥϣⲏⲣⲉ ⲉϩⲟⲛ ⲓⲁⲧⲥ. Polotsky, while accepting similar parallels, proposes to read [ⲉⲩⲟⲩ]ⲱϣ ⲉ{ϯ}ϫⲓ ⲛⲉⲥϣⲏⲣⲉ “a lioness whose children one wants to take” (“eine Löwin, deren Junge man [sic] wegnehmen will”).Here we translate “she-bear”, but the word ⲗⲁⲃⲟⲓ originally, and still, had the alternative meaning of “lioness”. Verso 5-7. ⲛ̅ⲅ̅ⲡⲱⲣ̅ⲕ̅ ⲛⲙⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ ⲧⲏⲣⲟⲩ ⲙⲡⲇⲓⲁⲃⲟⲗⲟⲥ ⲉϩⲣⲁⲓ̈ ⲉϫ̅ⲛ̅ ⲙⲉϣⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ̅ ⲡⲇͅⲇͅ Polotsky understands this phrase to mean something like “fill NN child of NN with thoughts snatched from the Devil”, comparing P. Heid. Kopt. 684 p. 5, ll. 22-23 (M148/T15): “her mind will have devilish thoughts” (ⲡⲉⲥⲛⲟⲩⲥ ⲉⲣ ⲙⲉⲟⲩⲉ ⲛ̅ⲧⲓⲁⲃⲱⲗⲓⲕⲱⲛ), but this would seem to require the addition of another verb. |
| Bibliography: | Skiles, Stephen H., in Marvin W. Meyer, and Richard Smith. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Princeton (New Jersey): Princeton University Press, 1999, p. 175-176, no. 82. |
| Editor: | Transcript by Worrell entered by KD (22/3/2019); edition by EL (27/5/2020); KD and Roxanne Bélanger Sarrazin from photographs (28/7/2021); team (30/7/2021); JS (12(1/2023) |