Protection in pregnancy, childbirth, or childhood (?) (magical, formulary ?)

Egyptian (Coptic)

Coptic

There seems to be a horizontal line at the top of the manuscript, indicating the beginning of the column or section. Each line of text has several dots marked above it. These do not seem to be written consistently above particular letters, and so do not seem to serve the function of supralinear strokes or trema. Perhaps compare P. Gen. IV 153 (TM 128549), a text of the anaphora of Mark which has dots above a few letters. These have been suggested to indicate cantillation (the manner of singing or chanting the text), but the function remains unclear (cf. Mihálykó (2019) 177 n. 111). It is possible that these dots serve as guidelines to mark out the position in which the lines of text were to be copied, but this would be apparently unparalleled – systems of ruling and pricking to mark out lines are known in Coptic manuscripts, but we have not found any examples of this type (cf. Buzi & Emmel (2015) 145).

1. ⲓⲥ ⲭⲥ ⲃⲟⲉⲓⲑⲉⲓ “Jesus Christ, help!” Requests to Jesus Christ for help are common in amulets; for examples, cf. PGM (Christian) P6a ll. 3–4 (Ἰεσοῦ Χριστέ· βοήθι; KYP M423); P.Vindob. K 8302 vo l. 5 (ⲉⲓⲥⲟⲩⲥ ⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲩⲥ ⲃⲟⲩⲑⲉ; KYP M364); P. Moscow Copt. 36 ll. 26–27 ( ⲓ̅ⲥ̅ · ⲭ̅ⲥ̅ ⲃⲟⲏⲑⲓⲁ ⲉⲡⲉⲕϩⲙϩⲁⲗ); P. Vindob. K 5859 l. 1 (ⲓ̅ⲥ̅ ⲡⲉⲭ̅ⲥ̅ ⲃⲟⲏⲑ̣ⲉ̣ⲓⲁ); PCM I 25 p. 15 l. 11 (ⲓ̅ⲥ̅ ⲡⲉⲭ̅ⲥ̅ ⲃ̅ⲱ̅ⲓ̅ⲑ̅ⲓ ⲉⲗⲁϥ).

1-2. ⲙⲓⲭⲁⲏⲗ ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ ϩⲣⲁⲫⲁ̣[ⲏⲗ ca. 8]ⲏⲗ ⲍⲁⲣⲑⲁⲏⲗ ⲁⲛⲁⲏⲗ We probably have here a list of the seven archangels, with one angel’s name completely lost in the lacuna at the end of l. 1, and another partially lost, with only the final -ⲏⲗ surviving at the beginning of l. 2. The fourth angel was almost certainly Suriel (ⲥⲟⲩⲣⲓⲏⲗ), the most common angel name in such lists after Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. The next, largely lost, name was likely Setekiel (ⲥⲉⲧⲉⲕⲓⲏⲗ or a variant) or Raguel (ϩⲣⲁⲅⲟⲩⲏⲗ), perhaps the first of these being more likely given the length of the lost portion we estimate based on the reconstruction of l. 3. The name Zarthaēl is apparently elsewhere unattested, but it is probably a variant of ⲥⲁⲗⲁⲑⲓⲏⲗ, with a non-phonemic shift of sigma to zeta, the lambdacistic hypercorrection of lambda to rho, the loss of the second alpha, and the shift of the final -ⲓⲏⲗ to -ⲁⲏⲗ; cf. the form Zarathiēl (ⲍⲁⲣ̣ⲁ̣ⲑⲓⲏⲗ) P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 544b l. 7 (KYP M365). For the names of angels in Coptic magical texts, cf. Müller 1959: 58–60; Dosoo 2021: 414–415; Gardner 2023: 69. Cf. also the name Zardiel and variants attested as the name of the sixth of the Twenty-Four Presbyters in several lists (Łajtar & van der Vliet 2017: 189).

3–4. κς εμο βοειθ[ος ου φοβησομ]ει τει ποεισα μοι ανθροπος “the Lord is a help to me, [I will not fear] what a human may do to me” A citation of Psalm LXX 117.6 in Greek. The following verse (Psalm LXX 117.7) is spoken by Saint Antony in Athanasius, Life of Antony 6.4–5 to drive away the Devil.

4. ⲃⲉⲗⲥⲉⲗⲗⲓⲁ ⲧⲙⲁⲩ ⲛⲟϭ [ ca. 16 ]ⲙⲉ ϫⲉ ⲧⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲧⲣⲟⲩ̣ “Belsellia, the great mother, [ … ] … that is, Arabastrou” Van der Vliet proposes to restore [ⲉⲧⲉⲧⲉⲥⲣⲁⲛ ⲙ]ⲙⲉ ϫⲉ in the lacuna “Belsellia, the great mother [whose] true [name] is Alabastrou, a plausible suggestion, but one which would not fit our reconstructed line width; it may be that some longer variant of this reconstruction was written here. Belsellia is the name of a child-killing demoness, equivalent to the Greek Gello/Gyllou, associated with the deaths of newborn children (cf. Franek 2025: 78–100). She appears in the legend associated with Saint Sisinnios, in which the saint forces the demoness to swear not to kill children where an amulet inscribed with his name, her name(s), or the story itself appears; variants of this historiola is known in many languages, including Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, Serbian, and Romanian, and was used to protect pregnant women and their children (cf. Naveh/Shaked 1985: 111–122; Greenfield 1989; Toporkov 2019; Braccini 2021). A Coptic version was found in Karanog in Lower Nubia, but the manuscript was never edited, and its current location is unknown (Woolley 1911: 4–5). A Greek version which follows the outlines of the Ethiopian (Ge’ez) version was found in Qasr Ibrim (Nubia; Cairo JdE 95216=KYP M710), in which the demoness is called Belselleia (Βελσελλεια(ι)), clearly a variant of the name we have here. This Greek version was probably translated into Coptic (giving rise to the presence of the name ‘Belselleia’ in Coptic texts), before translation into Arabic and finally Ge’ez, where the demoness is known as Wǝrzǝlya (ውርዝልያ; cf. Worrell 1909) – the shift from the initial beta to /w/ is probably to be explained by the habitual transliteration of Coptic beta into Arabic as waw /w/ (Isḥāḳ (1975) I 33-79). In Coptic, Belselleia also appears in P.Lond.Copt. 524 (KYP M359; X-XI CE?), in which ⲁⲃⲉⲣⲥⲉⲗⲓⲁ ⲛⲓⲃⲓ (“every aberselia”) is one type of demon against which protection is asked for a pregnant woman and her children (ll. 22–23, 35, 43, 125). The name also appears in the Scala Magna (XIV CE), a Coptic-Arabic lexicon, where the Belsellia is described as a type of bird, whose Arabic translation is given as umm aṣ-ṣibyān (أم الصبيان, an Arabic child-killing demoness) and maṣāsa (المصاصة, an Egyptian Arabic word for a kind of owl) (Macomber 2020: I 123). The name Belselleia was probably originally something like Berselleia, and derived from barzel (ברזל), the Hebrew word for “iron”, either because of the idea that iron had apotropaic power against the demoness, or she was considered as cold and cruel as iron (von Lemm 1907 499; Naveh/Shaked 1985: 121; Fauth 1999: 408). This relationship is confirmed by the fact that Aramaic versions of the story usually call the demon Sideros, using the Greek word for iron (Naveh/Shaked 1985: 116, 121). The second name, Arabastrou, also appears in a variant form in a seventh- or eighth- century depiction from the Monastery of Bawit in Middle Egypt, in which Sisinnios appears as a rider saint running down the demoness, labelled as Alabasdria (ⲁⲗⲁⲃⲁⲥⲧⲣⲓⲁ; van der Vliet 1991: 232–233). The name, probably derived from the word “alabaster”, and probably again describes the demoness as a cold and unfeeling monster (Fauth 1999: 408; cf. the alternative explanation that it derives from a vox magica associated with Hecate in van der Vliet 1991: 232–233). The description of Belsellia as “the great mother” may be ironic, deriving from her jealousy of mothers which drives her to kill children, or else the fact that in some tellings (notably the Greek story of Lamia) the demoness is driven to kill children by losing her own (cf. Franek 2025: 79–84), while in other versions she is the mother of many other demons (cf. Franek 2025: 76–77).

EL’s transcript from Beltz (1984: p. 84) (17/10/18); edited from photo by KD (3/9/2025); KD, MPS + RBS (8/10/2025)