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KYPRIANOS T7013

Manuscript: M15
Sigla:

P. Mich. Inv. 599 + 594 + 603 + 596 + 598 + 597 + 595

Text no. question mark icon Position of the text within the manuscript.22
Coptic Scriptorium:
Date: 501 – 700

Text position:

p. 3 (P. Mich. Inv. 594, ro) ll. 22-23

Type of text:

Favour before authority (magical, formulary)

Original title:

ⲉⲧⲣⲉϫⲓ ⲙⲡⲉⲕϣⲁϫⲉ̣ [ⲛ]ⲧ̣ⲟ̣ⲟ̣ⲧ̣ⲕ̣

Original title (translated):

So that your words will be listened to

Conventional title: So that your words will be listened to

Language:

Egyptian (Coptic)

Dialect:

Sahidic (non-standard)

Script:

Coptic

Image: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2616/599r.tif & http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2616/599v.tif

Text: Translation:

p. 3 (P. Mich. Inv. 594, ro)

→
22. [preceding text] ⲉⲧⲣⲉϫⲓ ⲙⲡⲉⲕϣⲁϫⲉ̣ [ⲛ]ⲧ̣ⲟ̣ⲟ̣ⲧ̣ⲕ̣
23. ⲧⲁⲩⲟⲥ ⲉϫⲛ̅ ⲟⲩⲛ̅ⲉϩ ⲛϩⲣⲱⲇⲓⲛⲟⲛ ⲛ̅ⲅⲧⲱϩⲥ̣ ⲙⲡⲉⲕ̣ϩ[ⲟ] [following text]

[22] So that your words will be listened to. [23] Recite it over some rose oil and anoint your face.

Tableau:
Tracing by:

Apparatus:

23. ⲧⲁⲩⲟⲥ ⲁ corrected from ⲟ by overwriting? | ϩⲣⲱⲇⲓⲛⲟⲛ i.e. Greek ῥόδινον | ⲙⲡⲉⲕ̣ϩ[ⲟ] ⲕ̣ corrected from unclear letter by overwriting

Notes:

Parallel text: P. Mich. inv. 593, p. 8 ll. 10-12 (KYP M9, T7011)

Worrell and Mirecki 1994 & 1999 understood KYP T924 and KYP T7013 as part of the same prescription.

23. ⲛ̅ⲅⲧⲱϩⲥ̣ ⲙⲡⲉⲕ̣ϩ[ⲟ] Anointing the face with oil is common in procedures for manipulating relationships, for both reconciliation (or stopping violent behavior in the couple) and separation. In the former cases, the prescriptions often indicate whose face (the man’s or woman’s) to anoint, e.g., in P.Heid.inv.Kopt. 686 (PCM I 26; KYP M166) p. 16 ll. 20 (KYP T1318), 23 (KYP T752); Leiden F 1964/4.14 (PCM I 37; KYP M21; KYP T1576) back l. 15. In the latter cases, sometimes the faces of effigies standing in for the targets are anointed, e.g., in P.Heid.inv.Kopt. 679 (KYP M296; KYP T225) front ll. 22-23 (cf. Dosoo 2023, 174-175). Anointing the recipient’s face with oil is also commonly used in procedures for gaining favour, e.g., in Leiden F 1964/4.14 (PCM I 37; KYP M21) back ll. 3 (KYP T1583), 31 (KYP T2087). For discussion of the relation between the face, oil, and favour, see Preininger 2026, 34-42.

Bibliography:

Dosoo, Korshi. “Two Body Problems: Binding Effigies in Christian Egypt.” 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, 2023, 135–184.

Meyer, Marvin W., and Richard Smith. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Princeton (New Jersey): Princeton University Press, 1999, p. 304–310, no. 133.

Mirecki, Paul. “The Coptic Wizard’s Hoard.” The Harvard Theological Review vol. 87 no. 4 (1994): 435–460.

Preininger, M. The Magical Body: Embodiment in Coptic Magical Papyri. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 202. Leiden: Brill, 2026.

Worrell, W. H. “A Coptic Wizard’s Hoard.” The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 46 no. 4 (1930): 239–262.


Editor:

MPS entered edition and translation created by KD, RBS and MPS (9/4/2026); KD, MPS, RBS (23/7/2026)

How to cite:
[Editor names]. "KYP T7013: So that your words will be listened to," 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-7013. Accessed on 07/10/2026
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