KYP T-916

KYPRIANOS DATABASE OF ANCIENT RITUAL TEXTS

KYPRIANOS T916

Manuscript:	M15
Sigla:	P. Mich. Inv. 599 + 594 + 603 + 596 + 598 + 597 + 595
Text no. Position of the text within the manuscript.	13
Coptic Scriptorium:
Date:	501 – 700

Text position:	p. 3 (P. Mich. Inv. 594, ro) ll. 12-13
Type of text:	Healing (magical, formulary)

Original title:	ⲉⲧⲃⲉ ⲟⲩⲁ ⲉⲙⲉϥⲛ̅ⲕⲟⲧ̅ⲕ̅ ⲙ̅ⲛ̅ ⲥϩⲓ̈ⲙⲉ
Original title (translated):	For one who does not sleep with women
Conventional title:	For one who does not sleep with woman

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) → 12. [preceding text] ⲉⲧⲃⲉ ⲟⲩⲁ 13. ⲉⲙⲉϥⲛ̅ⲕⲟⲧ̅ⲕ̅ ⲙ̅ⲛ̅ ⲥϩⲓ̈ⲙⲉ ⲧⲁⲩⲟⲥ ⲉϫⲛ̅ ⲟⲩⲏⲣⲡ ⲛ̅ⲅⲧⲥⲟϥ [following text]	[12] For one [13] who does not sleep with women. Recite it over some wine and have him drink.

Tableau:
Tracing by:

Apparatus:

12. ⲉⲧⲃⲉ large dots of ink above the ⲧ and between the ⲃ and ⲉ
13. ⲉϫⲛ̅ ϫ corrected from ϥ by overwriting | ⲛ̅ⲅⲧⲥⲟϥ ⲥ corrected from ϩ by overwriting

Notes:

Parallel text: P. Mich. inv. 593, p. 7 ll. 5-7 (KYP M9, T874)

13. ⲉⲙⲉϥⲛ̅ⲕⲟⲧ̅ⲕ̅ ⲙ̅ⲛ̅ ⲥϩⲓ̈ⲙⲉ The sense here is unclear; is this referring to a man who is unable to sleep with women because of impotence (or some other social, psychological or physical problem) or because he rather sleeps with men? For the wording, compare Leviticus 18.21: “Thou shalt not lie with a man” (ⲛⲛⲉⲕⲛⲕⲟⲧⲕ ⲙⲛ ⲟⲩϩⲟⲟⲩⲧ), and cf. Behlmer 2000 for attitudes to same-sex male sexuality in Coptic sources.

Bibliography:

Behlmer, Heike. “Koptische Quellen zu (männlicher) ‘Homosexualität’”, Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 28 (2000): 27-53.

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.

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

Editor:

KD, MPS, RBS (23/7/2026)

How to cite:

[Editor names]. "KYP T916: For one who does not sleep with woman," 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-916. Accessed on 11/10/2026
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