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

p. 4 (P. Mich. Inv. 594, vo) ll. 15-16

ⲉⲧⲃⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲙⲛ̅ ⲛⲉⲕⲣⲙⲛ̅ϯⲙⲉ

Sahidic (non-standard)

Parallel text: P. Mich. inv. 593, p. 10 ll. 11-14 (KYP M9, T891)

15. ⲛⲉⲕⲣⲱⲙⲉ The sense of “your people” is not immediately obvious, but the phrase is often found in the greetings of letters; the most explicit we have found is in O. Frange 48: ϯϣⲓⲛⲉ ⲉⲛⲉⲕⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲧⲏⲣⲟⲩ ⲉⲧϩⲙ ⲡⲉⲕⲏⲓ (“I greet all of your men who are in your house(hold)”); cf. O. Frange 179.7; O. Lips. Copt. II 415.5; O. Mon. Epiph. 260.14; P. Gascou 24.2. It would thus seem that the term refers collectively to the people of the immediate household (as opposed to the larger community of the village) – family members, servants, enslaved people, and so on.
15-16. ⲧⲱϩⲥ̅ ⲙ︦ⲡⲉⲕϩⲟ 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 indicates 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; P.Mich.inv. 593 (KYP M9; KYP T882). 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 face of the recipient with oil is also 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). In P.Mich.inv 593 (KYP M9; KYP T7011) p. 8 ll. 10-12 and P. Mich. inv. 594 (KYP M15, T7013) ro ll. 22-23, you anoint your face with oil “so your words will be listened to”. For a discussion of the relation between the face, oil, and favour, see Preininger 2026, 34-41. While less explicit than some other cases, it seems likely that this text is to ensure that the user is treated favourably in their household and the wider village in which they live.

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.