Get Social With Us

4CARE-ARTEFACTS

ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID1693
TM IDTM 64343
Findspot (DEChriM ID)-   ()
ClassTextual
MaterialPapyrus
Writing mediumCodex
Text contentLiterary, Subliterary
LanguageGreek, Coptic
Description

Pap. Graec. Mag.(2) 1 IV, PGM 4, van Haelst 580, van Haelst 1074: The Great Magical Papyrus of Paris 
36 sheets (27–30.5 cm in height x 9.5–13 cm in width), formerly double-sheets, of a codex containing a number of magical texts, possibly functioning as a magical handbook. The texts (spells, charms, hymns, prayers), regularly include angel names and invoke most known deities, such as Jesus God of the Israelites (κατὰ τοῦ θ(εο)ῦ τῶν Ἑβραίων Ἰησοῦ, line 3019-3020). This occurs on Sheet 33, which contains the “Logos Hebraikos” (l. 3007–3086), described as ὁ γὰρ λόγος ἐστιν Ἑβραικὸς (line 3085). Lines 475-834 feature a continuous text which has been termed the “Mithras Liturgy”.

Selection criteriaChristian terms/formulas/concepts, Christian onomastics, Nomina sacra
Date from300
Date to399
Dating criteria

Palaeography and find context (?); possibly part of the Theban Magical Library. Dieterich dated the codex as early as the 1st c., most place it in the 4th c.

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context

Unclear provenance, presumably Egypt; according to François Lenormant at Thebes. The complete magical codex was acquired by antiquarian Giovanni Anastasi before 1846, and sold to the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1857 (Dosoo 2016).

Accession number

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale Suppl. grec 574 / 
Alexandria, Private collection d’Anastasi 1073 (previous)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference edition
• Preisendanz, Karl. 1928. Papyri Graecae Magicae: Die Griechischen Zauberpapyri. Vol. 1. Leipzig/Berlin: Teubner. 64-180, No. 4.
• Betz, Hans Dietrich. 1986. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Including the Demotic Spells. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 36-101, No. PGM 4 (Translation: Meyer, Marvin W., Hubert Martin, Jr., William C. Grese and Edward N. O’Neil).

Additional bibliography
• Miller, M. Emmanuel. 1868. “Hymnes Orphiques.” In Mélanges de Litterature Grecque. Contenant un Grand Nombre de Textes Inédits. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 437-458.
• Wessely, Carl. 1888. “Griechische Zauberpapyrus von Paris und London.” Denkschriften der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien (Denkschr. Wien. Akad.) 36. 27-208: 127-139. [Papyrus Anastasy]
• Erman, Adolf. 1883. “Die ägyptischen Beschwörungen des großen Pariser Zauberpapyrus.” Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde (ZÄS) 21: 89-109.
• Griffith, Francis Llewellyn. 1900. “The Old Coptic magical texts of Paris.” Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde (ZÄS) 38: 85-93.
• Dieterich, Albrecht. 1910. Eine Mithrasliturgie. Leipzig: B.G. Teubner.
• Heitsch. Ernst. 1963. Die Griechischen Dichterfragmente der Römischen Kaiserzeit. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 181, 185-199, No. LIX 3-4, 6-7 & 9-14.
• Neugebauer, Otto and Henry Bartlett Van Hoesen. 1964. “Astrological Papyri and Ostraca: Bibliographical Notes.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 108. 57-72: 62-64, No. 126.
• van Haelst, Joseph. 1976. Catalogue des papyrus littéraires juifs et chrétiens. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne. 205, No. 580.
• van Haelst, Joseph. 1976. Catalogue des papyrus littéraires juifs et chrétiens. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne. 335, No. 1074.
• Meyer, Marvin W. 1985. “The Love Spell of PGM IV.94-153: Introduction and Structure”, in Acts of the Second International Congress of Coptic Study. Roma, 22-26 September 1980, edited by Tito Orlandi and Frederick Wisse. Rome: C.I.M. 193-201.
• Calvo Martínez, José Luis, and Dolores Sánchez Romero. 1987. Textos de Magia en Papiros Griegos. Biblioteca Clásica Gredos 150. Madrid: Editorial Gredos. 100-186, No. P IV.
• DuQuesne, Terence. 1991. A Coptic initiatory invocation (PGM IV 1-25). Thame: Darengo, 1991.
• Faraone, Christopher A. 1994. “Notes of Three Greek Magical Texts.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik (ZPE) 100. 81-85: 81-83
• Horak, Ulrike. 1992. “Verzeichnis illuminierter edierter Papyri, Pergamente, Papiere und Ostraka.” Illuminierte Papyri, Pergamente und Papiere I. Pegasus Oriens I. Vienna: Holzhausen Verlag. 227-261: 246, ViP 198.
• Meyer, Marvin W., and Richard Smith. 1994. Ancient Christian Magic. Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. 22-25; 43-44, Nos. 2, 3, 19.
• Satzinger, Helmut. 1994. “An Old Coptic Text Reconsidered: PGM 94 FF.” In Past, Present and Future: Studies in Honour of Rodolphe Kasser, edited by Rodolphe Kasser, Søren Giversen, Martin Krause and Peter Nagel. Leuven: Peeters. 213-224.
• Bosson, Nathalie. 2000. “Papyrus magique de Paris.” In L'Art Copte en Egypte. 2000 ans de christianisme. Exposition présentée à l’Institut du monde arabe, Paris du 15 mai au 3 septembre 2000 et au musée de l’Éphèbe au Cap d’Agde du 30 septembre 2000 au 7 janvier 2001. Paris: Gallimard. 58, No. 26.
• Martin, Michel. 2002. Les Papyrus Grecs Magiques. Éditions Manuscrit-Université, 2002, no. IV.
• Betz, Hans Dieter. 2003. The “Mithras Liturgy”: Text, Translation and Commentary. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
• LiDonnici, Lynn R. 2003. “Compositional Patterns in PGM IV (=P.Bibl.Nat.Suppl. gr. no. 574).” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (BASP) 40: 141-178.
• –––. 2005. “X. Texts with Biblical Echoes for Magical or Other Such Use. C. Codices.” Papyri from the Rise of Christianity in Egypt: Draft Conspectus. (PCE.X.C). Macquarie University. 9, No. 123?. [http://www.mq.edu.au/pubstatic/public/download/%3Fid%3D45105&usg=AOvVaw2xqK_R6N3vQdQpC4Mq_iMD]
• Luck, Georg. 1985/2006. Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds. A Collection of Ancient Texts. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 129-135, 139-142. No. 18, 19, 21, 26, 27.
• West, Martin L. 2006. Homeri Ilias. München/Leipzig: K. G. Saur. LVIII, No. w39. [Papyri et inscriptiones variae in qvibvs versvs homerici lavdantvr]
• de Bruyn, Theodore S., and Jitse H.F. Dijkstra. 2011. “Greek Amulets and Formularies from Egypt Containing Christian Elements: A Checklist of Papyri, Parchments, Ostraka, and Tablets.” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (BASP) 48: 163-216. No. 10-11, 184-185.
• Méla, Charles and Frédéric Möri. 2014.  Alexandrie La Divine. Volume I. Genève: Editions de la Baconnière. 373, Fig. 78.
• Andrist, Patrick. 2014. “Notices.” In Alexandrie La Divine. Volume II, edited by Charles Méla and Frédéric Möri. Genève: Editions de la Baconnière. 1062, Fig. 78.
• Bortolani, Ljuba Merlina. 2016. Magical hymns from Roman Egypt. A Study of Greek and Egyptian Traditions of Divinity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 97-116, 151-168, 219-336.
• Dosoo, Korshi. 2016. “A History of the Theban Magical Library.” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (BASP) 53: 251-274.
• Love, Edward O. D. 2016. Code-switching with the Gods. The Bilingual (Old Coptic-Greek) Spells of PGM IV (P. Bibliothèque Nationale Supplément Grec. 574) and their Linguistic, Religious, and Socio-Cultural Context in Late Roman Egypt. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
• Quack, Joachim Friedrich. 2017. “How the Coptic Script Came About.” In Greek Influence on Egyptian-Coptic: Contact-Induced Change in an Ancient African Language, edited by Eitan Grossman et al. Lingua Aegyptia. Studia Monographica 17. Hamburg: Widmaier. 27–96. Fig. 29.

Authors
Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023
Suggested citation
Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023, "Artefact ID 1693", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1693