| Artefact ID | 663 |
| TM ID | TM 87476 |
| Findspot (DEChriM ID) | 58 (Dayr al-ʿIẓām) | Class | Textual |
| Material | Papyrus |
| Writing medium | Sheet/roll |
| Text content | Documentary |
| Language | Coptic |
| Archive/Dossier | Archive |
| Description | P.Ryl.Copt. 311 Fragmentarily preserved letter to a superior in Coptic. Quoting Jeremiah's weeping over Jerusalem and Jesus' pity for the blind, the author begs the recipient's good offices with the hegemon. He further describes his miserable state stating that he sold his clothes. Possibly part of the Archive of Apa John/Iohannes. |
| Selection criteria | Mention of Christian individuals/communities, Christian terms/formulas/concepts, Nomina sacra, Biblical quote or paraphrase, Coptic language |
| Date from | 375 |
| Date to | 400 |
| Dating criteria | Palaeography, possible archive connection |
| Absolute/relative date | Relative date |
| Archaeological context | According to Constantine Zuckerman's reconstruction, the Apa-John-letters were presumably found in September 1897, during the excavations of Farag Ismael and Yassa Tadros on the mountain of Siout (Lykopolis), in the ruins of the Dayr al-ʿIẓām, the presumed site of the monastery of John of Lycopolis. (Note, however, that the German team prefers the Asyūṭ tombs II–IV to have been John's abode, as was definitely later venerated there; see Kahl 2014; 2015; Eichner 2020: 5–10; the Dayr is ca. 300m away as the crow flies on the desert plateau from the group of tombs, see Eichner 2020: 11-38.) However, they never reached the museum in Gizeh – like the other objects unearthed during these excavations – and must have ended on the market, where they were bought soon after the excavations (Zuckerman 1995: 191-192; Van Minnen 1994: 80-82, Gonis 2008: 69-72). Although not proven, this attractive hypothesis is generally accepted by scholars (see discussion in Van der Vliet 2015: 166-167 and Fournet 2020: 13 note 39, and some reservations in Choat 2017: 37-40). |
| Accession number | Manchester, John Rylands Library, Coptic P 311 |
ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS
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