| Artefact ID | 8 |
| TM ID | TM 107765 |
| Findspot (DEChriM ID) | 25 (Aḫmīm) | Class | Textual |
| Material | Papyrus |
| Writing medium | Codex |
| Text content | Literary |
| Language | Coptic |
| Description | Berlin P 8502; Berolinensis Gnosticus; Berlin Codex; Akhmim Codex Papyrus codex bound with wooden boards and covered in papyrus and tooled leather, containing the Gospel of Mary, the Apocryphon of John, the Sophia of Jesus Christ, and an epitome of the Act of Peter written in Coptic (S). An owner's mark was engraved onto the front cover, translated as "Zacharias, arch-presbyter (or archimandrite), abbot." [MM: Note that the abbreviation ΑΡΝ seems unsual for ἀρχιπρεσβύτερος and problematic (why N?)] Note that Schenke (2012b: 670-672) was still reserved about the identification of the cover regarding it as very probable but not more since the production of the cover had been dated to 6th c., whereas the manuscript itself is usually dated to the early 5th c. |
| Selection criteria | Literary genre (Non-canonical), Christian symbols/gestures/isopsephy, Nomina sacra, Coptic language |
| Date from | 375 |
| Date to | 499 |
| Dating criteria | The leaves of the codex have been dated on palaeographic grounds to the late 4th or early 5th c. (Schmidt 1903: 2) but the cover has been dated as no earlier than the 6th c. (Krutzsch, Poethke 1984: 40). |
| Absolute/relative date | Relative date |
| Archaeological context | The manuscript first emerged in the shop of an antiques dealer in Akhmim but was sold to Konsul Reinhardt by the dealer from Akhmim in Cairo. Acc. to Carl Schmidt he had been informed that it was found in a niche within a wall ("Mauernische") wrapped in feathers ("eingehüllt in Federn"). Therefore, he concluded that one may undoubtedly ("mit Sicherheit") assume that the manuscript comes from the necropole of Achmim or at least from the surroundings of that city, see Schmidt (1903: 2) qouted verbatim in Schenke (2012b/1990: 660 note 4). |
| Accession number | Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung P. 8502 |
ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS
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