| Artefact ID | 668 |
| TM ID | TM 87561 |
| 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. 396 Letter fragment in Coptic (A), reporting about a woman Possibly part of the Apa John/Iohannes archive |
| Selection criteria | - |
| 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-'Azam, the presumed site of the monastery of John of Lycopolis. (Note, however, that the German team prefers the Assiut 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 & Fournet 2020: 13 note 39, and some reservations in Choat 2017: 37-40). |
| Accession number | Manchester, John Rylands Library, Coptic P 396 |
ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS
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