The Coptic wizard's hoard.

Within the large collection of ancient manuscripts at the University of Michigan there is a group of Coptic papyri which appears to have been a hoard or library of ancient magical texts.(1) Produced by five copyists sometime in the fourth through seventh centuries and originating from a now unknown location in Egypt, the collection was brought to the British Museum by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge in February 1921 for restoration by C. T. Lamacraft; in August of that year, it underwent philological examination by the Coptic lexicographer Walter E. Crum, and was later forwarded to the University of Michigan.(2)

Apart from the importance of the texts for the study of Coptic magic and related fields, the wizard's hoard provides researchers with a rare glimpse into the activities and literary production of a "magical workshop"(3) in which several individuals, perhaps working together, produced a written collection of magical texts in loose-leaf scroll and book form, including at least one folded amulet.(4)

The Nature and Extent of the Wizard's Hoard

In order to understand the nature and original function of the collection, it is crucial to discuss whether some manuscripts have been lost or displaced from the collection. There is no internal textual evidence, such as an index or other indicators of cross-referencing between the texts, to suggest that the current collection is either complete or incomplete. Except for the lost opening lines of the two texts copied onto the two smaller scrolls,(5) all of the copied texts are complete; even when a text is copied two or three times within the collection, each of those copies is complete, giving no reason to suppose that a significant portion of the collection is now lost.

Although the collection now may be intact and in its originally complete form, it has suffered some dismemberment in the modern period since its discovery. In 1930, William H. Worrell published a brief description of the collection along with a partial transcription and translation of one of its texts.(6) In that study, Worrell noted that the collection consists of eleven manuscripts and he assumed that it was complete. In the fall of 1986, however, while perusing the large collection of Coptic manuscripts in the Michigan collection, I came across twenty-seven fragments of the damaged and partial remains of a folded papyrus amulet, restored it, and later identified it as part of the wizard's hoard, thus raising the number of extant manuscripts to at least twelve.(7) The inventory files for the papyrus collection at the University of Michigan, which quote from Crum's notes (dated August 1921), only refer to the eleven manuscripts numbered from 593 to 603 and state that all manuscripts related to the collection were conserved by C. T. Lamacraft at the British Museum.(8) This suggests that both Crum and Lamacraft knew of only eleven manuscripts. Thus it is possible that some manuscripts, like the displaced and only recently identified and conserved amulet, unknowingly had been separated from the collection or lost before they reached the British Museum. In addition, the haphazard numbering system for taking inventory of the twelve manuscripts - P. Mich. inv. 593-603, 1294 - does not correspond to the inner logic of the collection.

Given these limitations on present scholars' knowledge of the size of the collection at the time of its discovery, one need not assume that it originally comprised a rigid canon of only eight texts(9) on twelve manuscripts. Rather, the contents of the collection probably expanded and contracted as the holy men, working alone or together, found some texts to be useful (which then were added or retained) and other texts no longer to be useful (which then were removed from the collection).

Codicological and Textual Relations

The collection consists of twelve manuscripts containing as many as eight texts written by five scribes. Some of the texts were copied two and three times by the copyists. Three of the hands are practiced, with one (scribe three) tending toward a bookish style; together the three copied a single lengthy text onto a twenty-page codex.(10) A fourth hand, also practiced but varying considerably in size and exhibiting a pronounced fluidity in style, copied as many as four texts onto a large scroll,(11) another text onto a now fragmentary scroll,(12) and still yet another text onto a final and now fragmentary scroll.(13) The fifth hand, clearly unpracticed,(14) demonstrates little physical control over the writing instruments and materials(15) and copied as many as five texts onto a diverse set of eight papyrus sheets.(16)

It is not clear whether the collection was made at one time by the five scribes or whether it gradually grew over a period of time in the hands of several copyist-owners. It appears that parts of two independent and separate text collections, one in a single codex format and one in a triple scroll format, were crudely copied and edited together onto scrap papyrus sheets by a person who had little writing ability.(17) The three scribes who copied the lengthy text onto the codex apparently shared no texts with scribe four, while scribe five copied texts from each of the four other scribes, that is, from the two earlier collections. Worrell suggests that the three scribes of the codex and scribe five were mutually dependent on a now lost common manuscript.(18) Two of the most striking common features among the manuscripts is that none appears to have any significant signs of wear from practical use or textual alterations by later hands, suggesting that the collection was used little, if at all.

The amulet(19) provides internal evidence that the large scroll,(20) or Worrell's lost common source, was the magical source book from which individual amulets were written, suggesting that the other two rolls (recorded by scribe four) and the codex were also used as source books. It is difficult to determine why this particular amulet remained with the collection, unless we are to assume that it had not been given to a client yet, or that it was used personally by one of the scribes.

The Magical Book and its Two Texts(21)

The codex itself is constructed from four papyrus sheets cut from a blank roll, stacked, and then folded together to form a standard four-fold quire (quaternio) of eight leaves or sixteen pages (pages 1-16), to which was added a single-sheet quire (unio) of two leaves or four pages (pages 17-20).(22) It is not clear whether the two quires were bound together; perhaps the quires were placed unbound into a cover comprised of the blank papyrus sheet with the same dimensions as the codex leaves.(23) The two quires form a nearly square codex of twenty pages that measure between 15.3 and 16.0 cm (vertical) and between 15.3 and 17.3 cm (horizontal). There is no evidence that the quires were bound.

The book contains the longest text in the collection, followed by a short invocational prayer with ninety-five lines of magical words, together filling the twenty-page codex with three hundred and thirty-eight lines (approximately twenty-two letters per line). The two texts, translated below, can be outlined in the following fashion.

Outline of Text One

1. The prayer: invocations, credentials, and requests: 1.1-4.14a

a. Invocation to the highest deity: 1.1-11

b. Request ("grant to me everything"): 1.12-13

c. Invocation to the seven archangels: 1.14-16a

d. Request ("act on my behalf"): 1.16b

e. Credentials of the holy man ("I am Seth"): 1.16c-2.2

f. The secret Hebraic names of the twenty-one powers: 2.3-9a

g. Description of the twenty-one powers: 2.9b-15a

h. Request and description: 2.15b-3.10

i. Credentials of the holy man ("I am Seth"): 3.11-17a

j. Editorial comment on ritual purity: 3.17b-4.1a

k. Credentials of the holy man ("I am Seth"): 4.1b-8a

l. Editorial comment on ritual purity: 4.8b-14a

2. Ritual instructions: 4.14b-5.19a

a. Ritual action and a promise: 4.14b-18a

b. Ritual action (the "hawk's egg ritual"): 4.18b-5.8a

c. Instructions and promises: 5.8b-19a

3. A list of thirty-two tricks and prescriptions: 5.19b-11.12a

4. Instructions, promises, and ritual preparations: 11.12b-12.5

Outline of Text Two

1. Magical words with Demotic letters (9 lines): 12.6-14

2. An invocation: 13.1-15.7

3. Magical words (ninety-five lines): 15.8-20.18

The Two Texts(24)

[1.1] God, Lord Lord,(25) all powerful One,(26) whose body has/the appearance of fire which is light/in the hidden things. The one [1.5] who is born of flesh does not know your name,/but only you yourself (know it),(27) the entire way/of wisdom(28) who alone is/from the aeons of light, who is unknowable,/(and) is surrounded by all of the powers [1.10] who are each appointed over your/work and your service./Grant to me everything related to this prayer and/(to) every (ritual) action which I perform!/

You seven angels, each [1.15] appointed over his work and his/service, act on my behalf! (For) I am Seth(29) [2.1] the son of Adam,(30) the first revelation/of the unformed fingers!(31)/Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Ouriel,/Saraphouel, Souriel, Anael; and also [2.5] his other ministrants: Amoel, Anathael,/Ananael, Anael, Phriel, Thriel,/Ariel, Israel; and the other authorities:/Mosul, Osul, Phael, Ioel, Arphael,/Tremael.

All of these great ones are the [2.10] powers who are in the presence of/this unseeable light/(and are) the angels who are in the height, those of the night/and those of the day,(32) each of whom/is appointed over his work and the [2.15] service.

Hear our(33)/authority which is over you, all of his ministrants [3.1] who are called (by name) by/those above them, even you great archangels/who are strong in your power, you whose/names were first given to you,(34) [3.5] that is, (you) angels who call(35) all of the special names/which are written (here) in Hebrew,/the language of heaven,(36) in order that they(37) might hear the/one who will activate this prayer(38)/(and that) they might bring to pass for him everything which he will perform [3.10] in purity and chastity of ritual.(39)/

I am Seth the son of Adam./I have purified myself forty days/until its power is revealed/and the power of its Hebrew (language) [3.15] and all of its manipulations, so that it can/assist in every action which I/perform. Perform it while you [4.1] are pure and in awe.(40)

I am/Seth the son of Adam, to whom have been/revealed(41) the virtues(42) and the mysteries(43)/and its manipulations(44) and the power of these [4.5] arts, which are honored more than the other/prayers that are concerned with these secret names and/all the rest,(45) for I am in agreement with its/operations.

Not every man can perform/it except (one) who is sufficiently pure, [4.10] who is perfected in/all of its secret names and its powers,/for this (prayer) causes a spirit to rest/upon him(46) and (gives him a measure of) wisdom more than/any man.(47)

You are to recite it seven [4.15] times over some honey and some/licorice root. It sets a reminder/within you, forever and ever,/in your mind and spirit. Take [5.1] a hawk's egg(48) and fry/it, then eat it over the/honey, purifying yourself for forty/days until its mind(49) appears [5.5] to you, in cleanliness and purity/for forty days, before you begin (the ritual, with)/your garments/cleansed. Perform it as a/response,(50) for it is highly honorable (and) [5.10] a great grace is in it./For it removes the anger/of every married man(51) (and)/it heals the bites of beasts/and reptiles.(52) Do not despise [5.15] it because of these great secret names,/for its powers are great./It causes every (evil) thing to disappear.(53)/It saves you from those who hate and/from every curse.(54)

(1) Concerning the bite [6.1] of a reptile: recite it over some water/and have him drink it.

(2) For jaundice: recite / it over some water which has some laurel / in it, and have him drink it and then wash him (with it) [6.5].(55)

(3) For one who is swollen:(56) recite it over / some brick water,(57) and have him drink it and then / wash him (with it).

(4) For ribs that are / in pain: recite it over some figs (and) / bind them on him.

(5) For the spleen: recite it [6.10] over some oil and anoint it.

(6) For the / headache: recite it over some oil and anoint / his …