Helmut Satzinger

Coptic Magical Texts

1. Amulets 2. Incantations 3. Handbooks

International Summer School in Coptic Papyrology23rd July - 30th of July 2006, Austrian National Library, Vienna

Magic: A technique of making use ofsupranatural powers

Various aimes: protection, defense, healing;power, sexual disposability; cognition andrevelation.

Nevertheless, the forms are more or less the same,whatever the scope.

1. Amulets

Various contents, e.g. a magical design, usually incombination with magical names, an allusion tothe danger from which the amulet should protect(e.g., snake bites), etc., or religious texts, inparticular psalms, or portions thereof.

Addressed to one or several particular powers, orspirits, for the benefit or the harm of one orseveral particular persons.

2. Incantations

<sops ayv <parakalei motn npoyèai

enetnran mn net(n)qom èekas

etetnebi pitkas mn évne nim etéoop

(n)anastaàhy tée nkiraàhy aio aio

taxh

I beg and implore you for the sake of theintegrity of your names and your powers that youtake away the pain and any disease that there isfor Anastahēu, the daughter of Kirahēu – come,come, quickly !BKU III 387, 36-41

<sops(P) ayv

<parakalei Mmok / MmvtN

Stereotyped introduction:

“I beg and I implore you”

The invoked dÊnamiw / dunãmeiw may be named before, orafter.

It may be called God Almighty, seemingly in a thoroughlyorthodox Christian form. But note that the very same wordingmay also have Gnostic character.pèoeis p(e)nnoyte ppantokratvr Le Muséon

101, 51

The Trinity may be invoked:

pçvt péhre pe(p)neyma (e)toyaabBKU III 389.1

We can identify pagan gods, mainly Egyptian: Isis,Horus, etc.and Gnostic figures, but the vast majority of beingsthat figure in the magic papyri are Christian, inaccordance with the religion of the country and ofthe authors of the texts.

GOD ANGELS DEMONS SAINTS

Nevertheless - there is great influence ofapocryphic literature (mostly lost and henceunknown to us)

W. Vycichl, Copt. Encycl.:

Names and Magical Words

A name is not only a simple means of identificationbut a part of personality. He who knows the name,the “true name,” of a god or a demon has a betterchance of coming in contact with him.Some of these names are secret. Thus, Jesus Christpossesses a written name that nobody knows excepthimself. A spell speaks of the “great, true name ofthe Father,” another of the “great name,” and thereare also his “true name” and his “hidden names.”

A frequent palindrome is Ablanathanalba[ablanauanalba], probably of Semitic origin,often misspelled, a sign that its palindromiccharacter was not always apparent to the Copticscribe.Agramma Chamari [agramma xamari] isoften used with a preceding name as well aswith Iaō Sabaōt [iav sabavt, Hebr. Yåhū,“God”; ‚|£bå’ôt, “armies”].It is used frequently and has been explainedas the name of an angel.

akramaxamari Le Muséon 101, 56 ll. 68, 77-8, 83

apaaxamaxamari BKU III, 387.3-16

Abraxas [abrajas] is not only the Gnostic name ofthe highest god but occurs also in the combinationsIaō Sabaōt Abraxas and Jesus Abraxas.

RAMaxAMARIVSAbAVU Kropp I, 50.7

abrasaj Kropp I, 50.8; iav sabbavu atvnai elvei

elemas mikjanuhr abrasakj ib. 16.38-9

Some variations:

The name of the Phoenician sun-god, Baalsemes(literally “the Lord of the Sun,” Hebrew ba‘alshemesh), appears among other sun-gods, and oncein a list of angelic aeons.Bainchōōch [bainxvvx], with graphic variants,once written with seven omegas, is Egyptian [bA nqqw] and means “Spirit of Darkness.”Marmaraōth [marmaravu] (Syriac, “Lord ofLords”) designates in the Coptic Magical Papyrus ofParis the sun-god Iaō. A similar form, Barbaraōth[barbaravu], the name of the highest god in thesame papyrus, remains unexplained.

Some attested variants:marmariv marmariovu marmarivu mamarivu

marmaroi marmaroy marmaroyax (Hebr. rûåH“spirit”) marmaroyhl

Semesilam is from semes, “sun” (Hebrew shemesh);the second part of the name has been compared withHebrew ‘ōlam, “world.”Maskelli Maskellō is a strange formation, once usedto designate the goddess of fate.

The name Zagourē is once written over the design of Typhon or Seth. zakoyraj Kropp I, 50.7

Four bodiless creatures with four faces and sixwings in the book of Revelation are called Alpha,Leōn, Phōnē, Anēr. Alpha is the bull; Leōn, thelion; Anēr, the man; and Phōnē, the eagle.They represent the four evangelists.

The seven archangels are called Michaēl, Gabriēl, Raphaēl [àrafahl], Suriēl, Zetekiēl (Zedekiēl), Salathiēl, and Anaēl.

The three men of the burning furnace (Dan. 3:19–23) occur in many texts: Shadrach, Meshnach, and Abednego [Heb. Šadrak, Mēšak, ‘Abed negō].

The twenty-four elders of Revelation 4:4 have names beginning with the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet and ending in -ēl (Hebrew for “God”): Achaēl, Banaēl, Ganaēl, Dathiēl, and so on.

Coptic magical spells [seem to be] full of senselessnames and deformations.Bēth, apparently the name of a spirit and not theSemitic word for “house,” is followed in a spell byBēthai, Bētha, Bēthari and then by Larouēl,Marmarouēl, Metetiēl, Sriēl, Ermiēl, and others ...

In Coptic spells and amulets the seven vowels of theGreek alphabet are widely used, either singly (as inaehioyv) or written seven times (aaaaaaa,eeeeeee, etc.). They are said to have a magicalpower and some relation to the seven planets...

In another text – St. Mary’s Prayer Ad Bartos – sheprays:Be greeted, diadem which is on his head –be greeted, seven names who are hidden in it, andwhich are a e h i o u v ! (Kropp III, 41)

The seven vowels may also be noted in adiminishing number, from 7 for a to one for v.This yields the form of a wing:

aaaaaaae e e e e ehhhhhi i i iooouuv

The same game is played with the seven letters of abrasaj, though sometimes with some inconsequences:

Also other names or elements are spelled in this triangular form, e.g.:

apaaxamaxamari

apaaxamaxamar

apaaxamaxama

apaaxamaxam

apaaxamaxa

apaaxamax

apaaxama

apaaxam

apaaxa

apaax

apaa

apa

ap

a

The Sator Arepo Square

In the Coptic tradition, the famous palindrome has ARETO, rather than AREPO.

s a t v r

a r e t v

t e n e t

v t e r a

r v t a s

The magical texts seem to be full ofmistakes, of misspellings of themagical names. Nevertheless, thereis at least one case where the extantversion of the spelling makes sensein an impressive way. BKU III 387is a parchment fragment addressingIS XS for the protection of awoman; after various magicalelements, the invocation turn tothree groups of three entities:

manij fareu fvranay

péomet nàoyrit etroeis epivt ppantvkratvr

You three guardias who watch over the Father the Almighty

abiot agariabio àragoyhl

péomet nàoyrit etroeis epéhre mpivt

ppantvkratvr ... who watch over the Son of the Father the Almighty

bhu bhua bhuaei

péomet nàoyrit etroeis epePNA etoyaab ... who watch over the Holy Spirit

These three groups of three names can eachalso be found in other documents, althougheach time with slight variations of the formand the spelling. In our case, however, it canbe shown that the spelling chosen isdeliberate, and is chosen on account of anelaborate calculation. We have to do with aremarkable example of isopsephia, orgematriyah.

The Minor Count: The Major Count:a = 1 a = 1 (= = 6)l = 11 i = 10 (w = 90)f = 21 r = 100v = 24 v = 800

m 12 40

a 1 1

n 13 50

i 9 10

j 14 60

49 161

E.g.:

manij fareu fvranay

Associated with God Father

abiot agariabio àragoyhl

Associated with Jesus Christ

bhu bhua bhuaei

Associated with the Spirit

The main elements of invocations:

• The “prayer”: I beg and implore you...

• The names of the dunãmeiw invoked, the magical names,the seven letters...

• Magical letters and pictures

The magical letters:

IS XS bhu bhua

bhua iav sabavu advnai

elvei mixahl

GABRIHL rafahl

soyrihl asoyhl

àragoyhl

sara-

fyhl

smhrnhs troklçths

grace svtion snay

oya etqalaàt oya

epekmote tvbe : g

àa tqalaàt natmaaèe : aknça : ka

àmoy prro Mpekkvte//

[Instruction:]Troglitis myrtle (smÊrnhw).Draw two pictures (z–dion), one for the pot, one for your neck. 3 bricksunder the pot without handle (‘ear’) : abstinence ! Put king’s salt around you.

Text on top:u(ysia) karbvn Née Nèoeit

éoyrh namàat neàmh efanos : libanos àooyt

mastix(h) Nàooyt koyrkoBIN : sthrj apokalaMVN

pqvrq Ntqalaàt : morshne z bht qb tafn z . .

àaqiè Nèhqe àaqin neqooqe éopéop z bht

Nrooyne z : ée nabraàam z klom narteme-

sias eèN tqalaàt

Offering: charcoal of olive woodcenser of white clay, real lamp oil : male incensemale mastix cucumber : styrax, calamus juicethe contents of the pot : myrtle 7 palm-leaf, bay-leaf 7..purple mint baked (?) mint ... 7 virgin palm-leaf 7 : Abraham’s wood 7 wreath of wormwood(artemisia) upon the pot

Magical texts: In respect to their contents, they are of literarycharacter. In respect to their language standards, they arecomparable with documentary texts.

Magic: In the Pharaonic civilization, magic was an aspect ofthe religion.

From the standpoint of modern religions, like Christianity andIslam, magic is strictly deprecated: it is in blatant antinomywith their doctrines.

What is the position of Coptic magic of the period inquestion ?