DOI article:
Crum, Walter E.: Progress of Egyptology: coptic studies
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11174#0076
Coptic Studies.
03
has undertaken the task, has already printed, and commented upon an
extract which, like tbe rest of the work, treats of the magical powers
of the letters of the alphabet.14 The qualities of the letters are illus-
trated by curious diagrams, that now reproduced being a representation
of six strata of sky, water, and earth, variously coloured and enclosed
within the letter A. The cosmogony to which this refers seems to be
based partly, at any rate, upon that of Genesis. Prof. H.'s only prede-
cessor in the considerable study of the text is M. Amelineau {Rev. Hist.
Eel. xxi. 262 ff.). It is to be hoped that the publication will include
adequate facsimiles of the MS. which, in showing two distinct types of
script (though I think by the same hand), and in being dated, is among
the most valuable of palaeographical documents.
Between Abu Simbel and Wady Haifa at Paras, in a tomb once used by
the Copts as a church, are a number of graffiti (Murray's Egypt, 978), some
of which Prof. Sayce prints.16 Among these is a copy of the letter of
Christ to Abgar, practically identical with the Vienna and Leyden pub-
lished copies ; also four columns of proper names, all of which Prof. Sayce
inclines to regard as those of the bishops of " Heroopolis." The letters,
however, which might seem to spell this name, point rather, when con-
nected with the following " Sebaste," to the famous Forty Martyrs, the
list of whom can, in fact, be made up from the subsequent lines. Besides
these, however, we have (col. ii. 8) the well-known palindrome sator
ar&po, &c, called here as elsewhere (e.g. Basset, Les Apocryphes, v. 16)
"the names of the nails of Christ['s cross]," and further (col. iv. 1) the
list of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. The writer had, in short, put
together a selection—what the list col. i. 24 was I do not know,—of
those protective charms so popular in Egypt and Ethiopia in Christian
times (cf. infra the Leyden Catal.). The short inscription (§ xi.) found
on another wall of this tomb is presumably by the same writer, and tells
that he was a monk named Theojmilus who was inhabiting it in a.d. 739.
Mr. F. Legge has printed and translated one of the "Egyptian"
passages in the Paris magical papyrus omitted by Erman. The present
writer made some suggestions as regards the translation which led to
correspondence between Mr. Legge and himself.10
4. Liturgical. The Easter Office of the Alexandrine Church has never
been completely published in Europe. Dr. Turajeff has now given us
the text of the liturgical (as opposed to the Scriptural,) portion of that
service,17 drawn from the parchment (?) MS. no. 5 in the Asiatic Museum
of St. Petersburg, and collated with no. 36 of the Bibliotheque Nationale.
Besides the Bohairic text, which consists of a series of canticles^ and
03
has undertaken the task, has already printed, and commented upon an
extract which, like tbe rest of the work, treats of the magical powers
of the letters of the alphabet.14 The qualities of the letters are illus-
trated by curious diagrams, that now reproduced being a representation
of six strata of sky, water, and earth, variously coloured and enclosed
within the letter A. The cosmogony to which this refers seems to be
based partly, at any rate, upon that of Genesis. Prof. H.'s only prede-
cessor in the considerable study of the text is M. Amelineau {Rev. Hist.
Eel. xxi. 262 ff.). It is to be hoped that the publication will include
adequate facsimiles of the MS. which, in showing two distinct types of
script (though I think by the same hand), and in being dated, is among
the most valuable of palaeographical documents.
Between Abu Simbel and Wady Haifa at Paras, in a tomb once used by
the Copts as a church, are a number of graffiti (Murray's Egypt, 978), some
of which Prof. Sayce prints.16 Among these is a copy of the letter of
Christ to Abgar, practically identical with the Vienna and Leyden pub-
lished copies ; also four columns of proper names, all of which Prof. Sayce
inclines to regard as those of the bishops of " Heroopolis." The letters,
however, which might seem to spell this name, point rather, when con-
nected with the following " Sebaste," to the famous Forty Martyrs, the
list of whom can, in fact, be made up from the subsequent lines. Besides
these, however, we have (col. ii. 8) the well-known palindrome sator
ar&po, &c, called here as elsewhere (e.g. Basset, Les Apocryphes, v. 16)
"the names of the nails of Christ['s cross]," and further (col. iv. 1) the
list of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. The writer had, in short, put
together a selection—what the list col. i. 24 was I do not know,—of
those protective charms so popular in Egypt and Ethiopia in Christian
times (cf. infra the Leyden Catal.). The short inscription (§ xi.) found
on another wall of this tomb is presumably by the same writer, and tells
that he was a monk named Theojmilus who was inhabiting it in a.d. 739.
Mr. F. Legge has printed and translated one of the "Egyptian"
passages in the Paris magical papyrus omitted by Erman. The present
writer made some suggestions as regards the translation which led to
correspondence between Mr. Legge and himself.10
4. Liturgical. The Easter Office of the Alexandrine Church has never
been completely published in Europe. Dr. Turajeff has now given us
the text of the liturgical (as opposed to the Scriptural,) portion of that
service,17 drawn from the parchment (?) MS. no. 5 in the Asiatic Museum
of St. Petersburg, and collated with no. 36 of the Bibliotheque Nationale.
Besides the Bohairic text, which consists of a series of canticles^ and