DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18664#0015
CONDITION OF THE MS. 3
to those found in gnostic writings and on gnostic gems.
He even went so far as to associate them with the name
of a particular gnostic leader, Marcus, of the second
century, chiefly on the ground of his recorded use of
Hebrew and Syriac names in his invocations and the
combinations of vowels. In consequence the MS. has
acquired the name of the ' Leiden Gnostic,' and the
term c Gnostic' has been passed on to the London MS.
But as will be seen from the complete translation here
published, there is nothing in the work relating to the
gnostic systems—-it deals with magic and medicine, and
it seems a misnomer to call the MS. gnostic merely
because part of the stock-in-trade of the magician and
medicine-man were a number of invocation names which
he either picked up from the gnostics or derived from
sources common to him and them. Hence it has been
thought desirable to abandon the epithet 'gnostic,' and
to call the work the ' Magical papyrus of London and
Leiden' (Pap. mag. LL.).
II. CONDITION OF THE MS.
The London portion is in far better condition than the
Leiden portion. The papyrus is pale in colour and
the ink very black; consequently where the MS. has
not suffered material damage it is easy to read, as the
scribe wrote a beautiful and regular hand.
The Leiden papyrus, on the other hand, has unfortu-
nately suffered much, as Leemans, with a view to
protecting the surface, covered both recto and verso
with ' vegetable' paper, which probably could not be
removed now without serious injury to the MS.; but
either the paper or the adhesive matter employed with
it has darkened and decayed, rendering the writing
illegible in places.
b 2
to those found in gnostic writings and on gnostic gems.
He even went so far as to associate them with the name
of a particular gnostic leader, Marcus, of the second
century, chiefly on the ground of his recorded use of
Hebrew and Syriac names in his invocations and the
combinations of vowels. In consequence the MS. has
acquired the name of the ' Leiden Gnostic,' and the
term c Gnostic' has been passed on to the London MS.
But as will be seen from the complete translation here
published, there is nothing in the work relating to the
gnostic systems—-it deals with magic and medicine, and
it seems a misnomer to call the MS. gnostic merely
because part of the stock-in-trade of the magician and
medicine-man were a number of invocation names which
he either picked up from the gnostics or derived from
sources common to him and them. Hence it has been
thought desirable to abandon the epithet 'gnostic,' and
to call the work the ' Magical papyrus of London and
Leiden' (Pap. mag. LL.).
II. CONDITION OF THE MS.
The London portion is in far better condition than the
Leiden portion. The papyrus is pale in colour and
the ink very black; consequently where the MS. has
not suffered material damage it is easy to read, as the
scribe wrote a beautiful and regular hand.
The Leiden papyrus, on the other hand, has unfortu-
nately suffered much, as Leemans, with a view to
protecting the surface, covered both recto and verso
with ' vegetable' paper, which probably could not be
removed now without serious injury to the MS.; but
either the paper or the adhesive matter employed with
it has darkened and decayed, rendering the writing
illegible in places.
b 2