TEI-XML-File: https://p612399.webspaceconfig.de/xml/elephantine_erc_db_311081.tei.xml
Inventory Number | Pap. New York, Brooklyn Museum 47.218.2 |
Current Location | New York, Brooklyn Museum |
Comments on Inventory | The unrolled packets of papyrus and the fragments of the metal boxes found in a trunk (see Provenience) were inventoried by Cooney under the inventory number 47.218.xxx, which contains 158 units. After the inventory numbers had been assigned, 93 additional fragments of papyrus 47.218.2 were found in these units. (Guermeur, Le papyrus hiératique iatromagique (2015–2016), 13–16). This object is distributed on five glass plates (c-g). There are also two small boxes of fragments (a-b). (According to: Brooklyn Museum, Medical Text (2017) |
Publication Permission Status | permission for publication assigned |
Publication Status | partly published |
Ancient Provenance Site | Elephantine (Ꜣbw; Yb; YbꜢ; YbꜤ; Ἐλεφαντίνη, יב , ⲉⲓⲏⲃ) [Trismegistos] Certainty: unknown |
Ancient Provenance Details | Container marked ‘1LA 1 B1K.’ Possibly Thebes or Elephantine. Possible place made: Elephantine Egypt, possible place made: Thebes Egypt. |
Ancient Provenance District | Upper Egypt, 1st nome (Ombites) [Trismegistos] |
Type of Discovery | purchase Certainty: |
Finder (= First Purchaser) | “Bequest of Theodora Wilbour from the collection of her father, Charles Edwin Wilbour.”
Certainty: |
District of Find / Purchase in Egypt | Upper Egypt, 1st nome (Ombites) [Trismegistos] |
Type of Acquisition for the Intitution | bequest |
Date of Acquisition for the Intitution | between 1947 and 1947 |
Transferor (Seller, Previous Owner) | Wilbour, Theodora Certainty: |
Buyer (Currently Housing Institution) | (not relevant) Certainty: |
Object Type | papyrus | roll |
Range of Preservation | incomplete |
State of Preservation | The whole lower part of the papyrus is damaged. The holes get narrower from the beginning to the end. There are several hundred additional fragments, both small and of moderate size that still need to be placed; most of them belong to the damaged beginning of the papyrus. Condition: Ends broken, gaps, etc. but roll is relatively intact. Probably can be opened and mounted though there will be numerous gaps in text. |
Comments on Object | 93 fragments belong to the first two or three columns so that the papyrus was longer than its current state. (Before it could be read: "Large papyrus roll inscribed in hieratic. Only small portion of text can be seen in present unopened state. Apparently a magical text.") Measurement of the two boxes and the glass plates according to Brooklyn Museum, Medical Text (2017): a: Small Box of Fragments: 45 x 103 x 103 mm b: Small Box of Fragments: 45 x 103 x 103 mm c: Glass Plate: 357 x 498 mm (largest fragment: 246 x 387 mm) d: Glass Plate: 359 x 752 mm d: Object: 248 x 664 mm e f g |
Localization of Text on Object | recto/verso | |
Inks and Pigments | type unclear polychrome black and red | |
Range of Preservation (Text) | incomplete | |
State of Preservation (Text) | The first visible column is not the beginning of the text. Only fragments from the first two or three columns are preserved. Eight columns of text, the first of which only the left hand edge of the column is preserved. The bottom of each the next seven columns is damaged with some text missing. There are several minor lacunae elsewhere in the papyrus. There are several hundred additional fragments, both small and of moderate size that still need to be placed; most of them belong to the damaged beginning of the papyrus. | |
Script, Primary | Late Hieratic | |
Script, additional A | Demotic | |
Language, Primary | Middle Egyptian, Late | |
Language, additional A | Demotic | |
Comments on Handwriting | - very clear and straight-lined (According to: Dils, Papyrus Brooklyn 47.218.02 (2017) - written with a firm hand (According to: Guermeur, Le papyrus Brooklyn 47-218-2 (2017)) - the ink is deep black The text is composed basically in Middle Egyptian/ Late Middle Egyptian in a late orthography but there are influences of Late Egyptian mainly in spells. In addition, there is the syllabically written word ḥw-bꜣ (col. x+III, 13) which could be identical with the lexeme ḥyb "lamb" which is documented only demotic up to now. (According to: Dils, Papyrus Brooklyn 47.218.02 (2017)) | |
Comments on Text Layout | The first eight preserved columns (x+VIII) are inscribed, the last one (x+IX) has been left free. Red ink highlights amounts, change of paragraphs, and headings. | |
Existing Pictorial Elements | The scribe left space for an illustration in col. x+III und x+IV, which was never included. | |
recto | verso | |
Quantity of Lines | Every column consists of 20 to 23 lines | |
Quantity of Columns | x+8 |
Modern Title | Medical text with recipes for mother and child |
Ancient Archives | (Uncertain) |
Ancient Author of Text | (Unknown) |
Ancient Scribe(s) of Text | |
Text Types |
|
Summary of Content | The papyrus contains a medical-magical textbook to protect a pregnant woman and her child before and after the birth. The risks of the childbirth are not mentioned. One part corresponds to a passage of the gynecological papyrus Kahun. (According to: Dils, Papyrus Brooklyn 47.218.02 (2017)) The text begins with a sequence of spells that deal with the treatment of a woman suffering from a range of disorders related to pregnancy, still birth, and infertility. At column 6, line 15, there begins a book of dispelling terrors and fears (of the night) from children, including one spell for dispelling crying and tears (beginning at column 7, line 17). The texts of this papyrus have no real parallels known from published material, for the most part. |
Location of Composition | unknown unknown Egypt (Certainty: high) |
Multilingualism | Monolingual Script = Language |
Gender | Woman Child |
Comment on Gender | protect a pregnant woman and her child before and after the birth |
Religion | Polytheism (Egyptian) |
RulerID | Regnal Year | MonthID | Day Date of the Text | Gregorian Date | dating_comment |
Late period - Ptolemaic dynasty | -664 BCE -30 BCE | palaeographical dating the information about the dating varies - Sauneron: Saitic Period - beginning of the Ptolemaic Period (Sauneron, Un traité égyptien d'ophiologie (1989), 188–189) - Guermeur: 5th-3th century BCE (Guermeur, Papyrus médico-magique (2012), 541; Guermeur, Le papyrus hiératique iatromagique (2015–2016), 13; Guermeur, Le papyrus Brooklyn 47-218-2 (2017)) - Guermeur: 4th-1th century BCE (Guermeur, Entre magie et médecine (2013), 13) - 664-525 BCE / 26th dynasty or later / Late Period, probably Saite Period (Brooklyn Museum, Medical Text (2017)); |
DatasetID | 311081 |
last Change | 29.07.2022 |
Trismegistos | 703143 |
Author | Martina Grünhagen; Verena Lepper; Daniela C. Härtel |
Dataset License | Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA) |
Data set citation | Data set 311081 (= Pap. New York, Brooklyn Museum 47.218.2), ERC-Project ELEPHANTINE: Martina Grünhagen; Verena Lepper; Daniela C. Härtel. |