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Pap. New York, Brooklyn Museum 47.218.156, a-d

TEI-XML-File: https://p612399.webspaceconfig.de/xml/elephantine_erc_db_311125.tei.xml

Metadata

Collection

Inventory Number	Pap. New York, Brooklyn Museum 47.218.156, a-d
Current Location	exhibition
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. (Guermeur, Le papyrus hiératique iatromagique (2015–2016), 13–16). Bequest of Theodora Wilbour from the collection of her father, Charles Edwin Wilbour
Publication Permission Status	permission for publication upon enquiry only

Origin / Provenance

Ancient Provenance Site	Elephantine (Ꜣbw; Yb; YbꜢ; YbꜤ; Ἐλεφαντίνη, יב , ⲉⲓⲏⲃ) [Trismegistos] Certainty: high
Ancient Provenance Details	Not known, probably Elephantine. - Possible place the composition was made: Heliiopolis, Egypt
Ancient Provenance District	Upper Egypt, 1st nome (Ombites) [Trismegistos]
Type of Discovery	purchase Certainty: high
Finder (= First Purchaser)	“Bequest of Theodora Wilbour from the collection of her father, Charles Edwin Wilbour.” Certainty: high
Location of Find / Purchase in Egypt	Elephantine
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)	“Bequest of Theodora Wilbour from the collection of her father, Charles Edwin Wilbour.” Certainty: high
Buyer (Currently Housing Institution)	(not relevant) Certainty: high

Object

Object Type	papyrus | amulet
Range of Preservation	incomplete
State of Preservation	The lower part is significantly damaged with text loss. Only the last column is well preserved. Small holes are distributed regularly in the center of this column. The large uninscribed left margin shows that the end of this object is preserved. Condition: Poor. Roll had been attacked by termites with considerable areas lost. Beginning of text lost. Section A very incomplete. All sections have lost some portion of text. Long black space at end of text.
Restoration Activities	Previously catalogued under 47.218.119A. Opened in April 1961 and given the number 47.218.156. Mounted in three separate sections.
Comments on Object	Measurement of the fragments according to Brooklyn Museum, Magical Papyrus (2017): Overall: 4 15/16 × 92 11/16 in. (12.5 × 235.5 cm) a: Glass: 7 1/2 x 26 3/8 in. (19 x 67 cm) a: Object: 4 7/8 x 23 1/4 in. (12.4 x 59 cm) b: Frame: 7 1/16 x 32 1/2 in. (18 x 82.5 cm) b: Object: 4 1/2 x 30 3/16 in. (11.5 x 76.7 cm) c: Frame: 8 7/8 x 34 1/16 in. (22.6 x 86.5 cm) c: Object: 29 15/16 x 4 7/8 in. (76.1 x 12.4 cm) d: Glass: 8 1/16 x 10 1/16 in. (20.5 x 25.5 cm) d: Largest Fragment: 1 x 2 3/4 in. (2.5 x 7 cm) Measurements: Height 12.4 cm. length of A, 59.2 cm. Length of B, 78.5 cm. length of C, 76.3 cm. Dimensions: W. 235.5 cm.; H. 12.5 cm.

Text Basic Information

Localization of Text on Object	(unknown/uncertain)
Inks and Pigments	type unclear polychrome black and red
Range of Preservation (Text)	incomplete
State of Preservation (Text)	The upper parts are in part sufficiently damaged. 5 extant columns of text: column 1 is fragmentary at the bottom and has 6 lines of text; column 2 has 9 lines of text; column 3 has eight lines of text; column 4 has 9 lines of text; column 5 has 8 lines of text. Nb. In 2012‑2013 an additional twenty‑one new fragments were found, four of which can be joined directly to the fragmentary right edge of what is designated as page one in Sauneron’s edition; they nearly complete the top lines of the column. There are an additional four fragments that preserve five fragmentary lines and the top margin of another column, one that obviously preceded Sauneron’s page one.
Script, Primary	Late Hieratic
Language, Primary	Middle Egyptian, Late
Specialities in Writing Direction	The inscriptions of the creatures of the vignettes have another writing direction than the spells. The identifiers of Bes and Atum are written in the first vignette in a vertical line. In the second vignette, the name of Atum shows the direction from left to right. The last two signs were written vertically under the rest because the identifier was too long for this space.
Comments on Handwriting	Papyrus inscribed in Hieratic, red and black.
Comments on Text Layout	col 1: 6 lines col 2: 9 lines col. 3: 8 lines col. 4: 9 lines col. 5: 8 lines
Existing Pictorial Elements	At the end of the papyrus and between the second and third column, there each is a vignette. (There are two vignettes, the first found between cols. 2 and 3, the second at the end of the papyrus, just after col.5.) Every one of them shows Atum as a snake with human arms and legs. He holds the sun-disc with the young sun god inside of his hands. The nineheaded Bes figure surrounded by fire is in front of him. In the second vignette, he stands upon several dangerous animals enclosed in an oval. Two vignettes of Atum as serpent deity standing before composite deity.
	recto	verso
Quantity of Lines	40
Quantity of Columns	5

 

Text Content

Modern Title	Papyrus with magical text with spells for protecting women and children against snakes and scorpions at night. / "The Brooklyn Magical Papyrus"
Ancient Archives	(Uncertain)
Ancient Author of Text	(Unknown)
Ancient Scribe(s) of Text	(Unknown)
Text Types	religious | polytheistic Egyptian | magical
Summary of Content	The papyrus contains spells to protect women and children from snakes and scorpions at night. (According to: Brooklyn Museum, Magical Papyrus (2017)) Illustrated magical texts with spells against snakes and scorpions that was apparently made for the protection of the women and children at night. In addition, there are two vignettes, the first found between cols. 2 and 3, the second at the end of the papyrus, just after col.5. Two vignettes of Atum as serpent deity standing before composite deity. The standing winged creature seen here is known as the nineheaded Bes figure, a divine protector of the birth of the king and of the sun. This form of Bes was closely associated with the evening and the night part of the solar cycle. He thus also played an important role as guardian of sleeping women and children, particularly against the dangers of the night, represented here by the noxious creatures contained in the oval upon which he stands. The firebrands that surround him represent destructive forces directed at anyone who approaches. "The strange winged creature standing in front of the serpent in this scene represents several destructive forces, good and bad, inherent in various Egyptian gods. These powers were not normally represented in specific shapes; hence, the unusual being here, like the winged figure in the large stone relief also in this case, is not a single god but a representation of several abstractions. The god Bes was one of the deities associated with this composite being; as guardian of women and children, he acquired the role of protector of the birth of kings and of the sun, which sprang forth anew each morning from the underworld, where it had been threatened by snakes during the night. The images of the child and the snake on the papyrus reflect these concepts." (database entry Brooklyn Museum) "where the king (and the private individual for whom the papyrus was later adapted) is protected during sleep against being raped by a demon via the ear" (R. Ritner, JARCE 27 (1990), 34).
Location of Composition	unknown unknown Egypt (Certainty: high)
Comments on Text	Exact information about the script and language is missing up to now. This is based on the known hieratic texts from Brooklyn which are related to this object.
Multilingualism	Monolingual Script = Language
Gender	Woman Child
Comment on Gender	spells to protect women and children
Religion	Polytheism (Egyptian)

 

 

Dates

RulerID	Regnal Year	MonthID	Day Date of the Text	Gregorian Date	dating_comment
26th dynasty				-664 BCE -525 BCE	Late Period, Saite Period - palaeographical dating (According to: Brooklyn Museum, Magical Text (2017));

 

Pictures

 

Literature

• Assmann, Jan, Ägypten Theologie und Frömmigkeit einer frühen Hochkultur (1984). (Cover)
• Banziger, Max, Das altägyptische Lebensbuch (1979). (15 + 117)
• Brier, Bob, Ancient Egyptian Magic (1980). (165)
• Brooklyn Museum (ed.), Neferut net Kemit. Egyptian Art from the Brooklyn Museum, Tokyo 1983. (no. 66)
• Brooklyn Museum, Scene from a Magical Papyrus (2017). ()
• Brunner-Traut, Emma, Der menschliche Körper - eine Gliederpuppe (1988). (13-14)
• Dils, Peter, Papyrus Brooklyn 47.218.02 (2017). ()
• Eschweiler, Peter, Bildzauber im alten Ägypten (1994). (183-185)
• Gourlay, Yvon J.-L., Les Seigneurs et les Baou Vicents à Chedenou (1979). (378 no. 22)
• Goyon, Jean-Claude, Confirmation du pouvoir royal au nouvel an [Brooklyn Museum Papyrus 47.218.50] (1972). (13)
• Guermeur, Ivan, Le papyrus hiératique iatromagique n° 47.218.2 du musée de Brooklyn (2015). (13-16)
• Hoffmann, Friedhelm & Quack, Joachim Friedrich, Anthologie der demotischen Literatur (2007). (361, n. a)
• Kakosy, Laszlo, La Magia in Egitto dei faraoni (1985). (113, fig. 1)
• Koch, Klaus, Geschichte der ägyptischen Religion (1993). (552)
• Koemoth, Pierre, L'Atoum serpent magicien de la stèle Metternich (2007). (137-146)
• Lorten, D., The Titel 'Book of Knowing in the Creations of Re and of felling Apophis (1977). (57+62 note23)
• Manniche, Lise, The Prince Who Knew His Fate (1981). (30 + 37)
• Morenz, Ludwig D., Visuelle Poesie als eine sakrale Zeichen-Kunst der altägyptischen hohen Kultur (2004). (318)
• Ogdon, Jorge Roberto, Some Notes on the Iconography of the God Min. (29-41)
• Pernigotti, Sergio, La benda di mummia con il 'Libro dei Morti' del Museo Civico di Bologna (1981). (129 + note 29)
• Quaegebeur, J., Les Prêtres Memphites à L'Époque Ptolémaique (1972). (92 no.76)
• Quaegebeur, Jan, Les pantoufles du dieu Thot (1992). (523)
• Ritner, R.K., A Spell Against Night Terros (1990). (34-35)
• Ryhiner, M.L., A propos de trigrammes pantheists (1977). (127 no.16)
• Sauneron, Serge, Le papyrus magique illustré de Brooklyn : Brooklyn Museum 47.218.156 (1970). (VIII-IX)
• Sauneron, Serge, Les travaux de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale en 1969-1970 (1971). (295ff)
• Seeber, Christine, Untersuchungen zur Darstellung des Totengerichts im Alten Ägypten (1976). (174)
• Stork, L., Das Ohr in den altägyptischen Sexualvorstellungen (1973). (33ff)
• Stork, L., Nachtrag: Das Ohr in den altägyptischen Sexualvorstellungen (1973). (39ff)
• Vandersleyen, Claude, Das Alte Ägypten (1975). (347-348 fig. 340)
• Vittmann, Günter, Das demotische Graffito vom Satettempel auf Elephantine (1997). (169, note 38)
• Ziegler, Christine, Une decouverte inedited de Mariette, les bronzes du Sarapeum (1981). (34)

 

DatasetID	311125
last Change	29.07.2022
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 311125 (= Pap. New York, Brooklyn Museum 47.218.156, a-d), ERC-Project ELEPHANTINE: Martina Grünhagen; Verena Lepper; Daniela C. Härtel.