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Pap. New York, Brooklyn Museum 47.218.48 + 85

TEI-XML-File: https://p612399.webspaceconfig.de/xml/elephantine_erc_db_311134.tei.xml

Metadata

Collection

Inventory Number	Pap. New York, Brooklyn Museum 47.218.48 + 85
Current Location	New York, Brooklyn Museum
Comments on Inventory	Bequest of Miss Theodora Wilbour from the collection of her father, Charles Edwin Wilbour.
Publication Permission Status	permission for publication upon enquiry only
Publication Status	unpublished

Origin / Provenance

Ancient Provenance Site	unknown () [Trismegistos] Certainty: high
Ancient Provenance Details	Container marked “SM’ blk”.
Ancient Provenance District	unknown () [Trismegistos]
Type of Discovery	purchase Certainty: high
Finder (= First Purchaser)	Wilbour, Charles Edwin Certainty: high
District of Find / Purchase in Egypt	unknown () [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
State of Preservation	The fragments of this papyrus were inventoried by Posener under the inventory number 47.218.48 and 47.218.85 in 1952. In 1966, Sauneron unrolled the papyrus and framed it. The beginning of 47.218.48 is not preserved, so that this fragment is shorter than 47.218.85. 47.218.48/.85A (47.218.48d): 100+ fragments, mostly quite small. Condition: Exceptionally good. Dimensions: Overall: 10 5/8 × 68 7/8 in. (27 × 175 cm) a: Glass: 15 13/16 x 27 5/8 in. (40.2 x 70.2 cm) a: Object: 10 13/16 x 26 3/16 in. (27.5 x 66.5 cm) b: Glass: 15 3/4 x 29 1/2 in. (40 x 75 cm) b: Object: 10 11/16 x 25 3/8 in. (27.2 x 64.5 cm) c: Glass: 15 3/4 x 22 3/16 in. (40 x 56.3 cm) c: Object: 10 13/16 x 18 3/8 in. (27.5 x 46.7 cm) d: Small Box of Fragments: 1 3/4 x 4 1/16 x 4 1/16 in. (4.5 x 10.3 x 10.3 cm) e: Glass: 8 1/8 x 10 1/16 in. (20.6 x 25.6 cm) e: Largest Fragment: 11/16 x 2 1/2 in. (1.7 x 6.4 cm) f: Glass: 8 1/16 x 10 1/16 in. (20.5 x 25.5 cm) f: Largest Fragment: 1/2 x 1 13/16 in. (1.2 x 4.6 cm)
Comments on Object	47.218.48 is the upper part and 47.218.85 is the lower part of this object. This object consists of 12 sheets of papyrus.

Text Basic Information

Localization of Text on Object	recto
Inks and Pigments	carbon ink polychrome black and red
Range of Preservation (Text)	incomplete
State of Preservation (Text)	47.218.48/.85A (47.218.48d): 100+ fragments, mostly quite small. The relatively small size of most of these fragments makes the reading of only a few signs possible; assigning most of these fragments to the texts from which they come is not possible at the present moment.
Script, Primary	Hieratic
Language, Primary	Middle Egyptian
Comments on Handwriting	- „gedrungenes, aber geübtes Späthieratisch“ (Fischer-Elfert, Review: Égyptien d'orphiologie (1991), 229) - There are no ligatures. Papyrus roll inscribed on recto only in red and black Hieratic. Small hand.

 

Text Content

Modern Title	Snakebite Papyrus
Ancient Archives	(Uncertain)
Ancient Author of Text	(Unknown)
Ancient Scribe(s) of Text	(Unknown)
Text Types	religious | polytheistic Egyptian | magical scientific | medicine | essay scientific | medicine | prescription
Summary of Content	Hieratic "snakebite papyrus". Extant text consists of six columns, comprising 25-29 lines per column, listing the names of a number of species of snakes, a description of their appearance, the effect of their bites, and treatment therefor. Thirty-four species of snakes are dealt with. The text consists of two large compendia. The first one comprises 38 chapters, of which only chapters 14 to 38 are preserved. They describe indigenous snakes, incl. the chameleon, and relate them to a god. Features of different snake species are given for curative reasons ‒ name, appearance, size, color, habit, kind how they move, how toxic they are, how the bite looks and which results the bite has. There are some mythological sequences. The second compendium consists of 61 chapters. They list prescriptions against snakebites and give treatment instructions. In addition, there are prescriptions against scorpion stings and spider bites. Medical and magical methods are noted. "Manual of a snake charmer" (S. Sauneron, Some Newly Unrolled Papyri, 102).
Location of Composition	unknown unknown Egypt (Certainty: high)
Multilingualism	Monolingual Script = Language
Religion	Polytheism (Egyptian)

 

 

Dates

RulerID	Regnal Year	MonthID	Day Date of the Text	Gregorian Date	dating_comment
Late Period (26th dynasty - 31st dynasty)				-664 BCE -525 BCE	Second half of Dynasty 26 (paleographical dating) - Late Period, Second half of the 26th dynasty (According to: Brooklyn Museum, Snakebite Papyrus (2017)) - Most signs are characteristic for the 26th dynasty. (According to: Verhoeven Späthieratische Buchschrift (2001), 305-330, only four signs show the form of the Ptolemaic Period.);

 

Pictures

 

Literature

• Aufrère, Sydney H., Symptomatologie des morsures d'ophidiens d'après le papyrus Brooklyn nos 47.218.48 et 85 : aspects épistémologiques d'un texte égyptien ancien recopié au IVe siècle avant notre ère (2012). (223-261brr)
• Brooklyn Museum, Snakebite Papyrus (1407). ()
• Cannuyer, Christian, Singe savant ou cameleon (1985). (189-191)
• Fischer-Elfert, Hans-Werner, Review: Un traité égyptien d'ophiologie. Papyrus du Brooklyn Museum No.47.218.48 et .85 (1991). (229-234)
• Hoffmann, Friedhelm & Quack, Joachim Friedrich, Anthologie der demotischen Literatur (2007). (361, n. a)
• Leitz, Christian, Die Schlangennamen in den ägyptischen und griechischen Giftbüchern (1997). ()
• O'Rourke, P. F., La codification du savoir médical à l’époque saïte (2013). (36 fig.2)
• Quirke, Stephen, Rezension: Un traité égyptien d'ophiologie. Papyrus du Brooklyn Museum No.47.218.48 et .85 Serge Sauneron (1997). (243-245)
• Satzinger, H., Koptische Urkunden III. Ägyptische Urkunden aus den Staatlichen Museen Berlin (1967). (325)
• Sauneron, Serge, Some Newly Unrolled Hieratic Papyri in the Wilbour Collection of The Brooklyn Museum (1966). (98, 100 and 102)
• Sauneron, Serge, The Wilbour Papyri in Brooklyn. A Progress Report (1968). (109-112)
• Sauneron, Serge, Un traité égyptien d'ophiologie : Papyrus du Brooklyn Museum Nr. 47.218.48 et .85 (1989). ()
• Sauneron, Serge, Une description Égyptienne de caméléon (1972). (161f.)
• Verhoeven- van Elsbergen, Ursula, Untersuchungen zur späthieratischen Buchschrift (2001). (305-330)
• Vittmann, Günter, Nachtrag zu WZKM 81(1991), Rezension S. SAUNERON, Un traité égyptien d'ophiologie (1993). (249)
• Vittmann, Günter, Un traité égyptien d'ophiologie. Papyrus du Brooklyn Museum N° 47.218.48 et .85 (= Publications de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Bibliothèque Générale, t. XI) Serge Sauneron (1991). (237-241)
• von Kanel, Frédérique, Les pretres-ouab de Sekhmet et les conjurateurs de Serket (1984). (197 no.27)
• Westendorf, Wolfhart, Handbuch der altägyptischen Medizin (1999). (51-53)

 

DatasetID	311134
last Change	29.07.2022
Trismegistos	58496
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 311134 (= Pap. New York, Brooklyn Museum 47.218.48 + 85), ERC-Project ELEPHANTINE: Martina Grünhagen; Verena Lepper; Daniela C. Härtel.