A Coptic Handbook of Ritual Power represents the first volume in a new series titled The Macquarie Papyri, representing the papyri in Macquarie University’s Museum of Ancient Cultures. The present volume reproduces a complete First Millenium 20-page codex, including a mixed Christian/Gnostic invocation, ritual instructions, and a list of 27 spells to cure everything from demonic possession to various ailments, and to succeed in ventures from love to business. This publication represents a substantial addition to the existing corpus of Egyptian magical texts, and also provides evidence for the presence of Sethian Gnostic thought in Coptic texts. The publisher’s website (http://www.brepols.net/pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503531700-1) lists the contents as follows:
Table of Contents
Abbreviations
List of Figures and Plates
Introduction
- The Codex: Codicology – Palaeography, Date, and Provenance – Dialect and Orthography
- The Contents of the Handbook: The Invocations Text – The Three Versions of the Invocations Text – The Invocations Text, Sethianism, and the Practice of Ritual Power – The List of Prescriptions – Conspectus of Prescriptions
Text and Translation
- Coptic Text and Facing Translation
- Continuous Translation
Commentary
Appendices
- P. Lond. Copt. I 1008 (BL MS Or. 5987) (L)
- P. Berl. Inv. 5527 (B)
Bibliography
Indices
- Words of Egyptian Origin
- Words of Greek Origin
- Proper Names and Words of Power
- Symbols and Abbreviations
Plates
