The Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Magical Practice ed. by Elisabeth R. O'Connell (review)
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The first is the so-called \"material turn,\" a theoretical stream within the study of history placing emphasis on the enduring aspects of extant materials and the stories they tell about the people, cultures, and societies that produced, used, and transmitted them. The second is the specific attention to the scripts, objects, and devices traditionally labeled \"magic,\" with ample discussion of the constitution and utility of the category in relation to \"religion.\" Coptic magical texts, in particular, offer rich sources for investigating the materiality of ancient religions, since the majority of the scripts are contained in compilations that bear signs of many earlier impressions; thus, Coptic magical texts may be classified as both objects and traditions, existing at the crossroads of \"religion\" and \"magic.\" P. Brit. Mus. Hay 1–7, the subjects of this volume, are prime examples of such texts that harbor plentiful details for reconstructing the material and ritual history of late antique Egypt. Appropriately, the research contained here employs a multidisciplinary approach, from cultural and textual studies to the scientific analyses of leather, developing a robust historical profile of the manuscripts. The researchers intend this work to provide a model for similar investigations of ancient texts.</p> <p>The volume is organized into eight chapters explaining various dimensions of the background, interpretation, and significance of P. Brit. Mus. Hay 1–7. Chapter One (by Elisabeth R. O'Connell) provides an introduction to the volume's contents, the Hay archive, and the study of \"magic\" in late antique Egypt. Topics move from the specific, defining the character and users of the Hay texts, to the general, describing Egypt's political, linguistic, and religious history from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The chapter's final sections focus on the context of magic in ancient Egypt and Coptic magic in particular. Both at the beginning and end, O'Connell alludes to a central finding of this study (elaborated in Chapter Two)—namely, the likely provenance of the Hay archive in western Thebes.</p> <p>The next three chapters focus on the discovery and preservation of the manuscripts. Chapter Two (by Elisabeth R. O'Connell) details the circumstances surrounding the modern provenance of the collection, from the Hay family's journeys through Egypt to the purchase and conservation of the collection by the <strong>[End Page 588]</strong> British Museum. O'Connell makes a strong case that the manuscripts originated in western Thebes in the mid-eighth to ninth century, possibly from Deir el-Bakhit (the location of the Monastery of Paul), where other Coptic magical manuscripts on leather have been found. Chapter Three (by Lucy-Anne Skinner, Rebecca Stacey, Caroline R. Cartwright, Craig Williams, and Barbara Wills) explains the results of scientific analyses of the manuscripts, identifying the animal source of the skin, the processing stages applied to it, and the likely economic conditions surrounding the livestock and technologies involved. Chapter Four (by Barbara Wills, Lucy-Anne Skinner, and David Giles) recounts the efforts and rationale behind the conservation of the manuscripts.</p> <p>Chapter Five (by Michael Zellmann-Rohrer) provides new editions and translations of the texts, complete with a critical apparatus, notes on the non-standard orthography and Sahidic of the Coptic, and detailed commentary on both the commonplace and peculiar vocabulary and expressions of the formularies. The formularies themselves comprise numerous invocations of angelic powers, short healing recipes, and prayers listed with various applications, combining elements of Christianity, Gnosticism, and traditional Egyptian religion.</p> <p>The following two chapters (by Michael Zellmann-Rohrer) further contextualize the manuscripts among the ritual activities and experts of late antique and early medieval Egypt. Chapter Six analyzes synchronously the interests and identity of the group or family of specialists who assembled the texts. Through close...</p> </p>","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915042","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:
Reviewed by:
The Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Magical Practice ed. by Elisabeth R. O'Connell
Michael Beshay
Elisabeth R. O'Connell, editor The Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Magical Practice London: The British Museum, 2022 Pp. v + 235. $64.95.
This volume (edited by Elisabeth R. O'Connell) represents the convergence of two significant trends in the historical study of religion in late antique Egypt. The first is the so-called "material turn," a theoretical stream within the study of history placing emphasis on the enduring aspects of extant materials and the stories they tell about the people, cultures, and societies that produced, used, and transmitted them. The second is the specific attention to the scripts, objects, and devices traditionally labeled "magic," with ample discussion of the constitution and utility of the category in relation to "religion." Coptic magical texts, in particular, offer rich sources for investigating the materiality of ancient religions, since the majority of the scripts are contained in compilations that bear signs of many earlier impressions; thus, Coptic magical texts may be classified as both objects and traditions, existing at the crossroads of "religion" and "magic." P. Brit. Mus. Hay 1–7, the subjects of this volume, are prime examples of such texts that harbor plentiful details for reconstructing the material and ritual history of late antique Egypt. Appropriately, the research contained here employs a multidisciplinary approach, from cultural and textual studies to the scientific analyses of leather, developing a robust historical profile of the manuscripts. The researchers intend this work to provide a model for similar investigations of ancient texts.
The volume is organized into eight chapters explaining various dimensions of the background, interpretation, and significance of P. Brit. Mus. Hay 1–7. Chapter One (by Elisabeth R. O'Connell) provides an introduction to the volume's contents, the Hay archive, and the study of "magic" in late antique Egypt. Topics move from the specific, defining the character and users of the Hay texts, to the general, describing Egypt's political, linguistic, and religious history from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The chapter's final sections focus on the context of magic in ancient Egypt and Coptic magic in particular. Both at the beginning and end, O'Connell alludes to a central finding of this study (elaborated in Chapter Two)—namely, the likely provenance of the Hay archive in western Thebes.
The next three chapters focus on the discovery and preservation of the manuscripts. Chapter Two (by Elisabeth R. O'Connell) details the circumstances surrounding the modern provenance of the collection, from the Hay family's journeys through Egypt to the purchase and conservation of the collection by the [End Page 588] British Museum. O'Connell makes a strong case that the manuscripts originated in western Thebes in the mid-eighth to ninth century, possibly from Deir el-Bakhit (the location of the Monastery of Paul), where other Coptic magical manuscripts on leather have been found. Chapter Three (by Lucy-Anne Skinner, Rebecca Stacey, Caroline R. Cartwright, Craig Williams, and Barbara Wills) explains the results of scientific analyses of the manuscripts, identifying the animal source of the skin, the processing stages applied to it, and the likely economic conditions surrounding the livestock and technologies involved. Chapter Four (by Barbara Wills, Lucy-Anne Skinner, and David Giles) recounts the efforts and rationale behind the conservation of the manuscripts.
Chapter Five (by Michael Zellmann-Rohrer) provides new editions and translations of the texts, complete with a critical apparatus, notes on the non-standard orthography and Sahidic of the Coptic, and detailed commentary on both the commonplace and peculiar vocabulary and expressions of the formularies. The formularies themselves comprise numerous invocations of angelic powers, short healing recipes, and prayers listed with various applications, combining elements of Christianity, Gnosticism, and traditional Egyptian religion.
The following two chapters (by Michael Zellmann-Rohrer) further contextualize the manuscripts among the ritual activities and experts of late antique and early medieval Egypt. Chapter Six analyzes synchronously the interests and identity of the group or family of specialists who assembled the texts. Through close...
皮革上的科普特咒语的 Hay 档案:Elisabeth R. O'Connell 编著的《从多学科角度研究魔法实践的物质性》(评论)
以下是内容的简要摘录,以代替摘要:评论者: 皮革上的科普特咒语的 Hay 档案:Elisabeth R. O'Connell 编辑 Elisabeth R. O'Connell, editor The Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Magical Practice ed. by Elisabeth R. O'Connell Michael Beshay Elisabeth R. O'Connell, editor The Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather:多学科方法研究魔法实践的物质性 伦敦:大英博物馆,2022 年 V + 235 页。$64.95.本卷(由伊丽莎白-R-奥康纳尔编辑)代表了古埃及晚期宗教历史研究中两个重要趋势的交汇。首先是所谓的 "材料转向",这是历史研究中的一种理论流派,强调现存材料的持久性,以及它们所讲述的关于生产、使用和传播这些材料的民族、文化和社会的故事。其次是对传统上被称为 "魔法 "的文字、物品和装置的特别关注,并充分讨论了这一类别与 "宗教 "之间的构成和效用。尤其是科普特魔法文本,为研究古代宗教的物质性提供了丰富的资料,因为大多数脚本都包含在汇编中,这些汇编带有许多早期印象的痕迹;因此,科普特魔法文本可以被归类为物品和传统,存在于 "宗教 "和 "魔法 "的交叉点上。P. Brit.Mus.Hay 1-7 是本卷的主题,是此类文本的典型例子,其中蕴藏着大量细节,可用于重建古埃及晚期的物质和仪式历史。本书所包含的研究恰如其分地采用了多学科方法,从文化和文本研究到皮革的科学分析,对手稿进行了有力的历史剖析。研究人员希望这项工作能为古代文本的类似研究提供一个范例。本卷共分为八章,从不同层面解释了《P. Brit.Mus.海 1-7》。第一章(Elisabeth R. O'Connell 著)介绍了本卷的内容、海伊档案以及古埃及晚期的 "魔法 "研究。该章的主题从具体到一般,界定了海伊文本的特征和使用者,描述了埃及从古代晚期到中世纪早期的政治、语言和宗教历史。本章最后几节重点介绍了古埃及魔法的背景,尤其是科普特魔法。在开头和结尾,奥康纳尔都提到了本研究的一个核心发现(在第二章中详细阐述)--即海伊档案可能来自底比斯西部。接下来的三章主要介绍手稿的发现和保存。第二章(作者伊丽莎白-R-奥康奈尔)详细介绍了有关该藏品现代出处的情况,从海氏家族的埃及之旅,到大英博物馆购买和保护该藏品 [完 588 页]。奥康纳尔有力地证明了这些手稿源自八世纪中叶至九世纪的底比斯西部,可能来自代尔巴希特(Deir el-Bakhit,保罗修道院所在地),在那里还发现了其他皮革上的科普特魔法手稿。第三章(作者 Lucy-Anne Skinner、Rebecca Stacey、Caroline R. Cartwright、Craig Williams 和 Barbara Wills)解释了对手稿进行科学分析的结果,确定了皮革的动物来源、皮革的加工阶段,以及围绕牲畜和相关技术的可能经济条件。第四章(作者:芭芭拉-威尔斯、露西-安妮-斯金纳和戴维-贾尔斯)讲述了手稿保护工作背后的努力和理由。第五章(Michael Zellmann-Rohrer 撰写)提供了这些文本的新版本和译文,并附有批判性说明、对科普特语非标准正字法和撒希德语的注释,以及对常用和特殊词汇及表述的详细评注。经文本身包括大量对天使力量的召唤、简短的治疗秘方以及列出各种应用的祈祷文,融合了基督教、诺斯替教和传统埃及宗教的元素。接下来的两章(由 Michael Zellmann-Rohrer 撰写)进一步将手稿与古代晚期和中世纪早期埃及的仪式活动和专家联系起来。第六章同步分析了汇集这些手稿的专家团体或家族的兴趣和身份。通过近距离...
期刊介绍:
The official publication of the North American Patristics Society (NAPS), the Journal of Early Christian Studies focuses on the study of Christianity in the context of late ancient societies and religions from c.e. 100-700. Incorporating The Second Century (an earlier publication), the Journal publishes the best of traditional patristics scholarship while showcasing articles that call attention to newer themes and methodologies than those appearing in other patristics journals. An extensive book review section is featured in every issue.