Philinna Papyrus

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The Philinna Papyrus (PMG XX) is part of a collection of ancient Greek spells written in hexameter verse. Three spells are partially preserved on the papyrus. One is a cure for headache, one probably for a skin condition, and the purpose of the third spell is uncertain. Two fragments of the papyrus survive, in the collections of the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, and the Berlin State Museums.

Papyrus[]

The Philinna Papyrus is made up of two fragments: P. Amh. 11, published by Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt in 1901, and P. Berol. 7504, published by Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff in 1907.[1] In 1942 Paul Maas identified that the two fragments were part of the same roll.[1] The surviving piece is 10 x 8.2 cm in total, with parts of two columns surviving, written in a hand dating to the first century BC.[2] The verso of the papyrus preserves parts of two further columns, in a cursive hand from about the first century AD.[2]

P. Amh. 11 was purchased by Grenfell and Hunt on behalf of Lord Amherst between 1897 and 1900. In 1913 it was acquired by the J.P. Morgan Library (now the Morgan Library & Museum) in New York. P. Berol. 7504 was bought at around the same time by the Berlin State Museums.[2]

Contents[]

The Philinna Papyrus is part of a collection of spells in hexameters.[3] Each spell has a title with the name and nationality of the author and the ailment which the charm is intended to cure.[4] The surviving portion of the papyrus preserves three spells.[5] The first spell is damaged, and it is not certain what it was for.[5] This damaged spell is followed by two more: one attributed to a Syrian woman for inflammation, and one by Philinna of Thessaly for headaches.[6] Unlike other surviving ancient collections of spells, the Philinna papyrus does not contain any descriptions of rituals to accompany the spells, and Christopher Faraone argues that its format is more influenced by Hellenistic literary anthologies than other magical handbooks.[7] The papyrus is unique among Greek magical papyri in attributing the spells it contains to women.[8]

First spell[]

The text printed in PGM2 restores the heading as [ προ]ς κεφαλη(ς) [πονον ] ("spell for a headache"[9]), but Robert Daniel suggests instead that "κεφαλη" is part of the nationality of the author, and the word should be restored as Κεφαλιη(νιδος) ("of Kefalonia").[5] This spell ends with the phrase "bring to perfection a perfect incantation", apparently a traditional ending to an incantation which is also known from a fragment of Aristophanes' lost play Amphiaraus.[10]

Syrian woman's spell[]

Lines 4–12 of the papyrus are a spell "προς παν κατακαλαυμα" ("for any inflammation"), attributed to a Syrian woman from Gadara.[9] The name of the Syrian woman does not survive.[11] Another version of the same spell is known from a papyrus from Oxyrhynchus[11] The inflammation that the spell treats is probably a sort of skin condition, though the word κατακαλυμα is also used in ancient Greek medical texts for fever.[12]

The charm is of the type known as historiola, wherein a myth is told which is analogous to the desired outcome of the spell.[13] In the story, seven maidens put out a fire with pitchers of water.[14] No other version of this story is known in Greek mythology, though there are parallels with an Egyptian myth about Isis and Horus, and even earlier Egyptian and Mesopotamian healing magic.[15] The Syrian woman's spell on the Philinna papyrus is the earliest surviving instance of a historiola in ancient Greek magic.[16]

Philinna's spell[]

Lines 13–19 are a spell for headaches, attributed to Philinna the Thessalian.[17] This Philinna may be the same as the Philinna from Larissa who was the mother of Philip Arrhidaeus, one of the sons of Philip II of Macedon and half-brother of Alexander the Great.[18]

Like the first spell, Philinna's spell is a traditional form. It commands the headache to flee from the patient; similar formulae are known from a fragment of Aristotle from the fourth century BC, and were still in use in the time of Pliny the Elder, who quotes an example in his Natural History.[19]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Maas 1942, p. 33.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Maas 1942, p. 34.
  3. ^ Faraone 1996, p. 98.
  4. ^ Maas 1942, p. 35.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c Daniel 1988, p. 306.
  6. ^ Faraone 1996, p. 99.
  7. ^ Faraone 2000, p. 209.
  8. ^ Baptista Sánchez 2017.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Betz 1986, p. 258.
  10. ^ Faraone 2000, p. 198.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Plant 2004, p. 114.
  12. ^ Faraone 1996, n. 71.
  13. ^ Faraone 1997, p. 48.
  14. ^ Maas 1942, p. 37.
  15. ^ Faraone 1997, p. 49.
  16. ^ Ritner 1998, p. 1028.
  17. ^ Betz 1986, p. 259.
  18. ^ Dickie 1994, p. 121.
  19. ^ Faraone 2000, pp. 199–200.

Works cited[]

  • Baptista Sánchez, Ana Isabel (2017). "Algunas Consideraciones Sobre el Papiro De Filina (P. Amh. 11 y P. Berol. 7504)". eClassica. III.
  • Betz, Hans Dieter, ed. (1986). The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation Including the Demotic Spells. University of Chicago Press.
  • Daniel, Robert W. (1988). "A note on the Philinna Papyrus (PGM XX 1–2)". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 73.
  • Dickie, Matthew W. (1994). "The Identity of Philinna in the Philinna Papyrus ('PGM2' XX.15; 'SH' 900.15)". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 100.
  • Faraone, Christopher A. (1996). "Taking the "Nestor's Cup Inscription" Seriously: Erotic Magic and Conditional Curses in the Earliest Inscribed Hexameters". Classical Antiquity. 15 (1): 77–112. doi:10.2307/25011032. JSTOR 25011032.
  • Faraone, Christopher A. (1997). "Salvation and Female Heroics in the Parodos of Aristophanes' Lysistrata". Journal of Hellenic Studies. 117: 38–59. doi:10.2307/632549. JSTOR 632549.
  • Faraone, Christopher A. (2000). "Handbooks and Anthologies: The Collection of Greek and Egyptian Incantations in Late Hellenistic Egypt". Archiv für Religionsgeschichte. 2 (1). doi:10.1515/9783110234183.195.
  • Maas, P. (1942). "The Philinna Papyrus". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 62: 33–38. doi:10.2307/626711. JSTOR 626711.
  • Plant, I. M., ed. (2004). Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology. University of Oklahoma Press.
  • Ritner, Robert K. (1998). "The Wives of Horus and the Philinna Papyrus (PGM XX)". Egyptian Religion: The Last Thousand Years. Peeters.
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