Script Switching in Roman Egypt
Script Switching in Roman Egypt

Author: Edward O. D. Love

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-12-06

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 3110768437

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Script Switching in Roman Egypt studies the hieroglyphic, hieratic, demotic, and Old Coptic manuscripts which evidence the conventions governing script use, the domains of writing those scripts inhabited, and the shift of scripts between those domains, to elucidate the obsolescence of those scripts from their domains during the Roman Period. Utilising macro-level frameworks from sociolinguistics, the textual culture from four sites is contextualised within the priestly communities of speech, script, and practice that produced them. Utilising micro-level frameworks from linguistics, both the scripts of the Egyptian writing system written, and the way the orthographic methods fundamental to those scripts changed, are typologised. This study also treats the way in which morphographic and alphabetic orthographies are deciphered and understood by the reading brain, and how changes in spelling over time both resulted from and responded to dimensions of orthographic depth. Through a cross-cultural consideration of script obsolescence in Mesoamerica and Mesopotamia and by analogy to language death in speech communities, a model of domain-bydomain shift and obsolescence of the scripts of the Egyptian writing system is proposed.

Script Switching in Roman Egypt
Script Switching in Roman Egypt

Author: Edward O. D. Love

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-12-06

Total Pages: 509

ISBN-13: 3110768488

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Script Switching in Roman Egypt studies the hieroglyphic, hieratic, demotic, and Old Coptic manuscripts which evidence the conventions governing script use, the domains of writing those scripts inhabited, and the shift of scripts between those domains, to elucidate the obsolescence of those scripts from their domains during the Roman Period. Utilising macro-level frameworks from sociolinguistics, the textual culture from four sites is contextualised within the priestly communities of speech, script, and practice that produced them. Utilising micro-level frameworks from linguistics, both the scripts of the Egyptian writing system written, and the way the orthographic methods fundamental to those scripts changed, are typologised. This study also treats the way in which morphographic and alphabetic orthographies are deciphered and understood by the reading brain, and how changes in spelling over time both resulted from and responded to dimensions of orthographic depth. Through a cross-cultural consideration of script obsolescence in Mesoamerica and Mesopotamia and by analogy to language death in speech communities, a model of domain-bydomain shift and obsolescence of the scripts of the Egyptian writing system is proposed.

Petitioning Osiris
Petitioning Osiris

Author: Edward O. D. Love

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2022-12-05

Total Pages: 710

ISBN-13: 3110985675

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Petitioning Osiris re-edits, re-analyses, and re-contextualises the "Old Coptic Schmidt Papyrus" and "Curse of Artemisia" – written petitions to different manifestations of Osiris – among the Letters to Gods in Demotic, Greek, and Old Coptic from Egypt. The textual traditions of the Letters to Gods, to the Dead, and Oracle Questions which evidence that ritual tradition of petitioning deities are contextualised among contemporary textual traditions, such as Letters and Petitions to Human Recipients, and Documents of Self-Dedication, and compared to later ritual traditions such as proactive and reactive curses without and with judicial features (so-called Prayers for Justice) in Greek and Coptic from Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean. As with all other Letters to Gods, the Old Coptic Schmidt Papyrus and Curse of Artemisia evidence not only the struggles and aspirations of their petitioners, but also the way in which they conceptualised that they could bring about desired outcomes in their lived experience by engaging divine agency through a reciprocal relationship of human-divine interaction. Petitioning Osiris therefore provides a starting point and springboard for readers interested in these, or comparable, textual and ritual traditions from the Ancient World.

Traditions in Transmission
Traditions in Transmission

Author: Michael W. Zellmann-Rohrer

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2022-02-21

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 3110778912

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This book is a re-edition and detailed study of a parchment codex from Egypt of the fourth century CE with Greek and Coptic recipes for healing through magic and pharmacology (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Library Ms. 136). A text and annotated translation were published in a brief journal article by William H. Worrell in 1935, but the codex has been understudied since then. This new edition offers advances in readings and interpretation, a thorough philological commentary, and accompanying studies on the ritual and medical traditions to which the codex belongs and its position in the linguistic landscape of Egypt. The recipes comprise magical rituals for healing and broader personal advancement, pharmacological and related medical recipes, and advice for the management of a household. Traditional Egyptian religion and ritual are illustrated in interaction with medical practices of Hellenic culture more recently introduced to Egypt, and the archaic, even poetic language of some of the Coptic invocations featuring the Egyptian gods Amun and Thoth share pages with an incantation constructed from the verses of Homer.

Shaping Letters, Shaping Communities: Multilingualism and Linguistic Practice in the Late Antique Near East and Egypt
Shaping Letters, Shaping Communities: Multilingualism and Linguistic Practice in the Late Antique Near East and Egypt

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2023-12-11

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9004682333

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The volume explores linguistic practices and choices in the late antique Eastern Mediterranean. It investigates how linguistic diversity and change influenced the social dimension of human interaction, affected group dynamics, the expression and negotiation of various communal identities, such as professional groups of mosaic-makers, stonecutters, or their supervisors in North Syria, bilingual monastic communities in Palestine, elusive producers of Coptic ritual texts in Egypt, or Jewish communities in Dura Europos and Palmyra. The key question is: what do we learn about social groups and human individuals by studying their multilingualism and language practices reflected in epigraphic and other written sources?

Egyptian Things
Egyptian Things

Author: Edward William Kelting

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2024-11-19

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 0520402197

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A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. After the deaths of Antony and Cleopatra, Rome finally took control of Egypt. This occupation simultaneously facilitated and circumscribed the exchange of goods, people, and ideas along the paths carved across Rome’s burgeoning empire. In this book, Edward Kelting sets out to recapture one of these systems of exchange: the vibrant literary tradition known as Aegyptiaca—or “Egyptian things”—in which culturally mixed authors wrote about Egypt for a Greek and Roman audience. These authors have been dismissed as not really “Egyptian,” and their contemporary popularity has been ignored. But as Kelting powerfully argues, this genre in fact constitutes a vibrant intellectual tradition, developed from heterogeneous influences but deeply engaged with Egypt’s pharaonic past. In contrast to usual narratives of Roman domination, Kelting uncovers a complex project of political engagement and cultural translation in which Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all participated.

Code-switching with the Gods
Code-switching with the Gods

Author: Edward O. D. Love

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2016-10-24

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 3110467836

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This volume provides the first comprehensive text edition of the Egyptian language sections of P. Bibliothèque Nationale Supplément Grec. 574 (PGM IV) and analysis of their script, language, and the bilingual spells which they are part of. The magical practices preserved in the PDM and PGM have been published for nearly a century, yet it is only recently that research has focused on investigating the complex relationship between the languages, scripts, and religious traditions they exhibit, as well as the question of who composed, copied, and practiced these spells. Focusing on the bilingual divinations, lust spell, and exorcism of PGM IV, written in the Egyptian and Greek languages - and rendered in Old Coptic scripts and the Greek script respectively - this volume analyses their textual content and ritual mechanics, contextualised among the PDM and PGM, and investigates the potential identities of the magical practitioners of late Roman and Late Antique Egypt. Encompassing the disciplines of Egyptology, Coptology, Papyrology, and Late Antique studies, this volume focuses in particular on the themes of magical practice, bilingualism, script, and the social context of magic in Egypt during the 2nd to 4th centuries CE.

Papyri Copticae Magicae
Papyri Copticae Magicae

Author: Korshi Dosoo

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2023-11-06

Total Pages: 638

ISBN-13: 3111080102

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This volume is the first in a new series of editions of Coptic-language "magical" manuscripts from Egypt, written on papyrus, ostraca, parchment, and paper, and dating to between the fourth and twelfth centuries CE. Their texts attest to non-institutional rituals intended to bring about changes in the lives of those who used them – heal disease, curse enemies, bring about love or hatred, or see into the future. These manuscripts represent rich sources of information on daily life and lived religion of Egypt in the last centuries of Roman rule and the first centuries after the Arab conquest, giving us glimpses of the hopes and fears of people of this time, their conflicts and problems, and their vision of the human and superhuman worlds. This volume presents 37 new editions and descriptions of manuscripts, focusing on formularies or "handbooks", those texts containing instructions for the performance of rituals. Each of these is accompanied by a history of its acquisition, a material description, and presented with facing text and translations, tracings of accompanying images, and explanatory notes to aid in understanding the text.

Exploring Multilingualism and Multiscriptism in Written Artefacts
Exploring Multilingualism and Multiscriptism in Written Artefacts

Author: Szilvia Sövegjártó

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2024-05-06

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 3111380548

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This book explores multilingualism and multiscriptism in a great variety of writing cultures, offering an in-depth analysis of how diverse languages and scripts seamlessly intertwine within written artefacts. Insights into scribal practices are particularly illuminating in that respect, especially when exploring artefacts originating from multicultural communities and regions where distinct writing traditions intersect. The influence of multilingualism and multiscriptism on these writing cultures becomes evident, with essays spanning various domains, from the mundane aspects of everyday life to the realms of scholarship and political propaganda. Scholars often relegate these phenomena, despite being frequently encountered, to the status of exceptions compared to the more prevalent monolingualism and monoscriptism. However, in daring to challenge this viewpoint, this book emphasises the profound significance and relevance of multilingualism and multiscriptism in shaping the development of languages, cultures, and societies across Asia, Africa, and Europe. It caters to a diverse readership keen on delving into the intricacies of these phenomena within this rich tapestry of writing cultures.

Scientific Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East
Scientific Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East

Author: Sofie Schiødt

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2023-08-29

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 1479823139

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Comparative insights on astronomy, divination, and medicine from ancient texts The contributions in this volume revolve around a set of interconnected topics in the ancient sciences: medicine, astronomy, astrology, and divination. Several essays present unpublished textual sources or editions of new source material on divination (e.g., dream interpretation, personal astrology, and Sothis divination) and medicine (e.g., dermatology, gynecology, and apotropaic incantations). Other contributions provide new insights into known corpora or texts, such as the Assyro-Babylonian omens, the Hippocratic treatise Places in Man, Greco-Egyptian medical texts, and the vast astronomical corpus of Greco-Roman Egypt. The interdisciplinary milieu in which these essays were generated, under the aegis of the international Scientific Papyri from Ancient Egypt (SciPap) project, means that many of the studies embrace an explicitly and well-researched cross-cultural and comparative approach, revealing similarities in both certain conceptualizations of disease and healing, and astronomical literature and divinatory practice, across the Mediterranean and Near East. This book will be of interest primarily to specialists in the history of medicine, science, divination, and magic, as well as to papyrologists, Egyptologists, and Assyriologists.