Corpus of Coptic Magical Formularies (CoMaF)

• Applicants: Korshi Dosoo, Ph.D.; Marketa Preininger Svobodova
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 535551476

Coptic private ritual – "magical" – manuscripts provide deep insights into the hopes, fears, and beliefs of people in Late Antique and early Islamic Egypt (ca. 4th to 12th centuries CE). The ritual practices to which they bear witness were used to cope with the crises of daily life-disease, social conflict, and uncertainty about the future, and offer insights into the intimate lives of the ancient people. They also document the complex cultural and religious exchanges of the time – interactions between ancient Egyptian and Greek religious traditions, various forms of Christianity, Judaism, and later Islam – and offer a perspective on worldviews beyond those depicted in elite literary or ecclesiastical texts. Unfortunately, magical texts play only a marginal role in the study of the history of Late Antique Egypt and Christianity in general, due to the large number of unpublished manuscripts and the lack of a coherent published corpus of sources. The main goal of the proposed Corpus of Coptic Magical Formularies (CoMaF) project is therefore basic research in the form of the publication of a corpus of 39 unpublished or partially published magical manuals in Coptic, accompanied by a data-driven analysis of two key aspects of the corpus: language and ritual. The work on the analysis will be carried out jointly by both project leaders and will draw on the skills of both project investigators (PI): PI Dosoo will focus on the linguistic features of the corpus and PI Preininger Svobodová (Preininger) on ist ritual aspects. This work draws upon the extensive experience of the two Pis in their current project.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants