P.Mich.Inv. 1289 / Verso

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Record Details

Inventory Number

P.Mich.Inv. 1289

Processing Number

6137

Section/Side

Recto-Verso

Image Side

Verso

Background and Physical Properties

Material

Pap

Size

fr. 1: 24 x 19; fol. 2: 12.3 x 19.3 cm; fol. 4: 12 x 19.3 xm; fol. 5: 12.3 x 19.7 cm; fol 6:12 x 19.5 cm; fol. 7: 8.7 x 18.5 cm; fol. 8: 11.9 x 18.3 cm; fol. 9: 9.5 x 17 cm

Items

8

Mounted

No

Negative

No

Palaeographic Description

Each page of the manuscript originally contained two columns of text, but the outer columns have been broken off and only occasional letters are still visible on a few of the pages. The lower part of each leaf is also broken away diagonally. We can make a rought estimate of the amount of text lost by comparing the text of the prayer of Athanasius with that published by Budge, although there are so many variants between the two, especially in the way of additions and omissions, that the results can only be approximate. In the papyrus the number of letters in a line varies from 7-12, with an average of 9. If we estimate the amount of text lost from each page on a basis of 9-letters lines, folios 4-6 would seem to have had about 25 lines to the column on both recto and verso; and folio 8 approximatelly 28 lines on recto and verso. Whether the dicrepancy is actual or is only apparent because of interpolations in the later text is uncertain; but the manuscript is not so carefully written that we should be surprised at some variation in the number of lines to the page or column.

We may figure roughly that each line occupies about .87 cm so that from 25-30 lines would occupry from 22-26 cm. The upper margin varies from 2.5-3.5 cm, and, if we allow for approximately the same lower margin, the height of the page would have been originally from 27-33 c,. The width of the column is on the average 7.5 cm, and the intercolumnar space is about 1.5 cm, so far as we can judge where letters from the second column remain. The inner margin is 3.5 cm and we should assume that the outer margin would have been at least 2.5 cm. This would give the total width of the page as at least 22,5 cm.

It is impossible to reach any definite conclusions about the original structure of the manuscript. According to the direction of the fibers on the recto and verso of each leaf, the arrangement is as follow (V - vertical fibers; H - horizontal fibers):

1 (HV) - 2 (VH) - 3 (VH) - 4 (VH) - 5 (VH) - 6 (VH) - 7 (HV) - 8 (HV) 9 (VH).

Folios 1-2 are a conjugate pair which formed the center of a quire. Some adhesive and a short piece of the binding cord remain within the fold, and, although the two leaves were broken apart, there is no question as to the continuity of the fibers across them. In this double leaf the usual practice of placing the sheet of papyrus so that, when it was foldede, the surface with the horizontal fibers would be toward the inside was not followed. If we assume that the arrangement of this center spread was followed throughtout, folios 3-6 would have to belong to the quire of which folios 1-2 form the center, which would threfore have consisted of 10 leaves. Folios 8 and 9 would then form the center of a second quire of only four leaves, of which folio 7 would be the first leaf, the last leaf being lost. But in view of the other irregularities in the manuscript it would hardly de safe to say that any exact procedure was followed in making upthe quires. Indeed we may have a single quire manuscript with the sheets laid down haphazardly as far as the direction of the fibers was concerned, or we may have a manuscript of several quires with a different number of leaves in each quire.

Holes for striching the folios together are found in pairs from 1-1.5 cm from the center fold, one hole in each pair being slightly above and to one side of the other. Five of these pairs remain on the largest fragments, with a sixth discernible at the lower broken edge. In the lowest pair the holes are so close together as to be almsot on top of each other. Since the holes show no evidence of abnormal wear, it seems unlikely that they represent two separate bindings, but rather that the sheets were sewed together wih a number of short horizontal stichtes. Naturally the evidence on the subject of the sewing and binding of these early ppayrus codices is very scanty, but what we have points to the fact that two types of sewing were used, either vertical through the center of the quire, or along the side of the quire so that when the book was opened the threads would be seen passing horizontally across the back of the leaves. The piece of thread that remains in the fold of the first pair of leaves seems not to fit the original holes along the inner margin of the leaves, but from its length and posiiton seems rather to belong to another, perhaps later, stitching done through the center of the folded leaf. The manuscript was perhaps originally sewed through the side of the quires and not bound. Later it may have been resewed through the spine in order to facilitate binding. The remains of adhesive in the fold of folios 1-2, and also on the inner margin of folio 6, may result from the gluing of a strip of parchment or papyrus over the fold to reinforce it for the second sewing.

The manuscript is written in rather irregular, heavy, square uncials with few fine lines. The dialect is Sahidic, but with some peculiarities that are found perhaps more often in Fayumic tects.

Status

Published

Library

Ann Arbor

Contents

Date

VIth century A.D.

Origin

Unknown

Provenance

Unknown

Acquisition

Secured from Nahman and form part of a consignment that reached the University of Michigan in 1923.

Language

Coptic

Genre

Literary

Author

Unknown

Content

The first three folios of the manuscript contain the conclusion of a martyrdom of Saint Phocas in a version that differs from other known accounts. On the remaining six folios is part of an early text of the prayer of Athanasius when dying, which is known only from MS. Or. 7029 in the British Museum, a paper manuscript dated 992 AD, published by E.A. Wallis Budge, Miscellaneius Coptic Texts in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, London 1915, 503-511, 1012-1020.

Information on Publications

Publications

Series and Volume	Editor	Year	Pg/Nr	Photo	SB	Preferred Citation	Corrections
The Martyrdom of Saint Phocas and the Dying Prayer of Athanasius, Coptic Studies in Honor of Walter Ewing	Husselman EM	1950	319-337	Pl. VI	Husselman EM, The Martyrdom of Saint Phocas and the Dying Prayer of Athanasius, Coptic Studies in Honor of Walter Ewing, 319-337, 1950, Pl. VI

Cataloging

Cataloger

NL

Year Begin

500

Year End

599

Technical Details

Collection

Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS UM)

Image Size

4072 x 4724

File Size

2 MB

Record

6137

Link to this Item

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-6137/1289v1.tif content_copy

Related Links

IIIF

Manifest

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/apis:6137:1289V1.TIF content_copy