An Ancient 20-sided #dice inscribed with the names of 20 #Egyptian deities

The D20 is unique but we have potential parallels in the #Greek #magical papyri

The dice was likely used for oracles or in #divination

Ca. 1st century AD

Read more on my blog
https://antikemagie.com/ancient-icosahedron-deities-demotic/

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#Archaeology #artefact #TTRPG #DnD #D20 #rpg #ancientmagic #oracle #Demotic

While the #Greek #magical papyri assume a knowledge of the modus operandi in lamp and bowl divination, this #Egyptian magical #papyrus describes it in great detail.

Free #translation with many comments and a detailed introduction to the papyrus:
https://archive.org/details/demoticmagicalpa01grifuoft

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#ancientmagic #egyptology #demotic #pgm #papyri #divination #lamp #bowl #ancient #papyrology

Ancient Egyptian instruction for a #divination

The vessel inquiry of Osiris
(Pa shen-hene en Usir)

The invocation addresses not only #Osiris but also laho, Sabaho, Atonai, Michael, Sabael, and Anubis.

2nd/3rd century, #Egypt

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#ancientmagic #Egyptian #demotic #ancient

Greek-Demotic Magical #Papyrus no. 12

Papyrus #scroll (ritual manual), re-used
4th century, #Egypt

The #magical text was written on the back side of the scroll,
the frontside was inscribed around 100 AD with the #Myth of the Eye of Ra and animal fables.

The scroll was cut into six pieces in modern times.

Ca. 360x 22 cm, 19 columns, 659 lines: 495 in #Greek and 164 in #Demotic

The content is diverse but shows a special interest of the compiler in #divination and separation spells.

A core problem with the #translation of the #Demotic #magical #papyri in the PGM publication edited by Betz is that the translator (J. H. Johnson) didn’t consistently differentiate between words she interpreted as "voces magicae" and the names of higher powers, thus making it impossible for the reader to recognize these deities as deities.

It's not that difficult if you read the original text closely, since in #Demotic the names of deities are written with the god’s determinative at the end.

Ancient #magic and ritual practice were closely connected with medical care. Here is a good example illustrating this connection.

The #ritual starts with an #invocation asking higher powers for help which has to be recited 7x towards a small potion of oil. The instructions then gets more hands on, see the text in the image which is an original quote from an #ancient #Egyptian ritual manual dated to the late 2nd or early 3rd century.

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#ancientmagic #egyptology #demotic

This is a so-called „facsimile“ of a column of the #ancient #Egyptian magical #papyrus I am currently translating.

A #facsimile is a hand copy of an original item, like a manuscript, a map or a papyrus.

Facsimiles allow to work with the "original" text when a photo is not available, and they make it easier to compare texts or sections of the text.

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#ancientmagic #translation #demotic #egyptology #papyrology #openscience

Did you know?
#Fate has a #daughter and her name is Sarbytha.

In this #Egyptian #spell against "poison in the heart of a man" the #poison is cast out by the name of the daughter of "Pa Schay" who is the Egyptian god of fate, sometimes translated as Agathodaimon.

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#ancientmagic #Agathodaimon #egyptology #papyrology #demotic #ancient #magic

"[A spell] to be spoken to a man when a bone is stuck in his throat

„You are Schlatje Latje Balatje,
the white crocodile that is under the foam(?) of the sea of fire, whose body is filled with bones of all the drowned.

Hail, you shall/will throw out this bone for me!“

From the London-Leiden Magical #Papyrus
2nd/3rd century, #Egypt
AMS 65, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden

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#ancientmagic #egyptology #demotic #papyrology #spell #ritual #magic #ancient

More "Behind the Scenes" of translating an #ancient #Egyptian magical #papyrus

In this close-up you can see the stripes of the „vegetable“ paper that was used in an attempt to preserve the papyrus in the later 19th century.

The entire part of the papyrus kept at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden was covered in this specific paper. While the idea was good the material is now coming of the papyrus, destroying the ink as well as the surface.

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#ancientmagic #egyptology #demotic #papyrology

"Behind the Scenes" of translating #ancient magical papyri

When I visited the #Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden to study the papyrus I took close-ups of the damaged parts.

It can be easier to work with these images than with the original #papyrus which is under reflecting glass.

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#ancientmagic #demotic #egyptology #papyrology #translation

I am currently translating column 19 of this #ancient #Egyptian #ritual manual. It includes an antidote, #spells against dog bites and bones stuck in the throat.

The #papyrus and the text are severely damaged in several places which makes #translating pretty challenging 🙂

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#ancientmagic #Demotic #translation #magic

The most extensive #ancient #Greek ritual manual is the codex #PGM IV (4th century) with 3.254 lines.

But: These lines are only between 9-12 cm wide. For comparison: The column width in the most extensive #Egyptian ritual manual, the #scroll PGM/pdm XIV (2nd/3rd century) takes up to 30 cm.

PGM = Papyri Graecae Magicae (Greek magical papyri)

PDM: Papyri Demoticae Magicae (Demotic magical papyri)

Link PGM IV: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b525030475/f43.item#

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#ancientmagic #pgm #ritual #papyrology #egypt #demotic

I compiled some #Demotic words in ancient Egyptian lamp divinations and their translation for you.

From my current work on the most extensive ancient magic book, the "London-Leiden Magical Papyrus", recto column 17, "Another method concerning the lamp(divination)", 2nd-3rd century, Egypt

Find out more about this fascinating scroll in my short video:
👉 https://youtu.be/dTXaFF9SXk8

© Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, Niederlande. Inv. no. AMS 65

From the ancient Egyptian London-Leiden magical papyrus:

"Spell to speak towards the poison in the heart of a man who was poisoned or given something else evil to drink:

"Hail Yablu, O golden cup of Osiris! Isis, Osiris and the great Agathodaimon have drunk from you, the three gods have drunk from you, I myself have drunk from you (...)

May I be healed from all poison, pus and all wickedness!"

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#ancientmagic #archaeology #egyptology #demotic #magic #papyrology #PGM #ritual