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X-Rare Coptic Papyrus Burial Scroll with Text browse these categories for related items... All Items: Antiques:Regional Art:Ancient World:Egyptian: Pre AD 1000: item # 1004874
Apolonia Ancient Art 290 Fillmore St. #D Denver, CO. 80206 303-321-7351 gallery Guest Book $1,865.00 |
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| This extremely rare piece is a Coptic scroll that is made from papyrus, and it dates circa 2nd-4th century A.D. This piece is approximately 4.1 inches long by 1 inch in diameter at its thickest point. This piece was rolled several times, and unrolled, it would be approximately 4.1 inches wide by 7.76 inches long. This superb piece has lines of black text that was written into the papyrus, and the scroll was rolled with the written text facing on the outer side, as the inner back side layer of the scroll can be viewed on the inside. The text on this scroll is written in lines that run horizontally across the piece, and the lines continue down to the bottom of the document, as the black ink of these lines can partly be seen through the papyrus from the inside of the scroll. Papyrus was the material of choice by the Coptic scribes of the past, and papyrus was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, cut in stripes, and then pressed together in a grid fashion. These grids can also be clearly seen within the scroll offered here. The Coptic culture was one of the earlist Christian groups to have developed in the Holy Land, with the majority living in ancient Egypt as they do today. The extremely rare document offered here is in mint to superb condition, as it was probably protected from the elements in a clay jar or wooden box during burial. With the Hellenization of Alexandria, Egypt, Greek manuscripts flooded Egypt, and it is no accident that poems by Sappho, the first book of the Homeric "Iliad", and the satirical drama "Ichneutae", by Sophocles, were amoung the Coptic scrolls discovered in the last century. The piece offered here may contain elements of a Christian religious psalm or ancient Greek poem, as this scroll has not been translated. The majority of these early Coptic burial scrolls contain Christian-style magical texts that are written in Coptic-Greek (Sahidic dialect.), and the Greek alphabet is basically used in the Coptic language with the addition of seven characters derived from "Demotic", which was the common language of the ancient Egyptians. According to A.F Shore (See Christian and Coptic Egypt", Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971, p.420-424.), a number of magical texts survived from the first three centuries A.D., and are characterized by the use of Greek letters and a large number of demotic signs known as "Old Coptic". The text of the piece offered here likely fits into the catagory as a Christian-style magical text as noted above, but nothing is certain until this scroll is unrolled in a laboratory and fully translated, and as such, this piece would make an excellent study piece. The piece offered here is somewhat hard and brittle, and can only be unrolled under laboratory conditions, and is being offered in its superb "as found" condition. In addition, there are some spotty white calcite deposits that are seen within the scroll as well as on the outer surfaces. This piece is an extremely rare Christian relic that is hard to find in this condition, and most Coptic texts offered on the market are fragments, and are not a complete document as offered here. A custom plexiglas display case is included that fully seals this piece from the elements, and one can easily lift off the top clear plexiglas display lid from the black plexiglas base. For more reading see, Merrill Parvis, "New Testament Manuscript Studies: The Materials and the Making of a Critical Apparatus", University of Chicago Press, 1950. Ex: G. Sasson collection, Jerusalem. Ex: Private New York collection. Ex: Pierre Berge & Associates, Archeologie, Paris, May 2011, no. 138. (Additional documentation is available to the purchaser, including a French Passport Certificate.) I certify that this piece is authentic as to date, culture, and condition: | ||||||||||||
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