Note: The abbreviation “PGM” refers to Papyri Graecae Magicae = Greek Magical Papyri.
Overview
PGM IV is the most extensive ancient Greek magical papyrus known to us today. In opposite to the previous magical papyri PGM I to PGM III, which are all scrolls, this ritual manual is a book. It consists of 36 now lose papyrus sheets providing 72 pages for inscription. Of these 72 pages 66 were actually inscribed with over 3.200 lines in Greek while 6 pages were left blank. The page size varies between 27 to 30,5 cm (hight) and 9,5 to 13 cm in width.
The book is dated to the fourth century and believed to originate from Thebes in Egypt, but it was purchased at an auction in Paris in 1857 and previously belonged to the then Swedish consul in Alexandria named D’Anastasy, who was also a dealer in antiquities. To give you an idea of the extent of D’Anastasy’s dealing activities: This 1857 Paris auction alone comprised over 1.100 artefacts and papyri he had acquired in Egypt. But that’s just a small part of his collection and the smallest of several lots he sold to European museums. In 1839 the British Museum bought a lot consisting of about 1.326 artefacts. The largest lot was acquired by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden in 1828: 5.600 objects and 147 papyri.
The main reason PGM IV is believed to derive from Thebes is because Anastasi claimed in a letter that the papyrus belonged to a group of papyri that were found there.
PGM IV is also known as the “Great Paris Papyrus” or ”Grand Papyrus Magique”. The book is kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, inventory number P.suppl.grec. 574.
Content
The magic book contains over 50 individual sections with the majority of the content being ritual instructions. But the compiler included additional information, like a prayer that can be used in various rituals, astrological data, information about the picking of plants, and a salutation.
The ritual instructions cover most of the common topics for which people went to see a magician, or magicians were concerned with for themselves: Divination, love spells of attraction, gaining favour and friends, being successful in a business, restraining anger, and driving out demons. What is missing in PGM IV is medical magic.
Two of the most unusual rituals are preserved in this manual: “Three Homeric Verses as a divine Assistant” with a dozen of applications, including invulnerability and invincibility, and the “Mystery of Helios-Mithras” describing how to gain temporary immortality.
Video
For the first time the complete papyrus book is presented to a broad audience in this video. It provides an overview of PGM IV, introduces the most compelling content, and discusses recent research.
Link to the video PGM IV in a Nutshell on this website: https://www.antikemagie.com/video-pgm-iv/
Translations
Karl Preisendanz, Papyri Graecae Magicae – Die griechischen Zauberpapyri, Band II (1931), 64-180.
Free download: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/heidhs3763IIA-51bd1
Hans Dieter Betz (ed.), The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (1986), 36-101.
Infographics
Photographs © Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF
Infographics: © Kirsten D. Dzwiza @antikemagie
Link
Link to the papyrus on the website of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France:
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b525030475