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E00232: Two fragmentary Coptic donation documents of the 8th c., one certifying the gift of tools for field work and irrigation, the other of unknown content, to the monastery of Apa *Phoibammon (soldier and martyr of Assiut, S00080) at Deir el-Bahari (Upper Egypt).

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posted on 2014-12-08, 00:00 authored by gschenke

P.KRU 113
In this document tools and irrigation equipment are donated to the monastery of Apa Phoibammon.

P.KRU 114
This document testifies to the donation made by a couple addressing the legal body (dikaion) of the monastery. It mentions a vow, that if help will be received, they will make a donation.

Summary: Gesa Schenke

History

Evidence ID

E00232

Saint Name

Phoibammon, soldier martyr of Preht (ob. c. 304) : S00080

Saint Name in Source

ⲁⲡⲁ ⲫⲓⲃⲁⲙⲱⲛ, ⲁⲡⲁ ⲫⲟⲓⲃⲁⲙⲱⲛ

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Phoibammon_soldier_and_martyr_of_Assiut/13729330

Type of Evidence

Documentary texts - Donation document Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus sheet

Language

Coptic

Evidence not before

700

Evidence not after

799

Activity not before

700

Activity not after

799

Place of Evidence - Region

Egypt and Cyrenaica Egypt and Cyrenaica

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Deir el-Bahari Djeme

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Deir el-Bahari Hermopolis ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ Ashmunein Hermopolis Djeme Hermopolis ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ Ashmunein Hermopolis

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - monastic

Cult activities - Places Named after Saint

Monastery

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings

Source

P.KRU 113 is a papyrus document housed in the Nicholson Museum of the University of Sidney (Australia). P.KRU 114 is a papyrus document privately owned in Lincolnshire.

Discussion

Both documents are very fragmentary, but one preserves the practical nature of the gift, essential tools for field work, so it is possible that the help granted by the saint to the donor had to do with agricultural prosperity or success (P.KRU 113). The second document (P.KRU 114) shows characteristics of a child donation document, a couple making a vow that, if God and the Saint grant them a child or his healing from a disease, they would donate the boy to the saint.

Bibliography

Edition: Crum, W.E., and Steindorff, G., Koptische Rechtsurkunden des achten Jahrhunderts aus Djeme (Theben) (Leipzig, 1971), 344-346 (P. KRU 113-114). German Translations: Till, W.C., Die Koptischen Rechtsurkunden aus Theben (Vienna: H. Böhlaus, 1964), 194-195. Further reading: Biedenkopf-Ziehner, A., Koptische Schenkungsurkunden aus Thebais: Formeln und Topoi der Urkunden, Aussagen der Urkunden, Indices (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001). Godlewski, W., Deir el-Bahari V: Le monastère de St. Phoibammon (Warsaw: PWN, 1986). For a full range of the documentary evidence on Phoibammon: Papaconstantinou, A., Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides (Paris: CNRS, 2001), 204–214.