E04142: Coptic ostracon from Edfu/Apollonopolis (Upper Egypt) with a letter requesting to invoke Apa *Viktor (possibly Viktor, son of Romanos, Egyptian martyr, S00749) on the sender’s behalf; datable to the 7th century.
online resource
posted on 2017-10-12, 00:00authored byBryan
O.EdfouIFAO (= O. EdfouCopte) 21
The letter seems to ask the addressee to invoke the saint on the sender’s behalf. Lines 1–11 read as follows:
‘I am Viktor who writes to Samuel: Be pleased to go and entreat Apa Viktor on my behalf. May your prayers reach him, so that I may be worthy to come south to you on Saturday.’
(Text: S. Bacot, slightly modified; trans.: G. Schenke)
History
Evidence ID
E04142
Saint Name
Viktor, son of Romanos, Egyptian martyr, ob. 303–311 : S00749
Documentary texts - Letter
Late antique original manuscripts - Ostracon/Pot-sherd
Language
Coptic
Evidence not before
600
Evidence not after
699
Activity not before
600
Activity not after
699
Place of Evidence - Region
Egypt and Cyrenaica
Place of Evidence - City, village, etc
Edfu
Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Edfu
Hermopolis
ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ
Ashmunein
Hermopolis
Cult activities - Places
Cult building - unspecified
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Source
The potsherd inv. 146 is currently kept at the IFAO in Cairo. Its dating is based on context, as the ostracon was found together with many others, one of them being a liturgical calendar giving entries for the years 643–648.
Bibliography
Text and French translation:
Bacot, S., Ostraca grecs et coptes des fouilles franco-polonaises sur le site de Tell Edfou. O. EdfouCopte 1-145 (Bibliothèque d'Études Coptes 19; Cairo, 2009), 43.