Scriptural Mormonism: The Biblical Patriarch Abraham Mentioned in the Greek and Egyptian Magical Papyrus

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

The Biblical Patriarch Abraham Mentioned in the Greek and Egyptian Magical Papyrus

You bring a . . . of clay . . . of bronze . . . this loin, this mummy(?) and this Anubis (580) . . . while around it is . . . black scarab(?) and it(?) is put . . . (Drawing) “Eō . . . ōRICH THAMBITō, ABRAAM, the one who is upon MANOIELCHIBIōTH MOUROU, and the whole soul for her, NN, whom she, (NN, bore) . . . (585) the female body of her, NN, [whom she, NN, bore,] . . . I adjure you by the . . . and to inflame her, NN, whom she, (NN, bore).” [Write these] words together with this picture on a new papyrus. . . . Another. Cook it [in the(?) bath! (GEMF 15.758-89, in Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies: Texts and Translation, ed. Christopher A. Faraone and Sofía Torallas Tovar [Berkeley: California Classical Studies, 2022],1:131; the text dates to the second century A.D.)

The name of this patriarch appears about a dozen times in GEMF, but almost always in the same formula, ‘God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’ . . . (Ibid., 1:131 n. 349)

Here is the image of the relevant text (Ibid., 1:130):