Fuente: https://papyri.info/dclp/62077 y https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/library/files/special/teach/papyrus/oxyrhynchus1384.html
| Principal Edition | P.Oxy. XI 1384. The papyrus was first published by Grenfell and Hunt in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part XI, under the title “Medical Recipes, Theological Extracts.” |
| Object Type | Medical-magical papyrus / therapeutic recipe sheet with healing historiolae. The object should not be classified as a bodily amulet in the strict sense. It is rather a papyrus sheet containing medical recipes combined with short sacred healing narratives. Its practical function was therapeutic, but its healing logic also depends on divine names, Christian signs, and ritual narration. |
| Ritual Function | Healing through the combination of pharmacological remedies, sacred narrative, and divine authority. The papyrus contains remedies for bodily conditions such as purging, strangury, and wounds. Between these recipes it inserts two healing historiolae: one in which Jesus explains the therapeutic value of olive oil and myrrh, and another in which the angels of the Lord ascend to heaven seeking healing from Iaō Sabaōth. The text therefore belongs to a therapeutic culture in which medicine, religion, and ritual power are not sharply separated. |
| Chronology | Fifth–sixth century AD. The handwriting is described as a large, irregular semiuncial with numerous spelling mistakes. The first edition dated the hand to the fifth century, while later cataloguing and scholarship allow a broader date between AD 400 and 599. The papyrus therefore belongs to the religious and medical culture of Late Antique Egypt. |
| Provenance | Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. The papyrus is recorded as coming from Oxyrhynchus in the Oxyrhynchite nome. Its present inventory is Glasgow, University MS Gen. 1026/16. The place of discovery and the place of writing are both associated with Egypt, and specifically with Oxyrhynchus. |
| Language | Greek. The text is written in Greek, but the orthography is highly irregular. The apparatus records many spellings that differ from standard Greek forms, including forms of Ἰησοῦ, θεραπεία, ἔλαιον, σμύρνα, σπόγγον, λαβεῖν, ἰσχυρός, and πίνε. This suggests a practical, non-literary context of transmission in which therapeutic and ritual efficacy mattered more than formal linguistic correctness. |
| Support | Papyrus. The text is written on the recto of a papyrus sheet, per fibras. The sheet measures approximately 15.4 cm wide by 30.2 cm high. A vertical kollesis is visible in the middle of the sheet. |
| State of Preservation | Fragmentary, but substantially readable. The lower part of the fragment is almost complete, while in the upper part nearly all the right-hand half is missing. The text contains 36 written lines. Four textual sections are separated by paragraphoi and introduced by staurograms; a coronis appears at line 22, marking the end of one of the theological or ritual sections. |
| Structure of the Text | Lines 1–14: medical recipe for a purge, listing ingredients such as cumin, fennel, celery or parsley, costus, mastic, coriander, laurel berries, pennyroyal, salt, and vinegar.
Lines 15–22: healing historiola featuring Jesus in the desert. Men ask Jesus what treatment exists for the sick, and Jesus answers by referring to olive oil and myrrh given to those who trust in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son. Lines 23–29: healing historiola involving the angels of the Lord, painful eyes, a sponge, and an appeal to Iaō Sabaōth as powerful and strong. Lines 30–33: remedy for strangury, involving dry seed of akinos, ground with wine of Ascalon and drunk warm. Lines 34–36: remedy for wounds, involving cypress fruits boiled and used for washing or cleansing. |
| Christian Markers | The papyrus contains several Christian or Christianized elements:
These features place the papyrus within a Christian or Christianized therapeutic framework, although the traditions used are not exclusively canonical. |
| Jewish or Non-Exclusively Christian Elements | The most important non-exclusively Christian element is the invocation of Iaō Sabaōth. Iaō is a Greek form associated with the divine name in Jewish and magical traditions, while Sabaōth derives from biblical language. In this papyrus, the expression appears in a therapeutic context and may point to a Jewish, Jewish-Christian, or broader ritual-magical background. |
| Medical Elements | The papyrus preserves practical medical recipes and names concrete ingredients. These include aromatic, vegetal, and mineral substances such as cumin, fennel, mastic, coriander, laurel berries, pennyroyal, salt, vinegar, olive oil, myrrh, dry seed of akinos, wine of Ascalon, and cypress fruits. The medical targets include purging, strangury, painful eyes, and wounds. |
| Type of Historiola | Therapeutic historiola based on sacred precedent. The sacred narrative provides a model of healing that can be ritually reactivated. Jesus’ statement about olive oil and myrrh and the angels’ ascent to receive healing from Iaō Sabaōth are not merely decorative stories. They authorize and strengthen the healing action by placing it within a sacred narrative framework. |
| Short Description | P.Oxy. XI 1384 is a Greek papyrus from Oxyrhynchus, dated to the fifth or sixth century AD, containing medical recipes and two healing historiolae. The text begins with a purgative recipe, continues with a narrative in which Jesus reveals the healing value of olive oil and myrrh, and then presents a second narrative in which angels ascend to heaven with painful eyes and seek healing from Iaō Sabaōth. The final section gives remedies for strangury and wounds. The papyrus is a valuable witness to the interaction between medicine, Christian ritual, Jewish divine names, and magical healing in Late Antique Egypt. |
| Academic Interpretation | This papyrus is an important example of Late Antique Egyptian therapeutic practice because it does not separate medicine, religion, and ritual power. Its recipes show the continued use of practical pharmacological remedies, while the inserted historiolae demonstrate that sacred narrative could be used as a healing mechanism. The first historiola presents Jesus not simply as a miracle-worker, but as a revealer of therapeutic knowledge. The second historiola, with angels, painful eyes, a sponge, and Iaō Sabaōth, suggests a broader Jewish or Jewish-Christian apocalyptic and ritual background.
The papyrus should therefore be interpreted as a Christianized medical-ritual text. It is not an amulet in the narrow sense, nor is it a purely medical prescription. It belongs to a cultural environment in which the efficacy of treatment could depend simultaneously on substances, preparation, divine names, sacred signs, and the ritual retelling of healing events. |
| Recommended Classification | Object: medical-magical papyrus / therapeutic recipe sheet. Function: healing through pharmacology and sacred historiolae. Religious framework: Christian and Jewish-Christian, with ritual-magical elements. Language: Greek. Date: fifth–sixth century AD. Provenance: Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. Not a strict bodily amulet: rather a written therapeutic and ritual compilation. |
| Bibliography | Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, eds., The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part XI. London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1915, 238–241, no. 1384.
Karl Preisendanz, ed., Papyri Graecae Magicae: Die griechischen Zauberpapyri, vol. 2. Leipzig and Berlin: Teubner, 1931, Christliches no. 7. Marvin W. Meyer and Richard Smith, eds., Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994, no. 4. Roberta Mazza, “P. Oxy. XI, 1384: medicina, rituali di guarigione e cristianesimi nell’Egitto tardoantico,” Annali di Storia dell’Esegesi 24, no. 2 (2007): 437–462. |