Database of Ritual and Alchemical Texts

Databse of Ritual and Alchemical Texts (DRAT)

Version 1 (3 Feb. 2022)

Includes ritual and alchemical recipes as well as “fixed ritual” also known as “applied texts” (e.g. amulets) that were written on various supports between 2000 BCE and 1100 CE.

Version 1 contains 440 ritual and alchemical texts from Egypt dating from the Middle Kingdom to the last years of the Fatimid dynasty.

Metadata fields include:

Estimated date

Estimated purpose

Type of text support

Paleographical notes

Notes on context

Sources:

K. Preisendanz et al. (ed.), Papiry Graecae Magicae, 2nd ed., 2. vol., Stuttgart, 1973–4.

J. F. Borghouts. 1978: Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, Leiden.

R. Halleux. 1981: Papyrus de Leyde, Papyrus de Stockholm, Fragments de recettes. Les alchimistes grecs 1, Paris.

R. W. Daniel and F. Maltomini. 1990–92: Supplementum magicum, 2 vols, Opladen.

H. D. Betz (ed.), The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells, 2nd ed., The University of Chicago Press, 1992

M. W. Meyer and R. Smith. 1994: Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power, San Francisco.

K. A. Worp, J. E. G. Whitehorne and R. W. Daniel (eds) 1995: Greek Papyri from Kellis, Volume 1, Oxford.

W.-P. Funk, A. Alcock, and I Gardner (eds) 1999: Coptic documentary texts from Kellis, Volume 1, Oxford.

V. H. Sederholm, V. H. 2006: Papyrus British Museum 10808 and Its Cultural and Religious Setting, Leiden.