Abstract
Invoked in three extant Coptic manuscripts (P. Berl. inv. 5527, P. Lond. Copt. I 1008, P. Macq. I 1), Baktiotha, “the one who is lord over the forty and nine kinds of serpents”, remains an enigmatic figure. Attempts to pin down the name’s significance and etymology have drawn not only on Coptic , but also on Hebrew and the principles of gematria. This paper will put forward a new understanding of the name as an Aramaicised form of the Egyptian term for the decans: stars or constellations originally used in Pharaonic Egypt to measure time. This article considers possible routes of transmission for this tradition, the role of the decans in pagan, Gnostic, Hermetic and early Christian thought, and how this understanding may enhance our appreciation of these texts.
ORIENTALIA LOVANIENSIA ANALECTA
————— 247 —————
COPTIC SOCIETY, LITERATURE ANDRELIGION FROM LATE ANTIQUITYTO MODERN TIMES
Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Coptic Studies, Rome, September 17th-22th, 2012 and Plenary Reports of the Ninth International Congress of Coptic Studies, Cairo, September 15th
-19th, 2008
Volume II
edited by
PAOLA BUZI, ALBERTO CAMPLANI andFEDERICO CONTARDI
PEETERS
LEUVEN – PARIS – BRISTOL, CT2016
BAKTIOTHA: THE ORIGIN OF A MAGICAL NAME IN P.MACQ. I 1
1
Korshi D
OSOO
Many authors in the area of ancient magic have, for good reason, pointed to the dangers of attempting to read meaning into the obscure names and formulae which often appear in ritual texts. With a little creativity it is possible to find and justify many possible meanings for a single word, but there is no guarantee that any of these is the ‘correct’ one. The word might have come from a lesser-known or lost language, or it might have been distorted beyond recognition from its lexical root. It might have been created merely as a euphonious col-lection of sounds, whose meaning the original or later scribes who recorded it never considered or knew.
2
Despite this cautionary note, it is sometimes irresistible to speculate on the
origins of a magical name, and such is the case with
ⲃⲁⲕⲧⲓⲱⲑⲁ
and its variants,
which appear in a single invocation attested, in slightly differing versions, in
three Coptic manuscripts: P. Macq. I 1, P. Berl. 5527 and P. Lond. Copt. I 1008.
3
In their recent edition of the previously unpublished Macquarie codex, Choat and Gardiner list four possible etymologies, and it is my intention here to add yet another.
4
Before discussing this new etymology, it is worth briefly summarising the sections of the invocation which relate to Baktiotha. He is described as being
both ‘great’ (
ⲛⲟϭ
) and ‘very trustworthy’ (<
ⲛ
>
ϩⲟⲧ
ⲉⲙⲁⲧⲉ
), as being lord over
49 kinds (
ⲅⲉⲛⲟⲥ
,
ⲫⲩⲗⲉ
) of serpents who are servants (
ϩⲉⲙϩⲁⲗ
) to him. These serpents are described as being in the abyss (
ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲛ
) and the air
1
I would like to thank Malcolm Choat, Iain Gardner and Joachim Quack for access to unpub-lished material which aided in the preparation of this paper.
2
For two such discussions of the problems of etymologising magical names and formulae, and alternative approaches, see G. B
OHAK
,
Hebrew, Hebrew everywhere? Notes on the interpretation of
Voces Magicae, in S. N
OEGEL
, J. W
ALKER
, B. W
HEELER
(eds.),
Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World
, University Park, 2003, p. 69-82 and H.S. V
ERSNEL
,
The Poetics of the Magical Charm: An essay in the power of words
, in P. M
IRECKI
, M. M
EYER
(eds.),
Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World
,
Leiden, 2002, p. 105-158.
3
The most recent edition of all three manuscripts are to be found in M. CHOAT– I. GARDNER
,
A Coptic Handbook of Ritual Power (P. Macq. I 1)
, Turnhout, 2013. For previous editions of the London and Berlin papyri see the bibliographies included in the appendices to this work.
4
Ibid
. p. 9-10. In addition to those listed by the authors, Johachim Quack has suggested to me in conversation that the name might be derived from the more common
Ἀκτιωφις
, a name asso-
ciated with lunar goddesses in Graeco-Egyptian magical texts and amulets. Hopfner suggests that this name may be understood as something like ‘ray-eyed’. T. HOPFNER
,
Hekate-Selene-Artemis und Verwandte in den Zauberpapyri, in F.J. DÖLGER
(ed.),
Pisciculi: Studien zur Religion und Kultur des Altertums
,
Münster, 1939, p. 124-145
1238
K. DOSOO
(ⲡⲁⲏⲣ), deaf (ⲕⲟⲩⲫⲟⲥ, ⲕⲟⲩⲗ) and blind (ⲃⲉⲗⲉ), seeing and hearing, known and unknown; his fear is over them all (ⲧⲉ[ϥ]ϩⲟⲧⲉ
ⲧⲉⲧϩⲓϫⲱⲟⲩ
). Despite the brevity of this description, it is clear that Baktiotha is an important figure within these texts, and part of an elaborate mythic schema. Immediately obvious is the -
ⲱⲑⲁ
ending common to many
voces magicae,
based on the Hebrew feminine plural ending, and used alongside other similar terminations to impart a ‘Jewish’ flavour to such names;
5
in the case of -ⲱⲑ(ⲁ) we are probably dealing with an Aramaicised version, with the final alpha representing the postpositive particle -.
6
Removing this ending, we are left with ⲃⲁⲕⲧⲓ
, which I would suggest can be derived from the Egyptian word bꜢk.tı̓w,
the most common native term for the stellar deities known in English as ‘decans’, from the Greek
δεκανοί
. The immediate problem we must deal with is its vocalisation, since it is only attested in hieroglyphic sources. The word is a plural ‘nisbe’ agentis, ‘those who work’, deriving from the root bꜢk , ‘to work’. There is some controversy about whether this word survives as a verb into Coptic,
7
but we can be fairly certain that the first and last consonant would be retained, while the middle would be lost.
8
Looking at other verbal formations of the same type,
9
we find a consistent -Sⲁⲧⲉ /-Bⲁⲧⲓ ending, suggesting that the vocalised form of bꜢk.tı̓w would be something like SⲃVⲕⲁⲧⲉ / BⲃV ⲕⲁⲧⲓ
(where V is a vowel of unknown quality), close enough that a reduced form of ⲃⲁⲕⲧⲓ
is not implausible. To explore the consequences of understanding Baktiotha as a name linked to the decans, I will discuss each of the attributes described in the invocation in turn.
5
As recognised by M. CHOAT, I. GARDNER
,
A Coptic Handbook of Ritual Power
, Turnhout, 2013, p. 9-10; see the brief discussions of the phenomenon in H.M. JACKSON
,
The Origin in Ancient Incantatory “Voces Magicae” of Some Names in the Sethian Gnostic System
, in
Vigiliae christianae
43 (1989), p. 69-79; P. MIRECKI
,
The Coptic Wizard’s Hoard
, in
The Harvard Theo-logical Review
(1994), p. 435-460 and W.M. BRASHEAR
,
Magica Varia, Bruxelles, 1991, p. 22.
6
One name displaying both forms is αωθα from Michigan 593 (ACM 133), which is probably the same as the αωθ of PGM IV 388,3030; VII 567.
7
W. VYCICHL
,
Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue copte
, Leuven, 1983, p. 27 suggests
that an intransitive form may be the origin of ⲃⲱⲕ ‘to go’, while a more likely derivation is ⲃⲱⲕⲉ, ‘to tan [a hide etc.]’; the earlier bꜢk could be used in the sense of working raw materials
(usually gold). The latter derivation is suggested by A. ERMAN, H. GRAPOW
,
Wörterbuch der
ägyptischen Sprache, 1926-1961, I.426 and J. ČERNÝ
,
Coptic Etymological Dictionary
, Cam
bridge, 1976, p. 22, while VYCICHL
(Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue copte, p. 27) considers it uncertain.
8
See the discussions in C. PEUST
,
Egyptian Phonology: An Introduction to the Phonology of a Dead Language, Göttingen, 1999; cf. the cognate BF ⲃⲱⲕ ‘servant’.
9
smš. ‘to follow’ smš.tı̓w: SA ϣⲙϣⲉ ,BF ϣⲉⲙϣⲓ >Lϣⲙϣⲉⲧⲉ; mrı̓ ‘to love’ > mrı̓.tı̓w:
Sⲙⲉ >Sⲙⲉⲣⲁⲧⲉ,Bⲙⲉⲛⲣⲁϯ;
ḥwı̓ ‘to flow’ >ḥwı̓.tı̓w:
SAsABF ϩⲱⲟⲩ >Sϩⲟⲩⲁⲧⲉ;
ḥrı̓ ‘to fly’ > ḥrı̓.tı̓w:SAsABFϩⲱⲗ >Sϩⲁⲗⲁ(ⲁ)ⲧⲉ,Bϩⲁⲗⲁϯ. See the discussions in W. VYCICHL
,
Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue copte, ad loc. Cf. J. OSING
,
Die Nominalbildung des Ägyptischen, Mainz/Rein, 1976, who derives formations of this type slightly differently
THE SERPENTS
The decans were a series of 36 stars or constellations located close to the ecliptic
whose risings, or later, transits, served to keep track of hours, ten-day periods,
and ultimately years; the decans were positioned so that a new one rose or trans-ited at intervals marking the hours. During the period in which they served to tell
the hours of the night they were said to be ‘working’, thus earning them their designation, ‘those who work’. Twelve such hours would typically pass each night, and over a period of ten days each decan would rise and transit one hour earlier. The whole cycle would take a year to complete, beginning once more
with the heliacal rising of the decan Sothis (Sirius), signalling the inundation.
10
The decans accumulated a great deal of mythological associations over the centuries, and from the Ramesside period an iconographical development took place whereby they began to be depicted as leonine or, more commonly, serpentine deities. This connection between decans and other astral deities, and serpents, is most explicitly stated in the
Book of the Heavenly Cow, where it is said that “the souls of all the gods [i.e. the stars] are in the snakes”.11 Closer to our period, we find hundreds of amulets depicting the decan knm.t
(Χνουμη etc.) as a lion-headed serpent.
12
That this association between the decans and serpents carried on into Coptic times is suggested by a passage in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ , in which the sons of Death are described as decans ‘in the form of winding serpents.’
13
10
For more detailed discussions of the decans, see W. GUNDEL, S. SCHOTT
,
Dekane und Dekansternbilder: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Sternbilder der Kulturvölker , Glückstadt, 1936; H.G. GUNDEL
,
Sternglaube und Sterndeutung: Die Geschichte und das Wesen der Astrologie, Darmstadt, 1966; O. N
EUGEBAUER, R.A. PARKER
,
Egyptian Astronomical Texts I: The Early Decans, London, 1960, O. NEUGEBAUER, R.A. PARKER
,
Egyptian astronomical texts III: Decans, planets, constellations and zodiacs, Providence, 1969, as well as J. QUACK
,
Beiträge zu den ägyp-tischen Dekanen und ihrer Rezeption in der griechisch-römischen Welt , in preparation.
11
bꜢ n ntr nb m ḥfꜢw.w
, Verse 284. (E. H
ORNUNG
,
Der ägyptische Mythos von der Himmels-kuh: eine Ätiologie des Unvollkommenen, Göttingen, 1982 ). For a discussion of the significance of the decans as the
ba-souls of the gods see A.-S.VON BOMHARD
,
The Naos of the Decades, Oxford, 2008, p. 63-65.
12
J. QUACK
,
Beiträge zu den ägyptischen Dekanen und ihrer Rezeption in der griechisch-römischen Welt , in preparation, ch. 2 lists over 300 amulets depicting Khnoumis in some variation of his serpentine form. For discussion see P. DERCHAIN
,
Intailles magiques du Musée de Numis-matique d’Athènes
, in
Chronique d’Égypte
39 (1964), p. 177-193, C. BONNER
,
Studies in magical amulets: chiefly Graeco-Egyptian
, Ann Arbor, 1950, p. 25, 57-59.
13
ⲙ
ⲡⲉⲥⲙⲟⲧ
ⲛ
ϩⲉⲛⲕⲟⲗⲗⲏⲕⲏⲛ
ⲉⲟ
ⲗⲕ
(C 12, 3-4). The references to them as decans come at A43, 52; 57, 57; 59, 18f. M. WESTERHOFF
,
Auferstehung und Jenseits im koptischen
“
Buch der Auferstehung Jesu Christi, unseres Herrn
”, Leiden, 1996. Budge interprets
ϩⲉⲛⲕⲟⲗⲗⲏⲕⲏⲛ as a corrupt form ofσκωλήκιον, diminutive of
σκώληξ, offering ‘serpents’ as the translation (E.A.W. BUDGE
,
Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt
, London, 1913, p. 180). Most instances of σκώληξ / σκωλήκιον
in Christian literature seem to refer rather to worms, so this may simply be the standard use of the worm (i.e. maggot) as a symbol of death. Westerhoff (p. 241-242) implies a conflation on the author’s part of worms and snakes which is not without parallels. For a general discussion of the regular semantic overlap in words for ‘snake’, ‘worm’
1240
K. DOSOO
THE NUMBER
49
The connection between the number 49 and the decans, classically 36 in number, is less easily resolved. As Choat and Gardiner recognise, the number certainly
derives its significance from being the square of 7, and they note its connection
to several passages from apocryphal Christian texts.
14
In the first of these, the Apocryphon of John
,
15
we find a complex cosmogony in which the demiurge Ialdabaoth creates 365 powers, notable among whom are the seven planetary rulers, who produce a further seven powers each, for a total of 49. Ialdabaoth and his 49 demons reappear in Pistis Sophia,
16
where they are charged with punishing the souls of the wicked.
While not immediately apparent, these 49 demons have several points of affinity with the decans. Firstly, they are described as ‘taking revenge’ (ⲧⲓⲙⲱⲣⲉⲓ),
directly connecting them to the beings who in many Coptic texts appear before those about to die, often led by Death himself, whose function is to drag the wicked to hell, and there to punish them. Variously described as ‘the powers of darkness’ (ⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ
ⲛ ⲕⲁⲕⲉ), ‘avengers’ (ⲇⲓⲙⲱⲣⲓⲥⲧⲏⲥ
), and, most importantly for our purposes, ‘decans’ (ⲇⲉⲕⲁⲛⲟⲥ), several aspects of their descriptions link them to older Egyptian conceptions of the stellar
divinities.
17
The idea that the avengers accompany the soul through the underworld echoes the decans’ role in ancient funerary texts,
18
and the arrows that come from and ‘maggot’ see C.H. BROWN
,
Folk Zoological Life-Forms: Their Universality and Growth, in
American Anthropologist
81 (1979), p. 971-817. This overlap is also apparent in other Egyptian terms: fn
(WB I.577) seems to have had both senses, and the Coptic form ϥⲛⲧ
is used to trans-late σκώληξ (Crum 623b).
14
CHOAT GARDNER
,
A Coptic Handbook of Ritual Power
,
Turnhout, 2013, p. 80-81.
15
For discussions of the text and its astrological referents see J.F. QUACK
,
Dekane und Gliedervergottung: altägyptische Traditionen im Apokryphon Johannis
, in
Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum
38 (1995), p. 97-122 and Z. PLEŠE
,
Fate, Providence and Astrology in Gnos-ticism (1): The Apocryphon of John, in ΜΗΝΗ
7 (2007), p. 237-268.
16
376.10-381.5. While some have suggested that ⲇⲉⲕⲁⲛⲟⲥ
should be translated in this and other Coptic texts as ‘police-officer’, there are clear astrological associations in the Pistis Sophia
’s description of the decans that strongly suggest that the stellar referent is primary, in particular the fact the decans are mentioned alongside planets, stars and
ⲗⲉⲓⲧⲟⲩⲣⲅⲟⲥ
, (212.24-217-26, 355.9-356.14). The
λειτουργοί
(‘ministers’) in particular are closely associated with the astronomical decans as further subdivisions of the ecliptic; see e.g. Julius Firmicus Maternus,
Matheseos Libri Octo
2.4. For a fuller discussion of this problem
see J. QUACK
,
Beiträge zu den ägyptischen Dekanen und ihrer Rezeption in der griechisch-römischen Welt
, in preparation, ch. 3.
17
For a discussion of these demons and their relationship to the older decans, as well as textual references see H. BEHLMER
,
Zu einigen köptischen Dämonen, in
Göttinger Miszellen
82 (1984), p. 7-23.
18
The connection between the deceased and the decanal stars is made on the analogy of the soul of the deceased to the sun. See for example the references gathered in R.O. FAULKNER
,
The King and the Star-Religion in the Pyramid Texts, in
Journal of Near Eastern Studies
3 (1966), p. 153-161; cf. CT 44, BD 178,
Amduat
X.725-730, 733-744, and the brief discussions of the role of the decans as keepers of the gates of the underworld in R.A. WELLS
,
Origin of the Hour and the Gates of the Duat,
in
Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur
20 (1993), p. 305-326.
BAKTIOTHA: THE ORIGIN OF A MAGICAL NAME IN P.MACQ. I 1
1241their mouths reappear in Coptic depictions as fiery breath;
19
finally, another name for them, ‘those with changing faces’ (ϣⲁⲃⲉϩo etc.) refers directly to an
idea drawn from Hellenistic astronomy, whereby the decans were said to take on the faces (πρόσωπα) of the planets which passed through them in their cycles.
20
Coming full-circle, we find the Ialdabaoth of the Apocryphon of John
described as having ‘many faces’, more than the planetary rulers, which he is capable of changing at will.
21
We find another mention of 49 demon in the Origin of the World,
22
where they are the grandchildren of the androgynous Death, their parents being his seven equally androgynous offpring, each of whom is named after one of the vices; we are told that the names of the 49 demons are to be found in ‘the Book of Solomon’. While we do not know exactly which book is meant here, most commentators have seen in it a reference to the
Testament of Solomon, or a
similar text on astral demonology.
23
The Testament ’s longest section (18.1-40), which may have originated as a separate document,
24
is an enumeration of the names of the decans, here called ‘elements’ (στοιχεῖα), along with descriptions of the diseases they each rule, and the angel set over them. While they are, conventionally, 36 in number, the number seven appears in the form of the seven
Pleiades (8.1-12), female astral demons who are named, like the seven children of Death, after seven personified vices; they are said in the text to be among the 36 elements.
25
The Pleiades recur, in the form of seven maidens with serpent heads, in the so-called
Mithras Liturgy
(PGM IV.663-664), where the names of at least three of them can be convincingly linked to those of decans.
26
19
For the epithet see C. LEITZ
,
Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen, I-VIII, Leuven, 2002-2003, VI.681; for its afterlife in Coptic see BEHLMER
,
Zu einigen köptischen Dämonen, p. 7-23.
20
See e.g. Paulus Alexandrinus,
Elementa apotelesmatica
15.1; cf. V. MAC DERMOT
,
The Cult of the Seer in the Ancient Middle East: A Contribution to Current Research on Hallucinations Drawn from Coptic and Other Texts, Los Angeles, 1971, p. 120.
21
ⲛ ⲟⲩⲙⲏⲏϣⲉ ⲙ ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲱⲡⲟⲛ
(NHC II 11.36-12.1; NHC IV 18.26-27);
ⲡⲁⲡⲓⲁⲧⲟ
ⲛ
ⲙⲟⲣ
<
ⲫ
>
ⲏ
(NHC III.18.10);
ⲡⲁϯⲁϣⲏ
ⲙⲙⲟⲣⲫⲏ
(BG 42.11); cf. the description of the description of the ruler of the decans in
Asclepius
19 as
παντόμορφος / omniformis
.
22
106.27-107.3.
23
This is the conclusion of Klutz (T.E. KLUTZ
,
Rewriting the Testament of Solomon: Tradi-
tion, Conflict and Identity in a Late Antique Pseudepigraphon
, London-New York, 2005, p. 81-83); cf. J. DORESSE
,
The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics: An Introduction to the Gnostic Coptic Manuscripts Discovered at Chenoboskion
, New York-London, 1997, p. 170-171
24
KLUTZ,
Rewriting the Testament of Solomon, p. 22, 82. For the text of the Testament
see C.C. MCCOWN
,
The Testament of Solomon: Edited from Manuscripts at Mount Athos, Bologna, Holkham Hall, Jerusalem, London, Milan, Paris and Vienna
, Leipzig, 1922.
25
The text has 33, but as pointed out in F.C. CONYBEARE
,
The Testament of Solomon, in
The Jewish Quarterly Review
1 (1898), p. 1-45) this should be considered a corruption of an original 3
6. The Pleiades seem to have been associated with the decanknm.t (V YCICHL
,
Dictionnaire étymo-logique de la langue copte, p. 342).
26
For a discussion of the identity and names of the maidens see H.G. GUNDEL
,
Weltbild und Astrologie in den griechischen Zauberpapyri, München, 1968, p. 58-59; H.D. BETZ,
The “Mithras"
While there are numerous other asterisms linked to the number seven — the seven stars of Ursa Major, the seven planets, the seven invisible decans who accompany the sun — the most relevant link here is, perhaps, to the seven (inconsistent) names mentioned in several Coptic magical texts, twice identi-fied explicitly as decans.
27
IN THE AIR AND IN THE ABYSS,
THE SEEING AND THE BLIND
The texts of the invocation describe the serpents through a series of oppositions
: those in the abyss — those in the air; those who are deaf — those who can hear; those who can see — those who are blind; those who we know — those who we know not. These references can best be understood as describing one of the most characteristic traits of the stars, their periodic appearance and disap-pearance, understood in one of the most elaborated Egyptian astrological texts, the
Nut Book , as their periodic life, death and rebirth.
28
The connection between decans and the air is expressed in several texts; notably, Isis, in her form as the decan Io Sothis, is described in one late are-talogy as “the ruler of the middle air”,
29
and in the Pistis Sophia
the epony-mous divinity cries out that she has become “like a decan, which is upon the air alone”.
30
The survival of the concept of the stellar deities passing cycli-cally from under to above the earth is suggested by the invocation of London MS. Or. 6796 (ACM 131), which describes ‘unclean spirits’ who travel in the
“course of the sun... and the moon... and the stars... and the abyss and the air”,
31
and a Greek invocation which includes an adjuration by the “12 elements of heaven and the 24 elements of the world”;
32
here, as in the Testament of Solomon, these 36 elements are clearly decans.
33
The references to blindness, deafness, and being unknown would then be understood as the consequences of the astral serpents being in the abyss, where, rather than revelling in their usual role as tormentors, they are here imagined as being like the sinners they Liturgy”
: Text, Translation and Commentary, Tübingen, 2005, p. 176-178; J. QUACK
,
Beiträge zu den ägyptischen Dekanen und ihrer Rezeption in der griechisch-römischen Welt
, in preparation, ch. 2.
27
J. QUACK
,
Beiträge zu den ägyptischen Dekanen und ihrer Rezeption in der griechisch-römischen Welt, in preparation, ch. 2.
28
Now often referred to as The Book of the Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars.
O. NEUGE-BAUER, R.A. PARKER
,
Egyptian Astronomical Texts I: The Early Decans,
London, 1960, p. 36-94; A. VON LIEVEN,
Grundriss des Laufes der Sterne: das sogenannte Nutbuch,
Copenhagen,
2007.
29
P. Oxy. XI 1380 ll. 70-71.
30
63.24-25.
31
ll. 95-99.
32
PGM XXXIX.1-21.
33
G
UNDEL
,
Weltbild und Astrologie in den griechischen Zauberpapyri, p. 19
BAKTIOTHA: THE ORIGIN OF A MAGICAL NAME IN P.MACQ. I 1
usu
ally
torture, “as blind men, groping in the darkness”.
34
By contrast, when in their air they would be seeing, hearing, and known.
CONCLUSION
It is certainly frustrating that the word bꜢk.tı̓w is not independently attested in
Coptic, and that the name Baktiotha appears in no other contexts where we
might gain a broader understanding of his significance.35 It is not apriori
unlikely that the word survived beyond the Pharaonic period; it appears in
hieroglyphic inscriptions from the Roman period, and the Egyptian names of
the individual decans were preserved in a continuous tradition until at least the
late fourth century CE, when Hephaistion of Thebes wrote his Apotelesmatika.
36
Likewise, while the idea of 49 decans is unexpected, it is not inexplicable in
an environment where we find decans listed in groups of two, three, six, seven
or
even 21;
37
it seems that the specific astronomical reference to the original
36 asterisms had, in at least some contexts, been lost, and that ‘decans’ were
understood more generally as stellar daimons. The number 49 seems to specifi-
cally suggest a representative totality of the astral powers, the spawn of one of
the groups of seven stars.
Who, then, is the Baktiotha? Is he to be understood as an alter-ego of one of
the many deities associated with the decans, or perhaps as some sort of ‘super-
decan’? Even if we accept the connection to the decans, it is difficult, and per-
haps misguided, to identify him with a single mythological figure; rather his
name and attributes seem to situate him within a broad cosmological scheme
common in the Mediterranean world of late antiquity.
There are two final clues in the invocation that may help us locate him more
precisely; first, that Baktiotha is ‘above’ the serpents, and secondly that his ‘fear
is over them’. There are at least two references in magical texts to an angel who
is set over a serpent or serpents,
38
and with this in mind there is a possibility
34 ⲉⲩⲟ ⲛⲑⲉ ⲛϩⲉⲛⲃⲗⲗⲉⲉⲩⲉ ϭⲟⲙϭⲙ ϩⲙ ⲡⲕⲁⲕⲉ; PistisSophia 366.18-19
35 There are a few instances where we find names including the element ⲃⲁⲕⲑ-, cf. the form
ⲃⲁⲕⲑⲓⲟⲩⲑⲁϩ in P. Berl. inv. 5527. One of these, ⲃⲁⲕⲑⲁⲛⲓⲏⲗ, occurs in London Ms. Or. 6796
(2, 3) r. l.57, although this may be connected to the Biblical Daniel; another (unpublished) magical
ostracon (inv. 5517) in the Coptic Museum in Cairo contains the word ⲑⲃⲁⲕⲑⲏⲱⲛ.
36 GUNDEL, SCHOTT, DekaneundDekansternbilder, p. 41-45.
37 Leiden F 1964/4.14 r ll.5-10 in M. GREEN, ALateCopticMagicalTextfromtheCollection
oftheRijksmuseumvanOudheden,Leiden, in OudheidkundigemededelingenuithetRijksmuseum
teLeiden67 (1987), p. 29-43.
38 London MS. Or. 6796 (2, 3) verso ll.16-17 (ACM 131) ⲁⲃⲃⲁⲭⲁⲱⲝ: ⲡⲉⲧϩⲙⲟⲟⲥ ⲉϩⲣⲁⲓ
ⲉϫⲛ ⲡⲉⲇⲣⲁⲕ\ ⲱ ⁄ⳇ; PGM XXV.9 ἐπικαλοῦμαί σε, Σαεσεχέλ, τὸ<ν> ἐπὶ τῶν δρακόντων.
Once again, the relevance of these passages is recognised by Choat and Gardner (CHOAT,GARDNER, A Coptic Handbook of Ritual Power , Turnhout, 2013, p. 80). Cf. also
ⲕⲁⲗⲁⲡⲁⲧⲁⲩⲣⲱⲑ, the archon set over the Pleiades in
Pistis Sophia
349.20-21
that Baktiotha was understood as an angelic being whose power restrained that of the decans, stellar powers associated in the Coptic cosmic scheme with the malevolent powers of fate, death and disease; his role then would parallel that of the 36 angels whose names the reader of the
Testament of Solomon
is instructed to invoke to overcome the decanal demons. The name of this one angel set above all the decans would be comprised of the old Egyptian name for these beings, combined with the pseudo-Hebrew -ⲱⲑⲁ, whose Biblical resonances would be
appropriate for an angelic being. That he is the first being called upon in the invocation is similarly appropriate; like the decans he controlled, he would be master of the liminal space between the air and the abyss, reminiscent of the un-named being who controls the “iron bolt” of the underworld in two similar invocations, who is also linked to two and three decans respectively.
London Hay 10391 (ACM 127) & Cologne 10235 (ACM 103)
