The Apocryphon of Jannes and Jambres the Magicians

372 Pages·1997·29.196 MB·English

by  Albert Pietersma (ed., trans., comm.)

THE APOCRYPHON OF
JANNES AND JAMBRES THE MAGICIANS
RELIGIONS IN
THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD
FORMERLY
ETUDES PREUMINAIRES
AUX REUGIONS ORIENTALES
DANS L'EMPIRE ROMAIN
EDITORS
R. VAN DEN BROEK H.].W. DRIJVERS
H.S. VERSNEL
VOLUME 119
THE APOCRYPHON OF
JANNES AND JAMBRES THE MAGICIANS
P. Chester
Beat~ XVI
(with New Editions of Papyrus Vindobonensis Greek
inv. 29456 + 29828 verso and
f
British Library Cotton Tiberius B. v 87)
EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION,
TRANSIATION AND COMMENTARY
WITH FULL FACSIMILE OF ALL THREE TEXTS
BY
ALBERT PIETERSMA
EJ. BRILL
LEIDEN . NEW YORK· KOLN
1994
This series &ligions in IN Graeco-Roman World presents a forum for studies in IN social and cultural
fUnction of religions in IN Greek and IN ROTTUln world, dealing with pagan religions both in their oum
right and in their interaction with and influence on Christian~ and Judaism during a lengthy period of
fUndamental change. Special attention will be given to IN religious history of regivns and cities which
illustrate IN practical workings of these processes.
Enquiries regarding IN submission of works for publication in IN series may be directed to Professor
H J. W. Drijvers, Faculty of Letters, University of Groningen, 9712 EK Groningen, The Netherlo.nds.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Apocryphon ofJannes and Jambres the magicians. Polyglot.
The Apocryphon ofJannes and Jambres the magicians: P. Chester
Beatty XVI (with new editions of Papyrus Vindobonensis Greek inv.
29456+29828 verso and British Library Cotton Tiberius B. v f. 87) /
edited with introduction, translation and commentary with full
facsimile of all three texts by Albert Pietersma.
p. cm. - (Religions in the Graeco-Roman world. ISSN 0927-7633
; v. 119)
Greek and Latin versions of the legend with English translations.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 9004099387 (alk. paper)
1. Bible. N.T. 2 Timothy III, 8-Legends. 2. Jannes (Biblical
figure)--Legends. 3. Jambres (Biblical figure)--Legends. 4. Magic
-Religious aspects--Christianity-Legends. 5. Papyrus Chester
Beatty XVI. 6. Papyrus Vindobonensis Greek inv. 29456+29828 verso.
7. British Library. Manuscript. Cotton Tiberius B.V., f. 87.
I. Pietersma, Albert. II. Tide. III. Series.
BS2745.6.M25A6612 1994
229'.91-dc20 94-4473
CIP
ISSN 0927-7633
ISBN 90 04 09938 7
© Copyright 1994 by EJ. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlo.nds
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translo.ted, stored in
a retrieval .rystem, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
permission.from IN publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal
use is granted by EJ. Brill provided that
IN appropriote .foes are paid directly to The CoJ!Yright
Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910
Danvers M4 09123, USA.
Fees are sui?ject to change.
PRINfED IN THE NETHERLANDS
To "Fred"
LU liv9oC; 'tou m:oiou,
Kpivov 'troY KOlA.aorov.
(cf. Song 2: 1)

CONTENTS
Preface ........................................... IX
Abbreviations and sigla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. XIII
I INTRODUCTION ............................. 1
1. The J annes and J ambres legend: the question of origin 3
2. The evidence of the Damascus Document ........ 12
3. Development of the traditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4. The names of the magicians .................... 36
5. Literary references to a book on J annes and J ambres 43
6. The book on J annes and J ambres ............... 48
7. Jannes and Jambres and associated literature ........ 60
8. The codicology of P. Chester Beatty XVI. . . . . . . . 72
9. Orthography, language and date of P. Chester
Beatty XVI .................................. 81
II PAPYRUS CHESTER BEATTY XVI.... . . .. . . .. 91
Transcription and reconstruction .................. 93
Frame lab- ................................... 96
Frame labl .................................... 102
Frames lcd3h4c- ............................... 106
Frames lcd3h4cl ................................ 112
Frame lef- .................................... 124
Frame len ..................................... 128
Frame 2a-g- ................................... 136
Frame 2a-gl .................................... 144
Frame 3a-f, i-q - ............................... 150
Frame 3a-f, i-q l ................................ 166
Frame 4ab, d-k- ............................... 174
Frame 4ab, d-kl ................................ 184
Frames 2h3g- ................................. 190
Frames 2h3gl .................................. 198
Frame 5abcfjp l ................................. 204
Frame 5abcfjp- ................................ 212
Frame 5deghik-ol ............................... 222
Frame 5deghik-o- .............................. 228
Frame 6l ...................................... 232
Frame 6- ...................................... 240
VIn CONTENTS
Frame 7l ...................................... 246
Frame 7 - ..................................... 254
Frame 8-l .................................... 258
III PAPYRUS VINDOBONENSIS GREEK
29456 + 29828VERSO 263
1. Introduction ................................. 265
2. Text and translation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 268
IV BRIT. LIB. COTTON TIBERIUS B.V 87 ......... 275
1. Introduction ................................. 277
2. Text and translation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 280
V REPRODUCTIONS ............................ 283
Bibliography ....................................... 305
Indices of Greek words .............................. 315
Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 315
Introduction and Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 320
Biblical Index ...................................... 325
Non-Biblical Index ................................. 331
Modern Authors Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 337
Subject Index ...................................... 339
PREFACE
To the Board of Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library and Gallery
of Oriental Art, Dublin, as well as to the Library's current Director,
Dr. Michael Ryan, I would like to express my gratitude for permis
sion to publish the J annes and J ambres papyrus.
My discovery of what has now been officially labeled Papyrus
Chester Beatty XVI dates back essentially to the summer of 1971,
when I visited the Library for the very first time. It was during this
extended visit that my attention was drawn to a variety of hitherto
unpublished and largely unidentified papyrus texts in the Library's
possession, written in both Greek and Coptic. (For a description of
the continuation of the Chester Beatty manuscript series started by
Frederic Kenyon the reader should consult my "New Greek Frag
ments of Biblical Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library,"
BASP 24 [1987] pp. 37-61.)
Upon request, the late Dr. R: J. Hayes, Librarian of the Chester
Beatty granted me rights of publication to these materials and Dr.
DavidJames, then in charge primarily of the Library's Islamic col
lection, generously offered to supply me with photographs, even
though he lacked prior experience in manuscript photography. As
a result, the process of identifying the unidentified could be carried
out at my home base in Toronto. To both I am immensely grateful.
(For a preliminary report on the new materials see my "Greek and
Coptic Inedita of the Chester Beatty Library," BIOSCS 7 [1974]
pp. 10-18.)
Seven frames or glasses offragments, totaling 93, upon examina
tion turned out to belong to an ancient book, written in Greek, on
the magicians J annes and J ambres of 2Tim 3: 8 fame, a book which
prior to this had been little more than an intriguing title, since a
mere 18 lines of its text had been attested, in Latin translation, in
a manuscript dating from xi AD.
The existence of an eighth frame of Papyrus Chester Beatty XVI,
containing a further six fragments, comprising inter alia the initial
four lines of the book, was reported to me in 1989 by Dr. Brian
McGing of Trinity College Dublin. The frame had recently arrived,
among other Chester Beatty papyrus scraps, from the British