Coptic Ostraca

Coptic ostraca in the Petrie Museum

The collection of Flinders Petrie included several hundred Coptic ostraca, and many were included in the selection by W. Crum for use in teaching the Coptic language, latest phase of Egyptian (Crum 1939). No complete inventory from the time of Petrie is known, but the marks on the ostraca themselves indicate that there were at least two sequences of numbers, one Latin, the other Arabic numerals as for his hieratic ostraca and Greek ostraca. There was some overlap between the numbering/publication of the Greek and Coptic ostraca; with small fragments, it is not always possible to identify the script, because Coptic is an adaptation of the Greek alphabet. In addition, the collection includes over a hundred other items, mainly small fragments; a small group is marked as being from Denderah, and some of these were also selected for publication by Crum (Coptic Ostraca volume).

The following table presents the ostraca in the two main sequences, as far as they can be reconstructed from marks on or with the ostraca; the other columns give the present museum identification numbers with note of their publication and contents. The sequence of Arabic numerals 'Petrie 1-50' is given first, followed by the less complete sequence of Latin numerals 'Petrie I-'.

Petrie series	museum number UC	Crum, Coptic Ostraca	Crum, Varia Coptica	contents
1	62841		16	legal document
2	62842		54	letter about a delivery
3	62843		121	field measurements
4	71106		57	payment for a tailor
5	62844		4	moral dialogue
6	62845		30	agreement on sowing
7			61	request
8	62846		69	request for loan of a book
9	62847		15	legal document
10	62848		76	letter
11	62849		24	promise to repay loan
12	62850		56	letter
13	62851		1	Psalms Greek, Coptic
14	62852		20	receipt
15	62855		105	letter on payment
16	62853		106	letter fragment
17			74	reproachful letter
18	62854		91	letter with invitation
19	62856
20	62857
21	62858		55	order (?)
22
23	62859		113	letter fragment
24	62860		34	oath
25	62861		65	request
26	62862
27	62863		107	letter requesting a visit
28	62864		18	receipt
29	62865		86	letter
30	62866		108	request for payments
31	62867		14	legal document
32	62868		60	delivery, from Wadi Sarga
33	62869		130	unintelligible, not Coptic?
34	62870		23	promise to repay loan
35	62871		43	letter to a bishop
36	62872		59	demand for payment
37	62873		21	agreement to pay
38	62874		127	object list with witnesses
39	62875		12	legal document
40			42	letter on ill-treatment
41	62876		25	promise to repay
42	62877		36a	assigning pawned goods
43	62878		17	receipt
44			99	letter with requests
45
46	62879		101	letter with appeal to pay
47	62880		13	legal document
48	62881			name lists
49	62882			name list
50			103	letter with request
I
II
III	62807	498		letter about deliveries
IV	62808			account
V	62809			tax-receipt
VI	62810			tax-receipt
VII	62811			tax-receipt
VIII
IX	62812	500		order for supplies
X	62813	501		order for supplies
XI	62814			order for supplies
XII
XIII	62815			order for supplies
XIV
XV
XVI	62816	504		order for supplies
XVII	62817	505		order for supplies
XVIII	perhaps 62822			(if 62822, order for wine)
XIX	62818	507		letter
XX
XXI
XXII
XXIII
XXIV	62819	388		letter with apology for material
XXV	62820	237		letter about delivery
XXVI	62821	508		letter about supplies
XXVII
XXVIII	62823	499		letter about delivery of grain
XXIX	62824	496		identification of jar contents
XXX	62825	479		school exercise?
XXXI
XXXII	62827	238		letter about delivery of wine
XXXIII	62828			tax-receipt
XXXIV	62829			tax-receipt
XXXV
XXXVI	62830			tax-receipt
XXXVII
XXXVIII	62831	428		tax-receipt
XXXIX	62832			record of agreement
XL	62833			name list
XLI	62834			tax-receipt
XLII	62835	509		account of deliveries
XLIII	62836	510		account of pitch
XLIV

References