HIXENBAVGH
ANCIENT ART
A papyrus fragment of an ancient Coptic text preserved in six lines.
Height: 4 1/4 in. (10.5 cm).
Egypt Ca. 300-600 AD.
A fragment of a larger manuscript.
Framed.
The Coptic language was the last phase of the evolution of the language of the ancient Egyptians. It consists of mainly Greek characters with a number of extra characters for Egyptian sounds not found in Greek. By the third century AD most of the books of the Bible had been rendered in Coptic. Some of the oldest surviving portions of the bible are written in Coptic. After the Arab conquest it was reduced to a liturgical language in which form it persists to this day.
Formerly in a Midwestern private collection.
GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC
Inv.#: 1623
$600
Ancient Coptic Egyptian
Papyrus Fragment
