The Sorceress of Sophron in the Papyrus PSI 1214 A

Abstract

The fragment 4 A K.-A. of Sophron in the papyrus PSI 1214 is the longest passage of mimographer preserved, and, therefore, one of the main sources to his work. It seems to relate to the intermediate stage of a magic-religious ritual with apotropaic purposes. However, when we compare it to other ceremonies of that kind, we can see that in its execution the officiant makes a series of linguistic errors of various types that show his imposture. The aim of this paper is twofold, on the one hand, to analyze these elements that reveal the fraud of the alleged sorcerer by looking at them for the comical and satirical nature of the text and, on the other hand, to place the fragment within the work of the mimographer, concluding that it seems to belong to the female mime Ταὶ γυναῖκες αἵ τὰν θεόνφαντι ἐξελᾶν, as it is normally assumed.