Old Nubian Literary Texts

This page presents links to digital images from Browne Unpublished, a leather-bound hand-written manuscript by Gerald M. Browne entitled Old Nubian Literary Texts dated 1 August 2004. It was deposited in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library of the University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign, Browne's home institution. Its contents include re-editions of almost all Old Nubian literary texts known to Browne. Digital images of the manuscript were obtained for study by Giovanni Ruffini. Items 1-15 appear in the manuscript in the same order in which they appear in Browne 1989a, Literary Texts in Old Nubian. Browne's marginalia to 1989a include a note to add items 16-24 below, and also indicate that he considered adding "SPG," an item not included in this manuscript. What text that abbreviation refers to is unclear.

The images of this manuscript are published here courtesy of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign, and, where relevant, the copyright holder of the most immediately preceding edition. For texts where images are not yet available online, the Medieval Nubia website is still in the process of soliciting permission from said copyright holders. Information regarding the permissions this website has received is available upon request.

The interested reader should consult the texts published here in relation to the earlier editions published by Browne and previous editors, to which bibliographical references are provided. It is evident from a quick survey of the texts that Browne made many minor revisions to the editions of these texts, including the addition of new supplements and previously unread text, and the correction of previous readings. It is also quickly clear that Browne made these revisions without providing any commentary or critical apparatus relating them to previous editions. (Browne's introduction to this unpublished manuscript is available here.)

Interested students of Old Nubian are invited to use these editions to collate against previous publications to study the changes Browne proposed in this manuscript. We particularly welcome scholars to use this website to publish commentary on and hold discussion of these new editions. Citation of this material in print publication should appear as: Browne, Gerald M. 2004. Old Nubian Literary Texts. Unpublished manuscript held in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library of the University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign. Images accessed online at www.medievalnubia.info.

The table of contents in Browne Unpublished follows:

1. Miracle of St. Menas (M): 1994a, The Old Nubian Miracle of Saint Menas [= Beiträge zur Sudanforschung, Beiheft 7], Vienna.

2. Nicene Canons (K): 1983c, ’Griffith’s Nicene Canons’, The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 20, pp. 97–112.

3. Lectionary (L): 1982a, Griffith’s Old Nubian Lectionary [= Papyrologica Castroctaviana 8], Roma – Barcelona. 1987a, ’Griffith’s Old Nubian lectionary: The revision revised’, The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 24, pp. 75–92.

4. Stauros-Text (St): 1983e, ’Griffith’s Stauros-Text’, Studia Papyrologica 22, pp. 75–119. Browne's unpublished edition of this text is not yet available online, but images of the text can be found here.

5. Ps.-Chrysostom, In venerabilem crucem sermo (SC): 1984a, Chrysostomus Nubianus: An Old Nubian Version of Ps. Chrysostom, In venerabilem crucem sermo [= Papyrologica Castroctaviana 10], Rome – Barcelona. Not yet available online.

6. Old Nubian Texts from Qasr Ibrim I (IN I).

7. Old Nubian Texts from Qasr Ibrim II (IN II).

8. Two Old Nubian Texts from Old Dongola (Dong.): 1987b, ’Two Old Nubian texts from Old Dongola’, Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie 28, pp. 76–86.

9. The Qasr el-Wizz Benedicite (Ben.): Barns, J. W. B., ’A text of the Benedicte in Greek and Old Nubian from Kasr el-Wizz’, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 60, pp. 206–11.

10. The Sunnarti Mark (Sunn. 1): 1986b, ’The Sunnarti Mark’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 66, pp. 49–52.

11. The Sunnarti Luke (Sunn. 2): 1989d, ’The Sunnarti Luke’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 77, pp. 293–6.

12. Griffith's Fragment 1 (fr. 1): appears in 1989a, Literary Texts in Old Nubian [= Beiträge zur Sudanforschung, Beiheft 5], Vienna.

13. The Faras Martyrdom of St. Epimachus (FE): 1992d, ’An Old Nubian version of the Martyrdom of Saint Epimachus’, in: 50 Years of Polish Excavations in Egypt and the Near East: Acts of the Symposium at the Warsaw University, 1986, Warsaw, pp. 74–77. '

14. Ps.-Chrysostom, In quattuor animalia (SE): 1988b, ’An Old Nubian version of Ps.-Chrysostom, In quattuor animalia’, Altorientalische Forschungen 15, pp. 215–19.

15. Griffith's Graffito 2.5-9 (gr. 2).

16. The Coptic-Museum John (CM): 1992b, ’Notes on Old Nubian texts (X)’, Beiträge zur Sudanforschung 5, pp. 31–7 and 1994b, Bibliorum Sacrorum versio paleonubiana [= Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 547, Subsidia 87], Louvain.

17. The Qasr Ibrim Archbishop Text (IN A): 1992, "Old Nubian Studies: Past, Present and Future" in W. V. Davies, ed., Egypt and Africa: Nubia from Prehistory to Islam, pp. 286-293. Unknown P.QI inv. number, 1963/1964 season.

18. The Qasr Ibrim In quattuor animalia (IN Q): 1994c, ’A survey of Old Nubian texts from Qasr Ibrim’, Nubian Letters 21, pp. 7–10. Published in The Hague.

19. The Qasr Ibrim Apocryphal Text (IN Ap): 2001c, ’An Old Nubian apocryphal text from Qasr Ibrim’, Journal of Coptic Studies 3, pp. 129–32. Not yet available online.

20. The Kulubnarti Martyrdom of St. George (KG): 1998a, The Old Nubian Martyrdom of Saint George [= Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 575, Subsidia 101], Louvain. Not yet available online.

21. Psalm 129 from Old Dongola (DP): 2006a, ’An Old Nubian translation of Psalm 129’, Beiträge zur Sudanforschung 9, pp. 25–7.

22. The Coptic-Museum Martyrdom of St. Epimachus (CE): 2002b, ’An Old Nubian translation of the Martyrdom of Saint Epimachus’, Le muséon 115, pp. 69–76. Housed at the Coptic Museum as a Qasr Ibrim find, but judged by Browne to be from the same codex as the Faras fragment listed as "FE" above. Not yet available online.

23. The Coptic-Museum Lectionary (CL): 2001a, ’An Old Nubian lectionary fragment’, Orientalia 70, pp. 113–116. P.QI inv. 82.1.19/24 = Coptic Museum inv. 12042. Browne's revised text not yet available online.

24. Tatian, Diatessarion (TN): Browne, C. S., 2004, ’Tatianus Nubianus’, in: S. M. Bay (ed.), Studia paleophilologica: Professoris G.M. Browne in honorem oblata, Champaign, IL 2004, pp. 93–8.