The dead one's suffering (KYP T554)

Content note: death and a curse.

Truly (?), these are the six powers of Death, they who bring every sickness upon every man. I adjure you, O dead one by this bone (?) that I will place under your back that just as you have suffered, you will bring your suffering upon …

Written on a cow's rib and found in a tomb shaft at Asyut, this curse asks the dead to act as a carrier: take what you suffered and pass it on. The victim's name is lost, which is a mercy. Grief is tempted by this spell at least once. The cards here are about the other choice: carrying it yourself.

Translation by Korshi Dosoo, based on Jochem Kahl's edition, with Dosoo's corrections, team revision. KYP T554, Asyut "Magical Bone", 601–1000 CE. Link: KYP T554.

Contains information from the Kyprianos Database, which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). Line numbers omitted.