Mesokemic Dialect

Also called "Middle Egyptian" Coptic, the Mesokemic dialect is a language variety of Coptic which covered probably the region from the southern Nile Delta to the area of Oxyrhynchos, which is located 160 Km (99 miles) southwest of Cairo. Some early sub-varieties (W and V; cf. P. Mich. Inv. 3520 and 3521) show interference with the Fayyumic dialect. Mesokemic seems to have been used mostly for literary and biblical texts from the 4th to the 6th century.

P. Mich. Inv 1291
Papyrus fragments from a codex manuscript containing the Martyrdom of Cyriacus and his Mother Julitta. Recto. Origin unknown. Other fragments of the same codex are kept in the Central Library of the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham. 4th century? P. Mich. Inv. 1291 (Fragment 1): Papyrus; 16 x 10.1 cm. (Fragment 3): Papyrus; 6.2 x 6.2 cm. (Fragment 4): Papyrus; 10 x 10.3 cm.

P. Mich. Inv 1291
Papyrus fragments from a codex manuscript containing the Martyrdom of Cyriacus and his Mother Julitta.Verso. Origin unknown. Other fragments of the same codex are kept in the Central Library of the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham. 4th century? P. Mich. Inv. 1291 (Fragment 1): Papyrus; 16 x 10.1 cm. (Fragment 3): Papyrus; 6.2 x 6.2 cm. (Fragment 4): Papyrus; 10 x 10.3 cm.

Previous Section

Fayyumic Dialect

Next Section

Bohairic Dialect