/PGM IV 2307-2314
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PGM IV 2307-2314 - Black Sphinx or Sphinx's Secret

The passage

In the Greek magical papyri (Papyri Graecae Magicae or PGM), lines 2307–2314 of papyrus IV were translated into English by Hans Dieter Betz as follows:

The hair of a virgin cow, the seed of Pan
Fire from a sunbeam, colt's foot, spindle tree
Boy love, bow drill, a gray-eyed woman's body
With legs outspread, a black sphinx's / pierced vagina.
All these are symbols of my power
The bond of all necessity will be
Sundered, and Helios will hide your light
At noon, and Tethys will o'erflow the world

Hans Dieter Betz (1986). The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells, p. 80. University of Chicago Press.
A digitized version of papyrus IV is available via the Bibliotheque nationale de France.

Lycophron's Alexandra

λέξω τὰ πάντα νητρεκῶς, ἅ μ᾽ ἱστορεῖς, ἀρχῆς ἀπ᾽
ἄκρας: ἢν δὲ μηκυνθῇ λόγος, σύγγνωθι δέσποτ᾽: οὐ
γὰρ ἥσυχος κόρη ἔλυσε χρησμῶν, ὡς πρίν, αἰόλον
στόμα, 5ἀλλ᾽ ἄσπετον χέασα παμμιγῆ βοὴν
δαφνηφάγων φοίβαζεν ἐκ λαιμῶν ὄπα, Σφιγγὸς
κελαινῆς γῆρυν ἐκμιμουμένη.

This translation reads "dark sphinx" but the Greek matches the PGM:

ALL will I tell truly that thou askest from the utter
beginning, and if the tale be prolonged, forgive me,
master. For not quietly as of old did the maiden loose
the varied voice of her oracles, but poured forth a
weird confused cry, and uttered wild words from her
bay-chewing mouth, imitating the speech of the dark
Sphinx. Thereof what in heart and memory I hold, hear
thou, O King, and, pondering with wise mind, wind and
pursue the obscure paths of her riddles, whereso a
clear track guides by a straight way through things
wrapped in darkness. And I, cutting the utter bounding
thread, will trace her paths of devious speech, striking
the starting-point like winged runner.

This can perhaps give us grounds to gloss Black Sphinx as a powerful oracle. So, perhaps the lewd semantic component in the PGM evoking the imagery of her "pierced" lady parts is recalling an oracular rite

See Also