Bible Lexicons

In P Oxy VIII. 1154.8 (late i/A.D.) a man, who was perhaps absent on military service, writes to his sister not to be anxious, αὐτόπτης γάρ εἰμι τῶν τόπων καὶ οὐκ εἰμὶ ξέν [ο ]ς τῶν ἐνθάδε , ";for I am personally acquainted with these places and am not a stranger here"; (Edd.). Note Vettius Valens, p. 260.30, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ λόγῳ καλῷ χρησάμενος , πολλὰ δὲ καμὼν καὶ παθὼν αὐτόπτης γενόμενος τῶν πραγμάτων δοκιμάσας συνέγραψα . The spell for procuring the visible appearance of the god invoked is introduced in the magical P Lond 122.35 (iv/A.D.) (= I. p. 119) by the words ἐὰν θέλῃς PTON καὶ αυτοψαν αὐτὸν ἐκάλεσε , the evident intention being to correct αυτοψαν into the passive verbal αυτοπτον . Cf. also ib. 121.319 (iii/A.D.) (= I. p. 94), and the derived adj. αὐτοπτικός in the same papyrus in a spell for raising one’s own ";double,"; .335 αὐτοπτικὴ ἐὰν βούλῃς σεαυτὸν [ἰ ]δεῖν . For the subst. cf. P Tebt II. 286.20 (A.D. 121–38) ἐ ̣[κ ] τῆς α [ὐ ]τ ̣οψ [ί ]ας ἣν ἐγὼ ἐπεῖδον ";my own personal observation"; (Edd.), P Amh II. 142.12 (iv/A.D.) γενάμενοι ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτοψίαν καὶ ἀναμετρήσαντες τὸν κλῆρον , P Oxy X. 1272.19 (A.D. 144) ἀξιῶ ἐὰν δόξῃ σοι παραγενέσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτοψίαν , ";come for a personal inspection"; (Edd.), and P Leid Wxvi. 38.