Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World

Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World
Author: Matthew Dickie
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2003
Genre: Magic, Ancient
ISBN: 0415311292

This study is the first to assemble the evidence for the existence of sorcerors and sorceresses in the ancient world. Compelling and revealing in the breadth of evidence employed this will be an essential resource.

Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World

Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World
Author: Matthew W Dickie
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134533365

This study is the first to assemble the evidence for the existence of sorcerors in the ancient world; it also addresses the question of their identity and social origins. The resulting investigation takes us to the underside of Greek and Roman society, into a world of wandering holy men and women, conjurors and wonder-workers, and into the lives of prostitutes, procuresses, charioteers and theatrical performers. This fascinating reconstruction of the careers of witches and sorcerors allows us to see into previously inaccessible areas of Greco-Roman life. Compelling for both its detail and clarity, and with an extraordinarily revealing breadth of evidence employed, it will be an essential resource for anyone studying ancient magic.

Magic in the Ancient World

Magic in the Ancient World
Author: Fritz Graf
Publisher:
Total Pages: 328
Release: 1997
Genre: History
ISBN:

Ancient Greeks and Romans often turned to magic to achieve personal goals. Magical rites were seen as a route for direct access to the gods, for material gains as well as spiritual satisfaction. In this survey of magical beliefs and practices from the sixth century B.C.E. through late antiquity, Fritz Graf sheds new light on ancient religion. Graf explores the important types of magic in Greco-Roman antiquity, describing rites and explaining the theory behind them. And he characterizes the ancient magician: his training and initiation, social status, and presumed connections with the divine world. With trenchant analysis of underlying conceptions and vivid account of illustrative cases, Graf gives a full picture of the practice of magic and its implications. He concludes with an evaluation of the relation of magic to religion.

Drawing Down the Moon

Drawing Down the Moon
Author: Radcliffe G. Edmonds, III
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2019-07-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 069115693X

One of the foremost experts on magic, religion, and the occult in the ancient world provides an unparalleled exploration of magic in the Greco-Roman world, giving insight into the shifting ideas of religion and the divine in the ancient past and in the later Western tradition.

Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds

Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds
Author: Daniel Ogden
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2002
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780195151237

In a culture where the supernatural possessed an immediacy now strange to us, magic was of great importance both in the literary mythic tradition and in ritual practice. In this book, Daniel Ogden presents 300 texts in new translations, along with brief but explicit commentaries. Authors include the well known (Sophocles, Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, Pliny) and the less familiar, and extend across the whole of Graeco-Roman antiquity.

Magika Hiera

Magika Hiera
Author: Christopher A. Faraone
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 313
Release: 1997
Genre: History
ISBN: 0195111400

Annotation This collection challenges the tendency among scholars of ancient Greece to see magical and religious ritual as mutually exclusive and to ignore "magical" practices in Greek religion. The contributors survey specific bodies of archaeological, epigraphical, and papyrological evidence formagical practices in the Greek world, and, in each case, determine whether the traditional dichotomy between magic and religion helps in any way to conceptualize the objective features of the evidence examined. Contributors include Christopher A. Faraone, J.H.M. Strubbe, H.S. Versnel, Roy Kotansky, John Scarborough, Samuel Eitrem, Fritz Graf, John J. Winkler, Hans Dieter Betz, and C.R. Phillips.

The Scent of Ancient Magic

The Scent of Ancient Magic
Author: Britta K. Ager
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2022-04-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 0472133020

Chapter 1.Breath of the Leopard: scent and magic --Chapter 2.Fragrant panacea: scent and power --Chapter 3.Scent in the Magical Papyri --Chapter 4.Perfumed Enchantments: the smell of witches' magic --Chapter 5.Rot and roses: the smell of witches -- --Chapter 6.Scented space, scenting space --Epilogue.Scent of ancient magic.

Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World

Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World
Author: Paul Allan Mirecki
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 496
Release: 2002
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9789004116764

This volume contains a series of provocative essays that explore expressions of magic and ritual power in the ancient world. The strength of the present volume lies in the breadth of scholarly approaches represented. The book begins with several papyrological studies presenting important new texts in Greek and Coptic, continuing with essays focussing on taxonomy and definition. The concluding essays apply contemporary theories to analyses of specific test cases in a broad variety of ancient Mediterranean cultures. Paul Mirecki, Th.D. (1986) in Religious Studies, Harvard Divinity School, is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. Marvin Meyer, Ph.D. (1979) in Religion, Claremont Graduate School, is Professor of Religion at Chapman University, Orange, California, and Director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity.

A Companion to Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome, 2 Volume Set

A Companion to Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome, 2 Volume Set
Author: Georgia L. Irby
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 1111
Release: 2019-12-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1119100704

A Companion to Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome brings a fresh perspective to the study of these disciplines in the ancient world, with 60 chapters examining these topics from a variety of critical and technical perspectives. Brings a fresh perspective to the study of science, technology, and medicine in the ancient world, with 60 chapters examining these topics from a variety of critical and technical perspectives Begins coverage in 600 BCE and includes sections on the later Roman Empire and beyond, featuring discussion of the transmission and reception of these ideas into the Renaissance Investigates key disciplines, concepts, and movements in ancient science, technology, and medicine within the historical, cultural, and philosophical contexts of Greek and Roman society Organizes its content in two halves: the first focuses on mathematical and natural sciences; the second focuses on cultural applications and interdisciplinary themes 2 Volumes

Greek Magic

Greek Magic
Author: John Petropoulos
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2008-06-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134459246

Greek Magic presents a well-illustrated introduction to the often-neglected aspect of the Ancient Greeks’ legacy to western culture – numerous magical beliefs, practices and figures like the medieval and modern witch and warlock.