Magical Hymns from Roman Egypt

Magical Hymns from Roman Egypt
Author: Ljuba Merlina Bortolani
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2016-10-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1316673278

This interdisciplinary study investigates the divine personas in the so-called magical hymns of the Greek magical papyri which, in a corpus usually seen as a significant expression of religious syncretism with strong Egyptian influence, were long considered to be the 'most authentically Greek' contribution. Fifteen hymns receive a line-by-line commentary focusing on religious concepts, ritual practice, language and style. The overarching aim is to categorise the nature of divinity according to its Greek or Egyptian elements, examining earlier Greek and Egyptian sources and religious-magical traditions in order to find textual or conceptual parallels. Are the gods of the magical hymns Greek or Egyptian in nature? Did the magical hymns originate in a Greek or Egyptian cultural background? The book tries to answer these questions and to shed light on the religious plurality and/or fusion of the two cultures in the treatment of divinity in the Greek magical papyri.

The Greco-Egyptian Magical Formularies

The Greco-Egyptian Magical Formularies
Author: Christopher Faraone
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 563
Release: 2022-11-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 0472220780

In Greco-Roman Egypt, recipes for magical undertaking, called magical formularies, commonly existed for love potions, curses, attempts to best business rivals—many of the same challenges that modern people might face. In The Greco-Egyptian Magical Formularies: Libraries, Books, and Individual Recipes, volume editors Christopher Faraone and Sofia Torallas Tovar present a series of essays by scholars involved in a multiyear project to reedit and translate the various magical handbooks that were inscribed in the Roman period in the Greek or Egyptian languages. For the first time, the material remains of these papyrus rolls and codices are closely examined, revealing important information about the production of books in Egypt, the scribal culture in which they were produced, and the traffic in single recipes copied from them. Especially important for historians of the book and the Christian Bible are new insights in the historical shift from roll to codex, complicated methods of inscribing the bilingual papyri (in which the Greek script is written left to right and the demotic script right to left), and the new realization that several of the longest extant handbooks are clearly compilations of two or more shorter handbooks, which may have come from different places. The essays also reexamine and rethink the idea that these handbooks came from the personal libraries of practicing magicians or temple scriptoria, in one case going so far as to suggest that two of the handbooks had literary pretensions of a sort and were designed to be read for pleasure rather than for quotidian use in making magical recipes.

Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic

Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic
Author: David Frankfurter
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 817
Release: 2019-03-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004390758

This volume seeks to advance the study of ancient magic through separate discussions of ancient terms for ambiguous or illicit ritual, the ancient texts commonly designated magical, and contexts in which the term magic may be used descriptively.

The Concepts of the Divine in the Greek Magical Papyri

The Concepts of the Divine in the Greek Magical Papyri
Author: Eleni Pachoumi
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2017-05-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9783161540189

Eleni Pachoumi looks at the concepts of the divine in the Greek magical papyri by way of a careful and detailed analysis of ritual practices and spells. Her aim is to uncover the underlying religious, philosophical and mystical parallelisms and influences on the Greek magical papyri. She starts by examining the religious and philosophical concept of the personal daimon and the union of the individual with his personal daimon through the magico-theurgic ritual of systasis. She then goes on to analyze the religious concept of paredros as the divine "assistant" and the various relationships between paredros, the divine and the individual. To round off, she studies the concept of the divine through the manifold religious and philosophical assimilations mainly between Greek, Egyptian, Hellenized gods and divine abstract concepts of Jewish origins.

The Sacred Magic of Ancient Egypt

The Sacred Magic of Ancient Egypt
Author: Rosemary Clark
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2003
Genre: Magic, Egyptian
ISBN: 9781567181302

In The Sacred Magic of Ancient Egypt, Rosemary Clark presents a comprehensive guide to a modern practice of ancient Egyptian theurgy. Included are daily rituals, annual ceremonies, and the founding of a temple tradition for either the sole practitioner or a gathering of celebrants. The dimensions of Sacred Science-esoteric architecture, cosmic resonance, and magical practice-are outlined in detail and demonstrated in a program for practical, everyday use. Authentic and richly detailed, this guidebook also: - Presents beautiful rituals patterned on ancient Egyptian texts for modern initiates - Serves as an excellent reference on many aspects of the Egyptian mysteries that have not been accessible elsewhere - Contains a complete repertoire of ancient hymns, litanies, spells, and ceremonies that allows for reading in the ancient tongue Enter the timeless realm of Egyptian sacred ritual. Experience for yourself the ultimate realization of ancient Egyptian spirituality-the assumption of divine knowledge and grace.

Mother of Magic

Mother of Magic
Author: Chelsea Luellon Bolton
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2018-05-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781387707508

Presented here are ancient hymns to Aset, the ancient Egyptian Goddess commonly known as Isis. She is a goddess of the throne, magic, knowledge, healing, transformation, the star Sirius and is the Queen of Heaven, Earth and the Underworld. In Mother of Magic, you will find: - Ancient Hymns from the Temples of Philae and Dendera - Ancient Hymns from the Temple of Soknopaiou Nesos - An Epithets List and Festival Calendar

Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World

Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World
Author: Radcliffe G. Edmonds III
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2023-11-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1000989275

This volume explores aspects of ancient magic and religion in the ancient Mediterranean, specifically ways in which religious and mythical ideas, including the knowledge and practice of magic, were transmitted and adapted through time and across Greco-Roman, Near Eastern, and Egyptian cultures. Offering an original and innovative combination of case studies on the material aspects and cross-cultural transfers of magic and religion, this book brings together a range of contributions that cross and connect sub-fields with a pan-Mediterranean, comparative scope. Section I investigates the material aspects of magical practices, including first editions and original studies on papyri, gems, lamellae containing binding curses and protective texts, and other textual media in ancient book culture. Several chapters feature the Greco-Egyptian Magical Papyri, the compilation of magical recipes in the formularies, and the role of physical book-forms in the transmission of magical knowledge. Section II explores magic and religion as nodes of cultural exchange in the ancient Mediterranean. Case studies range from Egypt to Anatolia and from Syria-Phoenicia to Sicily, with Greco-Roman religion and myth integrated in a diverse and interconnected Mediterranean landscape. Readers encounter studies featuring charismatic figures of Magi and itinerant begging priests, the multiple understandings of deities such as Hekate, Herakles, or Aphrodite, or the perceived exotic origin of cult statues, mummies, amulets, and cursing formulae, which bring to light the rich intercultural networks of the ancient Mediterranean, and the crucial role of magic and religion in the process of cross-cultural adaptation and innovation. Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World appeals to both specialized and non-specialized audiences, with expert contributions written in an accessible way. This is a fascinating resource for students and scholars working on magic, religion, and mythology in the ancient Mediterranean.

Magic in Ancient Greece and Rome

Magic in Ancient Greece and Rome
Author: Lindsay C. Watson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2019-05-02
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1350108952

Parting company with the trend in recent scholarship to treat the subject in abstract, highly theoretical terms, Magic in Ancient Greece and Rome proposes that the magic-working of antiquity was in reality a highly pragmatic business, with very clearly formulated aims - often of an exceedingly malignant kind. In seven chapters, each addressed to an important arm of Greco-Roman magic, the volume discusses the history of the rediscovery and publication of the so-called Greek Magical Papyri, a key source for our understanding of ancient magic; the startling violence of ancient erotic spells and the use of these by women as well as men; the alteration in the landscape of defixio (curse tablet) studies by major new finds and the confirmation these provide that the frequently lethal intent of such tablets must not be downplayed; the use of herbs in magic, considered from numerous perspectives but with an especial focus on the bizarre-seeming rituals and protocols attendant upon their collection; the employment of animals in magic, the factors determining the choice of animal, the uses to which they were put, and the procuring and storage of animal parts, conceivably in a sorcerer's workshop; the witch as a literary construct, the clear homologies between the magical procedures of fictional witches and those documented for real spells, the gendering of the witch-figure and the reductive presentation of sorceresses as old, risible and ineffectual; the issue of whether ancient magicians practised human sacrifice and the illuminating parallels between such accusations and late 20th century accounts of child-murder in the context of perverted Satanic rituals. By challenging a number of orthodoxies and opening up some underexamined aspects of the subject, this wide-ranging study stakes out important new territory in the field of magical studies.

Adoration of the Ram

Adoration of the Ram
Author: David Klotz
Publisher: Yale Egyptology
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2006-12-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1950343022

Hibis Temple, tucked away in the remote Khargeh Oasis, contains the longest monumental hymns to Amun-Re ever carved in hieroglyphs. These religious texts, inscribed during the reign of Darius I, drew upon a large variety of New Kingdom sources, and later they served as sources for the Graeco-Roman hymns at Esna Temple. As such, the hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis are excellently suited for studying Egyptian theology during the Persian Period, on the eve of the supposed "new theology" created by the Graeco-Roman priesthood. This new study, the first extensive commentary on the five liturgically connected hymns, features new translations with detailed notes. The book also considers dominant theological themes present in the texts, including the concept of "Amun within the Iris."