Magic in the

Ancient World
 Questions of Definition
• What is magic?
• How does it differ from religion?
• What are the principal sources?
• What is the history of magic in the Greek
and Roman world?
 Magic and Religion
• There is considerable overlap between
magic and religion
– Both deal with the supernatural
• A useful definition: “a manipulative
strategy to influence the course of nature by
supernatural (‘occult’) means” (Versnel)
• With magic there is a emphasis on coercion
– performative strategies (spells, incantations,
etc.)
– concrete goals
• The distinction between magic and religion
is difficult to maintain
– In our sources prayers, magical formulae,
magical ritual all occur
• In magic there is often an emphasis on
secrecy and secret knowledge.
– arcana mundi (‘the secrets of the world’)
So Agamemnon spoke, and cut the lambs’ throats with
the pitiless bronze and laid them on the ground gasping,
as the life left them, their strength robbed by the bronze.
Then they drew wine from the bowl into the cups, and
poured it on the ground, making their prayers to the
ever-living gods. And this is what any one of the
Achaeans and Trojans would say: “Zeus, greatest and
most glorious, and you other immortal gods: whichever
side first offends against these oaths, may their brains
spill on the ground as this wine is spilled, their own and
their children’s, and may their wives be other men’s
conquest.”
—Homer, Iliad 3.292-301
 Sources
• Literary texts
– texts from the Classical Period and later are
more explicit and detailed
– but there are some allusions to magical practice
in Homer
• Magical papyri
• Inscription (e.g., curse tablets)
 History of magic in the ancient
world
• A controversial question
• Two main approaches
– magic came into the Greek world from the east
(esp. Persia)
– magic an ancient feature of the Mediterranean
world
 Magic and the East
• The Greek words magos, mageia (= Lat.
magus, magia, magicus) are derived from
Persian
– the magi
– Plato speaks of ‘the magian lore of Zoroaster’
• Evidence for magic is more abundant and
explicit after the Archaic Period
– an orientalizing period
 Early evidence for magic
• Homeric poems
– Circe in the Odyssey (Book 10)
– Autolycus’ treatment of Odysseus’ wound in
Od. 18
• “They bound the wound of blameless, godlike
Odysseus with skill, and checked the black blood
with a spell (epaoide).”
• Why is Homer reticent about magic?
• Was magic a basic feature of Homer’s
world?
 Objectives
• Harmful (‘black’) magic
• Beneficial (‘white’) magic
• Harmful:
– curse-tablets (defixiones, katadesmoi)
– incantations
– potions and poisons (pharmakon / pharmaka)
– sympathetic magic (e.g., ‘voodoo dolls’)
– contagious magic
A Greek Curse-tablet
• Beneficial magic:
– protective amulets, etc.
– incantations
– potions
– other forms of healing magic (e.g., purification,
exorcism)
• Mixed: Harmful/Beneficial
– Love magic is pursued for the benefit of the
lover, against the beloved
 Magical Techniques
• Based on secret knowledge
• Utterance
– Uncanny words (onomata asema or uoces
magicae)
– (alleged) foreign words
– prayer formulae and form
• Material objects
– almost any object can be used
– herbs, roots, etc. (cf. rhizotomos)
– drawings of demons
– dolls (often pierced by needles)
• Performance
– a crucial element
– magical objects must be manipulated in a
special way, often with prescribed gestures
• Utterance, material, and performance are
often combined
• An example: Cato the Elder (Agr. 160)
records a cure for a dislocation or fracture
“If a dislocation occurs, it will be healed by this
incantation: take a green reed four or five feet long,
split it in two through the middle and let two men
hold it against their hips; begin the incantation moetas
uaeta daries dardaries astataries dissunapiter up to
where the two halves meet. Wave a piece of iron over
it. After the two halves meet and are in contact, take
the reed in hand and cut the end to the right and to the
left; fasten it with a ligature over the dislocation or
fracture; it will heal. Nevertheless do the incantation
every day...”
 Practitioners of Magic
• Wizards and Witches
– Greek
• goes
• epodos
• pharmakeus / pharmakis
– Latin
• ueneficus / uenefica
• magus
• saga
• Often difficult to distinguish ‘wizards’ etc. from
itinerant priests (e.g., the agurtes)
• Regularly performed magic for a fee
Mendicant priests and prophets come to the doors
of the rich claiming to possess a power by the gift
of the gods to atone for any sin that they or their
ancestors have committed with sacrifices and
incantations (epodai), agreeably accompanied by
feasting. If a rich man wishes to injure an enemy,
he can, at a trifling expense, do him a hurt with
equal ease ... by means of certain invocations
(epagogai) and spells (katadesmoi) which, as they
profess, prevail upon the gods to do their bidding.

Plato, Republic 2.364b

 Notable Witches
• Circe
• Medea
• Canidia (Horace)
• Erictho (Lucan)
 Social Setting
• Social and legal standing of magic are ambivalent
• Magic was highly valued
• Many official religious ceremonies in Rome
contained ‘magical’ elements
• But secretiveness prompted suspicion
• Magic was increasingly identified as ‘bad religion’
(praua religio) and superstition (superstitio)
A Greek magic spell collection

A magical
papyrus
from Egypt
(3rd or 4th
cent. CE)
Translation
[1] ... name ... a favour charm, a charm to dissolve a spell, an
amulet, and a victory charm: "aa emptôkom basum, protect
me." [2] Charm of Hecate Ereschigal against fear of
punishment: If she comes forth, let her say: "I am
Ereschigal," holding her thumbs, and not even one evil can
befall her. But if she comes close to you, hold your right heel
and say: "Ereschigal, virgin, dog, serpent, wreath, key,
herald's wand, golden is the sandal of the Lady of Tartaros,"
and you will prevail upon her. [3] "Askei kataski erôn oreôn
iôr mega semnuêr bau," (three times), "Phobantia, remember,
I have been initiated, and I went down into the chamber of
the Dactyls, and I saw the other things down below, virgin,
dog," etc.
Say it at the crossroads, and turn around and flee, because it
is at those places that she appears. Say it late at night, about
what you wish, and it will reveal it in your sleep; and if you
are led away to death, say these things while scattering seeds
of sesame, and it will save you. [4] "Phorba phorba breimô
azziebua." Take bran of first quality and sandalwood and
vinegar of the sharpest sort and mold cakes. And write his
name upon them, and so hide them, saying into the light the
name of Hecate, and "Take away his sleep from so-and-so,"
and he will be sleepless and worried. [5] Against fear and to
dissolve spells: Say, ...
 Five ‘recipes’
1. An all-purpose spell
2. Protection against Hecate
3. Invocation of Hecate’s aid in divination
and against a death penalty
4. Invokes Hecate against an enemy
5. A counter-spell against an enemy’s spell