Archimandrite Pavel Stefanov

Magic in the Ancient Greek World

By: Derek Collins (University of Michigan)

Oxford, Blackwell, 2008, 224 pp.

Series: Blackwell Ancient Religions

Description

Original and comprehensive, Magic in the Ancient Greek World takes the reader inside both the social imagination and the ritual reality that made magic possible in ancient Greece.

• Explores the widespread use of spells, drugs, curse tablets, and figurines, and the practitioners of magic in the ancient world
• Uncovers how magic worked. Was it down to mere superstition? Did the subject need to believe in order for it to have an effect?
• Focuses on detailed case studies of individual types of magic
• Examines the central role of magic in Greek life

TopTable of Contents

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I: Magic: What Is It and How Does It Work?
Frazer and Tylor
Malinowski
Magic as Communication
Lévy-Bruhl
Evans-Pritchard
Sympathetic Magic
Magic and the Extended Person
Magic and Analogy
Beyond Frazer
Tambiah and Persuasive Magic
Conclusion
Part II: A Framework for Greek Magic
Magic and the Gods
Divinity and Nature
The Hippocratics: Magic, Divination, and Epilepsy
Plato and Greek Psychology
Magic and Causality
Greek Magicians
Magoi
Gorgias, mageia and goēteia
Other Magical Terms
Conclusion
Part III: Binding Magic and Erotic Figurines
Binding the Gods
Divine Agents
‘Characters’
Body Parts and Health
Erotic Magic
Figurines
Erōtes
Part IV: Homeric Incantations
Pythagoras and Empedocles
The Mechanics of Homeric Incantations
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Verse Combinations and the Power of Metaphor
Intoxication, Choking, and Gout
Incantations and Divination
Neoplatonic Theurgy and Homer
Conclusion
Part V: Magic in Greek and Roman Law
Magic in Greek Law and Legal Imagination
Trials for Erotic Magic
Theoris, the Lemnian Witch
Plato’s Laws Against Magic
Magic in Roman Law and Legal History
The Twelve Tables
The Lex Cornelia
Magia and Maleficium: Magic and Witchcraft
Apuleius the Magus
The Opinions of Paulus and Later Law Codes
Interpretationes Christianae
The Medieval Inheritance
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Detailed contents

TopAbout the Author

Derek Collins is an Associate Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan. He has written extensively on Greek poetry and its performance, including Master of the Game: Competition and Performance in Greek Poetry (2005). Collins has also published on Greek divination and magic, including articles on bird divination, the criminalization of magic in Athens, and the intellectual background to classical Greek magic.