Section outline

  • Topics:

    ·      magician as religious specialist

    ·      becoming a magician - the sorceror's apprentice

    ·      tools of the trade - books and materials

    ·      Greeks and Egyptians – social contexts, Thessalos of Trales

    ·      defining magic

    ·      magic and religion; magic and science

    ·      performative language and symbolic systems

    ·      conclusions

     

    Greek Readings: PGM I 42-195, IV 26-51, IV 154-285, XII 270-350, [XIII 1-343]; Thessalos of Tralles, On the Virtues of Plants

     

    Readings:

    ·      PGM I 42-195, IV 26-51, IV 154-285

    ·      Thessalos of Tralles, De virtutibus herbarum

    ·      Ogden 13-19, 44, 45, 53, 54

     

    ·      Dieleman, The Greco-Egyptian Magical Papyri

    ·      Edmonds, And You Will Be Amazed

    ·      Graf, How to Become a Magician

    ·      Gordon, Memory and Authority

    ·      Moyer, Thessalos of Tralles

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    ·      Aune, Magic in Early Christianity

    ·      Braarvig, Magic: Reconsidering the Grand Dichotomy

    ·      Fowler, Greek Magic, Greek Religion

    ·      Frankfurter, Magic as the Local Application of Authoritative Tradition

    ·      Gordon, Aelian's Peony

    ·      Segal, Hellenistic Magic: Some Questions of Definition

    ·      Tambiah, Form and Meaning of Magical Acts

    ·      Thomassen, Is Magic a Subclass of Ritual?

    ·      PGM I 1-42, IV 1-25, IV 52-85, XIII 1-343, 344-645, 646-734, 735-1077

    ·      Apuleius, Metamorphoses (ch. 11)

    ·      Betz, Introductions

    ·      Brashear Greek Magical Papyri, part I

    ·      Dieleman, Priests and Prestige

    ·      Dosoo, Magical Discourses, Ritual Collections

    ·      Frankfurter, Dynamics of Ritual Expertise

    ·      Klutz, The 8th Book of Moses: Introduction

    ·      LiDonnici Compositional Patterns in PGM IV

    ·      Moyer & Dieleman, Miniaturization and Opening of the Mouth

    ·      Smith, J.Z., The Temple and the Magician

    ·      Ritner, Egyptian Magical Practice under the Roman Empire

    ·      Smith, M. The 8th Book of Moses and How It Grew

     

    Final draft of seminar paper due before end of finals