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  • syllabus

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    CLASSICAL STUDIES 242

    MAGIC IN THE ANCIENT GRECO-ROMAN WORLD

    Professor Radcliffe G. Edmonds III

    Office: Old Library 245

    Phone: 526-5046

    Old Library 224 – MW 2:30-4:00

    Office Hours: MW 1:00-2:00, Th 3:00-4:00  or by appointment

    redmonds@brynmawr.edu

     

    Required Texts:

    • ·      Apuleius, The Golden Ass (trans. Relihan) (also available in Tripod as Ebook)
    • ·      Betz, Hans D., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (PGM)
    • ·      Edmonds, Radcliffe, Drawing Down the Moon: Magic in the ancient Greco-Roman world (also in Tripod as Ebook)
    • ·      Gager, John G., Curse Tablets & Binding Spells from the Ancient World (also in Tripod as Ebook)
    • ·      Ogden, Daniel, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook (also in Tripod as Ebook)

     

    Recommended Texts:

    • ·      Barton, Tamsyn, Ancient Astrology (also in Tripod as Ebook)
    • ·      Faraone & Obbink, Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic & Religion (also in Tripod as Ebook)
    • ·      Frankfurter, David, Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic (also in Tripod as Ebook)
    • ·      Graf, Fritz, Magic in the Ancient World
    • ·      Iamblichus, On the Mysteries (trans. Clark, Dillon & Hershbell)
    • ·      Mauss, Marcel, A General Theory of Magic

     

    Course Description:

    Bindings and curses, love charms and healing potions, amulets and talismans - from the simple spells designed to meet the needs of the poor and desperate to the complex theurgies of the philosophers, the people of the Greco-Roman World made use of magic to try to influence the world around them.  In this course students will gain an understanding of the magicians of the ancient world and the techniques and devices they used to serve their clientele, as well as the cultural contexts in which these ideas of magic arose.  We shall consider ancient tablets and spell books as well as literary descriptions of magic in the light of theories relating to the religious, political, and social contexts in which magic was used. 

     

    Course Requirements:

    Class participation:

                Participation, of course, includes attendance, since you cannot participate if you are not in class.  If, for some reason, you cannot attend class, please inform me in advance.  Each student should be prepared to discuss and answer questions on the material covered in the lesson for the week.  Coming prepared with questions on the material is even better than coming with answers to the basics.  If, for some reason, you cannot prepare for class, please attend anyway – you will be better prepared for the next class.

                Monday classes will be primarily lecture, with some discussion of the general issues raised in the secondary readings.  On Wednesday, the class will discuss the primary and secondary readings in greater detail.  Several students will be selected to lead off the discussion for each class, but every student should be prepared to contribute to the discussion.  Those whose names are drawn from the Hat of Fate should post their questions on Moodle at least 24 hours before class on Wednesday.  Anyone else may also gain extra credit for participation by posting questions or comments on Moodle. All readings not in the required textbooks will be available online in the Moodle site for this class. 

    Written Assignments: 

                There will be two short written assignments designed for the students to demonstrate their understanding of specific materials covered in class.  These projects may require some out of class research in addition to the readings assigned for the class. 

                The first of these assignments will require you to take the examples we have looked at in class and analyze them for their essential features – logical structure, common patterns of formulation, etc.  You will then have to synthesize these features into a composite that illustrates the features of, e.g., a love spell or a curse, and discuss why what you have put together corresponds with the ancient evidence. 

                The second assignment will involve divination, specifically astrology.  You will have to read a chart on the basis of the excerpts from the ancient manuals in the readings and then decide how to advise a client in a specific situation.  The task is to show your mastery not just of the technical details but, even more importantly, of the social dynamics that underlie divination in the ancient world.

    Examinations:

                There will be take-home Midterm and Final Examinations for this class.  Each of these examinations will require students to apply the analyses and definitions discussed throughout the course to primary materials. These open book essay exams will ask you to analyze ancient materials that we haven't studied in class in the same way we have been analyzing materials in class, looking at the context – what, who, why, where, how – and connections with other texts we have studied. 

    Bryn Mawr College is committed to providing equal access to students with a documented disability. Students needing academic accommodations for a disability must first speak with Access Services. Students can email accessservices@brynmawr.edu to request an appointment to begin this confidential process. If eligible for accommodations as per Access Services, students should schedule an appointment with the professor as early in the semester as possible to share their verification form and make appropriate arrangements. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive and require advance notice to implement. Any student who has a disability-related need to record this class must first be found eligible to do so by Access Services and must share this eligibility with me, the instructor. Class members need to be aware that this class may be recorded.  More information can be obtained at the Access Services website. (http://www.brynmawr.edu/access-services/)

    Grade Distribution:

    • Class Participation                   30%
    • Written Assignments               30%
    • Midterm Exam                        15%
    • Final Exam                              25%

  • Topic 1

    Week I (August 30 & September 2) Introduction – Issues of Definition

    Topics:

    ·      course introduction

    ·      definition of magic

    ·      magic vs. religion, magic vs. science

    ·      instrumental and symbolic action

    ·      ancient contexts of magic

     

    Readings:

    ·      Apuleius, Metamorphoses (esp. ch. 1-3, 9-10)

  • Topic 2

    Week II (September 7 & 9)  Defining Magic in the Ancient World

    Topics:

    ·      societies of the ancient Mediterranean world

    ·      magic and mystery – the lure of magic

    ·      types of magic

     

    Readings:

    ·      Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 1-2

    ·      Gager, Introduction, ch. 8

    ·      Apuleius, Metamorphoses (esp. ch. 1-3, 9-10)

     

    Supplementary Readings

    • Bremmer, Birth of the Term 'Magic'
    • Dieleman, The Greco-Egyptian Magical Papyri
    • Dosoo & Torallas Tovar, Anatomy of the Magical Archive & Roll vs. Codex

    ·       Edmonds, The State of Play: Magic

    • Frankfurter, Ancient Magic in a New Key
    • Frazer, Sympathetic Magic
    • Gordon, Imagining Greek and Roman Magic
    • Mauss, General Theory of Magic, pp. 44-90
    • Phillips, In Search of the Occult
    • Smith, Trading Places
    • Smith, Here, There, and Anywhere
    • Sanzo, Deconstructing the Deconstructionists
    • Tambiah, Form and Meaning of Magical Acts
    • Versnel, Some Reflections on the Relationship

     

  • Topic 3

    Week III (September 14 & 16)  Curses – Binding Spells for All Occasions

    Topics:

    ·      competition and cursing

    ·      athletic contexts

    ·      legal contexts

    ·      binding and harming

     

    Readings:

    ·      Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 3

    ·      Gager, ch. 1, 3-6 (esp. # 3, 5, 44, 53, 88, 89, 117)

    ·      PGM V 304-69, VII 396-404, VII 423-28, VII 429-58, X 36-50

    ·      Ogden 14, 168-196, 236, 247

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    • PGM VII 390-3, VII 394-5, VII 417-22, IX 1-14, XXXVI 1-34, XXXVI 35-68, XXXVI 231-55, and LVIII

    ·       Supplementum Magicum nos. 53, 55, 56

     

    • Edmonds, Blaming the Witch
    • Edmonds, Contingent Catastrophe
    • Eidinow, Binding Spells on Tablets and Papyri
    • Eidinow, Magic and Social Tension
    • Faraone, The Agonistic Context of Early Greek Binding Spells - Magika Hiera ch. 1
    • Faraone, Binding and burying the forces of evil
    • Faraone, Aeschylus’ ὕμνος δέσμιος and Attic Judicial Curse Tablets
    • Gordon, What's in a List?
    • Lamont, Curse-Writing and the Epigraphic Habit
    • Lamont, In Blood and Ashes: Curse Tablets and Binding Spells
    • Ogden, Binding spells: Curse tablets and voodoo dolls in the Greek and Roman worlds
    • Riess, Performing Interpersonal Violence: Curse Tablets
    • Strubbe, Cursed be he that moves my bones - Magika Hiera ch. 2
    • Versnel, Beyond Cursing - Magika Hiera ch. 3
    • Versnel, Punish Those Who Rejoice in Our Misery
    • Versnel, “And any other part of the entire body there may be . . .”
    • Versnel, Writing Mortals and Reading Gods
    • Woolf, Curse Tablets: The History of a Technology

     

    Defixio Assignment due at noon Monday, September 28

     

  • Topic 4

    Week IV (September 21 & 23)  Love Charms

    Topics:

    ·      gender and sex

    ·      male vs. female subjects and objects in erotic spells

    ·      sex and violence

     

    Readings:

    ·      Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 4

    ·      Gager, ch. 2

    ·      PGM IV 296-466, IV 1716-1870, IV 2441-2621, IV 2891-2942, XXXII 1-19, XXXIIa 1-25, CXXII

    ·      Ogden 52, 76-81 (Deianeira), 197-213, 224-229 (iunx), 244, 248-255 (erotic amulets)

    ·      Supplementum Magicum nos. 46-51 (with PGM IV 296-466 and Gager # 27-29)

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    • PGM IV 1390-1495, IV 1496-1595, IV 1870-1927, IV 1928-2000, IV 2000-2125, IV 2622-2707, IV 2708-2784, IV 2943-2966, VII 300a-310, VII 459-77, VII. 593-619, VII 862-918, XVI 1-75, XVIIa, XXXVI 69-101, XXXVI 102-33, XXXVI 134-160, XXXVI 187-210, XXXVI 295-311, XXXVI 333-360, XXXVI 361-371, CI, CVII, CVIII
    • ·       Supplementum Magicum nos. 37, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46-51, 58, 63, 64,
    • ·       Greek Magical Amulets nos. 58, 60
    •  
    • Dickie, Who Practised Love Magic in Classical Antiquity?
    • Faraone, Ancient Greek Love Magic
    • Gordon, Desire, Gossip, Uncertainty and Magic
    • ·       LiDonnici, Burning For It
    • Pachoumi, Erotic and Separation Spells
    • Winkler, The Constraints of Eros - Magika Hiera, ch. 8

     

  • Topic 5

    Week V (September 28 & 30)  Healing and Protection

    Topics:

    ·      defense against the dark arts

    ·      amulets and antidotes

    ·      repairing and healing

    ·      thanks before and after

     

    Readings:

    ·      Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 5

    ·      Gager, ch. 7

    ·      PGM IV 2145-2240, IV. 3007-86, VII 193-221, (pdm) xiv. 554-626, XX,

    ·      Ogden 256-276, 13, 47

    ·      DDA Readings: Ephesia Grammata and other amulets

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    • ·       PGM IV 1596-1715, VII 260-71, VII 311-18, VII 579-90, XXIIA 1-27, XLIII 1-27, LXX, CXIV, CXV
    • ·       Greek Magical Amulets nos. 2, 4, 7, 11, 13, 24, 27, 37, 46, 38
    • ·       Heim, Incantamenta magica graeca et latina
    • ·       Supplementum Magicum nos. 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 13, 18
    •  
    • ·       Bonner, Studies in Magical Amulets
    • Dasen, Probaskania: Amulets and Magic
    • ·       Faraone, Text, Image, and Medium: The Evolution of Graeco-Roman Magical Gemstones
    • Faraone, Vanishing Acts: From Oral Perfomance to Visual Design
    • Faraone, Transformation of Greek Amulets (Introduction)
    • ·       Gordon, The Healing Event in Graeco-Roman Folk-Medicine
    • ·       Kotansky, Incantations and Prayers - Magika Hiera ch. 4
    • LiDonnici, Beans, fleawort, and the blood of a Hamadryas baboon
    • LiDonnici, Single-Stemmed Wormwood
    • ·       Scarborough, The Pharmacology of Sacred Plants- Magika Hiera, ch. 5

     

  • Topic 6

    Week VI (October 5 & 7)  Prayer and Magic

    Topics:

    ·      thanks before and after

    ·      supplication and coercion

    ·      relationships with divine powers

     

    Readings:

    ·      Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 6

    ·      PGM I 262-347; III 494-611; IV 2241-2358; XII 14-95

    ·      Prayer handout

    ·      Ogden 233

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    • ·       Alkhoury, Addressing the Gods with Verse and Incense
    • ·       Bortolani, Magical Hymns (Introduction)
    • Depew, Reading Greek Prayers
    • Graf, Prayer in Magical and Religious Ritual - Magika Hiera, ch. 7
    • ·       Graf, Words and Act
    • Mauss, The Gift
    • Sallustius, On the Gods and the World
    • Tambiah, The Magical Power of Words
    • Versnel, The Poetics of the Magical Charm

     

  • Topic 7

    Week VII (October 12 & 14) – Fall Break

    Take Home Midterm due before class Monday October 19

  • Topic 8

    Week VIII (October 19 & 21)  The Portrait of a Magician

    Topics:

    ·      practitioners of magic, victims of magic

    ·      women and foreigners, weirdos and quacks

    ·      social context of depictions of magic

    ·      labelling the other vs. self-labelling

     

    Readings:

    ·      Graf, Literary Depictions of Magic

    ·      Lucian, Lover of Lies

    ·      Ogden 44-46, 55-107, 155, 157, 214-223

     

     

    Supplementary Readings

    • ·       Edmonds, Extraordinary People
    • ·       Gordon, Magic as a Topos in Augustan Poetry
    • ·       Graf, Literary Representations of Magic
    • ·       Gordon, Innovation and Authority
    • ·       Luck, Witches and sorcerers in classical literature
    • ·       Pollard, Witch-Crafting in Roman Literature and Art
    • ·       Spaeth, From Goddess to Hag
    • ·       Stratton, Naming the Witch
    • ·       Stratton, Magic, Abjection, and Gender

     

  • Topic 9

    Week IX (October 26 & 28)  Divination

    Topics:

    ·      divination in society

    ·      magician and client

    ·      theories of divination

    ·      mechanics of divination

     

    Readings:

    ·      Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 7

    ·      Turner, Divination as a phase in a social process

    ·      Luck, Divination texts (intro optional)

    ·      PGM I 262-347; IV 930-1114, 3209-3254; VII 348-358, 540-78, 740-55, 795-845; VIII 64-110

    ·      Ogden 144-155, 160, 164, 30, 36, 112

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    • ·       PGM I 1-41; II 1-64, 65-184; III 187-262, 263-75, 282-409, 424-66; IV 3086-3124; V 172-212, VII 1-148, 319-34, 335-47, 359-69, 664-85, 703-726, 727-739, 1009-16
    • ·       Iamblichus, De Mysteriis III.11-22
    • ·       Oracles of Astrampsychos
    •  
    • ·       Collins, Mapping the Entrails
    • ·       Dillery, Chresmologues and Manteis
    • ·       Flower, Consulting the Oracle at Dodona
    • ·       Gordon, Reporting the Marvellous
    • ·       Graf, Magic and Divination
    • ·       Manetti, Greek Divination
    • ·       Struck, Divination and the History of Surplus Knowledge
    • ·       Turner, Divination as a phase in a social process

     

  • Topic 10

    Week X (November 2 & 4)  Astrology

    Topics:

    ·      astrology as divination

    ·      astrology as cosmology

    ·      astrology and society

     

    Readings:

    ·      Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 8

    ·      Luck, Astrology  (#102-126)

    ·      Firmicus Maternus

    ·      Dorotheus Sidonius

    ·      Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos

    ·      Neugebauer, Greek Horoscopes

     

    Astrology Assignment due at noon on Monday, November 16

    Supplementary Readings:

    • ·       Plato, Timaeus 38e-39e
    • ·       Vettius Valens, Anthologia
    •  
    • ·       Barton, Ancient Astrology (esp. ch. 4 & 5) (available in Tripod as Ebook)
    • ·       Beck, Brief History of Ancient Astrology (available in Tripod as Ebook)
    • ·       Gordon, Quaedam Veritatis Umbrae
    • ·       Gordon, Will My Child Have A Big Nose?
    • ·       Greenbaum, Arrows, Aiming, and Divination
    • ·       Greenbaum, Basic Techniques of Hellenistic Astrology
    • ·       Konstan, Evidence from Astrology
    • ·       MacMullen, Social History in Astrology
    • ·       Riley, Theoretical and Practical Astrology

     

  • Topic 11

    Week XI (November 9 & 11)  Alchemy

    Topics:

    ·      alchemy and cosmology

    ·      mechanics of alchemy

    ·      alchemy and science

     

    Readings:

    ·      Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 9

    ·      Alchemy Readings

    ·      Zosimus, On Excellence

    ·      Zosimus, On the Letter Omega

    ·      Ogden 46

    ·      PGM XII 193-201

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    • ·       Ps. Democritus Physika & Mystika
    • ·       Synesius to Dioscorus on Democritus
    • ·       Caley, The Leyden Papyrus X
    • ·       Caley, The Stockholm Papyrus
    •  
    • ·       Dufault, Lessons from the Body: Alchemy and Spiritual Exercises
    • ·       Grimes, Secrets of the God Makers: Re-Thinking the Origins of Greco-Egyptian Alchemy
    • ·       Hershbell, Democritus and The Beginnings of Greek Alchemy
    • ·       Jung, Visions of Zosimus
    • ·       Martelli, The Alchemical Art of Dyeing
    • ·       Martelli, Greek Alchemists at Work
    • ·       Principe, Some Problems with the Historiography of Alchemy
    • ·       Stolzenberg, Unpropitious Tinctures
    • ·       Taylor, A Survey of Greek Alchemy

     

  • Topic 12

    Week XII (November 16 & 18)  Theurgy

    Topics:

    ·      demonology, philosophy, and the soul

    ·      philosophy and magic

    ·      theories of theurgy

    ·      practical theurgy – means and ends

     

    Readings:

    ·      Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 10

    ·      Mithras Liturgy (PGM IV.475-829)

    ·      8th Book of Moses (PGM XIII 1-343)

    ·      Iamblichus, On the Mysteries, Excerpts

    ·      Theurgy Readings

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    • ·       Apuleius, On the God of Socrates
    • ·       Plutarch, On the Genius of Socrates
    • ·       Plutarch, On the Face in the Moon
    • ·       Proclus, On the Hieratic Art
    • ·       Luck # 51, 59-63, 67-70
    • ·       PGM XIII 344-645, 646-734, 735-1077
    • ·       Iamblichus, On the Mysteries (excerpts I.9-15, II.11, IV.1-13, V.23-26, VI.5-7, VIII.7-8)
    •  
    • ·       Addey, Divine Inspiration, Possession and Contact with the Gods
    • ·       Athanassiadi, Dreams, Theurgy and Freelance Divination
    • ·       Edmonds, “And you will see…”
    • ·       Edmonds, At the Seizure of the Moon
    • Edmonds, Faces of the Moon
    • Edmonds, There and Back Again: Temporary Immortality in the Mithras Liturgy
    • ·       Haluszka, Sacred Signified
    • ·       Johnston, Animating Statues
    • ·       Johnston, Magic and Theurgy
    • ·       Johnston, Rising to the Occasion
    • Klutz, The 8th Book of Moses: Introduction
    • ·       Luck, Theurgy and Forms of Worship in Neoplatonism 
    • ·       Smith, J.Z., Towards Interpreting Demonic Powers
    • ·       Smith, M. The 8th Book of Moses and How It Grew

     

  • Topic 13

    Week XIII (November 23 & 25) - Accusations of Magic

    Topics:

    ·      social context of accusations of magic

    ·      witchcraft and the law

     

    Readings:

    ·      Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 11

    ·      Apuleius, Apology (ed. & intro by Hunink)

    ·      Ogden 278-300

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    • ·       Bradley, Law, Magic, and Culture in the Apologia of Apuleius
    • ·       Collins, Magic in Greek and Roman Law, Magic in the Ancient Greek World, Ch. 5
    • ·       Collins, Theoris of Lemnos and the Criminalization of Magic
    • Eidinow, Envy, Poison, Death
    • ·       Kippenberg, Magic in Roman Civil Discourse
    • ·       Graf, Portrait of the Magician
    • ·       Phillips, Nullum Crimen Sine Lege, Magika Hiera, ch. 10
    • ·       Rives, Legal Strategy and Learned Display
    • ·       Rives, Magic in Roman Law

     

  • Topic 14

    Week XIV (November 30 & December 2)  - The Magician’s Craft

    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

     

    Readings:

    ·      Graf, How to Become a Magician

    ·      Moyer, Thessalos of Tralles

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

    ·      PGM I 42-195, IV 26-51, IV 154-285, XIII 1-343

    ·      Thessalos, de virtutibus herbarum

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    • ·       PGM I 1-42, IV 1-25, IV 52-85, XIII 344-645, 646-734, 735-1077
    • ·       Apuleius, Metamorphoses (ch. 11)
    •  
    • ·       Betz, Introductions
    • ·       Brashear - ANRW, part I
    • Dieleman, Priests and Prestige
    • Dosoo, A History of the Theban Magical Library
    • ·       Dosoo, Magical Discourses, Ritual Collections
    • ·       Edmonds, And You Will Be Amazed
    • ·       Frankfurter, Dynamics of Ritual Expertise
    • ·       Moyer & Dieleman, Miniaturization and Opening of the Mouth
    • ·       Ritner, Egyptian Magical Practice under the Roman Empire
    • ·       Smith, J.Z., The Temple and the Magician

  • Topic 15

    Week XV (December 7 & 9) - Definitions and Theory

    Topics:

    ·      defining magic

    ·      magic and religion; magic and science

    ·      performative language and symbolic systems

    ·      conclusions

     

    Readings:

    ·      Smith, Trading Places

    ·      Tambiah, Form and Meaning of Magical Acts

    ·      Versnel, Some Reflections on the Relationship

     

    Supplementary Readings:

    • ·       Aune, Magic in Early Christianity
    • ·       Betz, Magic and Mystery – Magika Hiera ch. 9
    • ·       Braarvig, Magic: Reconsidering the Grand Dichotomy
    • ·       Collins, Nature, Cause, and Agency
    • ·       Edmonds, Extra-Ordinary People
    • ·       Fowler, Greek Magic, Greek Religion
    • ·       Gordon, Aelian's Peony
    • ·       Gordon, Imagining Greek and Roman Magic
    • ·       Segal, Hellenistic Magic: Some Questions of Definition
    • ·       Smith, Here, There, and Anywhere
    • ·       Thomassen, Is Magic a Subclass of Ritual?

     

    Take home final exam due before 12:30 on Friday, December 18

  • Final Exam

    Take home final exam due before 12:30 on Friday, December 18