STUDYING ANCIENT MAGIC. Categorisation – Comparison - Materiality (original) (raw)
Related papers
Ancient Magic: Then and Now, edited by Attilio Mastrocinque, Joseph E. Sanzo, Marianna Scapini , 2020
The paper enters into the long-held scholarly debate over the heuristic value of the rubic “magic” for the study of antiquity. In particular, I deconstruct the recent approaches of David Aune and Bernd-Christian Otto, both of whom (in the spirit of Jonathan Z. Smith) have called for the universal replacement of the rubric magic with more specific terms for ancient religion (e.g., amulet, healing, cursing). Although I fully acknowledge the problems with magic that Aune and Otto identify, I contend that their approaches to religion – including their disaggregating methodology – are likewise susceptible to deconstructive analysis. Contrary to Aune and Otto, I further argue that magic does in fact possess explanatory power for certain research questions pertaining to antiquity. We must thus balance the occasional need for deconstructing magic with the occasional need for depolying magic as a heuristic device. In conclusion, I highlight that this balanced approach will require that we adopt a more flexible stance toward scholarly categories and taxonomies more generally. You can also find a more developed version of my argument in my recent monograph, Joseph E. Sanzo, Ritual Boundaries: Magic and Differentiation in Late Antique Christianity (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2024), pp. 8–11 (the entire monograph is available for free online: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520399181/ritual-boundaries).
Towards Historicizing 'Magic' in Antiquity
Numen, 2013
Even though the concept of “magic” has sufffered severe criticism in academic discourse, the category continues to be used in many disciplines. During the last two decades, classicists in particular have engaged in a lively discussion over “magic” and have produced an impressive amount of written output. Given the impossibility of defijining “magic” in a consistent and widely accepted manner, one cannot help but wonder what these scholars are actually talking about. Hence this paper purports (a) to critically review the recent debate on “magic” in Classical Studies, (b) to advocate for abandoning an abstract category of “magic” in favour of a proper analysis of ancient sources and (c) to historicize the term “magic” in Antiquity, that is, to muse on its ancient semantics, functions, and contexts. This methodological approach does not only overcome the major problems inherent in modern definitions of “magic,” but will also yield new insights into terminologies, modes of thought and speech strategies that underlie ancient religious discourses.
Wilhelm Fink, 2015
The modern study of ancient magic started, arguably, around 1900 with the publications of several corpora of magical texts by Richard Wünsch (1869-1915) and Auguste Audollent (1864-1943). 1 Although in the intervening period some interesting and still useful studies appeared, such as the edition of the magical papyri, 2 it seems fair to say that a second wave of interest began only in the middle of the 1980s, when David Jordan published a new survey of Greek defixiones, and an équipe around Hans-Dieter Betz issued a translation of the Greek magical papyri. 3 It would not last long before a real tsunami of monographs, translations and proceedings of conferences on magic appeared, 4 the first of them
The Materiality of Magic, edited by Dietrich Boschung and Jan N. Bremmer
2015
The Materiality of Magic is an exciting new book about an aspect of magic that is usually neglected. In the last two decades we have had many books and proceedings of conferences on the concept of magic itself as well as its history, formulas and incantations in antiquity, both in East and West. Much less attention, however, has been paid to the material that was used by the magicians for their conjuring activities. This is the first book of its kind that focuses on the material aspects of magic, such as amulets, drawings, figurines, gems, grimoires, rings, and voodoo dolls. The practice of magic required a specialist expertise that knew how to handle material such as lead, gold, stones, papyrus and terra cotta—material that sometimes was used for specific genres of magic. That is why we present in this well illustrated collection of studies new insights on the materiality of magic in antiquity by studying both the materials used for magic as well as the books in which the expertise was preserved. The main focus of the book is on antiquity, but we complement and contrast our material with examples ranging from the Ancient Near East, via early modern Europe, to the present time.
Materiality of Magic; ed. by D. Boschung and J. Bremmer. Morphomata 20
2015
The Materiality of Magic is an exciting new book about an aspect of magic that is usually neglected. In the last two decades we have had many books and proceedings of conferences on the concept of magic itself as well as its history, formulas and incantations in antiquity, both in East and West. Much less attention, however, has been paid to the material that was used by the magicians for their conjuring activities. This is the first book of its kind that focuses on the material aspects of magic, such as amulets, drawings, figurines, gems, grimoires, rings, and voodoo dolls. The practice of magic required a specialist expertise that knew how to handle material such as lead, gold, stones, papyrus and terra cotta—material that sometimes was used for specific genres of magic. That is why we present in this well illustrated collection of studies new insights on the materiality of magic in antiquity by studying both the materials used for magic as well as the books in which the expertise was preserved. The main focus of the book is on antiquity, but we complement and contrast our material with examples ranging from the Ancient Near East, via early modern Europe, to the present time.
Over the past forty years, the study of ancient, late antique, and medieval "magic" has become a burgeoning eld. Scholars have bene ted from the (revised) publication of substantial corpora of ancient grimoires and applied magical devices (especially amulets, curse tablets, and magic bowls), translations of magical materials, and a host of monographs, edited volumes, and essays on ancient magic and magicians.