Witchcraft in Ancient Greece and Rome (final draft) (original) (raw)

This project will examine the key ideas of Witchcraft in Ancient Greece and Rome. Furthermore, there will be an in-depth discussion on the possible origins of Hekate the goddess of witchcraft and crossroads and how her depiction and role changed over time. It will also be closely looking at how ancient Greek philosophers called Neoplatonists viewed her as one of their creation goddesses. In addition, it will give the many different examples of how the ancients revered her through Deiphon and made sacrifices to her. It will also bring up the question who the goddess was and what did she mean to her believers? This dissertation will also be exploring ancient Greek magic and its origins. It will give detailed examples of the different roman laws banning magic and what really stopped it in the end. There will be an exploration on the ideas concerning Hermes Trismegistus and the strongest ideas advocating his possible Egyptian and Greek origins. Moreover, the subject of witches in classical literature will be explored to question why there were such negative images attached to them.