Download or read book Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World written by Paul Allan Mirecki and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2002 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains a series of provocative essays that explore expressions of magic and ritual power in the ancient world. The strength of the present volume lies in the breadth of scholarly approaches represented. The book begins with several papyrological studies presenting important new texts in Greek and Coptic, continuing with essays focussing on taxonomy and definition. The concluding essays apply contemporary theories to analyses of specific test cases in a broad variety of ancient Mediterranean cultures. Paul Mirecki, Th.D. (1986) in Religious Studies, Harvard Divinity School, is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. Marvin Meyer, Ph.D. (1979) in Religion, Claremont Graduate School, is Professor of Religion at Chapman University, Orange, California, and Director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity.
Download or read book Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World written by Paul Mirecki and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains a series of provocative essays that explore expressions of magic and ritual power in the ancient world. The essays are authored by leading scholars in the fields of Egyptology, ancient Near Eastern studies, the Hebrew Bible, Judaica, classical Greek and Roman studies, early Christianity and patristics, and Coptic and Islamic Egypt. The strength of the present volume lies in the breadth of scholarly approaches represented. The book begins with several papyrological studies presenting important new texts in Greek and Coptic, continuing with essays focusing on taxonomy and definition. The concluding essays apply contemporary theories to analyses of specific test cases in a broad variety of ancient Mediterranean cultures.
Download or read book Ancient Magic and Ritual Power written by Paul Mirecki and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-08-24 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains a series of provocative essays that explore expressions of magic and ritual power in the ancient world. The essays are authored by leading scholars in the fields of Egyptology, ancient Near Eastern studies, the Hebrew Bible, Judaica, classical Greek and Roman studies, early Christianity and patristics, and Coptology. Throughout the book the essays examine the terms employed in descriptions of ancient magic. From this examination comes a clarification of magic as a polemical term of exclusion but also an understanding of the classical Egyptian and early Greek conceptions of magic as a more neutral category of inclusion. This book should prove to be foundational for future scholarly studies of ancient magic and ritual power. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
Download or read book Magic in the Ancient World written by Fritz Graf and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient Greeks and Romans often turned to magic to achieve personal goals. Magical rites were seen as a route for direct access to the gods, for material gains as well as spiritual satisfaction. In this survey of magical beliefs and practices from the sixth century B.C.E. through late antiquity, Fritz Graf sheds new light on ancient religion. Graf explores the important types of magic in Greco-Roman antiquity, describing rites and explaining the theory behind them. And he characterizes the ancient magician: his training and initiation, social status, and presumed connections with the divine world. With trenchant analysis of underlying conceptions and vivid account of illustrative cases, Graf gives a full picture of the practice of magic and its implications. He concludes with an evaluation of the relation of magic to religion.
Download or read book Prayer Magic and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World written by Scott Noegel and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the religious systems of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, gods and demigods were neither abstract nor distant, but communicated with mankind through signs and active intervention. Men and women were thus eager to interpret, appeal to, and even control the gods and their agents. In Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World, a distinguished array of scholars explores the many ways in which people in the ancient world sought to gain access to--or, in some cases, to bind or escape from--the divine powers of heaven and earth. Grounded in a variety of disciplines, including Assyriology, Classics, and early Islamic history, the fifteen essays in this volume cover a broad geographic area: Greece, Egypt, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Topics include celestial divination in early Mesopotamia, the civic festivals of classical Athens, and Christian magical papyri from Coptic Egypt. Moving forward to Late Antiquity, we see how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each incorporated many aspects of ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman religion into their own prayers, rituals, and conceptions. Even if they no longer conceived of the sun, moon, and the stars as eternal or divine, Christians, Jews, and Muslims often continued to study the movements of the heavens as a map on which divine power could be read. The reader already familiar with studies of ancient religion will find in Prayer, Magic, and the Stars both old friends and new faces. Contributors include Gideon Bohak, Nicola Denzey, Jacco Dieleman, Radcliffe Edmonds, Marvin Meyer, Michael G. Morony, Ian Moyer, Francesca Rochberg, Jonathan Z. Smith, Mark S. Smith, Peter Struck, Michael Swartz, and Kasia Szpakowska. Published as part of Penn State's Magic in History series, Prayer, Magic, and the Stars appears at a time of renewed interest in divination and occult practices in the ancient world. It will interest a wide audience in the field of comparative religion as well as students of the ancient world and late antiquity.
Download or read book Magic in the Ancient Greek World written by Derek Collins and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-04-30 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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
Download or read book Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic written by David Frankfurter and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-03-19 with total page 817 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume seeks to advance the study of ancient magic through separate discussions of ancient terms for ambiguous or illicit ritual, the ancient texts commonly designated magical, and contexts in which the term magic may be used descriptively.
Download or read book The Scent of Ancient Magic written by Britta K. Ager and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2022-04-27 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chapter 1.Breath of the Leopard: scent and magic --Chapter 2.Fragrant panacea: scent and power --Chapter 3.Scent in the Magical Papyri --Chapter 4.Perfumed Enchantments: the smell of witches' magic --Chapter 5.Rot and roses: the smell of witches -- --Chapter 6.Scented space, scenting space --Epilogue.Scent of ancient magic.
Download or read book Daughters of Hecate written by Kimberly B. Stratton and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daughters of Hecate presents a diverse collection of essays on the topic of women and magic in the ancient Mediterranean world. The book gathers investigations by leading scholars from the fields of Classics, Judaic Studies, and early Christianity, illuminating as well as interrogating the persistent associations of women with magic.
Download or read book Magic and Divination in the Ancient World written by Leda Ciraolo and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-10-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays focuses on divination across the Ancient World from early Mesopotamia to late antiquity. The authors deal with the forms, theory and poetics of this important and still poorly understood ancient phenomenon.
Download or read book Drawing Down the Moon written by Radcliffe G. Edmonds (III) and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-02 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the foremost experts on magic, religion, and the occult in the ancient world provides an unparalleled exploration of magic in the Greco-Roman world, giving insight into the shifting ideas of religion and the divine in the ancient past and in the later Western tradition.
Download or read book Magic and Magicians in the Greco Roman World written by Matthew W Dickie and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study is the first to assemble the evidence for the existence of sorcerors in the ancient world; it also addresses the question of their identity and social origins. The resulting investigation takes us to the underside of Greek and Roman society, into a world of wandering holy men and women, conjurors and wonder-workers, and into the lives of prostitutes, procuresses, charioteers and theatrical performers. This fascinating reconstruction of the careers of witches and sorcerors allows us to see into previously inaccessible areas of Greco-Roman life. Compelling for both its detail and clarity, and with an extraordinarily revealing breadth of evidence employed, it will be an essential resource for anyone studying ancient magic.
Download or read book Icons of Power written by Naomi Janowitz and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Janowitz sifts through the polemics to make sense of the daunting mosaic of religious belief and practice in Late Antiquity. Janowitz reveals how ritual practitioners held common assumptions about why their rituals worked and how to perform them. Icons of Power makes an important contribution to our understanding of society in Late Antiquity.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture written by Karen Radner and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-22 with total page 838 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cuneiform script, the writing system of ancient Mesopotamia, was witness to one of the world's oldest literate cultures. For over three millennia, it was the vehicle of communication from (at its greatest extent) Iran to the Mediterranean, Anatolia to Egypt. The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture examines the Ancient Middle East through the lens of cuneiform writing. The contributors, a mix of scholars from across the disciplines, explore, define, and to some extent look beyond the boundaries of the written word, using Mesopotamia's clay tablets and stone inscriptions not just as 'texts' but also as material artefacts that offer much additional information about their creators, readers, users and owners.
Download or read book The Sacred Magic of Ancient Egypt written by Rosemary Clark and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2003 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Sacred Magic of Ancient Egypt, Rosemary Clark presents a comprehensive guide to a modern practice of ancient Egyptian theurgy. Included are daily rituals, annual ceremonies, and the founding of a temple tradition for either the sole practitioner or a gathering of celebrants. The dimensions of Sacred Science-esoteric architecture, cosmic resonance, and magical practice-are outlined in detail and demonstrated in a program for practical, everyday use. Authentic and richly detailed, this guidebook also: - Presents beautiful rituals patterned on ancient Egyptian texts for modern initiates - Serves as an excellent reference on many aspects of the Egyptian mysteries that have not been accessible elsewhere - Contains a complete repertoire of ancient hymns, litanies, spells, and ceremonies that allows for reading in the ancient tongue Enter the timeless realm of Egyptian sacred ritual. Experience for yourself the ultimate realization of ancient Egyptian spirituality-the assumption of divine knowledge and grace.
Download or read book The Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West written by David J. Collins, S. J. and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-02 with total page 897 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents twenty chapters by experts in their fields, providing a thorough and interdisciplinary overview of the theory and practice of magic in the West. Its chronological scope extends from the Ancient Near East to twenty-first-century North America; its objects of analysis range from Persian curse tablets to US neo-paganism. For comparative purposes, the volume includes chapters on developments in the Jewish and Muslim worlds, evaluated not simply for what they contributed at various points to European notions of magic, but also as models of alternative development in ancient Mediterranean legacy. Similarly, the volume highlights the transformative and challenging encounters of Europeans with non-Europeans, regarding the practice of magic in both early modern colonization and more recent decolonization.
Download or read book Magic in Ancient Greece and Rome written by Lindsay C. Watson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-05-02 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Parting company with the trend in recent scholarship to treat the subject in abstract, highly theoretical terms, Magic in Ancient Greece and Rome proposes that the magic-working of antiquity was in reality a highly pragmatic business, with very clearly formulated aims - often of an exceedingly malignant kind. In seven chapters, each addressed to an important arm of Greco-Roman magic, the volume discusses the history of the rediscovery and publication of the so-called Greek Magical Papyri, a key source for our understanding of ancient magic; the startling violence of ancient erotic spells and the use of these by women as well as men; the alteration in the landscape of defixio (curse tablet) studies by major new finds and the confirmation these provide that the frequently lethal intent of such tablets must not be downplayed; the use of herbs in magic, considered from numerous perspectives but with an especial focus on the bizarre-seeming rituals and protocols attendant upon their collection; the employment of animals in magic, the factors determining the choice of animal, the uses to which they were put, and the procuring and storage of animal parts, conceivably in a sorcerer's workshop; the witch as a literary construct, the clear homologies between the magical procedures of fictional witches and those documented for real spells, the gendering of the witch-figure and the reductive presentation of sorceresses as old, risible and ineffectual; the issue of whether ancient magicians practised human sacrifice and the illuminating parallels between such accusations and late 20th century accounts of child-murder in the context of perverted Satanic rituals. By challenging a number of orthodoxies and opening up some underexamined aspects of the subject, this wide-ranging study stakes out important new territory in the field of magical studies.
