Mirecki Paul, Meyer Marvin (eds.) Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World

Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, 2002. — xviii, 470 p. — (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 141). — ISBN 90-04-10406-2.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. 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 along with an understanding of the classical Egyptian and early Greek conceptions of magic as a more neutral category of inclusion. This book is intended to be of use as a foundation for further scholarly studies of ancient magic and ritual power. 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.New text of Magic and Ritual Power
William Brashear, Roy Kotansky. A New Magical Formulary
David Jordan. Two Papyri with Formulae for Divination
Roy Kotansky. An Early Christian Gold Lamella for Headache
Paul Mirecki. A Seventh-Century Coptic Limestone in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Bodl. copt. inscr. 426)
Definitions and Theory
Jonathan Z. Smith. Great Scott! Thought and Action One More Time
Fritz Graf. Theories of Magic in Antiquity
H.S. Versnel. The Poetics of the Magical Charm: An Essay on the Power of Words
David Frankfurter. Dynamics of Ritual Expertise in Antiquity and Beyond: Towards a New Taxonomy of “Magicians”
C.A. Hoffman. Fiat Magia
The Ancient Near East
Richard H. Bell. Dividing a God
JoAnn Scurlock. Translating Transfers in Ancient Mesopotamia
Billie Jean Collins. Necromancy, Fertility and the Dark Earth: The Use of Ritual Pits in Hittite Cult
Brian B. Schmidt. Canaanite Magic vs. Israelite Religion: Deuteronomy 18 and the Taxonomy of Taboo
Judaism
S. Daniel Breslauer. Secrecy and Magic, Publicity and Torah: Unpacking a Talmudic Tale
James R. Davilla. Shamanic Initiatory Death and Resurrection in the Hekhalot Literature
Michael D. Swartz. Sacrificial Themes in Jewish Magic
Greek and Roman Antiquity
Cristopher A. Faraone. The Ethnic Origins of a Roman-Era Philtrokatadesmos (PGM IV 296-434)
Sarah Iles Jonhston. Sacrifice in the Greek Magical Papyri
Lynn R. LiDonnici. Beans, Fleawort, and the Blood of a Hamadryas Baboon: Recipe Ingredients in Greco-Roman Magical Materials
Oliver Phillips. The Witches’ Thessaly
Peter T. Struck. Speech Acts and the Stakes of Hellenism in Late Antiquity
Early Christianity and Islam
Marvin Meyer. The Prayer of Mary Who Dissolves Chains in Coptic Magic and Religion
Ayse Tuzlac. The Magician and the Heretic: The Case of Simon Magus
Nicole B. Hansen. Ancient Execration Magic in Coptic and Islamic Egypt
Index of Primary Sources