Ancient Magic and Ritual Power

497 Pages·2001·30.09 MB·English

by  Marvin W. Meyer

ANCIENT MAGIC
AND RITUAL POWER

ANCIENT MAGIC
AND RITUAL POWER
EDITED BY
MARVIN MEYER
AND
PAUL MIRECKI
'׳68י 'יי
BRILL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS, INC.
BOSTON · LEIDEN
2001
Ancient magic and ritual power/edited by Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki.
p. cm.
Originally published: Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill, 1995. (Religions in the
Graeco-Roman world; v. 129)
Include bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-391-04152-5
1. Magic, Ancient. I. Meyer, Marvin W. II. Mirecki, Paul Allan.
BF1591 ·A55 2001
133.4'3'093—dc21
2001037755
ISBN 0 391 04152 5
© Copyright 1995 by E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction 1
Selected Bibliography 8
PART ONE
DEFINING MAGIC AND RITUAL POWER
I. Trading Places 13
Jonathan Z. Smith
II. Excluding the Charming: The Development
of the Greek Concept of Magic 29
Fritz Graf
III. The Religious, Social, and Legal Parameters
of Traditional Egyptian Magic 43
Robert K. Ritner
PART TWO
MAGIC AND RITUAL POWER
IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
IV. Hittite Military Rituals 63
Richard H. Beal
V. Ritual Meals in the Hittite Cult 77
Billie Jean Collins
VI. Magical Uses of Ancient Mesopotamian
Festivals of the Dead 93
J. A. Scurlock
PART THREE
MAGIC AND RITUAL POWER
IN JUDAISM AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY
VII. The "Witch" of En-Dor, 1 Samuel 28, and
Ancient Near Eastern Necromancy Ill
Brian B. Schmidt
VIII. The Magician as Outsider in the Hebrew Bible
and the New Testament 131
Stephen D. Ricks
IX. Charming Criminals: Classification of Magic
in the Babylonian Talmud 145
Jonathan Seidel
X. Magical Piety in Ancient and Medieval
Judaism 167
Michael D. Swartz
XI. The Adjuration of the Prince of the Presence:
Performative Utterance in a Jewish Ritual 185
Rebecca Lesses
PART FOUR
MAGIC AND RITUAL POWER
IN GREEK ANTIQUITY
XII. New Greek Magical and Divinatory Texts
in Berlin 209
William M. Brashear
XIII. Greek Exorcistic Amulets 243
Roy Kotansky
XIV. Supernatural Assistants in the Greek Magical
Papyri 279
Leda Jean Ciraolo
XV. The Mystodokos and the Dark-Eyed Maidens:
Multicultural Influences on a Late-Hellenistic
Incantation 297
Christopher A. Faraone
XVI. "May she neither eat nor drink": Love Magic
and Vows of Abstinence 335
David Martinez
XVII. Defining the Dreadful: Remarks on the
Greek Child-Killing Demon 361
Sarah lies Johnston
PART FIVE
MAGIC AND RITUAL POWER
IN ROMAN AND LATE ANTIQUITY
XVIII. Singing Away Snakebite: Lucan's Magical
Cures 391
Oliver Phillips
XIX. Satan's Fall in Coptic Magic 401
Jacques van der Vliet
XX. Magical Bowls and Manichaeans 419
Jason David BeDuhn
XXI. Magic, Women, and Heresy in the Late
Empire: The Case of the Priscillianists 435
Todd Breyfogle
CONCLUSION
MYTH, MAGIC,
AND THE POWER OF THE WORD
XXII. Narrating Power: The Theory and Practice
of the Magical Historiola in Ritual Spells 457
David Frankfurter
PLATES
NEW GREEK MAGICAL AND DIVINATORY TEXTS
IN BERLIN
CONTRIBUTORS
Richard H. Beal David Martinez
Jason David BeDuhn Marvin Meyer
William M. Brashear Paul Mirecki
Todd Breyfogle Oliver Phillips
Leda Jean Ciraolo Stephen D. Ricks
Billie Jean Collins Robert K. Ritner
Christopher A. Faraone Brian B. Schmidt
David Frankfurter J. A. Scurlock
Fritz Graf Jonathan Seidel
Sarah lies Johnston Jonathan Z. Smith
Roy Kotansky Michael D. Swartz
Rebecca Lesses Jacques van der Vliet
MANAGING EDITOR
Neal Kelsey
PREFACE
The essays in this volume derive from the conference on
"Magic in the Ancient World," held in August 1992 at the Univer-
sity of Kansas. We would like to acknowledge the support provided
for this conference by the Department of Religious Studies at the
University of Kansas, the Kansas School of Religion, the College
Lecture Fund, and the Office of International Studies and Pro-
grams. Additional encouragement for the conference and the
volume has been offered by the Coptic Magical Texts Project of
the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont Graduate
School. Through the Coptic Magical Texts Project and the Insti-
tute, the J. W. and Ida M. Jameson Foundation and the Board of
Higher Education of the United Methodist Church have given
financial assistance, as has the Griset Chair Fund of Chapman
University. The essays themselves, diverse as they are, incorporate
the different approaches and even the different styles typical of
the disciplines represented. We have allowed some of this diversity
to remain, and readers may anticipate that they will have the
opportunity to savor the flavors of the several disciplines.
Marvin Meyer
Professor of Religion, Chapman University
Director, Coptic Magical Texts Project, Institute for Antiquity
and Christianity
Paul Mirecki
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Kansas