Arcana Mundi - Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds

417 Pages·1986·156.83 MB·English

by  Georg Luck

Arcana Mundi

Magic and the Occult in the Greek
and Roman Worlds
A Collection of Ancient Texts
Translated, Annotated, and Introduced by
GEORG LUCK
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
BALTIMORE AND LONDON
This book has been brought to publication
with the generous assistance of
the David M. Robinson Publication Fund and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
© 1985 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
www.press.jhu.edu
Originally published, 1985
68975
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 84-28852
ISBN 0-8018-2548-2 (paperback)
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

Contents
List of Texts ix
Preface xiii
I. MAGIC 1
Introduction 3
Texts 1-39 61
II. MIRACLES 133
Introduction 135
Texts 40-49 141
III. DAEMONOLOGY 161
Introduction 163
Texts 50-71 176
IV. DIVINATION 227
Introduction 229
Texts 72-96 261
V. ASTROLOGY 307
Introduction 309
Texts 97-118 322
VI. ALCHEMY 359
Introduction 361
Texts 119-122 367
Select Bibliography 379
Index of Ancient Sources 385
General Index 389

List of Texts
1. Homer, Odyssey 10.203-47 61
2. Theophrastus, Characters, "Portrait of the Superstitious
Person"(ch. 28 Jebb) 65
3. Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.1635-90 66
4. Theocritus, Idylls 2 68
5. A: Cato, On Agriculture, par. 160 72
B: Varro, On Agriculture 1.2.27 72
C: [Marcellus Empiricus?], De Medicamentis 15.11
(= 113.25 Niedermann) 72
6. Horace, Epodes 5 73
7. Horace, Satires 1.8 75
8. Virgil, Eclogues 8.64-109 77
9. Virgil, Aeneid 4.450-705 79
10. Seneca, Heracles on Mount Oeta, vv. 449-72 84
11. A: Seneca, Medea, vv. 6-23 85
B: Seneca, Medea, vv. 670-843 86
12. Petronius, Satyricon, ch. 131 89
13. Tacitus, Annals 2.69 90
14. CIL 11.2.4639 91
15. Lead tablet from Africa, late Empire (= nr. 286 Audollent) 91
16. The Great Magical Papyrus in Paris (= PGM 1:83-87) 92
17. The Great Magical Papyrus in Paris (= PGM 1:76-79) 94
18. The Great Magical Papyrus in Paris (= PGM 1:56-58) 96
19. The Great Magical Papyrus in Paris (= PGM 1:121-24) 96
20. The Great Magical Papyrus in Paris (= PGM 1:30) 97
21. The Magical Papyrus in Leiden (= PGM 2:98-102) 98
22. The Magical Papyrus in Leiden (= PGM 2:66-67) 99
23. A: The Magical Papyrus in Leiden (= PGM 2:89-90) 100
B: The Magical Papyrus in Leiden (= PGM 2:74-76) 100
24. The Great Magical Papyrus in Paris (= PGM 1:167-68) 101
25. The Great Magical Papyrus in Paris (= PGM 1:172-74) 102
26. A: Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 4.44 104
B: Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 8.7.9-10 105
ix