Magic in the Greco-Roman world

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Contents 1 Magical practices and beliefs 2 Homeric magic 3 Magic in Classical Greece 4 Magic in the Hellenistic period 5 Further defining types of magic 6 Magic in the Roman era 7 Summary 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Magical practices and beliefs

[1]

In the ancient post-hellenistic world of the Greeks and Romans (the Greco-Roman world), the public and private rituals associated with religion are accepted by historians and archaeologists to have been a part of everyday life. Ready examples of this phenenomen are found in the various state and cult Temples, Jewish Synagogues and in the early Christian cathedrals and churches. These were important hubs for the ancient peoples of the Greco-Roman world that were representative of a connection between the heavenly realms (the divine) and the earthly planes (the dwelling place of humanity). Alongside the more common manifestations of state religion, ancient peoples sought individual contact and assistance, along with influence, with the heavenly realms through other channels. Prominent among these means, of securing individual divine favor or influence, falls something that ancient authors and practitioners associated with the term “magic”.[2] Associations with this term tend to be an evolving process in ancient literature, but generally speaking ancient magic reflects aspects of broader religious traditions in the Mediterranean world, that is, a belief in magic reflects a belief in deities, divination, and words of power. The concept of magic however came to represent a more coherent and self-reflective tradition exemplified by magicians seeking to fuse varying non-traditional elements of Greco-Roman religious practice into something specifically called magic.[3] This fusing of practices reached its peak in the world of the Roman Empire, in the third to fifth centuries CE. This article therefore covers the development of this tradition and an evolving definition associated with the term “magic” in the texts left to us by practitioners and authors of the ancient Greco-Roman world.[4]

The term magic is related to the Latin and Greek terms magus and mageia (or magia) and have had a variety of connotations – from a term originally associated with the Magi of Persia by authors such as Herodotus[5] (c. 490-425 BCE)[6] to the scurrilous, harmful magic or witchcraft associated with the term by the time of Plato.[7] The Magi were members of the Chaldean priestly caste of the Persians, so it is understandable that they came to be defined negatively by many Greek and Roman authors who bore heavy biases towards Persian Empire (particularly the Parthian Empire) and religion. Pliny and Plutarch in particular paint the Magi in a bad light.[8] Since Persia (Parthia) was Rome’s most powerful rival throughout the Imperial era, it is easy to understand why practices and traditions of Persian religion were viewed, by those in authority and common people alike, as being subversive and dangerous to Roman religious traditions – and thus termed “magic”.

In the Late Classical antiquity and Hellenistic periods of Greek history (roughly the late 5th to 1st centuries BCE) there were individuals and groups who called themselves magoi, but did not have a direct connection with the Persian caste. These are the groups and individuals towards which the term “magic” is in Plato’s Symposium [9] almost always given a derogatory tone (though it must be noted that Plato grants magic a measure of efficacy as a function of the god Eros).[10] However works attributed to Aristotle seek to establish that the planets and the fixed stars and daemons (lower order spirits) influence life on earth.[11] In the History of Animals[12] Aristotle advocates the concept of sympathies and antipathies applied to the forces of the animal world, under the influence of the stars. Most of these concepts are found in Books 7-10 of the History, but most scholars do not consider these books to be genuine works of Aristotle.[13] Book 10, for instance, is missing in the oldest extant manuscript.[14] Be that as it may, even if Aristotle did not write these books in this form, they would, nonetheless seem to reflect some of the teachings of the Aristotelian school.[15] These are teachings that support the central tenants of the magician and shows that distinctions between magic and religion are (to some extent anyway) relevant only to the culture or sub-culture such distinctions are important to.

Jewish tradition too, has attempted to define certain practices as “magic”. The Wisdom of Solomon, a book considered apocryphal by many contemporary Jews and Christians (probably composed in the first century BCE) claims that,

God...gave me true knowledge of things, as they are: an understanding of the structure of the world and the way in which elements work, the beginning and the end of eras and what lies in-between...the cycles of the years and the constellations...the thoughts of human beings...the power of spirits...the virtue of roots...I learned it all, secret or manifest.[16]

Here are summed the central aims of magic as an independent tradition - knowledge, power and control of the mysteries of the cosmos. Such knowledge and the practices associated with it tend to be viewed in a negative or suspicious by ancient authors. But not always, there can be good forms of magic as well. The Jewish historian Josephus, for example, writes that: “God gave him [Solomon] knowledge of the art that is used against daemons, in order to heal and benefit men”.[17] Of course it must be noted that Josephus presents a more traditional view of magic elsewhere, for example, “…there was an Egyptian false prophet [a magician] that did the Jews more mischief…for he was a cheat…”[18] The idea of magic can thus be an idiom loosely defined in ancient thinking. But whether magic is viewed negatively or positively the substance of it practice can be drawn out. Magic, is a practice aimed at trying to locate and control the secret forces of the cosmos, and the sympathies and antipathies that make up these forces. [19]

The Three Wise Men (Magi) of Christian legend: Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar. From a late 6th century mosaic at the Basilica of San Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy.

[edit] Homeric magic

In Greek literature the earliest magical operation that supports this definition of magic – that is, a practice aimed at trying to locate and control the secret forces of the world (physis), and the sympathies and antipathies that make up these forces - is found in Book X of The Odyssey (dating from as early as the 8th century BCE).[20] The book describes the encounter of the central hero Odysseus with the Titan Circe, “She who is sister to the wizard Aeetes, both being children of the Sun…by the same mother, Perse the daughter of the Ocean,” [21] on the island of Aeaea. In the story Circe’s magic consists in the use of a wand[22] against Odysseus and his men while Odysseus’ magic consists of the use of a secret herb called moly[23] (revealed to him by the god Hermes, “god of the golden wand”)[24] to defend himself from her attack.[25] In the story three requisites crucial to the idiom of “magic” in later literature are found:

1. The use of a mysterious tool endowed with special powers (the wand).
2. The use of a rare magical herb.[26]
3. A divine figure that reveals the secret of the magical act (Hermes).

Thus at the beginning of recorded Greek literature are found what are arguably the three most common elements that will characterize magic as a system in the later Hellenistic age (considered to be roughly the 3rd to 1st centuries BCE).

Another important element found in definitions of magic is also arguably found in the story. In the story Circe is presented as being in the form of a beautiful woman (a temptress) when Odysseus encounters her on an island. In this encounter Circe uses her wand to change Odysseus’ companions into swine. Keeping in mind that magic is often associated with practices that go against the natural order, or against wise and good forces, it seems logical to argue that Circe may be an early representation of this kind (Circe is called a Witch by a companion of Odysseus).[27] Circe is after all a representative of a power (the Titans) that had been conquered by the younger Olympian gods such as Zeus, Poseidon and Hades.[28] Furthermore she had been banished to the island of Aeaea after having murdered her husband.[29] She is perhaps quite dangerous for being so; she is secretive, opposed to the gods, a semi-divine power left over from the older culture of the Titans. The fact that Odysseus has first to visit her before she becomes a threat suggests that she has a relatively harmless power if one keeps to a distance, but that she is very dangerous if one comes within reach of her magic. This fits well with the idea of magic as seductive, dangerous, unknowable, and yet secretive and thus suspicious. Magic, then, is often defined as a second-class power, it does not compare to the powers of tradition or of the gods – it has to work in secret to achieve its ends. It is thus interesting to note that although Circe changes Odysseus’ companions into swine, she has no power over Odysseus himself, because of his own magic - the herb, moly. Magic is defeatable by other magic in this case, but it is presented as more acceptable because a legitimate god (Hermes) confers the wisdom of its use to Odysseus.

It would seem that not even Hermes, however, can protect Odysseus from Circe’s physical charms; and the hero succumbs to the power of the magic user – representing, perhaps, the idea that later writers such as Pliny advocate, that users of magic are not to be trusted (or perhaps the sexual powers associated with witches).[30] Indeed this may well be indicated by the fact that Circe can not only transform men into beasts but is also able to predict the future, which is linked with the other magical motif of the Odyssey epic, the necromantic scene in Book XI. Following Circe’s instructions (on how to journey to the underworld), Odysseus digs a trench, pours out an offering to the dead a drink that consists of honey, milk, wine and water, and slaughters two black sheep in such a way that their blood runs into the ditch.[31] This attracts the shades of the dead in flocks, and by drinking the blood they regain, for a short time, the ability to communicate with the living (Odysseus) and pass on their knowledge of the future. It is interesting to note however the dread and danger associated with Odysseus performing the act,

Panic drained the blood from my cheeks…while they [Odysseus’ companions] prayed to the gods... But I sat myself on guard, bare sword in hand, and prevented any of the feckless ghosts from approaching the blood before I had speech with Teiresias [the ghost of a prophet].[32]

The magical act appears to be an act of desperation (Odysseus needs to journey to the underworld), there is danger associated with the act, which the text suggests only the fortitude (the moralness?) of the character and perhaps also the prayers to the gods by Odysseus’ men can overcome.

[edit] Magic in Classical Greece

The Sixth century BCE gives rise to scattered references about magoi at work in Greece. Among the most famous of these Greek magoi, between Homer and the Hellenistic period, are the figures of Orpheus, Pythagoras, and Empedocles. Orpheus is a mythical figure, said to have lived in Thrace “a generation before Homer,” but he is in fact depicted on fifth-century ceramics in Greek costume.[33] Orphism, or the Orphic Mysteries, seems also to have been central to the personages of Pythagoras and Empedocles who lived in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. Pythagoras for example is said to have described Orpheus, as, “the…father of melodious songs.”[34] Since Aeschylus (the Greek Playwright) later describes him as he who “haled all things by the rapture of his voice,”[35] this suggests belief in the efficacy of song and voice in magic. Orpheus is certainly associated with a great many deeds: the most famous perhaps being his descent to the underworld to bring back his wife, Eurydice.[36] It is interesting to note that Orpheus’ deeds are not usually condemned or spoken of negatively. This suggests a form of magic that is in fact accepted; the term applied to Orpheus (and Pythagoras), to separate him from magicians of ill repute is theios aner or ‘divine man’.[37] Since magic in the negative sense is often defined by culture, or by authorities against a sub-culture, it seems reasonable to suggest that there was a fine line for candidates between the title of “divine man” and convincing the Greek world, that they were not users of “magic” in the bad connotation and not “magicians” as detractors might try to call them.[38] This fine line is demonstrated by some negative connotations given to Orpheus’ life that do exist. Orpheus’ attempt to rescue his wife from the underworld, in which he fails comes under some heavy criticism from Plato who claims that Orpheus lacked:

…The courage to die as Alcestis did for love, choosing rather to scheme his way, living, into Hades. And it was for this that the gods doomed him, and doomed him justly, to meet his death at the hands of women.[39]

This could reflect the idea of a price to pay for meddling with magic, that is, for meddling in powers that should only be the business of the gods – even for one such as Orpheus – without the proper motivations.[40]

Magical powers were also attributed to the famous mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, as recorded in the days of Aristotle.[41] The traditions concerning Pythagoras are somewhat complicated due to the fact that the number of Vitae that do survive are often contradictory in their interpretation of the figure of Pythagoras.[42] Some of the magical acts attributed to him include: 1. Being seen at the same hour in two cities. 2. A white eagle permitting him to stroke it. 3. A river greeting him with the words “Hail, Pythagoras!” 4. Predicting that a dead man would be found on a ship entering a harbor. 5. Predicting the appearance of a white bear and declaring it was dead before the messenger reached him bearing the news. 6. Biting a poisonous snake to death (or in some versions driving a snake out from a village.[43] These stories also hint at Pythagoras being one of these “divine man” figures, (theios aner), his ability to control animals and to transcend space and time showing he has been touched by the gods.

Empedocles too has ascribed to him marvelous powers associated with later magicians: that is, he is able to heal the sick, rejuvenate the old, to influence the weather and to summon the dead.[44] E.R. Dodds in his 1951 book, The Greeks and the irrational, argued that Empedocles was a combination of poet, magus, teacher, and scientist. Dodds argued that since much of the acquired knowledge of individuals like Pythagoras or Empedocles was somewhat mysterious even to those with a rudimentary educations, so such might be associated with magic or at least with the learning of a Magus.[45] It is important to note that after Empedocles, the scale of magical gifts in exceptional individuals shrinks in the literature, becoming specialized as it were. Individuals might have the gift of healing, or the gift of prophecy, but are not usually credited with a wide range of supernatural powers such as magoi like Orpheus, Pythagoras and Empedocles have. Plato reflects such an attitude in his Laws (933a-e) where he takes healers, prophets and sorcerers for granted. He acknowledges that these practitioners existed in Athens (and thus presumably in other Greek cities), and they had to be reckoned with and controlled by laws; but one should not be afraid of them, their powers are real, but they themselves represent a rather low order of humanity. The Apostle Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians mentions this concept, the idea of a limitation of spiritual gifts.[46]

[edit] Magic in the Hellenistic period

The Hellenistic period (roughly the last three centuries before Christ) is characterized by an avid interest in magic – though this may simply be because from this period a greater abundance of texts, both literary and some from actual practitioners, in Greek and in Latin remains. In fact many of the magical papyri that are extant were written in the first centuries after Christ, but their concepts, formulas and rituals reflect the earlier Hellenistic period, that is, a time when the systematization of magic in the Greco-Roman world seems to have taken place – particularly in the ‘melting pot’ of varying cultures that was Egypt under the Ptolemies and under Rome.

The extant Greek magical papyri are no doubt only a fraction of the magical literature available in antiquity. The ascendancy of orthodox Christianity by the 5th century CE had much to do with this – as reflected by the canonical book of Acts where the Apostle Paul convinces many Ephesians to bring out their magical books and burn them.[47] The language of the magical papyri reflects various levels of literary skill, but generally they are standard Greek, and in fact they may well be closer to the spoken language of the time than to poetry or artistic prose left to us in literary texts.[48] Many terms are borrowed, in the papyri, it would seem, from the mystery cults; thus magical formulas are sometimes called teletai (literally, “celebration of mysteries”), or the magician himself is called mystagogos (the priest who leads the candidates for initiation).[49] It is interesting to note that Jewish lore and some of the names for God appear in the magical papyri: Jao for Yahweh, Sabaoth, and Adonai appear quite frequently for example.[50] As magicians are concerned with secrets it must have seemed to many outsiders of Judaism that Yahweh was a secret deity, for after all no images were produced of the Jewish God and God’s real name was not pronounced, as the basis of speculation on magic.[51]

The texts of the Greek magical papyri are often written as we might write a recipe: “Take the eyes of a bat....” for example. So in other words the magic requires certain ingredients, much as Odysseus required the herb Moly to defeat the magic of Circe. But of course it is not just as simple as knowing how to put a recipe together. Appropriate gestures, at certain points in the magical ritual, are required to accompany the ingredients, different gestures it would seem produce various effects. A magical ritual done in the right way can guarantee the revealing of dreams and of course the rather useful talent of interpreting them correctly. In other cases certain spells allow one to send out a daemon or daemons to harm one’s enemies or even to break up someone’s marriage. There seems to be a self-defining negativity to some of the magical rituals being expressed in the papyri. So, for example, love magic can turn into hate magic if the victim does not respond to the love magic.

This self-defined negative aspect to magic (as opposed to other groups defining your practices as negative even if you don’t) is found in various ‘curse tablets,’ (tabellae defixionum) left to us from the Greco-Roman world.[52] The term defixio is derived from the Latin verb defigere, which means literally “to pin down,” but which was also associated with the idea of delivering someone to the powers of the underworld.[53] Of course, it was also possible to curse an enemy through a spoken word, either in his presence or behind his back. But due to numbers of curse tablets that have been found it would seem that this type of magic was considered more effective. The process involved writing the victim’s name on a thin sheet of lead along with varying magical formulas or symbols, then burying the tablet in or near a tomb, a place of execution, or a battlefield, to give spirits of the dead power over the victim.[54] Sometimes the curse tablets were even transfixed with various items – such as nails, which were believed to add magical potency.[55]

Of course as already mentioned for every magic act or ritual there is counter magic that can be used. Amulets were the counter magic used in the Greco-Roman world as protection against curses, the evil eye, and, well, anything evil in general really.[56] While amulets were often made of cheap materials, precious stones were believed to have special efficacy; because gems are also more durable, there are many thousands of carved gems that have been found that clearly have had a magical rather than an ornamental function.[57] Amulets were a very widespread type of magic, because of the fear of other types of magic such as curses being used against oneself. Thus amulets were actually often a mixture of various formulas from Babylonian, Egyptian and Greek elements that were probably worn by those of most affiliations so as to protect against other forms of magic.[58] It is interesting to note that amulets are actually often abbreviated forms of the formulas found in the extant magical papyri[59].

Magical tools were thus very common in magical rituals and tools were probably just as important as the spells and incantations that were repeated for each magical ritual. An actual magician’s kit, probably dating from the third century CE, was discovered in the remains of the ancient city of Pergamon in Asia Minor.[60] The find consisted of a bronze table and base covered with symbols, a dish (also decorated with symbols), a large bronze nail with letters inscribed on its flat sides, two bronze rings, and three black polished stones inscribed with the names of supernatural powers.[61] What emerges, then, from this evidence is the idea of a permanence and universality of magic that had developed in the ancient Greco-Roman world at least by the Hellenistic period if not earlier. It certainly can be argued that although many testimonies about magic may be relatively late, the practices they reveal are almost certainly much older – the level of credence or efficacy given to magical practices in the early Greek and Roman worlds by comparison to the late Hellenistic period is not so well-known. Still it would be logical to assume that at least some magical formulas and recipes were handed down from generation to generation, with varying degrees of change, and though they are found on tablets and papyri dating from the early Christian era, they probably had been practiced for centuries.

[edit] Further defining types of magic

In some texts that discuss magical practices, there are some interesting differentiations made between theurgical and goetic uses of power. The word theurgia[62] in some contexts appears simply to try and glorify the kind of magic that is being practiced – usually a respectable priest-like figure is associated with the ritual. E.R. Dodds says of this:

Proclus [who lived from 410-485 CE][63] grandly defines theurgy as, “a power higher than all human wisdom, embracing the blessings of divination, the purifying powers of initiation, and in a word all operations of divine possession.” It may be described more simply as magic applied to a religious purpose and resting on a supposed revelation of a religious character.[64]

In a typical theurgical rite the divinity appears in one of two ways: 1. The spirit is seen in a trance, and the soul of the theurgist leaves the body, ascends to heaven, sees the divinity, and then returns to recount the experience and the knowledge learned from it. 2. The spirit descends to earth and is seen by the theurgist either in a dream or when he is fully awake.[65] According to the Greek philosopher Plotinus (205-270 CE)[66] theurgy aims at establishing sympathy in the universe and uses the forces that flow through all things in order to be in touch with them.[67] Thus, the theurgist achieves in actuality what the philosopher can only conceptualize.[68] The term goetia by contrast is derogative; put simply a type of synonym for negative mageia in Greek, but with an even greater level of negative undertone,[69] just as theurgia is a more exalted form of mageia. Thus it is not surprising to see philosophers interested in magic describe themselves as theurgists, to try and distinguish themselves from the lower-class practitioners - the magoi or goetes.

[edit] Magic in the Roman era

Much of the Roman literature we have remaining to us that deals with magic is often found in the retellings of Greek myths. Virgils’s (70-19 BCE)[70] Book IV of the Aeneid for example describes a magical ceremony that the hero of the epic, Aeneas, who has landed on the coast of North Africa after fleeing from Troy, partakes in.[71] Here Aeneas meets Queen Dido, who has just begun to build the city of Carthage. Dido falls in love with Aeneas, and wishes him to stay as her prince consort. One is reminded of the Circe episode in the Odyssey and of Jason and Medea in Apollonius' Argonautica. In these epics also, a traveling hero meets a beautiful female who is potentially dangerous, although kind and hospitable as long as her love for the hero lasts. Thus the clash is set when Fate decrees that Aeneas leave Dido to found a city of his own (in Italy). Perhaps inevitably Dido’s love turns to hate. In her hate she seeks to use a complex magical ritual to bring her former lover back to her. She builds a gigantic pyre in the main courtyard of her palace and prepares an elaborate sacrifice to the powers of the underworld. However Dido soon comes to realize that the love magic is not powerful enough to bring Aeneas back to her, so she kills herself in her despair, which in fact adds to the power and thus backlash to her curse.[72] Dido thus had sealed and extended her curse through her suicide. Aeneas was protected by his gods, but because of Dido’s use of magic her curse lingered on leading, according to Virgil, to Rome’s near crushing defeat by Carthage many centuries later.[73] This seems to demonstrate quite clearly that the Romans shared the Greek’s view of magic as being dangerous and untrustworthy.

The Romans in fact seem to at times go further then the Greeks in the condemnation and the fearfulness that they generate around their concept of magic. Some avid examples of this are found in the writings of Seneca, the philosopher and playwright (c. 5 BCE - 65CE), and his nephew, Lucan (39-65 CE). Seneca selects some of the most gruesome Greek myths for dramatic treatment and he greatly adds to the negative connotations already applied to the theme of magic, necromancy and the like - where it is given by the mythical tradition (such as Medea) and sometimes even where there is little negativity indicated towards magic (Hercules on Mount Oeta for example).[74] From the dialogue in this incident, that is, between Deineira (the wife of Hercules) and her nurse we learn that it may well have been quite common for jealous wives to consult a witch; as it turns out, the nurse, very conveniently, is a witch herself.[75] There is a suggestion in this passage that a great hero such as Hercules should not be able to be influenced by magical means, but in the end he is overcome by the deadly concoction that the evil magic user (the nurse) passes on to Hercules, through deceiving Deianira into the belief that she is giving Hercules a love charm.

So too Seneca’s Medea, in his version her invocations and incantations are not left to the imagination, as they were when Apollonius wrote his epic three centuries previously.[76] Here Medea’s power of hating (crucial to her magic), which she can switch on and intensify at will is still the dominant theme, but Medea is now given a full cupboard of horrors from which to select the most efficient means of magical destruction. Her magic can even, apparently affect the cosmos, as she claims that she can force down the constellation of the Snake.[77] Lucan in Book 6 of his work, the Pharsalia, seems to make an effort to surpass his uncle in portraying the horrors and powers of witchcraft. In his play, just before the decisive battle of Pharsalus of 48 BCE, in which Julius Caesar defeats the forces of Pompey, the two armies are moving through Thessaly, the country of witchcraft in Lucan’s work. Here one of Pompey’s sons consults a famous witch called Erictho about the outcome of the upcoming confrontation. In Lucan’s epic, Erictho is the most powerful of witches, and because she is so powerful she is presented as being quite loathsome and disgusting. Such are her powers that she can even compel some of the lesser gods to serve her and even cause them to shudder at her spells.[78] As exaggerated as these plays are they demonstrate knowledge of magical practices found in the Greek magical papyri mentioned earlier and they demonstrate that the audience these plays are aimed at must have easily understood the concept of magic in a negative sense but also in the sense of being a practice aimed at influencing or controlling the forces of the cosmos, even the gods themselves.

There are three notable historical personages of the first century CE who have many of the characteristics earlier associated with the Greek “divine men”, Orpheus, Pythagoras and Empedocles. These are Jesus the Christ, Simon the Magus and Apollonius of Tyana.[79] From an outsider’s point of view Jesus was a typical miracle-worker. He exorcised daemons, healed the sick, made prophecies and raised the dead. As Christianity grew and became a threat to established traditions of religion in the Greco-Roman world (particularly to the Roman Empire with its policy of emperor worship) Jesus (and by inference his followers) were accused of being magic users.[80] Certianly Christian texts such as the Gospels told a life story full of features common to divinely touched figures: Jesus’ divine origin,[81] his miraculous birth,[82] and his facing of a powerful daemon (Satan)[83] being but a few examples.[84] The gospel of Matthew claims that Jesus was taken to Egypt as an infant, this was actually used by hostile sources to explain his knowledge of magic; according to one rabbinical story, he came back tattooed with spells.[85] It is also argued in rabbinical tradition that Jesus was mad, which was often associated with people of great power (dynamis). [86]As Morton Smith points out in his book, Jesus the Magician, the Gospels speak of the “descent of the spirit,” the pagans of “possession by a daemon,” which suggests that both are explanations for very similar phenomena.[87] Again this shows the convenience that using the term “magic” had in delineating between what “you do and what they do”.

Simon is the name of a magus mentioned in the canonical book of Acts 8:9ff, in apocryphal texts and elsewhere.[88] In the Book of Acts Simon the Magus is presented as being deeply impressed by the apostle Peter’s cures and exorcisms and by the gift of the Spirit that came from the apostles’ laying on of hands; therefore, he “believed and was baptized”. But Simon asks the apostles to sell him their special gift so that he can practice it too. This seems to represent the attitude of a professional magician. The text seems to be strongly suggesting that to Simon, the power of this new movement is a kind of magic that can be purchased, for a price, and that he is prepared to pay for the secrets of this knowledge – perhaps this was a common practice of magicians in parts of the Greco-Roman world – that is to sell the knowledge or kinds of magic that one lad learned the secrets of. The Apostles response shows that the early Church drew a line between what it practiced and the practices of what they viewed as magic.[89] Simon manages to pop up again in later texts. Justin Martyr for example claims that Simon was a magus of Samaria, and that his followers committed the blasphemy of worshipping Simon as God himself.[90] Whether this is true or not it does show how particular figures are accused of magic so as to show the flaws in the religious system they follow (and by inference the superiority of the writer’s own group).

The third magus of interest in the period of the Roman Empire is a figure known as Apollonius of Tyana, who was born in Cappadocia a few years after Jesus, and survived into the reign of Nerva (c. 97 CE).[91] Roughly a century after Apollonius died, Flavius Philostratus wrote his work, the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, the most important extant source.[92] Philostratus, a professional writer, was a protégé of the empress Julia Domna, mother of the emperor Caracalla.[93] She claimed to own documents that were the memoirs of one Damis of Nineveh, a disciple of Apollonius. She gave these to Philostratus as the raw material for a literary treatment.[94] And thus from Philostratus’ biography a strange ascetic traveling teacher called Apollonius emerges. He is usually labeled a new Pythagoras, and at the very least he does represent the same combination of philosopher and magus that Pythagoras was. During his lifetime Pythagoreanism undertook a great revival in many parts of the greco-roman world - though principally in the centres of Alexandria and Rome.[95] According to Philostratus Apollonius traveled far and wide,[96] teaching ideas reasonably consistent with traditional Pythagorean doctrine. Of principle note are his teachings that animals had souls (just as human beings) and that it was sinful to kill any animal, either to eat it or use its fur or skin for clothing or even to offer it to the gods as a sacrifice.[97] By implication Apollonius taught as truth the transmigration of the soul and claimed to remember his own previous existences. It is of interest to note that Philostratus claims of Apollonius the ability to descend into the underworld and to raise the dead.[98]

The Natural History of Pliny the Elder (CE 23/24-79)[99] is a voluminous survey of knowledge of the late Hellenistic era, based according to Pliny on a hundred or so earlier authorities. This rather extensive work deals with an amazing variety of issues cosmology, geography, anthropology, zoology, botany, pharmacology, mineralogy, metallurgy and many others. It is interesting to note that Pliny was convinced of the powers of certain herbs or roots as revealed to humanity by the gods. Pliny argued that the divine powers in their concern for the welfare of humanity wish for humanity to discover the secrets of nature. Pliny indeed argues that in their wisdom the gods sought to bring humans gradually closer to their status; which certainly many magical traditions seek – that is by acquiring knowledge one can aspire to gain knowledge even from the gods. Pliny expresses a firm concept is firmly being able to understand this “cosmic sympathy” that, if properly understood and used, operates for the good of humanity.[100] While here lies expressed the central tenants of magic Pliny is by means averse to using the term “magic” in a negative sense. Pliny argues that the claims of the professional magicians were either exaggerated or simply false.[101] Pliny expresses a rather an interesting concept when he states that those sorcerers who had written down their spells and recipes despised and hated humanity (for spreading their lies perhaps?).[102] To show this Pliny link arts of the magicians of Rome with the emperor Nero (who of course is often portrayed negatively), whom Pliny claims had studied magic with the best teachers and had access to the best books, but was unable to do anything extraordinary.[103] Pliny's conclusion, however, is cautious: though magic is ineffective and infamous, it nevertheless contains “shadows of truth”, particularly of the “arts of making poisons”. Yet, Pliny states, “there is no one who is not afraid of spells” (including himself presumably).[104] The amulets and charms that people wore as a kind of preventive medicine he neither commends or condemns, but instead suggests that it is better to err on the side of caution, for, who knows, a new kind of magic, a magic that really works, may be developed at any time.[105] If such an attitude prevailed in the Greco-Roman world this may explain why professional magicians, such as Simon the Magus, were on the lookout for new ideas. Of interest is the fact that Pliny devotes the beginning of Book 30 of his work to the magi of Persia and refers to them here and there especially in Books 28 and 29.[106] Pliny defines the Magi at times as sorcerers, but at also seems to acknowledge that they are also priests of a foreign religion, along the lines of the Druids of the Celts in Britain and Gaul. According to Pliny, the art of the magi touches three areas: “healing,” “ritual,” and “astrology.”[107]

To the Platonist philosopher Plutarch of Chaeronea (c. 45-125 CE)[108] we owe the treatise On Superstition.[109] Plutarch defines “'superstition” as “fear of the gods.” Specifically, he mentions that fear of the gods leads to the need to resort to magical rites and taboos, the consultation of professional sorcerers and witches, charms and spells, and unintelligible language in prayers addressed to the gods.[110] Although Plutarch himself takes dreams and portents seriously, he reserves superstition for those who have excessive or exclusive faith in such phenomena.[111] Clearly, it is a matter of discrimination. He also takes for granted other magical practices, such as hurting someone by the evil eye.[112] He also believes in daemons that serve as agents or links between gods and human beings and are responsible for many supernatural events in human life that are commonly attributed to divine intervention.[113] Thus, a daemon, not Apollo himself, is the everyday power behind the Delphic oracle. Some daemons are good, some are evil, but even the good ones, in moments of anger, can do harmful acts.[114] In general then, Plutarch actually accepts much of what we today might define as superstition in itself. So what he is really defining as superstition are those practices not compatible with his own philosophical doctrine.

A later Platonist, Apuleius of Madaura (born c. 125 CE),[115] gives us a substantial amount of information on contemporary beliefs in magic, though perhaps through no initial choice of his own. Apuleius was accused of practicing magic, something outlawed under Roman law. The speech he delivered in his own defense against the charge of magic, in circa 160 CE, remains and it is from this Apologia that we learn how easy it was, at that time, for a philosopher to be accused of magical practices.[116] Perhaps in a turn of irony or even a tacit admission of guilt Apuleius, in his work of fiction Metamorphoses (or the The Golden Ass), which perhaps has autobiographical elements, allows the hero, Lucius, to dabble in magic as a young man, get into trouble, be rescued by the goddess Isis, and then finds true knowledge and happiness in her mysteries.[117] Like Plutarch Apuleius seems to take for granted the existence of daemons. They populate the air and seem to, in fact, be formed of air. They experience emotions just like human beings, and despite this their minds are rational.[118] In light of Apuleuis’ experience it is worth noting that when magic is mentioned in Roman laws, it is always discussed in a negative context. A consensus was established quite early in Roman history for the banning of anything viewed as harmful acts of magic. The Laws of the Twelve Tablets (451-450 BCE) for example expressly forbid anyone from enticing his neighbors’ crops into his fields by magic.[119] An actual trial for alleged violation of these laws was held before Spurius Albinus in 157 BCE.[120] It is also recorded that Cornelius Hispallus expelled the Chaldaen astrologers from Rome in 139 BCE - ostensibly on the grounds that they were magicians.[121] In 33 BCE astrologers and magicians are explicitly mentioned as having been driven from Rome.[122] Twenty years later, Augustus ordered all books on the magical arts to be burned. In 16 CE magicians and astrologers were expelled from Italy, and this was reinstated by edicts of Vespasian in 69 CE and Domitian in 89 CE. The emperor Constantine in the 4th century CE issued a ruling to cover all charges of magic. In it he distinguished between helpful charms, not punishable, and antagonistic spells.[123] In these cases Roman authorities specifically decided what forms of magic were acceptable and which were not. Those that were not acceptable were termed “magic”; those that were acceptable were usually defined as traditions of the state or practices of the state’s religions.

[edit] Summary

John Middleton argues in his article “Theories of Magic"” in the Encyclopaedia of Religion that:

Magic is usually defined subjectively rather than by any agreed upon content. But there is a wide consensus as to what this content is. Most peoples in the world perform acts by which they intend to bring about certain events or conditions, whether in nature or among people, that they hold to be the consequences of those acts.[124]

Under this view the various aspects of magic that described, despite how the term “magic” may be defined by various groupings within the Greco-Roman world, is in fact part of a broader cosmology shared by most people in the ancient world. But it is important to seek an understanding of the way that groups separate power from power, thus “magic” often describes an art or practises that are much more specific. This art is probably best described, as being the manipulation of physical objects and cosmic forces, through the recitation of formulas and incantations by a specialist (that is a magus) on behalf of him/herself or a client to bring about control over or action in the divine realms. The Magical texts examined in this article, then, are ritual texts designed to manipulate divine powers for the benefit of either the user or clients. Because this was something done in secret or with foreign methods these texts represent an art that was generally looked upon as illegitimate by official or mainstream magical cults in societies.

[edit] See also

• Magi
• Magic and religion
• Greek magical papyri
• Curse tablet
• Shaman
• Kalku
• Magus
• Seid (shamanic magic)
• Sorcerer
• Warlock
• Wizard
• Binding Spells

[edit] Notes

[1] This article is aimed at coming to a basic level of understanding about the broad scope of diversity that is Greco-Roman magic.

[2] The Greek and Roman words for magic, mageia and magia respectively, were originally associated with the Persian Priest Caste of the Magi – and were used to imply practises or knowledge seen as strange and/or foreign. Cavendish, History of Magic, p.11

[3] Especially drawn from Egyptian religion.

[4] That is, how did Greek and Roman writers view the practices of what they call magic and why did these authors make differentiations between magic and religious practices?

[5] Herodotus. The Histories. I. 132

[6] Herodotus. and Aubrey De Selincourt, The Histories, New ed. ed. (London: Penguin Books,, 1996).

[7] Nevill Drury, Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans (London: Thames & Hudson, 2003).

[8] R.N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia, p.75ff. On Democritus, L. Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, pp. 64-67.

[9] (202e)

[10] A. Smith, Porphyry’s Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition, p. 71ff.

[11] Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, p. 26.

[12] Historia animalium / Aristotle ; with an English translation by A.L. Peck. Vol 3.

[13] Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, p. 26.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid.

[16] See D. Winston, trans., The Wisdom of Solomon, pp. 172ff. The author of this apocryphal book was clearly familiar with Middle Platonism and may have belonged to the circle of Philo of Alexandria. See also, Mills, Human Agents of Cosmic Power, pp. 49-62.

[17] Josephus, Antiq. Jud. 8.45

[18] Josephus. War. 2. 13. 5

[19] Thus, arguably, magicians were the scientists of their day (physikoi), groups such as the magi being interested in discovering and manipulating the powers (dynameis) of nature.

[20] Homer. and E. V. Rieu, The Odyssey (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,, 1945).

[21] Odyssey. X. 13

[22] Odyssey. X. 20

[23] Odyssey. X. 28

[24] Odyssey. X. 27

[25] For more on this C.f. Scarborough, John. "The Pharmacology of Sacred, Plants & Roots," in Magika Hiera, pp. 138-174

[26] Pliny in Natural History XXV, 10-12 states his belief that the “origin of botany” was closely aligned with what he saw as the practise of magic, he in fact notes that Medea & Circe were early investigators of plants -- and that Orpheus was the first writer on the subject of botany.

[27] Odyssey. X. 43.

[28] Related in The first gods, from Hesiod’s Theogony (Birth of the Gods), Translation by S. Lombardo, Hackett, Cambridge, pp. 64-66.

[29] Drury, Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans.

[30] Odyssey. X. 43.

[31] Odyssey. XI. 3.

[32] Odyssey. XI. 3.

[33] Drury, Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans.

[34] Pyth. 4.177

[35] Agamemnon 16.30

[36] Euripides, Alcestis 357ff.

[37] Drury, Magic and Witchcraft. P. 34.

[38] Josephus (Wars II, 261ff; Antiquities XX, 92, 167, 188), for example, dismisses miracle-workers with the term.

[39] Plato, Symposus. 179d.

[40] Perhaps it for this reason that Orpheus dies rather than just for looking back at his wife against Hades order and his head, thrown into the water, is claimed to have floated to Lesbos singing, where it was not put to waste but put to use as an oracle. W. K. C. Guthrie, Orpheus and Greek Religion, pp. 29ff and 132-143; also see Ivan M. Linforth, The Arts of Orpheus.

[41] Aristotle frag. 191 Rose (3rd ed.) (=pp. 130ff. Ross). Burkert, Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism, pp. 162ff.

[42] Cornelia J. de Vogel's Greek Philosophy: A Collection of Texts, vol. 1, Thales to Plato.

[43] These miracles of Pythagoras are found in Hellenistic collections such as Apollonius’ Historia thaumasiai VI or Aelian's Varia historia II.26 and IV.17. Empedocles, the extant fragments / edited with an introduction, commentary, and concordance by M. R. Wright.

[44] Pliny Natural History XXXVI. 27

[45] Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational, pp. 145-46.

[46] 1 Corinthians 12: 7-11

[47] Acts 19:18-20

[48] Introduction by Hans Dieter Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells, 2nd ed. ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,, 1992).

[49] Hull, Hellenistic Magic and the Synoptic Tradition, pp.23ff.

[50] Mills, Human Agents of Cosmic Power, pp. 49-62. There are a number of other texts among the Greek magical papyri that are also indebted to Judaism for some of their content. There is a "Charm of Solomon that produces a trance" in PGM IV.850-929, but its religious content is otherwise pagan. Various versions of the "Eighth Book of Moses" appear in PGM XIII.1-343; 343-646; 646-734, followed by a "Tenth (?) Hidden [Book of] Moses" in 734-1077, but the content of these too, is almost entirely pagan.

[51] See D. Winston, trans., The Wisdom of Solomon, pp. 172ff. The author of this apocryphal book was clearly familiar with Middle Platonism and may have belonged to the circle of Philo of Alexandria.

[52] A.E. Crawley. Curses, in Encyclopaedia of religion and Ethics, 4:367ff.

[53] Ibid.

[54] Ibid.

[55] Ibid.

[56] Pliny. Natural History. XXVIII. 38, & XXIX. 66, & XXX. 138.

[57] Campbell, Bonner. Studies in magical amulets, chiefly Graeco-Egyptian.

[58] F. C. Burkitt, Church and Gnosis: a study of Christian thought and speculation in the second century, pp.35ff

[59] Ibid.

[60] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/vor?lookup=Pergamon&collection=

[61] Georg. Luck, Arcana Mundi - Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds. (Baltimore.: The John Hopkins University Press, 1985).

[62] Iamblichus (c. A.D. 250-325) is among the most important of the so-called Neoplatonic philosophers, second only to Plotinus. He was a student of Plotinus' disciple Porphyry. His influential treatise Theurgia, or On the Mysteries of Egypt deals with a ‘higher magic’, which operates through the agency of the gods.

See Iamblichus. Theurgia or The Egyptian Mysteries: Reply of Abammon, the Teacher to The Letter of Porphyry to Anebo together with Solutions of the Questions Therein Contained.. Translated from the Greek by ALEXANDER WILDER, M.D. F.A.S., William Rider & Son Ltd, London, 1911

[63] “Proclus and his Sources”: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0086%3Ahead%3D%238

[64] Dodds, The Greek and the Irrational, p.291, quoting from Proclus' Theological Platonism.

[65] See Iamblichus. Theurgia or The Egyptian Mysteries: Reply of Abammon, the Teacher to The Letter of Porphyry to Anebo together with Solutions of the Questions Therein Contained.

[66] Plotinus: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aid%3Dplotinus

[67] Dodds, The Greek and the Irrational, p.291, quoting from Proclus' Theological Platonism.

[68] Plotinus. Enneads 4.4.26.

[69] Dodds The Greeks and the Irrational, pp. 283-311.

[70] Virgil. and Robert Fitzgerald, The Aeneid (London: Harvill Press, 1984).

[71] Ibid. Book IV

[72] It thus seems likely that it was fairly commonly believed that those who died before their time could unleash enormous powers of destruction at the moment of their death and sometime afterwards.

[73] Virgil. The Aeneid. IV

[74] See G. Scholem, in Encylopaedia Judaica (1971), 10:489ff.

[75] Seneca, Heracles on Mount Oeta, vv. 449-72.

[76] Rhodius Apollonius and Peter Green, The Argonautika (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997).

[77] Senenca, Medea, vv.6-23 and 670-843

[78] Lucan, Pharsalia 6.413-830.

[79] A.D. Nock, in Beginnings of Christianity, vol. 5, ed. F.J.F. Jacson and K. Lake, pp. 164ff.; E.M. Butler, The Myth of the Magus, pp. 66ff

[80] Hull, Hellenistic Magic and the Synoptic Tradition, p.38.

[81] Cf. John. 1.

[82] Cf. Luke. 1.

[83] Cf. Luke. 4.

[84] These themes are shared amongst divine men figures: Abaris yielded to Pythagoras, and Zoraster had to resist evil daemons for examples. See Manfred. Lurker, Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons (London ; New York: Routledge and K. Paul,, 1987).

[85] M. Smith, Jesus the Magician, pp. 150ff; see also Mills, Human Agents of Cosmic Power, pp. 93-108.

[86] Ibid.

[87] Ibid.

[88] See R.S. Casey, in Beginnings of Christianity, 5:151ff.

[89] There is a parallel story in Acts 13:6-12. (though in this case perhaps an insider being chastised).

[90] Justin Martyr. Dialogue with Trypho, ch.120

[91] Flavius. Philostratus, of Caesarea Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea,, and Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana : The Epistles of Apollonius and the Treatise of Eusebius (London: Heinemann, 1912).

[92] Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, 1:242ff.;T. Whittaker, Apollonius of Tyana and Other Essays; and W.R. Halliday, Folklore Studies, ch. 6.

[93] Ibid.

[94] Ibid.

[95] Ibid,

[96] Ibid. As far as India.

[97] Philostratus, Eusebius, and Conybeare, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana : The Epistles of Apollonius and the Treatise of Eusebius.

[98] Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, 1:242ff.;T. Whittaker, Apollonius of Tyana and Other Essays; and W.R. Halliday, Folklore Studies, ch. 6.

[99] Pliny the Elder Pliny et al., Natural History (London: Heinemann, 1940-63).

[100] Pliny, Natural History 2.62, & Cf. Dodds, The Ancient Concept of Progress, p. 23.

[101] Pliny. Natural History. 25.59, 29.20, 37.75

[102] Pliny. Natural History. 37.40

[103] Pliny. Natural History. 30.5-6

[104] Pliny. Natural History. 28.4

[105] Ibid.

[106] For a discussion of this see, W.H.S. Jones, in Proceedings of the Cambrdge Philological Society 181 (1950/51), pp 7-8.

[107] Pliny, Natural History. 30.1

[108] “Plutrach” in Perseus Encyclopaedia: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0004%3Ahead%3D%237166

[109] F J.E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 3rd ed.( Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1922), pp. 4ff.

[110] E. Brenk, In Mist Apparelled: Religious Themes in Plutarch's "Moralia" and "Lives" (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1977), p. 59.

[111] Ibid.

[112] Ibid.

[113] Ibid.

[114] Dillon, Middle Platonists, pp. 216ff.

[115] Apuleius. and John A. Hanson, Metamorphoses (Cambridge, London: Harvard University Press, 1989).

[116] Ibid. (Introduction)

[117] J. Tatum, Apuleius and the Golden Ass (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1979), pp. 28-29

[118] Ibid.

[119] Richard. Cavendish, History of Magic (London: Arkana., 1987), p. 8.

[120] Pliny, Natural History 18.41-43.

[121] Eugene Tavenner, Studies in Magic from Latin Literature, p. 13.

[122] Ibid.

[123] Liebeschuetz, Continuity and Change in Roman Religion, pp. 126-139.

[124] John Middleton, “Theories of Magic” in the Encyclopaedia of Religion (vol. 9, p. 82)

[edit] References

• Apollonius, Rhodius, and Peter Green. The Argonautika. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
• Apuleius., and John A. Hanson. Metamorphoses. Cambridge, London: Harvard University Press, 1989.
• Betz, Hans Dieter. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells. 2nd ed. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,, 1992.
• Bonner, Campbell. Studies in Magical Amulets, Chiefly Graeco-Egyptian. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1950.
• Brenk, Frederick E. In Mist Apparelled: Religious Themes in Plutarch's Moralia and Lives. Leiden: Brill, 1977.
• Burkert, Walter. Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1972.
• Burkitt, F. Crawford. Church & Gnosis : A Study of Christian Thought and Speculation in the Second Century. New York: AMS Press, 1978.
• Butler, E.M. Myth of the Magus. Cambridge.: Cambridge University Press., 1993.
• Cavendish, Richard. History of Magic. London: Arkana., 1987.
• Crane, Gregory. The Perseus Digital Library: Http://Www.Perseus.Tufts.Edu/ Tufts University, 2004.
• Dillon, John M. The Middle Platonists, 80 B.C. To A.D. 220. Rev. ed. with a new afterword. ed. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1996.
• Dodds, E. R. The Ancient Concept of Progress and Other Essays on Greek Literature and Belief. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.
• ———. The Greeks and the Irrational. Berkeley [Calif.]: University of California Press, 1951.
• Drury, Nevill. Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003.
• Empedocles., and M. R. Wright. Empedocles, the Extant Fragments. New Haven ; London: Yale University Press, 1981.
• Faraone, Christopher A., and Dirk. Obbink. Magika Hiera : Ancient Greek Magic and Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
• Frye, Richard Nelson. The Heritage of Persia. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962.
• Harrison, Jane Ellen. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. 2nd ed. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1908.
• Hastings, James. Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Edinburgh: Clark, 1908-1926.
• Herodotus., and Aubrey De Selincourt. The Histories. New ed. ed. London: Penguin Books,, 1996.
• Homer., and E. V. Rieu. The Odyssey. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,, 1945.
• Hull, John. M. Hellenistic Magic and the Synoptic Tradition, [Studies in Biblical Theology]. LONDON: SCM PRESS, 1974.
• Iamblichus. Theurgia or the Egyptian Mysteries: Reply of Abammon, the Teacher to the Letter of Porphyry to Anebo Together with Solutions of the Questions Therein Contained. Translated by M.D. F.A.S. ALEXANDER WILDER. London: William Rider & Son Ltd, 1911.
• Josephus, Flavius, and William Whiston. The Works of Josephus : Complete and Unabridged. New updated ed. ed. Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987.
• Liebeschuetz, John Hugo Wolfgang Gideon. Continuity and Change in Roman Religion. Oxford: Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1979.
• Luck, Georg. Arcana Mundi - Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds. Baltimore.: The John Hopkins University Press, 1985.
• Lurker, Manfred. Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons. London ; New York: Routledge and K. Paul,, 1987.
• Mills, Mary E. Human Agents of Cosmic Power in Hellenistic Judaism and the Synoptic Tradition. Vol. 41, Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990.
• Philostratus, Flavius., of Caesarea Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea,, and Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare. The Life of Apollonius of Tyana : The Epistles of Apollonius and the Treatise of Eusebius. London: Heinemann, 1912.
• Plotinus. The Enneads. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1991.
• Pliny, the Elder, H. Rackham, D. E. Eichholz, and W. H. S. Jones. Natural History. London: Heinemann, 1940-63.
• Smith, Andrew. Porphyry's Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition : A Study in Post-Plotinian Neoplatonism. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1974.
• Society., Cambridge Philological. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society. Cambridge, 1951.
• Tavenner, Eugene. Studies in Magic from Latin Literature. New York: Columbia university Press, 1916.
• Thorndike, Lynn. A History of Magic and Experimental Science. New York: Columbia University Press, 1923-1958.
• Virgil., and Robert Fitzgerald. The Aeneid. London: Harvill Press, 1984.
• Vogel, Cornelia J. de. Greek Philosophy : A Collection of Texts with Notes and Explanations. 3rd ed. ed. Leiden: Brill, 1967.
• Winston, David. The Wisdom of Solomon. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.

[edit] External links

• The Majoos (Urdu)
• The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
• The Chaldean MagiThe Complete Online Library of Ancient Sources.