Talk:Magic ring

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[edit] Really no Greek magic rings?

Now that astute reader Ihcoyc has added the Ring of Gyges, from the writings of Plato. Good. But does that now invalidate the bald statement to the effect of "no magic rings in Greek mythology" or is it some kind of exception, because Plato used it as an alegory? If he was drawing on an earlier mythical story, then it's a Greek magic finger ring. If he made up a fantasy to make a philosophical point, then it might classify as "modern." Votes, anybody? Tom Lougheed 03:01, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

There are a couple of spells to enchant magic rings in the Greek Magical Papyri. Ian Moyer ("Miniaturization and the Opening of The Mouth in a Greek Magical Text" in Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religons, January 2003, pp. 47-72) analyzed one of them and points out that the name given to the magic ring is a Greek transliteration of the name of a more ancient Egyptian ritual. The Greek Magical Papyri is a surviving example of a class of literature generally put to the fire in Late Antiquity (Acts 19:19-20). For that reason the statement "Other than these three examples, magical rings are unknown in any other western or middle eastern mythology or folktales" seems doubtful: the idea of a magic ring must have been familiar to the magician's clients. OwarePlayer 00:11, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Function

I am re-writing the function section in a neutral POV. Goldfritha 01:59, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

In particular this section:

"In modern fantasy, roughly half the time a magic ring occurs it is used by the author as a means for the ordinary protagonist to enter the fairytale world. Roughly the other half of modern fiction, magic rings are used as a "deus ex machina", or a plot-cheat, for the author to solve an apparently impossible complication in the plot and end the story."

is making a large claim, without reference. Goldfritha 02:23, 12 March 2007 (UTC)