1st Edition

Greek Magic Ancient, Medieval and Modern

Edited By John Petropoulos Copyright 2008
208 Pages
by Routledge

208 Pages
by Routledge

208 Pages
by Routledge

Magic has always been a widespread phenomenon in Greek Society, starting from Homer’s Circe (the first ‘evil witch’ in western history) and extending to the pervasive belief in the ‘evil eye’ in the twenty-first century Greece. Indeed, magic is probably the most ancient and durable among social and religious phenomena known to classical and other scholars, and it can be traced over a span of some... Read more

Introduction.  Magic and the Dead in Classical Greece.  Magic, Amulets and Circe.  The Demons of the World.  Magic and Visual Culture in Late Antiquity.  Magic and Orthodoxy.  Talking of Magic.  Ancient Magical Gems.  Hocus Pocus in Greco-Roman Egypt.  Ancient Greek Sculptors as Magicians.  Technology and Magic.  Ancient Greek Magic

Biography

J.C.B. Petropoulos is Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the Democritean University of Thrace and Chairman of the Board of Harvard University's Center for Hellenic Studies in Nafplio. He specializes in Greek poetry and is generally concerned with social-anthropological issues relevant to ancient Greek literature and society. He also has an interest in the reception of ancient Greek sub-literary and ‘popular’ song tradition beyond antiquity in the Greek-speaking world.