Greek Magic: Ancient, Medieval and Modern

209 Pages·2006·2.77 MB·English

by  John Petropoulos

G R EEK M AG I C
Magic has always been a widespread phenomenon in Greek society, starting
from Homer’s Circe (the fi rst ‘evil witch’ in Western history) and extending to
the pervasive belief in the ‘evil eye’ in twenty-fi rst-century Greece. Indeed,
magic is probably the most ancient and durable among social and religious phe-
nomena known to classical and other scholars, and it can be traced over a span
of some three millennia in sources in the Greek language as well as in an impres-
sive range of visual and other media. Th ese include curse tablets from fourth-
century bce Athens, the medico-magical gems of late antiquity, early Christian
amulets, and various exorcism prayers from the medieval and later periods.
Organized chronologically, the intriguing panorama off ered by this book
guides the reader through the ancient, medieval, modern and even contempo-
rary periods, highlighting the traditions, ideologies and methods of magic in
each period of Greek history. It brings together the latest insights from a range
of experts from various disciplines: classicists, art historians, archaeologists,
legal historians and social anthropologists among others.
J.C.B. Petropoulos is Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the
Democritean University of Th race 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 recep-
tion of ancient Greek sub-literary and ‘popular’ song tradition beyond antiq-
uity in the Greek-speaking world.

G R E E K M A G I C
Ancient, Medieval and Modern
Edited by J.C.B. Petropoulos
First published 2008
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2008 J.C.B. Petropoulos for editorial matter and selection; individual
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereaft er invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-93188-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 10 0-415-28232-2
ISBN 13 978-0-415-28232-1
C O N T E N T S
List of fi gures viii
List of contributors ix
Prologue xi
PART I
Magic in ancient Greece
1 Introduction: Magic in ancient Greece 3
J.C.B. PETROPOULOS
2 Th e ‘wretched subject’ of ancient Greek magic 6
DAVID JORDAN
3 Magic, amulets and Circe 10
NANNO MARINATOS
4 Magic and the dead in classical Greece 14
SARAH ILES JOHNSTON
5 Ancient Greek sculptors as magicians 21
ANTONIO CORSO
6 Hocus-pocus in Graeco-Roman Egypt 28
† WILLIAM BRASHEAR
7 Ancient magical gems 34
ARPAD M. NAGY
CONTENTS
PART II
Magic in Byzantium
8 Introduction: Magic in Byzantium 41
J.C.B. PETROPOULOS
9 Magic and the Devil: From the Old to the New Rome 44
SPYROS N. TROJANOS
10 Magic and visual culture in late antiquity 53
GARY VIKAN
11 Another ‘wretched subject’: Th e demons of the world 58
DAVID JORDAN
12 Th e magician Vigrinos and his victim:
A case of magic from the Life of St Andrew the Fool 64
GEORGE TH. CALOFONOS
13 Spells and exorcisms in three post-Byzantine manuscripts 72
AGAMEMNON TSELIKAS
PART III
Magic in modern Greece
14 Introduction: Magic in modern Greece 85
J.C.B. PETROPOULOS
15 Magic and Orthodoxy 87
CHARLES STEWART
16 Ritual word and symbolic movement in spells against the evil eye 95
CHRISTINA VEIKOU
17 Th e evil eye among the Greeks of Australia:
Identity, continuity and modernization 106
VASSILIKI CHRYSSANTHOPOULOU
18 Th e enchanted garment 119
NIKOS XENIOS
vi
CONTENTS
19 Erotic and fertility magic in the folk culture of modern Greece 125
THEODORE PARADELLIS
PART IV
Th e theory of magic
20 Introduction: Th e theory of magic 137
J.C.B. PETROPOULOS
21 Talking of magic 139
RICHARD GORDON
22 Magic as a point of reference in anthropological theory 150
ELEONORA SKOUTERI-DIDASKALOU
23 Technology and magic 160
† ALFRED GELL
24 Th e social dimension of magic 168
STRATIS PSALTOU
25 Magic, gender and social ‘racism’ 175
CONSTANTINOS MANDAS
List of abbreviations 178
Bibliography 179
Index 189
vii
L I S T O F F I G U R E S
1 Medea, assisted by two maidservants, prepares her rejuvenating drug
in a cauldron. Roman copy of a relief by Alkamenes (5th century bce).
Rome, Vatican Museums 4
2 Circe off ers her unconventional potion to a pig-man. Her nakedness
brings out her sexuality. Archaic terracotta plaque, now in Sicily
(see Canciani, LIMC VI, no. 4) 13
3 Among other divinities, Hekate was invoked in ‘binding spells’ to help
the dead in harming a living victim. Six-handed Hekate amid ‘characters’.
Lead defi xio found in the Athens Agora (reproduced by kind permission
of D. Jordan) 15
4 Athena adorning Pandora. Niobid painter, ca. 460 bce. London,
British Museum 23
5 Phylactery seal. Early Christian period. Byzantine Museum, Athens 45
6 Th e Empress Zoë (detail): Was she really a witch? Mosaic, 11th century,
Haghia Sophia, Istanbul 70
7 Magic symbols. Dimitsana MS., nineteenth century 74
8 Magic circle used for predicting the future. Cod.115, ?early 18th century,
Historical and Ethnographic Society of Athens. In A. Delatte, Anecdota
Atheniensia, Liége, 1927, i, 25 88
9 Ancient Greek eye-shaped kylikes, 6th century bce. Th e eyes on these
drinking-vessels protected symposiasts 96
10 Th e good fairy (Neraïda) is the guardian of the bridal couple pictured
to the right and left . Embroidered bridal pillow from Leucas, 18th century.
Benaki Museum, Athens 128
C O N T R I B U T O R S
William Brashear was Keeper of the Papyrus Collection at the Egyptian
Museum in Berlin
George Th . Calofonos is a Byzantine historian.
Vassiliki Chryssanthopoulou-Farrington is Research Fellow at the Hellenic
Folklore Research Centre of the Academy of Athens.
Antonio Corso is a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study-Collegium
Budapest.
Alfred Gell was Reader in Anthropology at the London School of Economics
and did fi eldwork both in Papua New Guinea and in central India.
Richard Gordon is Honorary Professor of the History of Greek and Roman
Religion at the University of Erfurt, Germany.
Sarah Iles Johnston i s Associate Professor of Greek and Latin at the Ohio State
University in Columbus, Ohio.
David Jordan is a member of the American School of Classical Studies at
Athens.
Constantinos Mandas has a doctorate in ancient history from the University
of Bristol.
Nanno Marinatos is former Professor of Archaeology at College Year in
Athens.
Arpad M. Nagy is Keeper of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities
in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.
Th eodore Paradellis i s an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social
Anthropology at the University of the Aegean in Mytilini.
Stratis Psaltou i s a historian of religion.
Eleonora Skouteri-Didaskalou is a social anthropologist.