Title: Animals as magical ingredients in Greek magical Papyri : preliminary statistical analysis of animal species
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2017, vol. 22, iss. 1, pp. 191-206
Extent
191-206
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2017-1-15
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/136473
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
The focus of this study, which is based on a detailed analysis of Greek magical papyri, is to research, how the animal ingredients were used within the sphere of magic in the antiquity and what further information can be drawn. This paper serves as a preliminary review of the results provided by the statistical analysis. Main research questions are: How many papyri spells contain at least one animal ingredient? Which animals were used the most as an ingredient? Which animal body parts were prevalent in papyri spells? Were the animal body parts used in spells chosen based on analogy? Answering these questions can help us understand the connection of animals to magic, and determine if some animals were considered to have more magical power than others. A key source for this study was Betz's edition of The Greek magical papyri from 1986, compared to Preisendanz's Papyri Graecae magicae: Die griechischen Zauberpapyri from 1928.
References
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[2] Betz, H. D. (Ed.). (1986). The Greek magical papyri in translation: including the Demotic spells. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[3] Bonner, C. (1950). Studies in magical amulets, chiefly Graeco-Egyptian. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
[4] Gager, J. G. (1992). Curse tablets and binding spells from the ancient world. New York: Oxford University Press.
[5] Michel, S. (2001). Bunte Steine – dunkle Bilder: "magische Gemmen" (Katalog, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, 8. April – 29. April 2001). München: Biering & Brinkmann.
[6] Müller, L. (Ed.). (1928). Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabulae Aesopiae. Lipsiae: In aedibus B. G. Teubneri.
[7] Preisendanz, C., & Henrichs, A. (Eds.). (1973). Papyri Graecae magicae: Die griechischen Zauberpapyri (2. ed.). Stutgardiae: In aedibus B. G. Teubneri [1. ed. Lipsiae: Teubner 1928].
[8] Riley, H. T., & Bostock, J. (Eds.). (1893). Natural history of Pliny. London: D. L. Bell and Sons.
[9] Wünsch, R. (Ed.). (1897). Defixionum tabellae Atticae (Appendix continens defixionum tabellas in Attica regione repertas, Inscriptiones Graecae, III, 3). Berolini: Reimer.
[10] Betz, H. D. (1997). Magic and Mystery in the Greek Magical Papyri. In C. A. Faraone, & D. Obbink (Eds.), Magika hiera: ancient Greek magic and religion (pp. 244–259). New York: Oxford University Press.
[11] Bough, J. (2011). Donkey. London: Reaktion Books.
[12] Bremmer, J. (2007). Ritual. In S. I. Johnston (Ed.), Ancient religions (pp. 32–44). Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
[13] Brodňanská, E. (in print). "Oslie bremená" na pleciach vladárov v spise Jána Webera Lectio principum (1665). In Ideológia v premenách času v pamiatkach gréckej a latinskej tradície. Medzinárodná konferencia pri príležitosti sedemdesiatin profesora Daniela Škovieru; 18.–19. novembra 2016. Bratislava: FiF UK.
[14] Campbell, G. L. (2014). The Oxford handbook of animals in classical thought and life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[15] Ciraolo, L. J. (2001). Supernatural Assistants in the Greek Magical Papyri. In M. W. Meyer, & P. A. Mirecki (Eds.), Ancient Magic and Ritual Power (pp. 279–295). Boston: Brill Academic Publishers.
[16] Dickie, M. W. (2003). Magic and magicians in the Greco-Roman world. London: Routledge.
[17] Ekroth, G. (2014). Animal sacrifice in antiquity. In G. L. Campbell, The Oxford handbook of animals in classical thought and life (pp. 324–354). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[18] Faraone, C. A. (1991). Binding and burying the forces of evil: the defensive use of "Voodoo dolls" in ancient Greece. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[19] Faraone, C. A., & Obbink, D. (1997). Magika hiera: ancient Greek magic and religion. New York: Oxford University Press.
[20] Johnston, S. I. (Ed.). (2007). Ancient religions. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
[21] Kitchell, K. F. (2014). Animals in the ancient world from A to Z. New York: Routledge.
[22] Luck, G. (2006). Arcana Mundi. Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Collection of Ancient Texts (2. ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
[23] Meyer, M. W., & Mirecki, P. A. (Eds.). (2001). Ancient Magic and Ritual Power. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers.
[24] Minniyakhmetova, T., & Velkoborská, K. (Eds.). (2015). The Ritual Year, 10: Magic in Rituals and Rituals in Magic. Innsbruck: ELM Scholarly Press.
[25] Mirecki, P., & Meyer, M. (Eds.). (2002). Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World. Leiden: Brill.
[26] Ogden, D. (2014). Animal magic. In G. L. Campbell, The Oxford handbook of animals in classical thought and life (pp. 294–309). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[27] Olsen, S. L. (Ed.). (1996). Horses through time. Boulder, CO: Roberts Rinehart for Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
[28] Otto, B. (2013). Towards Historicizing "Magic" in Antiquity. Numen, 60(2–3), 308–347. | DOI 10.1163/15685276-12341267
[29] Otto, B., & Stausberg, M. (2014). Defining Magic. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
[30] Rossel, S. et al. (2008). Domestication of the donkey: Timing, processes, and indicators. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(10), 3715–3720.
[31] Sánchez Natalías, C. (2015). Magical Poppets in the Western Roman Empire: A Case Study from the Fountain of Anna Perenna. In T. Minniyakhmetova, & K. Velkoborská (Eds.), The Ritual Year, 10: Magic in Rituals and Rituals in Magic (pp. 194–202). Innsbruck: ELM Scholarly Press.
[32] Struck, P. (2014). Animals and divination. In G. L. Campbell, The Oxford handbook of animals in classical thought and life (pp. 310–323). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[33] Urbanová, D. (2014). Latinské proklínací tabulky na území římského impéria. Brno: Host.
[34] Versnel, H. S. (1991). Some Reflections on the Relationship Magic – Religion. Numen, 38(2), 177–197. | DOI 10.1163/156852791X00114
[35] Versnel, H. S. (2002). The Poetics of the Magical Charm: An Essay on the Power of Words. In P. Mirecki, & M. Meyer (Eds.), Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World (pp. 105–156). Leiden: Brill.