Ancient Greek Love Magic [Hardcover]

Christopher Faraone's masterly Ancient Greek Love Magic [is] an always intriguing--and often disturbing--exploration of ancient erotic society. Faraone, an established expert on ancient magic and ritual, examines the evidence for the two most-widely practiced types of love magic: agoge spells, which lasso even the most ornery of love-objects and philia spells, which prevent your significant other from searching for greener pastures elsewhere...Faraone's analysis of the interplay of gender and magic will be the book's most important contribution; although agoge magic is usually practiced by males and philia magic by females, the exceptions (and there are some) point to the paradoxes inherent in Ancient Greek constructions of gender...The book is a veritable encyclopedia of fascinating magical recipes, and boasts many well-researched variations on agoge and philia charms. -- Thomas Jenkins Boston Book Review This is no dry tome or unimaginative catalogue of papyrus scraps and voodoo "poppets". The dust-jacket promises a lucid analysis of the large corpus of ritual teachings used by the Greeks to instill or maintain various forms of desire and affection. Faraone delivers the goods, focusing principally on interpersonal aphrodisiac magic: though he does touch briefly on self-help potency spells, he is more interested in those directed against another unconsenting individual. -- Lea Chambers Joint Association of Classical Teachers Review In Greek magic, erotic spells were generally used by men to induce eros in women, while spells to maintain or induce affection (philia) were mainly used by women toward men. Mr. Faraone argues that exceptions to those generalities shed new light on the social construction of gender in Greek society, as well as on the issue of which sex was considered the more lascivious. -- Nina C. Ayoub Chronicle of Higher Education If any scholar is well-placed to produce a book on the topic of ancient Greek love magic, it is certainly Christopher Faraone...A useful glossary, full bibliography, and indispensable index of terms, and an index of passages from the ancient authors, round out the volume. This is without doubt a definitive work...Packed with information. But, more importantly, it contains critical insights and interpretations which show that Faraone is master of his subject. -- Mathew Dillon Scholia Reviews 20030101 This exemplary book studies ancient Greek magical spells designed to attract or keep lovers, and it advances a clear and persuasive argument Wisely and with great care, Faraone uses a variety of ancient sources, such as literary depictions of the use of magic, to provide a thicker description of ancient erotic discourse. -- David Brakke Journal of Interdisciplinary History --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

The ancient Greeks commonly resorted to magic spells to attract and keep lovers - as numerous allusions in Greek literature and recently discovered "voodoo dolls", magical papyri, gemstones, and curse tablets attest. Surveying and analyzing these various texts and artefacts, the author reveals that gender is a crucial factor in understanding love spells. He argues that there are two types of love magic: the curselike charms used primarily by men to torture unwilling women with fiery and maddening passion until they surrender sexually; and the binding spells and debilitating potions generally used by women to sedate angry or philandering husbands and make them more affectionate. The author's analysis of these spells also yields a number of insights about the construction of gender in antiquity. Most significantly, his findings challenge the modern view that all Greek men considered women to be naturally lascivious.