- Hardcover: 448 pages
- Publisher: University of Chicago Press; 2nd Ed edition (April 1986)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0226044440
- ISBN-13: 978-0226044446
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,225,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
A translation of the collection of magical spells and formulas, hymns, and rituals from Greco-Roman Egypt, dating from the second century B.C. to the fifth century A.D.
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First Sentence
As important as the Greek magical papyri are to the understanding of Greco-Roman religion, as noted by Betz in his Introduction to the Greek magical texts, their full significance can be perceived only when it is realized that these texts written in Greek are part of a larger corpus that also includes texts written in that stage of the Egyptian language known as "Demotic," and that the corpus as a whole derives in very large measure from earlier Egyptian religious and magical beliefs and practices. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
As important as the Greek magical papyri are to the understanding of Greco-Roman religion, as noted by Betz in his Introduction to the Greek magical texts, their full significance can be perceived only when it is realized that these texts written in Greek are part of a larger corpus that also includes texts written in that stage of the Egyptian language known as "Demotic," and that the corpus as a whole derives in very large measure from earlier Egyptian religious and magical beliefs and practices. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is an amazing compendium of High Magic from between the 2nd Century BC and the 5th century AD. It may even represent the library of a single scholar/magician, (and almost certainly has nothing to do with witchcraft, slaves or the disempowered).
The spells put to shame those in later grimoires such as the Lesser and Greater Key of Solomon. This isn't dabbling with a handful of Goetic Demons, this is binding the very Gods themselves to your will!
Some of the spells are stunning in their daring (breakfast with a god, anybody?) or their wierdness (fancy your shadow as an assistant daemon?).
Others are breathtaking in the way they reflect the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Late Antique Alexandria, mixing rabbinical, Zoroastrian, Gnostic, Egyptian, Greek and nascent Christian traditions.
There's also a scattering of quirky basic curses, divinations, good-luck charms and medical material (e.g. crocodile dung as a contraceptive) to add local colour.
This is the kind of book any amateur scholar of magic should have. It's also useful for roleplayers - it's as close as you're going to get to a real Necronomicon...
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
These pieces where written when science was exactly the same as sorcery, it is a mixture of supposed 'higher' practises and also common household 'lower' cures for various health and social disorders. The text includes information that has very much been lost by 'modern magicians' like the gaining of an assistant, which is a must have to have been a sorcer and the meeting of the gods. The text also includes pieces of text that can still be found today like the sixth book of moses that fits neatly in the middle sections of the book. This collection of texts is a must have for anyone interested in ancient belief and practises as you can clearly see the panic and supersticous nature of the people who would trust there well being to symbols, talismans and the sorcerers incantations.
6 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What most people know of ancient Greece is the classics. But behind them, there were the everyday people, the women and the slaves, who had no means of improving their lives. No means but witchcraft. This is a collection of the spells and incantations they used. If you belive in "harm none", you will find this book disturbing. This book reflects the dreams, fears and hopes of desperate people who would try anything, including the use of human corpses of animal sacrifice to get what they needed. But this book also includes some very beautiful hymns and invocation, especially the one addressed to Selene/Artemis. An important book of ancient lore.
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