Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices

Beschreibung

This conference volume explores various aspects of magic in antiquity, focusing especially on Graeco-Egyptian magical papyri and questions of cultural plurality and fusion, from earlier Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Greek traditions, through Graeco-Roman Egypt, up to and including Jewish and Byzantine magical lore.
A conference held in Heidelberg in 2014 resulted in this collection of essays, which explore the multifaceted aspects of magical texts and practices in antiquity, focusing especially on the Graeco-Egyptian magical papyri. The volume concentrates on questions of cultural plurality and fusion, ranging from earlier Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Greek magico-religious traditions, through the original developments of Graeco-Roman Egypt, up to and including their integration into Jewish and Byzantine magical lore. In particular, phenomena such as simple borrowing, advanced adaptation, complete assimilation or even distortion of origin and meaning stress the importance of disentangling different cultural elements and understanding their interaction. Going beyond the borders of academic fields, this book aims at giving to the transcultural perspective the importance it deserves in the study of ancient magic.

Autor*in

William Furley
Born 1953; 1979 PhD; since 2003 Associate Professor of Classics, University of Heidelberg; Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Classical Studies (School of Advanced Studies), London.

Themen in »Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices«

Greek magical papyri Demotic magical papyri Egyptian magic Jewish magic Mesopotamian magic

Stimmen zu »Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices«

Details

Link teilen