Magic

that could be learned only from an acknowledged teacher. The gestures

had to be performed correctly; the right kind of equipment had to be
used. Some of these ceremonies must have lasted for several days and
nights. Substances (e.g., sulfur) were sni√ed, libations were poured, visual
and acoustic e√ects were produced, and, no doubt, drugs were used to
help induce a state of trance. We read about weird sounds made by the
magus: clucking, sighing, groaning, smacking of lips, taking a deep breath
and letting it out with a hissing sound.∑∑ In some cases it was even
necessary to eat the magical text, as PGM I.14 prescribes: ‘‘Write these
names with Hermes ink. After having written them as told, rinse them
o√ in spring water from seven springs, drink it on an empty stomach
during seven days, when the moon is ascending. But drink a su≈cient
amount!’’ Magicians also wrote certain words or names in their own
blood.∑∏
It seems paradoxical that for certain periods we are better informed on
magical rituals than on religious ones. Moreover, although the magical
rituals often betray what appears to be a genuine religious feeling, the
elements of pressure, blackmail, and sinister threats often build up in and
are reinforced by the rituals.
Hellenistic magic represents a conglomerate of many di√erent influ-
ences. It borrowed freely from the religions and occult sciences of di√er-
ent cultures (Greek, Jewish, Egyptian, Persian, etc.), but even the religious
elements were selected for a practical purpose: the gods of witchcraft were
worshiped not for the sake of their glory but for the help they could o√er
in specific situations. Often these gods were asked to fulfill wishes that the
operator would not acknowledge openly; hence, magical prayers and
spells were usually ‘‘whispered’’ or ‘‘hissed,’’ whereas in the temples of a
god or goddess legitimate prayers were uttered aloud. But the syncretism
of Hellenistic magic had a parallel in the syncretism of Hellenistic reli-
gions in Egypt, a country where many di√erent cultures coexisted, a
country that had been open to Eastern influences for centuries and that
now, under Greek rulers, had been given a capital, Alexandria, that would
become one of the intellectual centers of the world.
Let us turn, then, to the Persian origins of magic. Persian priests, the
magoi, were supposed to have inherited the lore of the Chaldeans. Chal-
dea, or ‘‘the land of the Chaldeans,’’ was the name of a country (according
to Genesis it was the home of Abraham), but a Chaldean could also be an
astrologer or an interpreter of dreams, originally perhaps a member of a
priestly caste that studied occult rituals and handed them down. Zoro-
aster (sixth century B.C.) was the greatest teacher, priest, and magician (a
figure comparable to Orpheus in some ways) in the early Persian Empire.
He lived during the reign of the Achaemenids and wrote many works on

55
 Arcana Mundi

magic, astrology, divination, and religion. He is considered the creator

of a system of daemonology that was adopted at various stages and in
various forms by Jews, Greeks, and Christians. Another great Persian
magus, Ostanes, accompanied Xerxes on his campaign against Greece
(480 B.C.), no doubt as an adviser to the king. After his defeat at Sala-
mis, the king left Ostanes behind, and Ostanes became the teacher of
Democritus (born c. 470 B.C.), apparently encouraging his pupil to travel
to Egypt and Persia. Democritus is chiefly known as a great scientist (his
atomistic theory of the universe anticipates modern physics and chemis-
try); he may have transmitted Persian magic in one of his many works.
The magoi who came to Palestine from a distant oriental country to
o√er their adoration to the newborn child in Bethlehem are represented
as kings and as wise men. Clearly they are skilled in astrology, for a star or
an unusual constellation has told them of the birth of a king.
Zoroaster, Ostanes, and the three Magi mark half a millennium. Dur-
ing that time and for centuries to come, the Western world associated
Persia with magic and secret lore.
In Egypt, according to our theory, a kind of curriculum of occult
sciences was created during the Hellenistic period. To the Greeks living
there, many religious ceremonies must have appeared to be magical opera-
tions. Then, too, the Greeks probably considered to be magic certain
manufacturing processes that the Egyptians kept secret. From the begin-
ning, alchemy seems to have been a mixture of magic and real technology,
but the secrecy that enveloped both probably exaggerated the role of
the former. Some typically Egyptian features of Hellenistic magic are:
(1) Magic is not practiced primarily as a necessary protection from the evil
powers that surround the individual; rather, it is a means of harnessing
good or evil powers in order to achieve one’s goals and desires. (2) The
operator of the magical papyri pretends to be a god in order to frighten the
gods. This attitude of pretending, of temporarily assuming a supernatural
identity, is highly characteristic of magic in general. (3) Magical power is
linked to certain words that are clearly di√erentiated from normal lan-
guage; they are pronounced in a certain way or written on gems, papyri,
and the like, along with certain signs and diagrams. (4) Power is also linked
to certain gestures and rites; these rites are similar to the ones used in
religious cults but, one would assume, are su≈ciently di√erent and distinc-
tive to avoid misunderstandings. It was common, for instance, to sacrifice
black animals to the powers of the underworld to make sure that none of
the heavenly gods would claim it for himself.
The Greek influence on Hellenistic magic can only be sketched at this
point. In a sense, Hellenistic magic was a Greek creation on Egyptian
soil: Greek philosophers had given it a basis and built it into a system. In

56
 Magic

terms of specifics, however, while the magical operations are familiar, the
roles of the gods are not. Hermes becomes identified with the Egyptian
Thoth, not only as the patron of science and of learning in general, but
also as the god who leads souls into Hades. Hecate, the most ancient
goddess of the underworld, becomes, along with Persephone, the di-
vinity par excellence of the witches, as does the moon goddess, Selene,
who presides over their nocturnal rites. Apollo, the o≈cial god of the
Delphic oracle, becomes tied to divination in many forms. Pan, as god of
the witches, furnishes the traditional image of the Devil; hence he must
have played an important role in magical ceremonies in later antiquity,
although the texts do not give a coherent picture of this development.
We should also consider the influence of Judaism, and especially Jew-
ish magic, on Hellenistic magic.∑π Alexandria had a large Jewish popula-
tion in the later Hellenistic period, and it seems to have contributed a
good deal to Hellenistic culture in general. On one level we have the
daemonology of Philo, a Jewish Platonist, and on another level, all sorts
of popular superstitions.∑∫
The Old Testament gives us a certain amount of information on
magical practices and beliefs, and the very fact that they were outlawed
indicates that they existed.∑Ω In turn, toward the end of the Hellenistic
period, Jewish magic was strongly influenced by Greek and Egyptian
ideas.∏≠ By that time many Jews—like the Greeks and Romans—believed
in the evil eye, the power of certain words and phrases and of spittle, the
omina given by birds, the protection a√orded by amulets, and so on.∏∞ The
di√erence between black magic and white magic was understood. Nec-
romancy was practiced (necromancers were called ‘‘bone-conjurers’’), as
was exorcism (since diseases in general and madness in particular were
explained by possession), usually as a last resort when medical science
failed.∏≤
Because he practiced exorcism and because of some popularized ver-
sions of the Gospels, Jesus was considered a magician by some Talmudic
teachers and no doubt appeared as such to many Greeks and Romans
who did not think of him as a religious leader.∏≥ It is easy to see how even
Moses, in later antiquity, could appear to be a powerful magician in
addition to being a great teacher and leader, the inventor of philosophy,
learning, writing, and so on, like the Egyptian Thoth. Moses and Aaron
perform magic in the Egyptian style before Pharaoh (Exodus 7:8–14,
8:1–15) to compete with the Egyptian sorcerers, and though the sor-
cerers can duplicate the Jewish magic up to a certain point, Moses and
Aaron win the contest because they receive their guidance from the Lord.
Magical books were ascribed to Moses in antiquity (PGM XIII).
Solomon’s great wisdom was supposed to include magic, and a magical

57
 Arcana Mundi

text, the Testament of Solomon, circulated under his name; it was proba-
bly composed in the early third century A.D., but the manuscripts attest-
ing it were not written before the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.∏∂ The
much better known Wisdom of Solomon, a biblical book considered
apocryphal by Jews and Protestants, was probably composed in the first
century B.C. In it Solomon says: ‘‘God . . . gave me true knowledge of
things, as they are: an understanding of the structure of the world and the
way in which elements work, the beginning and the end of eras and what
lies in-between . . . the cycles of the years and the constellations . . . the
thoughts of men . . . the power of spirits . . . the virtues of roots . . . I
learned it all, secret or manifest.’’ Clearly, Solomon is pictured as the
greatest scientist, but also the greatest occultist, of his time: he has stud-
ied astrology, plant magic, daemonology, divination, but also ta physika
‘science’. Some translators obscure this fact; they write, for instance,
‘‘the power of winds’’ when the context shows that daemons are meant.
Josephus certainly understood the passage in this way. He writes (Antiq.
Jud. 8.45): ‘‘God gave him [Solomon] knowledge of the art that is used
against daemons, in order to heal and benefit men.’’ He even adds that
Solomon was a great exorcist and left instructions on how to perform this
kind of healing. This could mean that in Josephus’ time, a magical text
that taught how to exorcise daemons in the name of Solomon existed.∏∑
In Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho (85.3) a Jewish magician is addressed as
follows: ‘‘If you exorcise a daemon in the name of any of those who once
lived among you—kings, righteous men, prophets, patriarchs—it will not
obey you. But if you exorcise the daemon in [the name] . . . of the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob, it may obey you. No doubt your exorcists
apply magical techniques when they exorcise, just like the Gentiles, and
they use fumigations and incantations.’’
In later antiquity, the Jews had the reputation of being formidable ma-
gicians, and the various names of their deity—Jao for Yahweh, Sabaoth,
Adonai—appear frequently in the magical papyri. Many outsiders must
have thought of Yahweh as a secret deity, for no image could be seen and
his real name was not pronounced. Here again we see a misunderstood
theology or religious ritual at the basis of speculations on magic.∏∏ The
roots of cabala ‘received tradition’ are believed to reach back into the first
century A.D., when the first tracts appeared in Palestine.∏π The cabala is
best explained as a system or method of Jewish mystical devotion having
certain magical elements. It flourished in Spain in the twelfth and thir-
teenth centuries but is much older. The cabalists believed in the pos-
sibility of direct communion with God, the descent and incarnation of
the soul, and the transmigration of souls. They extracted hidden mean-
ings from the Bible by interpreting it allegorically or by using numerol-

58
 Magic

ogy, giving each Hebrew letter in a word or sentence a numerical value.

The world, according to them, is inhabited by daemons, and men need
amulets to protect themselves. In brief, the cabalistic tradition has pre-
served, in a systematic and coherent form, blended with Platonist and
Neoplatonist doctrine, a good deal of occult science from late Hellenis-
tic times.
Having surveyed the ‘‘real’’ magic, the practical, everyday witchcraft
of the period, we can now return to the literary texts.

Other Literary Texts

In his eighth eclogue, Virgil (70–19 B.C.) gives us a free translation or
adaptation of Theocritus’ second poem [no. 10; cf. no. 6]. He leaves out a
number of details and adds a happy ending—the magic works, and the
lover returns—but otherwise, he is quite faithful to the original. Poems
such as these describe the life of the so-called lower classes (shepherds and
peasants) with a kind of poetic realism, but they are addressed to a highly
sophisticated audience. Virgil’s amateur witch cannot be assigned to any
social class; one would assume that she is a farm girl, but her passion is
noble, romantic like that of any Greek heroine, and she speaks in accom-
plished Latin verse. Undoubtedly, this kind of magic was practiced in
Italy as well as in Greece and Egypt. Virgil may have left out something
here and there or added some color, but the magical operation as a whole
sounds authentic.
A more serious magical ceremony is described by Virgil at the end of
Book 4 of the Aeneid [no. 11]. The hero of the epic, Aeneas, has landed on
the coast of North Africa, where he meets Queen Dido, who has just
begun to build a new city, Carthage. She is not at all like a witch, but
rather resembles an oriental fairy tale queen with a tragic past. She falls in
love with Aeneas and wants him to stay with her as her prince consort.
One is reminded of the Circe episode in the Odyssey [no. 1] and of the
encounter of Jason and Medea in Apollonius’ Argonautica. In all these
epics, a traveling hero with a mission meets a beautiful, exotic woman
who is potentially dangerous, although kind and hospitable as long as her
love for the hero lasts. When Aeneas leaves Dido because Fate demands
that he found an empire of his own, Dido’s love turns to hate. Deter-
mined to destroy her faithless lover, she stages a complex magical rite. She
builds a gigantic pyre in the main courtyard of her palace and prepares,
with the assistance of a famous priestess-witch, an elaborate sacrifice to
the powers of the underworld. She realizes that no love magic can bring
Aeneas back to her and, despairing, kills herself, giving an ultimate em-
phasis of doom to her curse. It was commonly believed that suicides,

59