FROM THESSALIAN WITCHES TO GREEK-EGYPTIAN

MAGICIANS.

José Luis Calvo Martínez

Universidad de Granada, SPAIN
jcalvo@ugr.es

I. THESSALIAN WITCHES.

In the Clouds of Aristophanes (vv. 749-52) the old grumpy

Strepsiades is beginning to doubt that the sophistic methods that he
went to learn at Socrates' school are capable of solving the problem that
keeps him awake: the tremendous debt caused by his spendthrift son
Phidippides. Socrates has begun the re-education of Strepsiades
through grammar –the grammatical genre in particular. But Strepsiades
doesn't understand anything about it. So, there is a situation of impasse
and they go to sleep. In the morning, Strepsiades –who has not stopped
thinking about it at night– suddenly lets Socrates know: «What if I buy
a Thessalian witch [pharmakís, from now] on, make the moon go down
at night and put her in a box as if she were a mirror, and I keep an eye
on her?» Socrates is perplexed. So, there will be no months –he
concludes– and I will not have to pay the monthly bills. Estrepsiades
has thought that the last resort in his desperation is Magic; and the
Magic practiced by a thessalian woman who allows herself to be bought
and who can make the moon go down. This was obviously the idea that
there was about the thessalian pharmakides around the year 420 B.C.
Or perhaps earlier, because Sophocles had written a tragedy years
before entitled "The Root-Cutters" (Rhyzotomoi) in which the main
character is thought to have been Medea, a proto-witch of the lineage
of Helios and a cousin of Circe; and the chorus is made up of women
–thessalian pharmakides. Of this tragedy only have reached to us three
fragments1 which, however, are important for their content and
antiquity. It is the oldest testimony, together with the Clouds of
Aristophanes, about the supposed activities of a pharmakís on the Greek

1
Cf. Fr. 534-36

1
continent during the 5th century B.C. And precisely in Thessaly. The
first fragment of Sophocles presents us with a woman covering her eyes
so as not to see the juice distilled from the roots which she has cut with
a “bronze sickle”; the woman is “wailing”, that is, she is shouting a
spell; the woman is “naked” and her activity can be assumed to take
place at night for two reasons: firstly, because of the impressive epithet
–a beautiful oxymoron– that the poet applies to the “juice” (opón)
distilled from the roots: “of dark brightness” -that is, “clouded with
white” by the light of the moon; secondly, because the moon is invoked
in the form of Hecate Enodia (“Hecate of the Ways”) -naturally, along
with Helios. The chorus enters singing the following:
Helios and sacred fire, lance of Hecate, the road goddess, which
she carries when she advances upon Olympus and when she descends
to the sacred forks of roads on earth, crowned with oak and with twisted
spirals of cruel serpents.

Let us review the features that both passages have revealed to us.
In both there are one (or several) women who are thessalian and who
have special powers. In Sophocles the matter is serious and, curiously
enough, being a tragedy, it is more realistic. Sophocles' pharmakís is
the “root-cutter”; she is the woman who knows the virtues of plants; we
are not told what she uses them for, although it is obvious from her
name: what she does is to prepare φάρμακα. These are plants and/or
potions that are ingested or are hung up or applied to the body; and that,
logically, with medicinal purposes; or lethal; or erotic: with them one
makes the philtra -literally “means for love”. We will return to this.
Phármaka are, then, a physical element, real and tangible: it is the
active element, and -if it is lethal- he who applies it simply commits
murder. But there is another element that does not act physically or
directly: it is the gesture, the circumstances and, in general, the
ritualization of the act of cutting the plants: this rite is carried out at
night and is done with a bronze sickle. There is also the attire –or lack
thereof as here: the woman is naked; finally, there is a third element
most important, which is the word. In this passage, which belongs to a
tragedy, everything is therefore stylized, dramatized and metaphorized
in a certain sense:

2
 And covered baskets kept hidden the cut roots which she, the
woman, shouting and hooting was reaping with bronze sickels2.

Actually, what Sophocles means is that, when she cuts down the
plants, the woman cries out words that sound like an unintelligible
voice. But it is the other essential element of any religious action: ta
legómena, “what is said”, the epodé, the incantatio.
When Plato, in Laws 933a1 ff., dissects with the clarity that
characterizes him –and in a single page– the phenomenon of Magic, he
makes it very clear that in Magic there are two clearly differentiated
classes of phármaka: one operates with physical and natural objects
(«damages bodies with bodies according to nature»); and not being
supernatural, their deadly application is simply a form of homicide:
poisoning. The other kind refers to the gestural and verbal and acts
«through magical manipulations, incantations and binding»; but, in
fact, this one just tries to trick and «scare most people like children».
The same happens when they make certain objects, such as «wax
images, which they place at the door, at the crossroads or at the graves
of the ancestors».
But let us return to the witches. In Sophocles there is another
feature that is interesting to note for what it means in the development
of Magic and especially in its dialectical relationship to Religion. I am
referring to the presence of the goddess Hecate already syncretized
(another feature inseparable from Magic since its beginnings) with a
thessalian goddess called Enodia or "of the road"; a goddess to whom
sacrifices were made once a month at the crossroads of the roads.
Hecate, who is already the moon (if she wasn't always - but that's
another problem), is also Enodia when she comes down to earth, and,
as we know from other testimonies, so is Persephone who comes up
from Hades; and then it will be Artemis, if she hadn't already
syncretized in Sophocles' time, or was about to do so as her brother
Apollo did with Helios. The pharmakides ended up monopolizing this
multiform goddess as their patroness, especially the one who bore the
name of Hecate.
In fact, only 13 fragmentary verses of Sophocles inform us about
all this. And this alone: here the witches have as their domain purely

2
Cf. Fr. 534.4-7.

3
and simply the knowledge of the virtues of plants and their application
as pharmakídes –something that we could not even imagine with
Aristophanes' text, were it not for the fact that he calls her precisely
“pharmakís”. That is all. But, of course, there was only one step to
attributing to the pharmakides the descent of the moon-Hecate to the
roads. This is what we have seen in Aristophanes; Plato also alludes to
it as something potentially dangerous3, and the tragic poet of the fourth
century Sosiphanes goes further when he states in Fr.1 of his lost work
Meleager that «any little Thessalian girl is one who fallaciously brings
down the moon from the ether with her magical incantations»4.
The thessalian pharmakídes thus cleverly attributed to themselves
the ability to bring down their patroness –naturally during the new
moon phase, when she is not seen. Aristophanes uses it as a comic
motif, although not all citizens took it as a joke as seen by “The
Superstitious" in Theophrastus' Characteres who suspects in any
negative sign an «attack by Hecate» (Ἑκάτης ἐπαγωγή, 16.7). It is a
widespread literary tópos, as can be deduced from the testimonies
given, to the extent that the article in Suda, under “Thessalian women”,
states that men from Thessaly are slanderously identified with góetes
«and, to this day, the Thessalian women are called “pharmakídes”»5.
In any case, I do consider it important to point out that, in my opinion,
the interest of this does not lie so much in the καθαίρεσις itself, the
descent or disappearance of the moon –only credible to the simpleton–
but in the fact that it seems to be a metaphor for the extension of the
witches’ domain to an important territory: that of natural phenomena,
such as rain and drought, to which their name of pharmakides was in
principle completely alien.
Nevertheless, I would like to point out that the world of the
pharmakides is still closely linked, on the one hand, to the religious
world and, on the other, to the world of medicine. It is true that (1) it is
a marginal activity in every sense (it is practised by women and
foreigners as an “extra muros” activity) –in contrast to the “political”

3
Grg. 513a ff. The problem was that, according to the testimony of the Suda, women lost
their hands and feet if they were not able to make the moon go down. And Olympiodorus (In
Grg.39.2) adds even more terrible punishments: "if they were not capable... They would
completely lose themselves, their children, their husbands and their cities.
4
µάγοις ἐπῳδαῖς πᾶσα Θεσσαλὶς κόρη ψευδὴς σελήνης αἰθέρος καταιβάτις
5
Θετταλὴ γυνή:…διαβάλλονται γὰρ οἱ Θετταλοὶ ὡς γόητες· καὶ µέχρι καὶ νῦν
φαρµακίδες αἱ Θετταλαὶ καλοῦνται.

4
and official nature of Religion; (2) it is carried out in private –in contrast
to the public nature of religion; (3) it is carried out at night and in secret
–in contrast to the manifest, patent and daytime nature of religion. And
the same is true of official medicine, which is public and diurnal. But it
should not be forgotten that the activities are really the same –although
certainly more limited. In short, let us make it clear here that in its most
ancient manifestations, pharmakeía is nothing more than a marginal
(sometimes itinerant), degraded, and, above all, not admitted by the
establishment, form of medicine and religion. The proof is that in the
most ancient times they lived together comfortably. Of course, once the
polis had consolidated, they legislated against it, even if only under the
category of homicide. But even then, it continued to be (as it is today)
an alternative form of both in twilight situations of human life.
But let's go back to the issue of the Thessalonian witches. To begin
with, I suppose one could ask onerself: why Thessalian and not
Athenian or Spartan? Certainly there are those who think that the
presence of bronze in these rites and the relationship with lunar
goddesses, or with mother goddesses, could explain their geographical
location in an area, such as Thessaly, which was especially important
in the Mycenaean period, as shown by the location of the themes of the
Epic Cycle; and that we should go back to that period. Perhaps one
could go a little further back, to a tribal society in which men are hunters
and women collectors of roots whose properties they end up knowing.
This would explain, of course, why they are always women, although it
does not explain why they are precisely Thessalian. But the Greeks
themselves had their explanation: there is an aetiological myth that
explains this geographical location of the pharmakids par excellence.
The Suda dictionary itself informs us in the article cited that, according
to them (φασί), «Medea threw a basket full of pharmaka there when she
fled; and that they sprang up»6. It was inevitable that we would meet
again with Medea. And with myth and literature. In fact, what we have
deduced about the world of the pharmakides of flesh and blood we have
done from literary testimonies. But we must not forget that, after all, for
us Greece is, in no small measure, a world rescued from literature that
is sometimes presumably closer and other times more distant from an

6
Μήδεια φεύγουσα κίστην ἐξέβαλε φαρµάκων ἐκεῖ καὶ ἀνέφυσα.

5
expected historical reality. But what's more, in this interaction between
fiction (or myth, if you like) and reality, there have logically been
reciprocal influences. In a recent article, R. Gordon7 states that “the true
home of Magic is a body of narrative”. This may be an exaggerated
formulation, but it is not unwise to think that literature –fiction in
general– could have brought back to the world of pharmakides
exaggerated features which, in turn, had been lent to it by real Magic in
humbler clothing.
In short: in classical times, and even less so up to 300 BC, the death
of Alexander the Great, we do not have much evidence of magical
activity; true, but all agree in limiting it to the female world (especially
centred on the region of Thessaly) and in not separating it sharply either
from the religious medicine of the Asclepiades –or the profane
medicine of the Hippocratic school –or from religion, since it is
precisely a central goddess in the Greek pantheon, Hecate-Artemis-
Selene, the patron goddess of these activities. We can only intuit her
extension to a territory, which in principle is alien to her, such as that
of meteorological phenomena.
Besides the literary testimonies about the activities of the
pharmakís, there are others to which we must pay more attention, if
possible, although they no longer strictly allude to the pharmakides, but
to the pharmakeús [φαρμακεύς] in general (a word that undoubtedly
includes the magicians of both sexes). These are important testimonies,
above all because they are not strictly literary: I am referring to De
Morbo Sacro by Ps.-Hipocrates and to Plato's Republic. Although they
are not objective either, since they are controversial writings against
certain groups of characters who are called "magicians", "beggars",
"tricksters". We cannot logically evaluate the impact that these
characters may have caused in Greece in the 5th-4th centuries, but it
should not have been insignificant given the harshness with which
Hippocrates and Plato judged them. However, they did not have enough
luster to be used in literature.
Plato identifies them (malevolently, it seems) with members of the
Orphic sect; but they may be priests of foreign cults, such as the Syrian
goddess, and others. And basically, they are accused of having the

7
"Imagining Greek and Roman Magic", in B. Ankarloo-S. Clark, Witchcraft and Magic
in Europe, Philadelphia, 1999, pp. 159-276.

6
power to dominate the gods, to manipulate weather phenomena at will,
to cure diseases, to purify families and entire cities, and even, of course,
to resurrect the dead. They are described as atheists –since they attack
the official religion; and as fakers –since they attack serious medical
science or prescribe common sense recipes, such as not eating food that
is difficult to digest and so on. These writings to which I refer belong
more or less to the 400 BC and even later, which shows that by then
ideas, beliefs and practices strange to the traditional Greek religion were
entering. And this was something that the representatives of science and
politics did not like at all. But no doubt they are the prelude of what was
coming and is part of the conglomerate of beliefs and practices that will
be shaped during the Hellenistic period when a universal syncretism
with the eastern world politically and culturally dominated by Greece
will take place.
But it is more. If we go back a century, we have even more
disconcerting testimonies about the existence of individuals, in this case
men, to whom the name of theios anér is usually given, who are
attributed all those powers. These include even the mythical Orpheus
and Musaeus; historical ones are Epimenides of Crete and Pherecides
of Syros. Some are as well-known –and their presence within this group
is unexpected as is the case of Empedocles of Agrigentum, the
philosopher who introduced, among other things, the theory of the four
elements which was universally accepted. And yet, in one of his
fragments (Fr. 112), which has been considered spurious, but whose
authenticity has been clearly demonstrated by P. Kingsley8,
Empedocles presents himself as a superior being, as the wizards will
later do:
O friends, who dwell near the acropolis, in the great city of the
golden Acragas, careful of good deeds, respectful of foreigners,
ignorant of evil, health. I walk among you all as an immortal god,
no longer mortal, honored as I deserve, with my head girded with
bandelets and flowery crowns. When, with my followers, men and
women, I enter the prosperous cities, divine honors are paid to me;
they follow me in countless numbers asking me about the path of
profit: some seek divination and others, afflicted for a long time by
atrocious pains, wish to hear the word that cures all kinds of
illnesses.

8
Cf. Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic… (1995).

7
 And in Fr. 111 he presents himself as a "magician" describing his
powers at the moment of their transmission to a disciple:
You will know all the drugs that are remedies for the evils
and the old age since only you will be entrusted with them all.
You will hold back the fury of the tireless winds that rage on earth
and scorch the farmlands with their blows; and again,
if you will, you will draw back the winds.
From the dark rain you will create for men a timely drought and
also, after the summer drought, you will establish the water currents that
feed the trees and those that settle in the ether.
And you will drive from Hades the vigor of a dead man.

It cannot be ruled out that the ideas and practices of these characters
have indirectly influenced the world of Thessalian pharmakís, but their
consideration exceeds the limits of this work. To conclude the chapter
on witches, we must consider the further development of the figure of
the pharmakís until it forms the final image we have of her, which will
go on to the Middle Ages and even to the Enlightenment. This
development occurs, above all, in the sense of extending its power
almost indefinitely, even to the field –and this is important– of
knowledge of the future or divination. Moreover, especially in first
century Roman literature by poets like Horace, Virgil and Lucanus
(perhaps for propaganda reasons, as G. Luck points out9, with a view to
an imminent legislation against Magic) - the pharmakís is described
with some repugnant physical traits, beginning with those of his own
patron Hecate: Horace's Canidia goes «with the hair intertwined with
little snakes»10. And, naturally, it will be presented by staging all kinds
of atrocities and crimes –generally at night and particularly in
cemeteries where it steals various members of corpses, especially of
young people or the recently dead. The elements that these sinister
characters are going to use are no longer phármaka, but vegetables,
minerals and all kinds of animals and corpses; therefore, it will no
longer be a pharmakís, although it is still called that because of inertia.
She will be a witch.

9
Cf. Arcana mundi (1985), p.X.
10
Cf Epod.V 15-16: brevibus inplicata viperis crines.

8
 The most celebrated literary representative of this species is in
Pharsalia of Lucanus (6.419-569) and her name is Erictó. She is
consulted by Pompey's son to know the result of the battle fought on
Thessalian soil between Julius Caesar and Pompey. But Lucanus
already knows a lot. He undoubtedly knows writings, similar to those
preserved in the Magical Papyri (PGM), where the magician can do
anything, even altering the course of nature: breaking rocks, freezing
the sea, reversing the course of the stars. And he masters the very gods
that allow themselves to be subdued by some secret pact, says the poet,
or because they have no other choice. But Lucanus is not, in spite of
this, the best testimony: he attributes to the pharmakides the powers of
the magicians (Thessala quin etiam tellus herbasque nocentes rupibus
ingenuit sensuraque saxa canentes arcanum ferale magos...)11. And he
exaggerates too much to dramatically enhance the highlight of his story.
Perhaps more interesting to complete the picture of the pharmakís
is the work of Apuleius from Madaura. He is an author of great
importance because he illustrates exceptionally well the time when it is
highly probable that the change to which we have been alluding has
taken place. It belongs to the 2nd century A.D. and of his only
remaining works (Apology and Metamorphosis or The Golden Ass), the
latter has been decisive in the transmission to the West of the world of
beliefs of Hadrian's time –and especially of the character of the
Thessalian witch. As for the importance of Apology, it is shown by the
simple fact that its edition and commentary, made by A. Abt12,
inaugurated the research on Magic in the 20th century. Apuleius was
African, like St. Augustine, who quotes him frequently; his home town,
Madauros, was right on the border where the Greek influence of Egypt
ended and the Roman West began. His native language was, therefore,
Latin, but his education was Greek: he studied in Athens, where he
became a Platonic philosopher, and he traveled all over the East, in his
own words, to investigate precisely about Magic. His work clearly
shows that Apuleius knew first hand the characters, writings and actions
that reveal to us in a somewhat blurred way the magical papyri.
His two works complement each other: in the Apology he has to
defend himself from the accusation of acts of Magic in order to obtain

11
Cf. Vv. 438-40.
12
Die Apologie von Apuleius von Madaura und die antike Zauberei (1908).

9
the hand of the wealthy widow Pudentilla –activities that were severely
punished as a crime of Magic and that had recently been incorporated
into the Lex Cornelia13. Of course, he convincingly refutes the
circumstantial evidence his accusers present against him: use of fish for
magical purposes, use of an epileptic slave as a medium, possession of
a statue of Hermes. But as a good Platonic philosopher, he knows
Plato's ideas on the subject and through his easy mastery of dialectics
he proves that Magic is either harmless or a kind of priesthood:
For if, as I read many authors, in the language of the Persians
“magician” means the same as “priest” in ours, what crime is there, after
all, in being a priest and, consequently, in being aware of the rites and
being an expert in what concerns religious ceremonies, the regulation
of sacred worship and divine law? This is what Magic is all about, if it
is really as Plato understood it when he explained what teaching the
Persians inculcate in the young man destined for the throne14.

This is a very intelligent twisting of the argument. For our

knowledge of the Thessalian witch, however, it is more interesting his
novel that he himself calls “Greek”: it is a kind of travel novel –that
sub-genre inaugurated by the Odyssey– about a character named Lucius
who, having gone to Thessaly to learn about Magic directly, is turned
into an ass by a badly performed practice by the maid of a pharmakís.
As an ass, Lucius lives a series of adventures until he manages, after
invoking the goddess Isis, to recover his human form. And he becomes
a faithful follower of this religion that was already firmly established
throughout the empire. By the way, Isis was also syncretized with
Selene as a lunar goddess and, therefore, the patron saint of magicians.
Well, in the adventures of Lucius as an ass, practically all the characters
that at that time had to do with Magic appear: an Egyptian appears –his
head completely shaved and wearing papyrus sandals– who addresses
the same prayers to the sun as the magicians of the magical papyri. A
Chaldean appears who does what the Chaldeans were supposed to do,
that is, he guesses future events through the stars, an astrologer. There
is also a band of priests of the Syrian goddess Atargatis –degenerate

13
The Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis, from the time of Sila (82 BC), covered
specifically numerous cases in relation to magic: poisoning, ungodly sacrifices, etc.
14
Cf. Apol.25. 25-31: Nam si, quod ego apud plurimos lego, Persarum lingua magus est
qui nostra sacerdos, quod tandem est crimen, sacerdotem esse et rite nosse atque scire atque
callere leges cerimoniarum, fas sacrorum, ius religionum, si quidem magia id est quod Plato
interpretatur, cum commemorat, quibusnam disciplinis puerum regno adulescentem Persae
imbuant.

10
characters who carry an image of the goddess on the back of Lucius,
whom they have bought. The function of this troop is more like that of
itinerant puppeteers; and they are the most picturesque, degraded and
pathetic part of what was considered "magic" as a marginal and
outlandish religion.
But what interests our argument most is the image it presents of the
pharmakís Pamphile - the mistress of the slave Photis who plays the
sorcerer's apprentice with Lucius by turning him into a donkey. The last
feature missing from the Thessalian to become a witch is self-
transformation, the power to become something else. It is true that in
the Odyssey, Circe already transforms the heroe´s companions into pigs
(or Athena, successively converting Odysseus into an old and a young
man). And naturally we have already seen that of Lucius himself in
donkey. But the ultimate transformism is, so to say, a triple mortal
jump. It consists of turning oneself into a bird –naturally with the
intention of being able to fly, or rather, of generally breaking the
coordinates of space and time that imprison all humans in this world.
But this constitutes a terrible act of hybris, since it is something reserved
for the gods: in the first Book of Odyssey Athena becomes precisely a
bird. Then, in the Middle Ages, witches are able to fly on a broom –but
the broom issue is secondary and apparently has erotic motivations that
are not at all fanciful. The pharmakís Pamphila, therefore, transforms
into a bird and flies (III 21 ff.):
Pamphile begins by undressing completely; then she opens
a chest and from there she takes out a few boxes; she uncovers
one, and with the ointment it contains she rubs herself for a long
time with both hands, smearing her whole body from her toenails
to her crown; she speaks with her lamp very carefully in a low
voice; she shakes her limbs slightly. And, after an imperceptible
wavy movement, she points to a soft fuzz that develops instantly
and turns into strong feathers; her nose curves and hardens; her
nails become powerful claws. Pamphile is already a bean. She
makes a painful cawing sound and, to check her new state, she
starts to flutter progressively; then she throws herself out, gains
height and disappears in mid-flight. Thus, by virtue of her
magical artifices, Pamphila had metamorphosed freely".

11
 II. THE GRECO-EGYPTIAN MAGICIANS

Well, I have already pointed out that a change began to take place
from the third century B.C. in the conception of Magic and also of
Religion. It is true that we cannot know the details of this evolution. We
lack testimonies. Of course, the Pharmakides of the Second Idyll of
Theocritus do not differ at all from the Thessalian ones. But authors like
Lucanus and Apuleius provide evidence or at least indications that by
the middle of the second century A.D. this change was practically
complete. Nevertheless, Apuleius is for us an orator and a narrator: his
works continue to use Magic almost as Homer did –as the element of
the "wonderful"– or as or did the Greek playwrights and Latin poets: as
a dramatic element.
However, we still have direct evidence of the very complex reality
of Magic that we could barely glimpse in Apuleius. They refer, of
course, to Hellenized Egypt which was at that time the centre of the
civilized world, but they are easily extrapolated given the unity of
Hellenistic culture whose fundamental ferment we must never forget
was Greek. Among these direct proofs we must first of all allude to the
neo-Platonic philosophers Porphyry, Iamblichus or Proclus15; then we
have the extensive Corpus Hermeticum16 to which Orphic or pseudo-
Orphic writings of various origin and value can be added; and, finally,
we have the Papyri Graecae Magicae [PGM]17. I must warn that this
material is later than the third century, but everything points to the fact
that it reflects a rather earlier situation.
I am not going to expand on the Hermetic and Orphic element. It's
a long and complex subject. On the other hand, I am going to refer to
Neoplatonism, even briefly, to emphasize that, just as the witches in
their last stage represent a degraded form of Magic, Neoplatonism
develops a sublimated form of it, to which they gave the name of
Theurgy, that is, “manipulation of the gods”. In reality, it is a trick way
of reaching the mystical ideal that Plotinus had outlined in his

15
Iamblichus in De Misteriis, Porphiriu mainly in De Philosophia ex Oraculis
haurienda... And Proclus in Commentaria ad Cratylum and ad Rempublicam; and especially in
De Sacrificio et Magia and Eclogae dePhilosophia Chaldaica.
16
The universally accepted scientific edition and translation is that of. A.D. Nock-A.J.
Festugière, Corpus Hermeticum, 4 vols., Paris, 2002.
17
Published by K. Preisendanz- and translated by H.D. Betz (ed.), The Greek Magical
Papyri in Translation, 1986) and by J.L. Calvo Martinez-M.D. Sánchez, Textos Mágicos en
Papiros Griegos (1987).

12
Aeneads18: the union with the divinity through the renunciation of
everything corporeal and carnal (let us not forget that Plotinus
confessed to be ashamed of having a body). An ideal that demands a
difficult and arduous asceticism for the majority. But there was a
Chaldean, astute as a good Chaldean, who was called Julianus and who
found the philosopher's stone to achieve this end: Theurgy19. It achieves
the familiar communication with divinity in a quick and easy way
through symbols and magical formulae:
It is not the thought that unites the theurgists with the gods,
because, then, what would prevent the philosophers from reaching the
theurgical union with the gods? But the truth is another: it is the
mystical realization of ineffable actions ... and the power of inexplicable
symbols, which are known only by the gods, that produces theurgical
union20.

But unfortunately, what started as a serious attempt of unio

mystica, ended up becoming a set of operations of illusionism and
deception with images of gods, especially Hecate, whose images speak
or throw fire. Emperor Julian joined in this farce, although there are
those who think that he never lacked good faith.
The Christian apologist Eusebius tries to unmask the traps of the
Theurgists21:
Moreover, the places also contribute greatly; they become
instruments which the sorcerers have used for their art. They also
benefit from all kinds of outside assistance to bring their fraud to life,
such as their assistants, who welcome visitors with great interest and
find out what concerns them and what they want to know. The sacred
place inside and the rooms inside the temple, which are not accessible
to the public, also hide many secrets. The darkness surely helps them in
their deceptive plan, and the state of expectation, the fear that visitors
experience when they think they are approaching the gods, and all the
religious prejudices they have inherited from their ancestors.

In short, our best testimony is the one of PGM. Most of them

belong to the fourth century A.D., although, due to the conservatism of
religion in general, the material they contain can easily be traced back

18
Cf. 4.4.2 εἰς ἕνωσιν ἐλθεῖν τῷ νῷ ἀνάγκη.
19
The best source on Theurgy are the works of Iamblichus and Proclus cited in note 15,
as well as the information offered by M. Psellus in all his work collected and edited by E. des
Places (1996). See also H. Lewy (1978).
20
Cf. Iambl. Myst. II 11.
21
Cf. Praeparatio Evangelica IV 1, 6- 9.

13
to two centuries earlier. Its content is multiform in origin and nature,
but on the other hand it is uniform in terms of the fundamental ideas on
which it is based.
Let us begin by saying that there are no longer any; there is only
one recipe against the headache of the Thessalian witches Syra and
Philinna –suspicious names, of course: the former simply indicates her
Syrian origin, and the latter might be the Thessalian witch who seduced
Philip of Macedonia. The agents of magic referred to, and the authors
of the papyri themselves, are called 'magicians' and their activity
'Magic'. This is undoubtedly an attempt to dignify their activity (let us
remember Apuleius), since the word μάγος –which designated a Persian
priestly tribe of great prestige–was never applied to the pharmakeis22.
It is true that exceptionally it was used together with the term góēs and
epōidós as an insult in the sense of cheat and trickster. Ιn Sophocles the
first use in this sense appears in Oedypus Tyrannus (v.387) referring to
Tiresias; and then, sometimes in the Orators. But in one way or another,
the name he remained linked to the magicians of Persia. Aristotle and
Plato, for example, only know the term in that sense23.
But let's continue with the magical Papyri. What do we know about
the characters that hide behind these papyri? From what is said, and
above all, from what can be deduced from them, they are men of Greek
culture and language, although in not a few cases possibly of mixed
race; they are learned men because they know how to write (and they
do so in “hieratic”, that is, priestly papyri) and they possess a magical
and religious literature to which they sometimes allude and/or quote.
They know the Hebrew, Babylonian and Persian writings. They
undoubtedly have copies of hymnals in hexameters from the different
sanctuaries of Apollo, as they usually incorporate hymns to this god;
and they also demonstrate the existence of a vast corpus of magical
literature in verse in relation to the lunar or infernal Greek goddesses
that they know well and use in evil practices. Moreover, magical
writings are often exchanged by the magicians; they refer to the place
where they were found; they are buried with their papyri. And, very

22
Cf. Heródoto 1.101, 107, et.
23
One work, titled Magikós, is attributed to Aristotle, although in ancient times his
authorship was doubted about; others assign it to Antisthenes. Plato only uses the word
Magicians to refer to Persian Gobrias (Ax. 371).

14
importantly, they reveal the existence of a transmission of writings,
formulas and praxeis: sometimes “from fathers to sons”, although this
can be misleading and refer, as other indications, to a close community
of priests possibly linked to certain Egyptian temples. M. Dickie has
maintained24 the idea that to a large extent the papyri containing
magical material, especially recipes, are ultimately derived from
translations into Aramaic of texts originally written in Akkadian
hieroglyphics that can be traced back as far as the 8th century BCE25.
Later on, they would be translated into Greek and, through characters
such as Bolus of Mendes, a Hellenized Egyptian known indirectly for
his works on the properties of minerals and plants, they would pass from
one side to compilers such as Pliny the Elder, and, on the other, to the
magical papyri of private citizens. This is what a Recipe for making a
woman confess in her sleep, found on an Akkadian tablet, in Pliny26 and
in Magic Papyrus VII27 would suggest.
This theory, attractive as it is, is in my opinion somewhat narrow;
and the ultimate relationship, which M. Dickie establishes, of the Greek
translations with neo-pythagorean circles, is inadmissible and
simplifying. It should not be forgotten in any case that the collection of
Papyri Magicae published by Preisendanz does not present more unity
than the binding lends it28. Most of them come from different characters
and places and, although they are unique writings, they were probably
part of different collections of similar works. What I do think Dickie is
right is to think that, among the owners of the PGM, one must clearly
distinguish those who work as magicians from those who are simple

24
“The learned magician and the collection and transmission of magical lore”, in D.
Jordan-H. Montgomery-E. Thomassen, The world of ancient Magic, p. 163-195.
25
Cf. KAR 61 (VIII BC): “SAL sudbubu to make a woman talk”. The procedure consists
of wrapping the tongue of a bat in wool and putting it under the head of a woman whose love
is intended to recover, a woman attracted by other men “to whom she has looked at the penis”.
Cf. R.D. Biggs, Sza3. Zi. Ga: Ancient Mesopotamian Potency Incantations. Vol. 2, “Texts from
cuneiform sources”, Locust Valley, 1967.
26
Cf. Plin.NH 29.81 (I BC) «And I will not overlook, in relation to this bird (the owl),
an example of the fallacy of the magicians. They say that, among many other falsehoods, its
heart, placed on the right breast of a sleeping woman, makes her say aloud all her secrets».
27
Cf. PGM VII 411 (III-IV AD). Formula for making people talk at night (Nyktolálema).
Take the heart of a hoopoe, pour it into myrrh, and write on a sheet of hieratic papyrus the
names and signs; then wrap her heart in the sheet and place it over her sex, and ask her. And
she will confess everything to you [magical words and signs].
28
The papyri come mostly from different characters and places and although they are
unique writings, they were probably part of different collections of similar works. What I do
think Dick is right is to think that, among the owners of the magical papyri, one must clearly
distinguish those who practiced as Magicians from those who were simple collectors of these
writings. Here I refer, of course, only to those who practice magic.

15
collectors of these writings. We refer, of course, only to those who
practice Magic.
But, in short, regardless of the origin of these writings, everything
induces us to think that this Magic –if it is not a degenerate form of
religion, as some people think– at least tries to be confused with it; it is
equated with it; and it is even considered superior and more effective
than it. One of the more pragmatic differences between the two is that
priests receive official income from the state, while these magicians
receive fees for their services possibly from families or powerful
people, as in the case of the emperor Hadrian with the prestigious
Egyptian magician Pancrates29.
Of course, one should not rule out the vendors of cheap papyrus
leaves with magic recipes on the street or in the public square. In any
case it is not a marginal activity and legally persecuted as such - at least
in Egypt. It is not always done at night (sometimes it is), but in front of
the sun because it is mostly heliacal; on the other hand, it is done in
secret and for individuals: that is why, and only because of that, it is
Magic and not Religion.

This, as far as the characters are concerned. More important,

though, is that which refers to the very substance of this kind of Magic.
Let's see:
1) An indispensable condition of all magic is the possibility to act
at a distance (actio in distans). But while in the most primitive magic
this is based simply on the a priori principles of the efficacy of contact
and analogy, in the magic of Greco-Roman Egypt it is based on a belief
that originates in Stoic philosophy. According to this, the Universe is a
living being whose parts are related by means of a dynamis that is
transmitted in chains (seiraí) which originate in the stars and reach all
the objects in the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms. The
magician knows these chains, as demonstrated by the magical papyri30:
Come to me from the four winds ofthe world, air-transversing,
great god. Hear me in every ritual which [I perform], and grant all the
[petitions] of my prayer completely, because I know your signs,
[symbols and] forms, who you are each hour and what your name is."
"In the first hour you have the form and character of a young
monkey; [the tree] you produce is the silver fir; the stone, the aphanos;
the bird . . . your namc is PHROUER.

29
Cf. P IV 1444.
30
Cf. P III 494 ff.

16
 ''In the second hour you have the form of a unicorn; the trcc you
produce is the persea; the stone, the pottery stone;'" the bird, the
halouchakon on land, the ichneumon; your name is BAZETOPHOTH.
"In the third hour you have the form of a cat; the tree you produce
is the fig tree; the stone, the samouchos; the bird, the parrot; on land,
the frog; your name is AKKAMMACHAMAKEI [and so on, until the 12
hour] ....
"I have spoken your signs and symbols. Therefore, lord, do the
NN deed by necessity, lest I shake heaven. [Trad. W.C.Grese and
E.N.O´Neil]

The activity of the magician is, therefore, "scientific". Or rather, he

pretends it to be, because he supplants the true science that was
exhausted in Greece with the great works of Aristotle.

2) If the first face, or mask, of the magician is that of the scientist,

the second is that of the priest. The magician proudly calls himself
magos, but also hiereús, mystagōgós (initiator), etc... And he is partly
right. Because he is continually invoking the gods. First, the supreme
god, Hypsistos, unnamed and unnameable god –although the magician
confesses to knowing his name which he does not usually write, of
course: he refers to it as «the name of 100 or 300 letters». And according
to the mystique of the name, by knowing it, he masters it; and by
mastering the name, he holds in his hands the god himself. And he
supplants him when he wants to in front of the demons and the souls of
the dead. And even before the very god with whom he comes to
identify: «I am you and you are me», the magician often says31.
Then he invokes, above all, Helios. But, of course, Helios is Apollo
and Osiris and Horus and Yahweh (Iao) and Baal and Mithras. He even
sometimes confuses these with the supreme and creator god. The
confusion lies in the Gnostic belief that the creator is an instrument of
the supreme god.
And then, the goddesses. The one we already know through the
witches, Hecate, who has already syncretized with all: Persephone, Isis,
Ereshkygal. The magician also uses them for maleficent and nocturnal
rites; although for these he also uses the sun, since at night it travels
through Hades and the regions of the shadows.

31
Cf. this same phrase in P VIII 50. Many other times the magician simply says "I am
god X" or "I am the one who made X", or "I am the one who can make X". The theological
implications of this assertion have been studied especially with regard to the Gospel texts. See
E. Schweitzer, Ego Eimi, Die religiongeschichtliche Herkunft un theologische Bedeutung der
johanneischen Bildreden, zugleich ein Beitrag zur Quellenfrage des vierten Evangeliums,
Göttingen, 1939.

17
 From what I have just said, we can understand the existence of
fundamental features coming from the world of late Hellenistic beliefs,
which are presented together in a vague way, of course, under the name
of "Late Syncretism". These features are the following:
(1) First, a reductionist pan-syncretism, typical of the Greek
mentality, which discovers the identity of a god under multiple
denominations, and which naturally originates in a tendency towards
monotheism that was already ancient: it goes back to Plato, Aristotle
and Stoicism, not to mention to Xenophanes of Colophon.
(2) It presupposes a religion that is already basically astral. It is
obvious that the Olympian Gods were too close and too “human”. It
was always difficult to found on the Olympians a personal and intimate
religion; and, naturally, once the classic polis disappeared, they did not
either serve as a basis for the State religion. So, they were turned into
stars, that is the planets, as well as Helios and Selene. This trend is also
old, as can be seen in the case of Helios, which dates back at least to the
fourth century. Zeus, Cronus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Ares, apart from
Helios and Selene, were the most important gods from now on. Magic,
then, also becomes astrology.
(3) In third place are the Demons to which I have already alluded.
What Plato devised with the figure of Eros for epistemological purposes
–a being of mixed nature and mediating function between gods and
men– is immediately converted, by merging with similar figures from
Persia and the Hebrew world (devas and angels respectively), into an
army of superior (stars), intermediate (lunar), terrestrial, and inferior
demons that end up being confused with the souls. The magician, as I
have already pointed out, dominates them, gives them imperious orders
and takes advantage of them for all sorts of purposes.
But what are, concretely, the ends of this Magic that appears to us
so peculiar and complex? To finish this quick sketch, we only have to
discover what purposes the Magician seeks and see, in this way also,
how they differ from those of the Thessalian Pharmakís.
The first thing we notice is that divination practices predominate
by far. It is probably another attempt to approach the official religion
that has its augurs and manteis. This factor was, in principle, rather alien
to the activity of the pharmakides, of the root-cutters. It's true that in
Apuleius and Latin poetry, they do use procedures, generally

18
disgusting, with corpses, to know the future. But by then, Eastern Greek
Magic was very well known and the pharmakís did nothing more than
borrow from the magicians this activity that is central to them. But in
addition, in their incursion into the world of mysticism, they logically
practice that which is most dramatic and repugnant: necromancy. And
that there was already an exploited literary theme, can be seen in book
XI of the Odyssey, the “Nekuya”.
In the case of the magicians, on the other hand, it is important to
point out that the mystical activity is central. The magician tries, above
all, to acquire knowledge: hence the weight and meaning of the concept
of gnosis in all the philosophical-religious literature of the time. And
the knowledge that the magician seeks is not only related to the future:
he also wants to know about the past and the present –like Calchas in
Iliad I 70: ὃς ᾔδη τά τ' ἐόντα τά τ' ἐσσόμενα πρό τ' ἐόντα. To do this,
he tries to make direct contact with Helios –hence the praxeis of
solarization on the terrace of his house; or of communion, generally
through ingestion, of the dynamis of divinity found in the objects
belonging to his chain of influence (e.g. P I: a cat in Helios´ chain). Or
he tries to obtain, either through Helios, or directly, the collaboration of
a demon. There are also direct visions in water (hydromancy), in
mirrors (catoptromancy) or in the flame of a lamp (lycnomancy). And
through a boy acting as a medium, as we also saw in Apuleius. At the
most innocent end are those of oniromancy (revelation in dreams after
ingesting you know what) being the most sinister those of necromancy.
Apart from this purpose, which we have already pointed out as a
priority, it is evident that the magician can look for any other
–especially if he has the collaboration of a demon advisor (páredros)
who is like the genius of Aladdin. In fact, there are passages that seem
more taken from a story or from the One Thousand and one Nights than
being part of a serious writing32. In order to have a quite accurate vision

32
Cf. PGM I 96-133 ff.: This is the sacred rite for acquiring an assistant.
It is acknowledged that he is a god; he is an aerial spirit which you have seen. If
you give him a command, straightway he performs the task: he sends dreams, he
brings women, men without the use of magical material, he kills, he destroys, he
stirs up winds from the earth, he carries gold, silver, bronze, and he gives them to
you whenever the need arises. And he frees from bonds a person chained in prison,
he opens doors, he causes invisibility so that no one can see you at all, he is a
bringer of fire, he brings water, wine, bread and [whatever] you wish in the way
of foods… but as for pork, you must not ever tell him to bring this at all! And
when you want to give a [dinner], tell him so…At once he will bestow chambcrs

19
of this kind of Magic would be a good thing to read, for example, the
papyrus VII which is like a magician's manual: there we find formulas
and recipes of all kinds: to avoid bugs and fleas; also humorous recipes
attributed to Democritus, like one that serves to make “bronze look like
gold”; to obtain luck and victory; to prevent sleep. There we have all
kind of filters, amulets and, above all, love spells. It is here that the
world of the pharmakís and the world of the magician converge. But
only here. The world of the latter has a spiritualistic and pseudo-
scientific aspect that will always be alien to that of the former.
Magicians perform magical practices at night and in private, but
divinatory practices are usually done in full sunlight. That is, perhaps,
what made the word magician to keep some positive connotations that
it still keeps today.

with golden ceilings, and you will see their walls covered with marble -and you
consider these things partly real l and partly just illusionary- … he will serve you
suitably for whatever you have in mind, O [blessed] initiate of the sacred magic,
and will accomplish it for you, this most powerful assistant, who is also the only
lord of the air. And the gods will agree to everything,

20
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22