Janica Buhagiar 1

Christopher Partridge’s The Occult World (2016)

Esoteric topic: The Papyri Graecae Magicae

Janica Buhagiar

The Papyri Graecae Magicae (PGM) form part of the ancient esoteric tradition of the

Hellenistic and Late Antique Mediterranean culture that is concerned with the “mediation of

some kind of absolute knowledge via a dialectic of secrecy, concealment, and revelation”

(Partridge 17). Hanegraaff states ‘Western esotericism’ is a modern scholarly construct, not

an autonomous tradition that already existed” to be discovered (Hanegraaff 3). Overtime

academics acknowledged the structural similarities that exist between the ideas and

worldviews of a wide variety of thinkers and texts such as the PGM. This extraordinary

collection of magical texts spans hundreds of years, several cultures and religious systems,

several languages, hundreds of spells, incantations, binding rituals (defixiones), love

potions, and many forms of divination. (Hanegraaff et al 62-64). These texts reflect the

multi-cultural world in which they thrived in, which despite their different beliefs, all held

common esoteric ideas; Gnosticism, Christian mysticism, as well as the more ancient

Greco-Roman and Egyptian mystery cults. While later discourse further defined,

marginalised and excluded esoteric thought to fit into the confines of the mainstream

ideology, ancient esoteric traditions occupied central, respected and publicly acknowledged

places in ancient life; ancient people's beliefs and practices were “identical with some form

of magic” (Betz xli). The clear distinctions made today between approved or disapproved

religious doctrine did not exist in antiquity.

The PGM date from the 100s BCE to the 400s CE; these are esoteric because they are a

collection of ancient magical texts which include spells and rituals for a variety of needs,
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such as divination, and warding off evil spirits or curses. The name 'Greek magical papyri'

is misleading; these magical papyri represent a collection of texts of diverse origin and

nature (Betz, xli). Since the material comes from Greco-Roman Egypt, it reflects an

amazingly broad religious and cultural pluralism. In some cases, the Egyptian element is

modified by Hellenistic and Roman religious concepts. The texts were largely written in

Greek but there are sections written in old Coptic. These demotic texts may have originated

from an Egyptian temple and they represent a more indigenously Egyptian magical tradition

(Hanegraaff et al 722).

Being part of the Hellenistic and Late Antique Mediterranean culture, I feel that compared to

other, subsequent esoteric traditions, the PGM were not as rejected within traditional

scholarship as other beliefs because they were discovered in the 19th century.i The greatest

collection of the PGM was recovered from Thebes known by the ambassador, merchant

adventurer, and antiquarian Giovanni Anastasi sometime around 1827 (Betz xliv). It is not

clear where these documents were found, but the going theory is that one set of them was

recovered from a local grave, while another was likely from a ruined temple library. The

texts were broken up and sold to several of the major museums and libraries throughout the

world, only to be re-edited together with numerous similar texts in the early 20th century.

The term ‘Traditional scholarship’ needs to be defined; generally, it refers to pre-

Enlightenment scholarship, reflecting Christianity’s hegemonic position in Western

societies before the dramatic paradigm shifts of the 19th century (Von Stuckrad 1368). For

centuries, Christian writers developed the idea of what constitutes as esoteric, or magic and

whether it was heresy or not. Subsequently, Christianity dominated the education institution

and what is to be taught and how things are to be defined through the Christian canon.
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St Augustine's treatment of magic is severe; in his La ciudad de Dios (AD 426) and De

divinatione daemonum (406 and 410 AD) he declares goeita as harmful, dark magic while

he does not distinguish between theurga (divine magic) as being distinct as did other

Classical Neoplatonic writers such as Iamblichus and Porphyry (Partridge 383). As one of

the founding fathers of the Christian church, Augustine was instrumental in teaching

Christians that there is no fundamental distinction between them. Isidore of Seville’s (c.560

- 4 April 636) Etymologiae follows Augustine in how he believes that “this foolery of the

magic arts held sway over the entire world for many centuries through the instruction of the

evil angels”( Barney 181); his analysis provided the landscape and tenure to the

qualification of magic in the late Middle Ages which was copied by many scholastics such

as Peter Abelard and Hugh of Saint-Victor. The French theologian and bishop, William of

Auvergne (1180/90–1249) (Hanegraaff et al 1174) quotes from a wide variety of texts to

discover the truth about magic such as Plato, Aristotle and Hermes Trismegistus which

William delivers with necromantic tones, further reinforcing the idea that ancient texts are

evil (through the Christian interpretation). Most of Thomas Aquinas’ (1225-1274)

comments on magic can be found in his Summa and in his Summa contra Gentiles

(Hanegraaff et al 276) which acknowledged a wide variety of occult forces in nature that

can be manipulated for the interests of human beings; a characteristic present in the PGM.

Through these key Christian definitions of magic, it is most likely that the papyri would

have been rejected as trivial yet heretic ramblings, or worse still, destroyed.

Since the PGM were discovered in the 19th century, they escaped the scrutiny, interpretation

and possibly eradication from Christian writers. Books of magic are among the most

persecuted text types in history. The magician or witch is someone hovering between a

human being and a God; thus if we cannot trust the gods, how much less can we trust a

person with such power? Such people represented a direct threat to the establishment,
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religious or otherwise. It is therefore understandable why the persecution of magical books

has a long history, stretching back to the early civilisations. Suetonius (69 CE—died after

122) wrote that Augustus Caesar had twenty magical texts destroyed by fire (Hanegraaff et

al 722) and Acts 19:19 foreshadows the fires of the Inquisition when Paul had his effusion

converts burn their magical books.

Given this reality, the fact that the PGM survived is extraordinary and if they were discovered

earlier, they would have been regarded with suspicion, or at best, they would have been

neglected. However, since these papyri were discovered in the 19th century, the historical

approach to these ancient texts followed modern scholarship. The witch trials all across the

world came to an end by the end of the 18th century. However, the social role of witchcraft

in European communities from the late 1800s to the present day reflects the importance of

witchcraft and magic as themes debated among intellectuals (Von Stuckrad 1365). Yet

during this time, the magic that was discussed stemmed from the Medieval period onwards;

older magic, like the ones presented in the PGM, does seem to be the main focus, but rather

there was a revaluation of more recent witchcraft beliefs and practices, as well as an

endeavour to understand the geographical differences of such practices.ii

Esotericism was thus remerging in a secular world with a profound change in worldview.

Rationalism further moved away from the earlier religious scriptures while secularisation

supported emerging scientific fields such as anthropology (Bengt & Stuart 274). As such,

the PGM (and other archaeological artefacts) were handled differently; they were treated as

a social record of a culture and human life. Rather than being seen as a possible threat to the

current worldview and its institutions as they were in the Middle Ages, the modern age saw

different beliefs as didactic which needed to be exposed to if not incorporated into the

contemporary worldview (Partridge 382).

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The PGM deserves further studies because they represent a cross-section of not only the

magical ideas of the ancient world but a cross-section of one of the most dynamic and

complex periods in Western civilization. These texts highlight how ancient institutions,

such as religion and economy, were shaped and developed through the practice and belief in

magic. The magical scope of the PGM is simply enormous. The majority of the spells, like

many magical manuals, are erotic binding spells or love spells. Other spells include medical

magic, numerous protective amulets, methods of divination, resurrecting the dead,

exorcisms, divine invocations, along with numerous illustrations, magical words and

characters. As such the PGM are an intimate snapshot of antiquity; an anthropological

record that reflects the preoccupations, fears and desires of these people, including their

humanity, as well as its darker side.

Beyond their magical and anthropological value, the multicultural influences are obvious. The

composers of these texts were likely educated and therefore had literate knowledge about

religious mythologies and practices which they integrated into the mercantile world of Late

Antiquity. More than anything else, these texts are marked by their syncretism or the

tendency to combine and permit religious and cultural systems into a rather unified magical

practice. The PGM freely invoke Egyptian, Greek, Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, Iranian,

Roman, even Mesopotamian gods (Betz 107) are combined with the Greek goddess Hecate,

and a grand synthesis of spiritual and magical power, (Hanegraaff et al 723). This type of

synchronism, along with the use of magical characters, would continue into early medieval

European magic, and modern magical practices remain largely synchronistic, making it vital

to study these texts today to further understand western esotericism (Partridge 383). The

texts abound with incantation formulas to affect magical power, and many show evidences

of their mercantile trajectories, such as quote inserts, or empty spaces for the names of the
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patients or victims of these magical powers. As such these texts should also be studied for

their economic value as they prove that esoterism has long been part of the international

market.

Since the 19th century, esoterism provided an alternative to Christianity where some followers

turned to pre-Christian, pagan beliefs or non-European doctrines, (Von Stuckrad 1366); the

PGM are an important reminder that the merging of diverse pagan cultures is not just a

hallmark of the modern world, but also of the ancient one. Finally, the PGM are also

brilliant candidates for religionism whose text shed esoteric and eternal truths that transcend

history and geography (Asperm & Granholm 403-404). Modern esotericism enchanted

worldview is cradled by many of the beliefs and rituals presented in the PGM.
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References

Ankarloo Bengt (Editor) and Clark Stuart (Editor). Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The

Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.

Asprem Egil (Editor) and Granholm Kennet (Editor). Contemporary Esoterism. Acumen

Publishing, 2012.

Barney A. Stephen (Translator), Lewis. J. W (Translator), Beach, A. J. (Translator) and

Berghof Oliver (Translator). The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Cambridge University

Press, 2010.

Dieter Betz, H. (Editor). The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic

Spells. The University of Chicago Press, 1986.

Hanegraaff, J. Wouter, et al. Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism. Brill Academic

Pub, 2006.

Hanegraaff, J. Wouter. Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed. Bloomsbury Press,

2013.

Lecouteux, Claude. Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells from Abraxas to Zoar.

Translated by Jon E. Graham. Inner Traditions, 2015.

Von Stuckrad Kocku (Editor). The Brill Dictionary of Religion. Brill Academic Publishing,

2006.

i
Since the publication, new texts have been found; some of them have been added in the second
edition (1973/74) and the English translation (1986) of PGM, others are collected, with ample commentaries, in
the Supplementum Magicum (2 vols., 1990 and 1992). (Hanegraaff et al 722)
ii
As seen in Gijswijt-Hofstra at al, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Vol. 5, Chapter 2.