Authors: Naomi Janowitz
ISBN-13: 9780415202077, ISBN-10: 0415202078
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Taylor & Francis, Inc.
Date Published: June 2001
Edition: 1st Edition
Using in-depth examples of "magical" practice such as exorcisms, love rites, alchemy and the transformation of humans into divine beings, this lively volume demonstrates that the word "magic" was used widely in late antique texts as part of polemics against enemies and sometimes merely as a term for other people's rituals. Professor Janowitz shows that "magical" activities were integral to late antique religious practice, and that they must be understood from the perspective of those who employed them.
Preface | ||
List of abbreviations | ||
Introduction | 1 | |
1 | Greco-Roman, Christian and Jewish concepts of "magic" | 9 |
Pliny's critique of the magi | 13 | |
The church fathers' views of magic | 16 | |
Rabbinic classifications of magic | 20 | |
2 | Daimons and angels and the world of exorcism | 27 |
The rise of angelology and daimonology | 28 | |
Daimons, possession and exorcism | 36 | |
3 | Ancient rites for gaining lovers | 47 |
4 | Using natural forces for divine goals: Maria the Jewess and early alchemy | 59 |
5 | Divine power, human hands: becoming gods in the first centuries | 70 |
The emergence of deification techniques | 72 | |
Deification techniques in early Christian texts | 78 | |
Ascent techniques routinized | 80 | |
6 | "Even the decent women practice witchcraft": magic and gender in late antiquity | 86 |
Concluding note: the legacy of the first centuries | 97 | |
Notes | 101 | |
Bibliography | 117 | |
Indexes | 129 |