Greek Magical Papyri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Greek Magical Papyri (papyri is plural of papyrus) (commonly abbreviated to PGM from the Latin title Papyri Graecae Magicae) is a collective term for a collection of texts, written mostly in Ancient Greek (but also in Coptic, Demotic Egyptian, etc.), found in the deserts of Egypt^[1], which cast light in some way on the magico-religious syncretistic world of Greco-Roman Egypt and the surrounding area.

1 The Papyri
2 Magic in Greco-Roman Egypt
3 Religion in Greco-Roman Egypt
4 References
5 Bibliography
6 See also

[edit] The Papyri

The papyri date mostly from the second century BCE to the fifth century or so CE.

The corpus that makes up these papyri was first collected in the early twentieth century by German scholar Karl Preisendanz, and published by him in two volumes in 1928 and 1931. A projected third volume (containing new texts and indices) was destroyed during the bombing of Leipzig in the Second World War. The new texts were incorporated into the 1974 edition of volume II (published after Preisendanz's death), but the indices only ever circulated among scholars in a few xeroxed copies of the galley proofs. (The indices are now effectively obsolete since the PGM can now be searched in the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae database and various concordances and dictionaries have been published.)

[edit] Magic in Greco-Roman Egypt

Many of these pieces of papyrus are pages or fragmentary extracts from what we may call spell books, repositories of arcane knowledge and mystical secrets. As far as we can reconstruct them, these books appear to fall into two broad categories: some are compilations of spells and magical writings, gathered by scholarly collectors either out of academic interest or for some kind of study of magic; others may have been the working manuals of travelling magicians, containing their repertoire of spells, formulae for all occasions. These often poorly educated magic-users were more like showmen than the traditional Egyptian wizards, who were a highly educated and respected priestly elite. The pages contain spells, recipes, formulae and prayers, interspersed with magic words and often in shorthand, with abbreviations for the more common formulae. These spells range from impressive and mystical summonings of dark gods and daemons, to what we might call folk- or old-wives’ remedies and even parlour tricks; from portentous, fatal curses, to love charms, cures for impotence and minor medical complaints.

In many cases the formulaic words and phrases are strikingly similar to those found in defixiones (curse tablets or binding spells, κατάδεσμοι in Greek), such as those we find inscribed on ostraka, amulets and lead tablets. Since some of these defixiones date from as early as the sixth century BCE, and have been found as far afield as Athens, Asia Minor, Rome and Sicily (as well as Egypt), this provides a degree of continuity and suggests that some observations based on the PGM will not be altogether inapplicable to the study of the wider Greco-Roman world.

[edit] Religion in Greco-Roman Egypt

The religion of the Papyri Graecae Magicae, is an elaborate syncretism of Greek, Egyptian, Jewish, and even Babylonian and Christian religious influences engendered by the unique milieu of Greco-Roman Egypt. We see this syncretism in the Papyri in a variety of ways. Often the Olympians are given attributes of their Egyptian counterparts; alternatively we can see this as Egyptian deities being referred to by Greek names. For example Aphrodite (who was associated with the Egyptian Hathor), is given the epithet Neferihri--from the Egyptian Nfr-iry.t, "nice eyes" (PGM IV. 1266).

Within this cacophony of cultural influences we can still see classical Greek material, and perhaps even identify aspects of a more accessible "folk-religion" than those preserved in the mainstream literary texts. Sometimes we see the Greek gods in a new light, they are demonic, bestial deities, much more Chthonic than Olympian, and part of a darker, discomforting tradition to which we are unused. No doubt this is partly the influence of Egyptian religion, in which beast cult and the terror of the divine were familiar elements, and equally we see that the context of magical texts makes such sinister deities appropriate.

[edit] References

^ Faraone, Christopher A. (2001), Ancient Greek Curse Tablets, <http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/1/777777122300/>. Retrieved on 11 April 2008

[edit] Bibliography

Preisendanz, K. et al. (1928-1931 first ed.) Papyri Graecae Magicae. Die Griechischen Zauberpapyri. (2 vols)
Preisendanz, K., Albert Henrichs (1974-1974 second ed.) Papyri Graecae Magicae. Die Griechischen Zauberpapyri. (2 vols) Stuttgart: Teubner.
Betz, H. D. et al. (1986) The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Including the Demotic Texts. University of Chicago Press.
Muñoz Delgado, L. (2001) Léxico de magia y religión en los papiros mágicos griegos. Diccionario Griego-Español. Anejo V. Madrid: CSIC.