The Caretaker

THE GRECO-ROMAN MAGICAL MILIEU - 7/21/2022

Added 2022-07-21 18:47:27 +0000 UTC

THE GRECO-ROMAN MAGICAL MILIEU

The year is 100 CE and it’s a great year for soup. Emperor Trajan just became consul of a Roman Empire that is Romeing as hard as it will ever Rome. The Egyptians have been Rome’d, Judea has been Rome’d, most of Western Europe has been Rome’d. The Mediterranean sea is referred to as “Mare Nostrum” meaning “Our Sea.” Roman chefs (read: mostly slaves) have access to a mind-boggling range of ingredients. The soups they were able to create were strange, experimental, and delicious for those with a sophisticated enough palette to appreciate them.

Religion and magic worked the same way.

The turn of the millennium was dominated by syncretism. Magic and religion were being remixed all over the place. The myriad religious and magical cultures that appeared in this time frame deserve books all their own, but in the interest of time, we will discuss the magical and religious milieus of our main three ingredients:

GREEK MAGIC

(Three sections:

What did magic mean to the greek world?
- Discuss greek interaction with zoroastrianism, origin of Magi
- What was disallowed?
- From where did the power come?
How did Greek magic work?
- Sports?
- Defixiones
- Theurgy vs Goetia
- What was “authentically greek”?
How did greek magic effect the systems it interacted with?
- It was kinda the broth, the medium by which other elements

The Greek world was a tapestry of magical practitioners. Seers, the manteis and chresmologoi sold their services door to door, but the good ones work at the temples. The epodoi, sing incantations. The thaumatopoioi perform wonders which the tetraskopoi interpret. The goetoi speak to the spirits of the dead. Those who require medicine go to the root-cutters, the rizotomoi or the herbalists, the pharmakaeis. The world teems with magic, and those who work in its fold are called mágos, magicians. [this is from Gosden, find where he got it]

(Maybe make a table that gives short descriptions of these dudes, along with their roman equivalents?)

(Maybe discuss the origins of the word “magic” here? Like, talk about the Magi.)

(Talk about defixiones/katadeseis-katadesmoi)

DIASPORIC JEWISH MAGIC

(Three sections:

What did magic mean to the jewish world?
- Define terms like Keshaphim
- Discuss biblical prohibitions on magic
- Charismatic holy men vs Learned body of knowledge
How did jewish magic work?
- That one spell for killing mice
- Exorcisms
- Magic Amulets
- Invoking god for curses
How did jewish magic effect the systems it interacted with
- Importance of written language
- A common set of techniques
- A cosmopolitan and syncretic list of ingredients

The recently-concluded second temple period saw Judea in a period of rapid, explosive change. New institutions like the Non-Davidian kingship, the synagogue, and a new class of non-priestly Torah interpreters were popping up left and right. Judaism wrestled with sectarianism, dualism, the idea of the afterlife, and a newly apocalyptic strain of theology. It is safe to say that during the advent of the 1st century, the Jewish people were having a rough go of it.

Periods of social upheaval tend to be fertile soil for new religious and magical ideas, and due to the Roman conquest, the Jews were forced to socially upheave themselves all across the Mediterranean. A whole library could be written on just the diaspora's effect on magical history. In the interest of time and accessibility, we will be summarizing.

The Tanahk makes myriad references to practices we consider magic. Deuteronomy 18:10-11 states:

“Let no one be found among you who consigns a son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead.”

The terms used to discuss these practices and their specific translations bares some discussion. First, Kosem, which is probably a general term for those who see the future, comparable to “diviner.” with gazerin being a similarly general term for “those who practice magic.” In particular, there are also me’onen, the soothsayers, and machesh, the enchanters, and mechashef, the sorcerers. Although it is also possible that kosem is also a specific term for astrologers, and that kesamim refers to the specific sort of divination that astrologers do. (ibn Ezra on deuteronomy.)

The important thing about all these terms is their specificity. It is clear that there are biblical prohibitions on specific magical practices, but not necessarily on magic as a whole. This mild ambiguity leaves open a door for a diverse array of practices. However, it also raises an important question: If there is no power but God, what is magic?

A particularly illustrative passage is found in Moses and Aaron engaging in a magical duel with the Pharaoh’’s wizards in Exodus 7:10. Within the context of biblical law, there is clearly some meaningful difference between what Moses and Aaron are doing, and what the Pharaoh’s wizards are doing. This is commonly interpreted as an example of magic as the wonders of the other.

From the perspective of a non-jewish author, this raises some complicated questions for discussing something as nebulous as the history of magic. Was Moses a magician? Were Jewish Charismatic Holy Men, in the fold of Jacob, Isaiah, and Jesus magicians? There is some evidence to claim that the working of miracles could reasonably be called magic. But an equally reasonable argument could be made that placing such religious figures in the bucket of magicians is incorrect in subtle and important ways.

In Ancient Jewish Magic, A History, Gideon Bohak draws a key distinction: The charismatic Jewish holy men of history perform their works through an innate power, whereas magicians rely on an “acquired body of technical knowledge (27).” Simply put, a prophet cannot teach someone else how to be a prophet, but a magician can.

– Errata stars here –

To start off, we should talk about biblical prohibitions about magic, and the term “Keshaphim” Specifically in the passages ( Exodus 7:11 Exodus 7:22 ; Exodus 8:7 Exodus 8:18 )

Isaiah 47:9 Isaiah 47:12

Jeremiah 8:17 ; Compare Psalms 58:5 ).

( Numbers 24:1 )

( Isaiah 47:9 Isaiah 47:12 ), "magical spells." All kinds of enchantments were condemned by the Mosaic law ( Leviticus 19:26 ; Deuteronomy 18:10-12 ).

One of our earliest sources on magic within the Jewish traditionis Philo, a Jewish philosopher from the Roman province of Egypt writing around the year 20 CE. Philo’s understanding of magic neatly follows the greek paradigm. He explains that there are two types of magic: On one hand, there is true magic, a revered art especially among the people of Persia, which is a discipline similar to science, in which the magician experiments to reveal the secrets of nature. On the other hand, there is the evil and deceptive counterpart, a profane art pursued by mendicant priests who sell snake oil medicines from stone altars to the dregs of society (read, women, slaves, etc.) for their own nefarious and chaotic purposes. [bohak, 79]

This clearly parallels the greek conception of magic as divided between the good Rhizotomoi, who acted as itinerant healers, and the evil Pharmakon, who were more closely associated with poisons and malicious spagyry.

Talk about how the dead sea scrolls gave us two new rules about magic

The First: No cursing The Name
The Second: “whoever is ruled by the spirits of Belial and speaks apostasy is to be judged in accordance with the law of the ’ov and the yide‘oni.”

Talk about ‘ov and yideo’oni

(Judaism was traditionally more focused around temples. The diaspora radically changed focus onto preservation and interpretation of scripture. Rabbinical system wasn’t codified until the 6th century.)

(the introduction of Charismatic holy men vs Magic as learned body of technical knowledge)

(the Hebrew Bible displays a deep-seated conviction that many striking feats – from the cleaving of rivers to the destruction of mighty walls – could be achieved not only by men of God, but also by the correct manipulation of God’s sacred objects. Similarly, the Greek distinction between “true piety” and “superstition,” that is, religious behavior which simply made no sense to a rational (Greek) observer, was quite meaning-less to most ancient Jews. Bohak 38)

(“Monotheistic gods are immune to magic.” < wrong)

(The Septugant, translated into greek during the 3rd century, tells us a few things: “We thus learn that not only necromancy, augury from birds, and other divinatory techniques are entirely forbidden, but also the dabbling in pharmaka (plural of pharmakon, which means both “poison” and “magical procedure,” not to mention the meaning “medicine,” whence the English word “pharmacy”) and the reciting of incantations.”)

(Book of Jubilees: The demon leader, Mastema, (Hatred) begs for clemency, so god lets one demon go, and the rest have to teach their healing arts to man.

This created a new category of practice that couldn’t be classified as keshaphim) (Define Keshaphim)

(Dead Sea Scrolls, comes with two new rules on magic

The First: No cursing The Name

The Second: “whoever is ruled by the spirits of Belial and speaks apostasy is to be judged in accordance with the law of the ’ov and the yide‘oni.”)

Josephus: (Now, all biblical prohibitions on magic are condensed into “Pharmakon”

This would sound really similar to the Roman “Lex Cornelia de sicariis (et veneficis)”

Or, “The Law of Assassins and Poisoners”)

More Josephus: (When asked if Moses was a Goetes, he says:

Moses didn’t invent his own laws, he got them from god

Moses’s miracles beat the egyptian wizards, proving their superiority and difference)

Summary of the 2nd temple period:

On the one extreme, we noted Philo’s very Greek concept of magic, which distinguishes between the noble art of the Persian Magi and the base counterfeit of that art as practiced by women and slaves

On the other hand, we saw the literary trajectory leading from 1 Enoch to Jubilees and to the Dead Sea Scrolls, with an elaborate demonological awareness, a conviction that magic is one of the evil things taught to humanity by the Fallen Angels, and a willingness in the Qumran sect to condemn any deviant member under the biblical rubric of the ’ov and the yide‘oni, as well as a willingness to use many techniques that we might see as “magic” in the daily fight against the forces of evil

Josephus’ general disinterest in “magic” as a concept, his downplaying of the relevant biblical legislation, and his pride in such ancient Jewish practices as the exorcism of demons.

multiplicity of views of magic and an absence of any real emic definition of magic as a legal or social concept. (87)

– end errata –

A PEEK UNDER THE HOOD

ANCIENT JEWISH HERBOLOGICAL EXORCISMS

The day-to-day reality of Jewish magic was characterized by three main practices: Exorcisms, Magical Amulets, and Agressive/Erotic Magic.

Exorcisms fall into three distinct types. The first is the use of animal, vegetable, or mineral products that possess a sort of natural anti-demon effect, such as in the book of Tobit, when the heart of a certain type of fish is smoked to drive away the demon Asmodeus. The text is clear that it is specifically the smell that drives the demon away. There is no ritual or emotional component to the fish heart’s effects beyond the smell of its smoke. The magic lies in the inherent properties of the fish, and in the laws of nature.

A particularly illustrative passage can be found in Josephus’sThe Jewish War. The passage is uniquely evocative and colorful, and I would be remiss for not quoting it in its entirety:

“In the ravine which encloses the town (Machaerus) on the north, there is a place called Baaras, which produces a root bearing the same name. The root has a flamelike color and towards evening it emits a brilliant light; it eludes the grasp of persons who approach with the intention of plucking it, as it shrinks up and can only be made to stand still by pouring upon it a woman’s urine or menstrual blood. Yet even then to touch it is fatal, unless one brings the very same root, suspended from one’s hand. Another innocuous mode of capturing it is as follows. They dig all around it, leaving but a minute portion of the root covered; they then tie a dog to it, and the animal rushing to follow the person who tied it easily pulls it up, but instantly dies – a substitute, as it were, for the one who intended to remove the plant, since after this, the root poses no danger to those who handle it. With all these attendant risks, it possesses one virtue for which it is prized; for the so-called demons – that is, the spirits of wicked men which enter the living and kill them unless aid is forthcoming – are promptly expelled by this root, if merely applied to the patients.”

The name of the plant, the ba’aras root itself, seems to be a transliteration of the Aramaic word for flame, and related to a similar greek plant called aglaophotis, or “wonder-shine.” (Bohak 91) Josephus seems here to emphasize the similarities between the two plants, the ba’aras and the aglaophotis, making it clear that both are “soul-drawing” roots, as in “roots that will draw out the soul of any who tries to pick it.” A trope that readers may recognize from the lore surrounding the the Mandrake Root.

[PUT THE THING ABOUT JEWISH MAGICIANS LEARNING HERBIARY FROM ANGELS HERE ITS THE PERFECT TRANSITION, leave some commentary about how even with the razor of “magicians learn and prophets are,” the categories still blend together]

ANCIENT JEWISH CHARISMATIC EXORCISMS

Any magical practice that relies on an innate power of the practitioner can be difficult to study, as no two are ever alike. The Christian New Testament and rabbinical literature are both rife with accounts of itinerant holy men performing miracles. They heal the sick, control the rain, ford rivers and lakes, raise the dead, and occasionally even perform miracles on accident when someone touches their robes or shadow. (Bohak 94) These charismatic holy men generally model themselves after biblical archetypes like Elijah, Elisha, and Moses, but make ample use of exorcisms.

While there is little in the way of these charismatic holy men describing themselves or their practices, there is ample “outsider” (read: biased, corrupted, and apocryphal) evidence of others observing and commenting on their work. Descriptions of charismatic exorcism techniques run the gamut, from Jesus in the Genesis Apocryohon making simple, repeated demands like “dumb and deaf spirit, I command you to come out of (the demoniac) and no longer enter him,” to Rabbi Shimeon Bar Yohai or miracle-worker Hanina ben Dosa performing exorcisms through extended dialogues or negotiations with the demons.

RITUAL EXORCISM

Some exorcists relied not on innate power or the occult properties of natural materials, but who made use of elaborate rituals and incantations to expunge demons. These rituals were generally taught from master to student, handed down through generations of practitioners in a written form.

The Book of Jubilees and Antiquities of the Bible each feature passages where a prayer is incanted aloud to drive away a demon. (Theyre long quotes but theyre on Bohak 99) While Jewish exorcisms would evolve over time to become significantly more elaborate, the examples from Jubilees and Antiquities feature elements that would become common tropes for exorcisms well into the present day:

First, the exorcist addresses the demon in the second person accompanied by taunts, threats, and rhetorical questions. Second, the exorcist details the demons origins in the greater order of creation, chastising the demon for straying from its divinely intended place in the underworld.

Josephus makes a critical bridge between this type of ritual exorcism by comparing it to the work of King Solomon:

“And God granted him knowledge of the art used against demons for the benefit and healing of men. And he composed incantations by which illnesses are relieved, and left behind modes of exorcisms by which the possessed drive out the demons so that they would never return.”

This passage makes several distinctions that will be deeply important in the development of western magic to come. First, the knowledge though divine in origin is the sort of thing that can be learned and reproduced. Second, the incantations and modes of exorcism (read: spells) are things that Solomon composed. It is clear that while Solomon was simply given knowledge, it was given in a form that left room for application. If we are to reference the earlier allusions to David’s exorcisms through music, it is as if God gave Solomon the knowledge that exorcisms can be performed by playing the lyre but it was still up to Solomon to compose the song.

Josephus continues

“And this was the mode of healing: He would bring to the nose of the demoniac the ring which had under its seal one of the roots prescribed by Solomon, and then, as the man smelled it, drew out the demon through his nostrils, and, when the man at once fell down, adjured the demon never to return, while mentioning Solomon’s name and reciting the incantations which he (i.e., Solomon) had composed.” (Bohak 101)

[picks up on page 103 of AJM and page 7 of notes]

So what did it actually involve?

Exorcisms
Magic Amulets
Invoking god for curses

Babylonian Aramaic starts showing up on Incantation bowls

The advent of more literary magical texts:

Sepher Ha-Razim
Sword of moses

**A second feature of these magical texts is that in spite of some variation between the different types of magical products (e.g., magical papyri vs. magical gems), they all display a common set of magical techniques, “words of power,” and visual designs, images, and symbols, most of which are unique to this specific magical idiom. (195)

Basically, we hit the 1st century, and a new magical idiom shows up, characterized by three things: