The Greek Magical Papyri

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MrMacSon
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The Greek Magical Papyri

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The Greek Magical Papyri are a set of documents from Egypt during the Roman Period (30 BCE – 390 CE) first gathered into a single collection by the German scholar Karl Preisendanz (two volumes published in 1928 and 1931). That collection was published under the Latin title, Papyri Graecae Magicae, which is the source of the common abbreviation PGM. https://www.greekmagicalpapyri.com/


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The Greek Magical Papyri are original documents and primary sources. Their discovery is as important for Greco-Roman religions as is the discovery of the Qumran tests for Judaism or the Nag Hammadi library for Gnosticism ... [p.xlii]

... the material assembled under the name Greek magical papyri represents a collection of texts of diverse origin and nature. This collection includes individual spells and remedies, as well as collections made by ancient magicians, from the early Hellenistic period to late antiquity. Since the material comes from Greco-Roman Egypt, it reflects an amazingly broad religious and cultural pluralism. Not surprising is the strong influence of Egyptian religion throughout the Greek magical papyri, although here the texts nevertheless show a great variety. Expressed in Greek, Demotic, or Coptic, some texts represent simply Egyptian religion. In others, the Egyptian element has been transformed by Hellenistic religious concepts. Most of the texts arc mixtures of several religions-Egyptian, Greek, Jewish, to name the most important .. [p.xlv]

... The inclusion of the Demotic material in the present translation raises new and intriguing questions regarding the relationship between the Greek texts and the antecedent Egyptian sources. Further studies must clarify the process of transmission and transformation of these texts. Such studies will gain new insights into the complex phenomena of the hellenization of religious traditions. [p.xlv]

[p.xlv] ... this material from Greco-Roman Egypt contains many sections that are Greek in origin and nature." How did this older Greek religious literature find its way into Egypt? We do not, and probably never shall, know. In this older material, the Greek gods arc alive and well. But Zeus, Hermes, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, and others arc portrayed not as Hellenic and aristocratic, as in literature, but as capricious, demonic, and even dangerous, as in Greek folklore. The gods and their activities resemble those in the popular myths and local cults, as reported by mythographers or by Pausanias. Therefore, strange as it may sound, if we wish to study Greek folk religion, the magical papyri found in Egypt are to be regarded as one of the primary sources. Questions similar to those appropriate to the study of Greek religion must be raised in view of the material (divine names as well as entire passages) that comes from some form of Judaism. Jewish magic was famous in antiquity:' and more sources have come to light in recent years; but the origin and nature of the sections representing Jewish magic in the Greek magical papyri is far from clear. Did this material actually originate with Jewish magicians? How did it get into the hands of the magicians who wrote the Greek magical papyri? What kind of transformation took place in the material itself? If the texts in question come from Judaism, what type of Judaism do they represent?

The historian of religion will be especially interested in the kind of syncretism represented in the Greek magical papyri." This syncretism is more than a mixture of diverse elements from Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian, and Jewish religion, with a few sprinkles of Christianity.

[p.xlvi] ... the papyri represent a Greco-Egyptian, rather than the more general Greco-Roman, syncretism.

In this syncretism, the indigenous ancient Egyptian religion has in part survived, in part been profoundly hellenized. In its Hellenistic transformation, the Egyptian religion of the pre-Hellenistic era appears to have been reduced and simplified, no doubt to facilitate its assimilation into Hellenistic religion as the predominant cultural reference. It is quite clear that the magicians who wrote and used the Greek papyri were Hellenistic in outlook.

Hellenization, however, also includes the egyptianizing of Greek religious traditions. The Greek magical papyri contain many instances of such egyptianizing transformations, which take very different forms in different texts or layers of tradition. Again, working out the more exact nature of this religious and cultural interaction remains the task of future research.

Hans Dieter Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells, Volume 1, University of Chicago Press, 1996
https://www.academia.edu/3158348/The_Gr ... tic_Spells
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See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Mag ... ri#Content

and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_magical_papyri -

Although magic was forbidden by Levitical law in the Hebrew Bible, it was widely practised in the late Second Temple period, and particularly well documented in the period following the destruction of the temple ... Jewish and Samaritan magicians appear in the New Testament, Acts of the Apostles, and also in the works of Josephus, such as Atomos, a Jewish magician of Cyprus (Antiquities of the Jews 20:142).

See posts on BC&H

eg. these by DCH via this search search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&keyw ... i&start=10
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