Magical Practice in the Latin West: Papers from the International Conference Held at the University of Zaragoza, 30 Sept.–1 Oct. 2005. Edited by Richard L. Gordon and Franciscó Marco Simón. (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World.) Leiden: Brill, 2009. 676 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-17904-2 (hbk.)

Abstract

Review of Magical Practice in the Latin West: Papers from the International Conference held at the University of Zaragoza, 30Sept- 1Oct 2005 Brill This hefty and rewarding volume brings us the good news: the Latin-speaking West offers scholars a gold mine of material remains from diverse rituals aimed at pleading with, asking politely, legally binding and threatening all sorts of supernatural figures for all sorts of very human ends. Unfortunately the theoretical frameworks for analyzing these remains are marred by lingering remains of Victorian evolutionary models ranging from lingering notions of “primitive” pagan and Jewish rituals to compulsive magic as a precursor of proper Protestant religion (magic as a cheaper, more convenient, more vulgarized version of religion). Given the size of the volume, I will outline the range of materials discussed and the types of questions they raise. The volume opens auspiciously with James Rives’ meticulous review of the uses of the term “magus.” He traces its complex development from a narrow focus on a distinct type of religious practitioner to the “broad range of associations” found in an author such as Pliny. Poetic usage may turn out to be exotic (p. 74), a valuable demonstration of how phrases shift nuance as they move from genre to genre. The subsequent chapter, Matthew Dickie’s survey of Latin historians attitudes towards magic, is less convincing since it is not always clear what exact is being mapped. Tacitus has what appears to be a totally strategic definition of magic as basically disapproved religion. Lucian does not believe in magic but it is not clear what he does believe in and therefore what exactly he is rejecting. For Dio Cassius, Hadrian’s interest in magic was one aspect of a generally lurid personality. To what extant is Dickie talking about the same thing as the ancient authors, especially when what he is mapping is their lack of use of a set of terms? In “Heretical Texts and maleficium in the Codex Theodosianus,” Maria Victoria Escribano Pano demonstrates neatly the tight connection between charges of heresy and of magic. Heresy charges emerge as the church expands it authority over practitioners who did not think their form of Christianity problematic . So too the contours of charges of magic change as various types of rituals gain or lose clear standing as part of an authoritative religious structure. Pano’s fascinating question about the status of the codex as an especially powerful object