Abstract
This chapter focuses on the presence of pseudepigraphy in the magical papyri of Roman Imperial Egypt. It underlines that this is but one among many features which connect these texts to cultural trends of diverse origin, belonging not only to this period, but also to the time of the original composition of the recipes, many of which come from Hellenistic Alexandria. The spells of the Greek magical papyri share in the same trends of the contemporary religious, philosophical, and technical literature of the surrounding cultures, mainly that of Greece. The only names repeated in more than one papyrus are Moses, Pitys, Democritus, and Ostanes. The demotic PGM XIV has the name of Moses, Paysakh, and other anonymous magicians. For all these reasons, the magical papyri deserve to be included in a study of pseudepigraphy in the ancient world. Keywords: Democritus; Greek magical papyri; Hellenistic Alexandria; Moses; Ostanes; Paysakh; pseudepigraphy; Roman Imperial Egypt
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