Magical Texts Research Articles

Magic realism in children's literature: A narratological reading

This paper discusses the occurrence of magic realism in children's literature. It argues that the structure of such texts is a major factor in both determining the presence of magic realism and in allowing the merging of realism and fantasy found in such texts. Drawing on the theories of narratology and reader response, this paper examines the nature of the implied reader for such texts and demonstrates how existing criticism of magic realism can be employed when analysing children's literature texts. This paper concludes that magic realism in children's literature has its own discrete codes, which distinguish it from both existing magic realist texts and fantasy texts.

Φapmakeytpia Ohne Φapmakon. Überlegungen zur Komposition des zweiten Idylls von Theokrit

AbstractIn the first part of the article, the question of Theocritus' treatment of magic in the 2nd Idyll is being discussed. The author's view is that Theocritus not only accurately depicted the contemporary magical practices, but that the very composition of the poem was influenced by the magical texts. The second part of the paper pays attention to a special class of magical texts, the defixiones influenced by the prayers for justice. The author argues that Simaetha's confession to Selene bears close resemblance to the prayers for justice and that Simaetha's argumentative strategy in the description of her short love affair with Delphis serves the purpose of portraying her as the betrayed party, thus enabling her to put the blame on Delphis and demand of the goddess that the justice (e.g. the return of Delphis to Simaetha) should be done. Finally, the effect of Simaetha's magical practice and her prayer is being discussed. Since the motif of ϕαρμακον connects the 2nd with the 11th Idyll, a comparison between Simaetha and Cyclops is called for and some general conclusions about the motif of the healing properties of poetry in the Theocritean corpus are suggested.

Les « caractères » magiques au Moyen Âge (XIIe-XIVe siècle)

A great number of mysterious signs are to be found in books of magic from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. Occasionally described as “ characters ” they were supposed to possess a power with multiple effects. Their peculiarity has caused them to be excluded from most recent studies of mediaeval magic; but a systematic survey reveals the multifarious forms they could assume and the changing names they were given in manuscripts. “ Magic characters ” also occur in 13th-century treatises on theology (William of Auvergne, Thomas Aquinas) and language (al-Kindî, Roger Bacon) concerned with the conventional value of writing signs and the conditions for their legitimate use. The latter problem was all the more acute since the word “ character ” was invested with widely varying meanings in the Latin world, some of which touched on dogma. A tentative graphic analysis shows that the formof magic characters might relate to writing signs from various linguistic backgrounds (such as Eastern alphabets, runes, stenography and cryptography). Possibly derived from such sources, they tend to prove that the mysterious graphic knowledge expressed in magic texts was not unconnected with the linguistic culture of Western clerics.

Exemplum or Historiola?: Literature and Magic in Apuleius’ Apology

This paper discusses the nexus between magic, rhetoric and literature in Apuleius’ self-defense speech on the charge of practicing sorcery. In ch. 37, Apuleius uses a famous exemplum that is reminiscent of the historiola , an illustrative story encountered in some magical texts. The historiola works as a kind of analogy that invokes some past event in order to encourage similar action in the future. By using it, Apuleius demonstrates his knowledge of the literary and philosophical debate about the magic of speech, but he also comes close to producing a magical spell against the charge of magic.

Marie-Louise Thomsen and Frederick H Cryer, Witchcraft and magic in Europe: biblical and pagan societies, The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe series, vol. 1, London, Athlone Press, 2001, pp. xvii, 168, illus., £50.00 (hardback 0-485-89001-1), £17.99 (paperback 0-485-89101-8).

Marie-Louise Thomsen and Frederick H Cryer, Witchcraft and magic in Europe: biblical and pagan societies, The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe series, vol. 1, London, Athlone Press, 2001, pp. xvii, 168, illus., £50.00 (hardback 0-485-89001-1), £17.99 (paperback 0-485-89101-8). - Volume 48 Issue 1

Miniaturization and the Opening of The Mouth in a Greek Magical Text (Pgm Xii.270-350)

AbstractPGM XII.270-350, a text prescribing rituals for the creation and use of a magical ring, provides a particularly useful example through which to explore the phenomenon of miniaturized ritual in the magical papyri of late Graeco-Roman Egypt (as elucidated by Smith 1995). The ritual for creating and consecrating the ring's gemstone makes it clear that the stone is considered a miniature cult statue. The subsequent "Ouphor" invocation to be performed whenever the ring is used corresponds in name and function to the Egyptian wp. t-r or Opening the Mouth ritual as used in daily temple liturgy. The nature of these ritual miniatures reveals the sophisticated discursive and conceptual level at which the traditional forms of temple ritual were adapted and redeployed for use in other contexts by members of the Egyptian priestly class in late antiquity.

Symbolic Action in the Homeric Hymns: The Theme of Recognition

The Homeric Hymns are commonly taken to be religious poems in some general sense but they are often said to contrast with cult hymns in that the latter have a definite ritual function, whereas "literary" hymns do not. This paper argues that despite the difficulty in establishing a precise occasion of performance for the Homeric Hymns, we are nevertheless in a position to identify their ritual function: by intoning a Hymn of this kind, the singer achieves the presence of a god before participants in a public festival. The key mechanism by which the hymnist does this is the evocation of a god via the elaboration of a typical unit of traditional hymnic discourse, what I call the "theme of recognition (before revelation)."The pragmatic operation of narrative such as this is similar to the device known in the study of magical texts as the historiola, or short narrative that serves as a verbal model for a desired outcome in the patient's world. This kind of operation is called, in this paper, "symbolic action," a term borrowed from the rhetorician Kenneth Burke. The theme of recognition is traced in the fabric of the expansive Hymns (II-V, VII), and the paper further argues that an important generic marker in the Hymns, the greeting of the god (χαíρεϵ), discloses their pragmatic function, the hymnist's skillful deliverance of the god before his hearers.

The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia by W. F. s> Ryan (review)

REVIEWS 157 terriblyconfusing, usuallywith fartoo many geographical,demographic, and political detailsthat arenever dealtwith in the text. They are also,with one or two exceptions, very poorly produced; some are nearly illegible. A bibliographicalessaywould have been a usefulway of pointing the interestedreader to further resources on Croatia, but the bibliography here is simply chronological and not annotated. Nearly three-quartersof the entries are in Croatian. This is a good book, but with only a bit more attention, the author and publishercould have made it a genuinelyexcellent one. School ofForeign Service CHARLES KING Georgetown University Ryan W. F. 7heBathhouse atMidnight: AnHistorical Survey ofMagicandDivination in Russia.Magic in History Series. Sutton Publishing, Stroud, I999. viii + 504 pp. Notes. Illustrations.Bibliography.Index. ?5o; f 1499. THEdustcover of thislargetome alluringlyproclaims7The Bathhouse atMidnight. MagicinRussia,and in so doing seems set to attracta largepopularreadership, certain of them with what might be called a dubious interest in the subject. Inside, the addition of the words 'an historical survey', especially the 'an' should frightenaway some. But though the amateur magic buff or part-time witch will find a good deal that is instructiveand entertainingin this account of a huge range of magic and divinatorytexts and practicesin Russia, it is the seriousand scholarlyreaderwho will be delighted by the comprehensiveness of the volume and the erudition of its author. With thirtyyears' experience studying 'scientific' and magic texts in Kievan and Muscovite Russia, Dr Ryan is uniquely qualified for the task, and his authority is stamped on the work, particularlythe sections devoted to Kievan and Muscovite texts, their historyand sources. For this is a compendium of magic and divinatory beliefs, practices and texts, treated, whenever the evidence will allow, historically.It opens with an outline highlighting the historico-culturalcontext as it affectedthe reception of magic texts and the practice of magic in Russia before the end of the eighteenth century. There then follow chapterson the varioustypes of magic and magic practitioners, moving in general terms from the popular to the 'literary', while recognizing that many practices such as dream divination featurein both traditions.The book thus begins with popularmagic, wizards and witches and ends with astrology, before being rounded off by a useful historicalsurveyof the attitudesof the ecclesiasticaland secularauthoritiesto magic and to those who delved in it. Each chapteris divided into subsections dealingwith specificformsof magic, makingforeasy accessto the evidence. The approach is inclusive and apart from historical evolution, openly emphasizesdescriptionand commentary,with particularattentionpaid to the interrelationship between folk and literary sources as well as sources (or parallels)to Russian materialin Classical,Byzantine,Arabic,West European and other traditions of magic and divination. Its emphasis is on the period before I8oo, thus including the westernizingeighteenth century, when magic and divinationwere stilltakenseriously(ifonly negatively)by the authorities. i58 SEER, 79, I, 2001 The oral material is drawn from ethnographic and other sources from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and there are some brief,wry comments on contemporaryRussianmagic, sorceryand divination. Writtenwith a familiaritywith Westernstudieson magic (hereinstitutional affiliation to the Warburg Institute in the University of London is an advantage), this wider perspective allows for a comparative approach which providesa usefulantidote to the narrowlyRussian or Slav approach of many scholars.Indeed Ryan is ever keen to puncture their speculativeballoons, as when, for the benefit of those convinced that the Russian spell or incantation (zagovor) is unique in its poetics and form, he quotes a spell from Kentucky which would hardly need adaptation if translated into Russian (p. i68). Another of the tenets held dear by many Russian and Soviet scholars is the good/bad binarycontrastbetween folkand literary.By confidentlybestriding the dividingline and treatingboth, Ryan not only givesus comprehensiveness, but is also able to temper assertionsof the distinctivelyRussiannatureof, say, many prognosticationsthroughcarefulanalysisof the manuscripttraditionof written divination. He is cautious in his conclusions, recognizing that coincidence of popular and literary magic does not necessarily mean that popular ones are therefore of literary origin (p. I44). However, where he considers parallels are extremely close, he inclines to accept the idea of borrowing.Forexample, he somewhataudaciouslypostulatesthattheYuletide folksongs (podbliudnyepesni) and accompanying magic practices,so beloved of all classes of Russians before the Revolution, derive from the Greek midsummerdivinationhokledonas because of theirclose similarity(p. 97). He is of course right to note that...

Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Edited by Marvin W. Meyer and Richard Smith. Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, 1994. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999. xiv + 409 pp. $17.95 paper.

Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Edited by Marvin W. Meyer and Richard Smith. Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, 1994. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999. xiv + 409 pp. $17.95 paper.

"Und wenn ihr betet . . . (Mt 6,5): Gebete in der zwischenmenschlichen Kommunikation der Antike als Ausdruck der Frommigkeit

-Und wenn ihr betet ... (Mt 6,5): Gebete in der zwischenmenchlichen Kommunikation der Antike als Ausdruck der Frommigkeit, by Wolfgang Fenske. STINT 21. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1997. Pp. 348. DM 128.00. This work was accepted as a dissertation in 1994 in the Protestant Theological Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. Its purpose is to explore the rationale for and effects of prayer as transmitted in the literature of pagans, Jews, and Christians up to approximately 150-200 CE. It is the most ambitious current survey of its kind known to this reviewer. The introduction announces that it is not concerned with magic texts. (Nor will one find any extended discussion here of the grammar of prayer, such as verbal aspect or diction.) Fenske's survey of the contemporary literature on this prayer corpus includes attention to those who write with prejudice against the contaminating influence of pagan traditions. He cites contemporary studies of the various functions of ancient prayer and notes that one modem response to ancient deities is to focus on the efficacy of the human dynamic in prayer. A discussion of semiotics and reception theory is followed by attention to issues of genre: petition and exaltation, as well as indirect prayers such as blessings, oaths, and curses. The introduction concludes by discussing issues of ambience-place, time, and gesture. The major prejudice evidenced by Fenske in this section is his seeming devaluation of Christian hymnic literature as marking a devolution in the purity of the Gospel's transmission. Chapter 2, part 1, explores prayers primarily in relation to other aspects of the literature in which they occur. So we hear about the prayer to the Muses opening Homeric epic, about the information given in the prayer in the opening part of the Aeschylean trilogy concerning lost sections of the remainder, and about the connecting function of prayers in Livy, Xenophon, and Ovid. Fenske notes the role of Solomon's prayer (I Kings 8) in sketching the portrait of that character and examines the relation of the Lord's Prayer to its setting in the Matthean Sermon on the Mount and in Luke 11. In chapter 2, part 2, Fenske discusses the role of prayer in communicating information and explicitly brings into view the reader to whom it is communicated. So he reports Romulus's prayer for Rome's success (in Ovid) with an eye to its welcome reception by a Roman reader. This section, however, would have derived great benefit from inclusion of Mikalson's 1989 article in JHS on the questions of theodicy raised in the unfulfilled prayers of Greek tragedy. Fenske suggests that 1 Kings 8, by its relative lack of emphasis on sacrifice in a context in which one might expect it, highlights a message about the importance of prayer as such. …

On Translating Magical Texts

I am going to offer a few thoughts on translating magical texts, whether they are authored by Cherokees, Aztecs, or ancient Egyptians. To begin with, I should state that as forms of human expression, magical texts are one of the most resistant to formal translation simply because they are forms of cryptography that were never meant to be decoded. They are secretive documents written in a highly specialized vocabulary, replete with arcane forms of word play, meant to baffle and confuse the uninitiated, the layman. In addition, they invoke ideas and images that are, for the most part, outside of our normal, ordinary world experience.

Magical Texts from the Genizah (With a New Duplicate)

L'A. souligne la relation existant entre la magie et la priere. Les textes magiques ne peuvent plus etre relegues dans l'ombre au domaine de la superstition car il est evident que la magie est la forme primitive de therapie et de soin utilisee par les juifs. Un nouveau volume de textes magiques de la Geniza du Caire a ete publie en 1994 dont l'A. fait ici la critique. Il montre qu'il y a eu une continuite de cette tradition magique juive jusqu'au Moyen âge et cela sous la forme d'amulettes ou de textes magiques sur papier ou parchemin de la Geniza du Caire. Il presente une nouvelle copie exacte du texte T-S AS 142.12 lignes 74-87 et 21-34 en donnant une traduction anglaise avec notes et appendices et en reproduisant le texte hebreu.

Scholastic Magic: Ritual and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism (review)

Hebrew Studies 39 (1998) 262 Reviews remains, with even more serious questions to ponder, as a result of Covenant ofBlood. Beverly P. Mortensen Northwestern University Evanston, IL 60201 m-beverly@nwu.edu SCHOLASTIC MAGIC: RITUAL AND REVELATION IN EARLY JEWISH MYSTICISM. By Michael D. Swartz. pp. 260. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997. Cloth, $35.00. As the title suggests, Michael Swartz's book addresses a number of important issues in both the history of religions and the field of Jewish studies . Indeed, Scholastic Magic takes its place alongside a growing number of works which challenge the tendency to sever the study of Judaism from the broader methodological and comparative context of the history of religions . For this reason alone Scholastic Magic is an important work. In Scholastic Magic, Michael Swartz has also produced a significant study of the role of magic in the form of early Jewish mysticism known as Hekhalot ("palace") or Merkabah ("chariot") mysticism. The study of magic in Judaism is still in its infancy. Older works like Joshua Trachtenberg'S Jewish Magic and Superstition entice the reader with striking examples from the rich tradition of Jewish magic but lack methodological sophistication. Recently, however, studies such as Moshe Idel's Hasidism: Between Ecstasy and Magic have begun to reassess the place of magic within different areas of Judaism. In several works, Gershom Scholem addressed the issue of magic within Merkabah mysticism. Scholem was ambivalent about the role of magic, viewing it as an original and essential element but one whose proliferation signaled the decline of the movement, an attitude which parallels a common scholarly perspective on the role of magic in Gnosticism, wherein heavily magical texts such as the Books of Jeu, are often described as representing the degeneration of Gnosticism. Michael Swartz's book must be viewed within the context of the discussion begun by Scholem and continued by scholars such as Elliot Wolfson, Peter Schafer, and David Halperin. Situating itself within the broader topic of the role of magic within Merkabah mysticism, Scholastic Magic focuses on the adjuration of an angel known as the Sar-Torah or "Prince of the Torah," who provided the mystics with fantastic memory and learning. Hebrew Studies 39 (1998) 263 Reviews Swartz examines this fascinating material from a number of perspectives : phenomenological, historical, ritual, and social. He locates his study within the broader fields of magic and mysticism and brings in comparative material from the Greek magical papyri, building on a parallel already noted by Scholem. On the phenomenological level, one of the most important insights of the book is that the Sar-Torah material should be viewed as "scholastic magic," and therefore a species of scholasticism which scholars are only now beginning to appreciate as a category within the history of religions. Swartz employs the phrase scholastic magic "because of its appropriation of rabbinic scholasticism through magical means...scholasticism , like rabbinic Judaism, does not rely on reason independent of authority but insists on dialectical practices that are passed down through a succession of teachers." In the case of the Sar-Torah texts, knowledge traditionally passed from rabbi to disciple is now transmitted via angelic adjuration and revelation. And yet, the authors of these texts attempt to anchor this potentially subversive activity in the rabbinic tradition by depicting the figures who adjured the Sar-Torah as famous rabbis. Thus, as Swartz points out, the sources "manifest a deep ambivalence toward rabbinic notions of Torah, tradition, and purity." The identity of the authors of this material has been debated-were they rabbis, members of the apparently disempowered class of people known as am ha-aretz, or another group? Swartz examines these possibilities and suggests his own interpretation. Because of the level of education, literary artistry, and (albeit limited) rabbinic knowledge evinced in the texts, he concludes that their authors did not belong to the "lower classes." Instead, he points to a number of groups who possessed some education but did not belong to the rabbinic elite, including the scribes and synagogue functionaries. Without explicitly identifying the Sar-Torah authors with either of these groups, Swartz argues that their existence points to the possibility that members of an educated, non-rabbinic elite...

Review Article: Out of the Closet: Recent Corpora of Magical Texts

Previous articleNext article No AccessReview Article: Out of the Closet: Recent Corpora of Magical TextsWilliam M. BrashearWilliam M. Brashear Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Classical Philology Volume 91, Number 4Oct., 1996 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/367529 Views: 5Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1996 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:William Brashear “Botokudenphilologie” Vindicated, International Journal of the Classical Tradition 5, no.11 (Sep 1998): 66–79.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02701312

Taking the "Nestor's Cup Inscription" Seriously: Erotic Magic and Conditional Curses in the Earliest Inscribed Hexameters

This essay argues that the Nestor's Cup Inscription is not a joke, but rather a magical spell designed to work as an aphrodisiac. It is divided into two parts, the first dealing with the hexametrical couplet (lines 2 and 3 of the inscription) and the second with the opening line. In the first section the author argues that the hexameters comprise a bonafide magical incantation, pointing out that: (1) the two hexameters take the semantic form of a conditional curse well known from oaths and proprietary inscriptions of the archaic period and from the earliest extant magical texts; (2) hexametrical verse was commonly used as early as the classical period-and probably much earlier-in magical incantations; (3) prosaic words in the inscription (such as potêrion) that do not appear elsewhere in literary hexameters, but are used in the Greek magical tradition, may in fact be terms of a quasi-technical nature that survive from a very old, but poorly documented, tradition of metrical incantations; and (4) the deictic pronoun in the second line of the inscription (το̃δε) signals the use of performative language common in magical spells. The second section of the paper turns to the opening line of the inscription, arguing that instead of introducing some sophisticated intertextual joke, this line can be best understood as a label or rubric of the sort frequently used to signify authorship or ownership in archaic inscriptions and other early texts to "seal" a writer's name to his œuvre. In later magical texts such rubrics boast a legendary author of a particular incantation or ritual. The author concludes that this inscription records an erotic spell traditionally spoken over a cup without any recourse to writing, and that its appearance on the cup from Pithecusae resulted from a random and ultimately unsuccessful experiment to transfer and transform an oral incantation into a written one in an age of incipient literacy.

The Colophons in H. Petermann's Sidra Rabba

In Mandaeism, to copy a manuscript is a meritorious act — a Mandaean copyist (usually a priest) may undertake the task as an exercise to remit his own sins, and those of his family — or he may be hired to perform the task for someone else. Almost all Mandaean manuscripts contain colophons; excluded are talismans and other short magical texts. In the case where the transmission of a Mandaean text spans, say, fifteen or sixteen centuries, a colophon may be very long. Copying the Mandaean Ginza is a major piece of work, for it is the most voluminous of all known Mandaean texts. Mark Lidzbarski's Ginza edition and translation did not include the colophons, the lists of scribes that are attached to the text.

The Coptic Wizard's Hoard

Within the large collection of ancient manuscripts at the University of Michigan there is a group of Coptic papyri which appears to have been a hoard or library of ancient magical texts. Produced by five copyists sometime in the fourth through seventh centuries and originating from a now unknown location in Egypt, the collection was brought to the British Museum by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge in February 1921 for restoration by C. T. Lamacraft; in August of that year, it underwent philological examination by the Coptic lexicographer Walter E. Crum, and was later forwarded to the University of Michigan.

על חרס וגומא: כתובות ארמיות ועבריות מימי בית שני המשנה והתלמוד [On Sherd and Papyrus: Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from the Second Temple Mishnaic and Talmudic Periods.] (review)

Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 194 Reviews All in all, these three volumes contain an uneven assortment of articles and, as a whole, are not necessarily the best reflection of the competency of Hebraists in Spain today. Renee Levine Melammed Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 "o?nm mWOil 'JW n':l '0'0 n"':l,U' n"o,~ n':l1M::> :~om C-m ?,U [ON SHERD AND PAPYRUS: ARAMAIC AND HEBREW INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE SECOND TEMPLE MISHNAIC AND TALMUDIC PERIODS.] By Joseph Naveh. Pp. 239. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. 1992. Cloth. As the subtitle indicates. the present volume deals with inscriptions and documents from late antiquity. thereby complementing other monographs which deal with writings from earlier periods in Israel (e.g., Hanoch Reviv. A Commentary on Selected Inscriptions from the Period ofthe Monarchy in Israel [Jerusalem: The Historical Society of Israel. 1975] in Hebrew. and Klaas A. D. Smelik. Writings from Ancient Israel [Louisville. KY: Westminster/John Knox. 1991]. translated by G. I. Davies). The author is Professor of Epigraphy and West-Semitic Palaeography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a well known scholar in these fields. The title of his book pertains to some of the materials used for writing in antiquity. although it also deals with inscriptions on stone and metal. The documents discussed in this book. which does not include any literary texts, reflect daily life of people from all walks of life. Following a foreword. the book is divided into eight chapters followed by a summary. bibliography, list of illustrations, and four indices. The first, introductory chapter. on script and language, is subdivided into parts dealing with the Hebrew. Aramaic, and Samaritan scripts; Hebrew and Aramaic language ; distribution of scripts and their styles; and dating writings by script. The second chapter, inscriptions from daily life, is also subdivided. Its nine sections focus on seals, "lottery" tokens, short notes, instructions, letters, other personal texts, writing exercises. inscriptions on jars. and contributions marked on jars. The third chapter is devoted to legal documents. It analyzes papyri-all written in Aramaic, the language of legal affairs-which were discovered at Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 195 Reviews several sites in the Judean wilderness. Here, Naveh presents promissory notes, bills of sale, marriage contracts, divorce agreements, and lease contracts . The Bar-Kochba letters are discussed in the fourth chapter, which presents documents discovered in the caves of Wadi Muraba'at and Nahal Hever. Most of these are papyri written in Aramaic, although one document was written on a wooden plank. The next chapter, synagogue inscriptions, contains a selection of dedicatory inscriptions and literary texts, the latter not original, but copied from other sources. The inscriptions were done in mosaics or incised in architectural elements such as pillars and door posts made of limestone and basalt. Chapter 6, incantations, presents magic texts from Palestine. Syria. Babylon, and Egypt, written in either Hebrew or Aramaic on bowls, amulets, and in books. Finally, chap. 7 is devoted to Samaritan inscriptions and amulets, while chap. 8 presents burial inscriptions written on ossuaries, sarcophagi . and other elements of the burial site. All the inscriptions presented in this book have been previously published . but Naveh adds his own understanding and interpretation. These very succinct presentations are done in a basic outline form, without expanding on linguistic analysis. The interested reader will need to look into the previous publications in order to understand some of the analyses fully. However, this process is facilitated by extensive footnoting of previous publications and a very helpful bibliography. In the summary, or afterword, Naveh outlines his approach to the study of ancient written evidence. In light of the scarcity of written sources and the need to extract maximum information, he calls for caution against farreaching conclusions that cannot be supported or justified. He describes the five elements which should guide the epigrapher: a) Correct reading, that is, only those words and letters which are clear. Letters which are partially visible should be marked. It is permissible to make suggestions for reading unclear letters or completing lacunae, but Naveh suggests that this should be done in the discussion and not in the presentation of an inscription. He also suggests that we admit when we...

Hebrew and Aramaic Incantation Texts from the Cairo Genizah: Selected Texts from Taylor-Schechter Box K1

In this volume, Lawrence Schiffman and Michael Swartz assemble a collection of Jewish incantation texts which were copied in the Middle Ages and preserved in the Cairo Genizah. Many of these texts, now held in Cambridge University Library, are published here for the first time. All the texts are translated and supplemented by detailed philological and historical commentary, tracing the praxis and beliefs of the Jewish magical tradition of Late Antiquity. Their relation to Jewish legal and mystical teachings is also explored. 'A major contribution to this area of inquiry. Fourteen incantation texts are made accessible here. They are framed with all the desired apparatus: clear facsimiles, transcriptions, translations, commentary, substantial bibliography and three indexes. The lengthy introduction, in particular, is valuable, providing a mise au point for future study of Genizah magical texts.' s teven m. wasserstorm, ajs review Lawrence H. Schiffman is the Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor in Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, USA. He is a member of the Enoch seminar and of the Advisory Board of The Journal Henoch. Michael D.Swartz is Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Ohio State University, USA.

Northwest Semitic Incantations in an Egyptian Medical Papyrus of the Fourteenth Century B. C. E.

THE London Medical Papyrus, published seventy years ago by W. Wreszinski,' contains a number of short Northwest Semitic magical texts transcribed into hieratic syllabic script (group writing).2 The only attempts I know of to decipher any of these texts have been by Egyptologists;3 Semitists seem to have ignored them entirely.4 This neglect is quite undeserved, since the papyrus in question is early by Northwest Semitic standards (fourteenth century B.C.E.)5 and since the Egyptian syllabic script is, in many ways, more informative than the native scripts of the Northwest Semitic languages. So far as I know, these incantations have the distinction of being the earliest Semitic texts written in an Egyptian script.6 The Amorite material in the Execration Texts, etc.,7 is much earlier, but it consists solely of names. The Northwest Semitic texts in the