Das Ritual der Aštu (CTH 490) : Rekonstruktion und Tradition eines hurritisch-hethitischen Rituals aus Boğazköy/Ḫattuša /
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The Ritual of Aštu, a text found at the Hittite Capital of Hattuša, shows strong influence from southern Anatolia and describes a Hurrian-Hittite ritual against witchcraft and sorcery. The following study provides detailed philological treatment of the 13th-century fragments found at Hattuša, from which the ritual is known, including transcription, translation, and commentary of all manuscripts, as well as special emphasis on the Hurrian passages of the ritual. Reconstruction of the more fragmentary sections is undertaken through comparison to other rituals. The study concludes with an analysis of Anatolian, Luwian, and Kizzuwatnaian influences evident in the ritual, and affords, in sum, valuable additions to the study of the nature of Hittite archives, and the development of ritual texts. "I firmly believe that works like this are essential to creating the dialogue that is necessary for the progress of our understanding of Hurrian. Görke's treatment of the various texts and her discussions of many aspects of the ritual will prove very useful to scholars working on Hurro-Hittite religion." Dennis R.M. Campbell, San Francisco State University
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004181182 :
1566-2055 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Envisioning Magic, A Princeton Seminar and Symposium.
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This collection of twelve articles presents a selection of papers delivered in the course of a seminar 1994-95 and its concluding international symposium at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. The common theme is the interrelation between magic and religion, focussing particularly on the Mediterranean world in Antiquity - Egyptian, Graeco-Roman and Jewish beliefs and customs - but also treating the early modern period in Northern Europe (the Netherlands and Germany) as well as offering more general reflections on elements of magic in language and Jewish mysticism. The volume is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach and the use of varied methodologies, emphasizing the dynamic nature of the often contradictory forces shaping religious beliefs and practices, while dismissing the idea of a linear development from magic to religion or vice versa. The contributors are outstanding scholars in their fields: Ancient, Medieval and Modern History, Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, Classical Studies, Early Christianity, Islamic Studies, Anthropology, Egyptology and Comparative Literature. Without a doubt this re-evaluation of a fascinating age-old subject will stimulate scholarly discussion and appeal to educated non-specialist readers as well.
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1 online resource. :
9789004378971
Dark enlightenment : The Historical, sociological, and discursive contexts of contemporary esoteric magic /
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In Dark Enlightenment Kennet Granholm explores the historical, sociological, and discursive contexts of contemporary esoteric magic. The book is focused on the Sweden-originated Left-Hand Path magic order Dragon Rouge in particular, but through a detailed contextualizing examination of this case study it offers a broader visage of contemporary esotericism in general. The author takes cue from both the historiography of Western esotericism and the sociological study of new religions and religious change, aiming to provide a transdisciplinary framework for a comprehensive study of esotericism in late modernity.
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1 online resource (pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004274877 :
1871-1405 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Continuity and innovation in the magical tradition
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This volume brings together thirteen studies by as many experts in the study of one or more ancient or medieval magical traditions, from ancient Mesopotamia and Pharaonic and Greco-Roman Egypt to the Greek world, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It lays special emphasis on the recurrence of similar phenomena in magical texts as far apart as the Akkadian cuneiform tablets and an Arabic manuscript bought in Egypt in the late-twentieth century. Such similarities demonstrate to what extent many different cultures share a "magical logic" which is strikingly identical, and in particular they show the recurrence of certain phenomena when magical practices are transmitted in written form and often preserve, adopt and adapt much older textual units.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004215269 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religion and magic in western culture /
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In the history of Western culture, theology, and science, a strict dichotomy exists between religion and magic: religion as the intellectually and morally superior one - magic as the primitive, superstitious, demonic other. The present work aims to break with this tradition, and traces the origin of this dichotomy as well as its many purposes. Whose powers does it serve? Which interests and ideological stakes does it conceal? Moreover, the author proposes a new epistemological framework for the study of magisms as well as their "rehumanisation", and argues for a rehabilitation of their studies.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004317567 :
2214-3270 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Hidden intercourse : eros and sexuality in the history of Western esotericism /
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From rumours about gnostic orgies in antiquity to the explicit erotic symbolism of alchemical texts, from the subtly coded eroticism of medieval kabbalah to the sexual magic practiced by contemporary occultists and countercultural translations of Asian Tantra, the history of Western esotericism is rich in references to the domains of eros and sexuality. This volume, which brings together an impressive array of top-level specialists, is the first to analyze the eroticism of the esoteric without sensationalism or cheap generalizations, but on the basis of expert scholarship and attention to textual and historical detail. While there are few other domains where the imagination may so easily run wild, the various contributions seek to distinguish fact from fiction--only to find that historical realities are sometimes even stranger than the fantasies. In doing so, they reveal the outlines of a largely unknown history spanning more than twenty centuries.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047443582 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Die Geheimnisse der oberen und der unteren Welt : Magie im Islam zwischen Glaube und Wissenschaft /
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Die Geheimnisse der oberen und der unteren Welt ( The Secrets of the Upper and the Lower World ) is a substantial new collection of essays on magic in Islamic cultural history. Both comprehensive and innovative in its approach, this book offers fresh insights into an important yet still understudied area of Islamic intellectual history. The seventeen chapters deal with key aspects of Islamic magic, including its historical developments, geographical variants, and modern-day practices. The general introduction identifies and problematizes numerous sub-topics and key practitioners/theoreticians in the Arabo-Islamic context. This, along with terminological and bibliographical appendices, makes the volume an unparalleled reference work for both specialists and a broader readership. Contributors: Ursula Bsees, Johann Christoph Bürgel, Susanne Enderwitz, Hans Daiber; Sebastian Günther, Mahmoud Haggag, Maher Jarrar, Anke Joisten-Pruschke, Fabian Käs, Ulrich Marzolph, Christian Mauder, Tobias Nünlist, Khanna Omarkhali, Eva Orthmann, Bernd-Christian Otto, Dorothee Pielow, Lutz Richter-Bernburg, Johanna Schott andamp; Johannes Thomann.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004387577
Studies in the Syriac Magical Traditions /
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The study of the Syriac magical traditions has largely been marginalised within Syriac studies, with the earliest treatments displaying a disparaging attitude towards both the culture and its magical practices. Despite significant progress in more recent scholarship in respect of the culture, its magical practices and their associated literatures remain on the margins of the scholarly imagination. This volume aims to open a discussion on the history of the field, to evaluate how things have progressed, and to suggest a fruitful way forward. In doing so, this volume demonstrates the incredible riches contained within the Syriac magical traditions, and the necessity of their study.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004467200
9789004467194
The wisdom of Thoth : magical texts in ancient Mediterranean civilisations /
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This volume represents a selection of contributions on Mediterranean themes from a wider international interdisciplinary conference on Magical Texts in Ancient Civilizations, organised by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilizations at Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
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Conference proceedings. :
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
9781784912482 (PDF ebook) :
Priests, tongues, and rites : the London-Leiden magical manuscripts and translation in Egyptian ritual (100-300 CE) /
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This book is an investigation into the sphere of production and use of two related bilingual magical handbooks found as part of a larger collection of magical and alchemical manuscripts around 1828 in the hills surrounding Luxor, Egypt. Both handbooks, dating to the Roman period, contain an assortment of recipes for magical rites in the Demotic and Greek language. The library which comprises these two handbooks is nowadays better known as the Theban Magical Library. The book traces the social and cultural milieu of the composers, compilers and users of the extant spells through a combination of philology, sociolinguistics and cultural analysis. To anybody working on Greco-Roman Egypt, ancient magic, and bilingualism this study is of significant importance.
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Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral--Leiden University, 2003). :
1 online resource (xiv, 342 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-328) and indexes. :
9789047406747 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Apocryphon of Jannes and Jambres the magicians : P. Chester Beatty XVI (with new editions of Papyrus Vindobonensis Greek inv. 29456+29828 verso and British Library Cotton Tiber...
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The focus of this volume is the editio princeps of Papyrus Chester Beatty XVI: The Apocryphon of Jannes and Jambres, composed in Greek, perhaps as early as the first century C.E. A full commentary accompanies the edited text. An introductory section discusses the numerous references to the two magicians, who appear in Jewish, Christian and Pagan literatures as Moses' crafty opponents at the time of Israel's exodus from Egypt. Their exploits are recounted in over half a dozen languages, from the Syriac east to the Latin west and from Egypt's deserts to King Alfred's court. The Apocryphon is placed in its Graeco-Roman context, but is also discussed as a backdrop for the Faust saga of European literature. A basic book for anyone interested in biblical and related literatures.
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1 online resource (xvii, 399 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004295827 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Magical practice in the Latin West : papers from the international conference held at the University of Zaragoza, 30 Sept.-1 Oct. 2005 /
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How different was the practice of magic in the Latin West from that of the eastern Mediterranean basin? Was it just derivative from Greek practice, or did it have its own originality? The recent discovery of important new curse-tablets in Mainz and in the Fountain of Anna Perenna at Rome has made the question newly topical. This volume contains the first commented editions in English of most of these new texts as well as major surveys of new prayers for justice. Other sections are devoted to the discourse of magic in the West, to the linguistics and aims of cursing, and to the major field of protective and eudaemonic magic up to and including the Visigothic slates and the Celtic loricae. The essays are by well-known scholars in the field as well as by established and younger Spanish scholars.
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1 online resource (xxvi, 676 pages, [28] pages of plates) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047441397 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Magic and rationality in ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman medicine /
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For the first time, medical systems of the Ancient Near East and the Greek and Roman world are studied side by side and compared. Early medicine in Babylonia, Egypt, the Minoan and Mycenean world; later medicine in Hippocrates, Galen, Aelius Aristides, Vindicianus, the Talmud. The focus is the degree of \'rationality\' or \'irrationality\' in the various ways of medical thought and treatment. Fifteen specialists contributed thoughtful and well-documented chapters on important issues.
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1 online resource (xv, 407 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047414315 :
0925-1421 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.