Superstition as fear of the gods February 7, 2009
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: agents, antiquity, charms, consultation, creations, divine, events, evil, fear, herbs, humanity, intervention, magical, minds, nature, practices, prayers, rites, roots, secrets, sorcerers, spells, Supernatural, superstition, superstitious, taboos, traditions, wisdom, witches
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In the late antiquity people were certainly extremely superstitious. I am talking not only about simple people but also about the great minds like Pliny the Elder, Plutarch, Apuleius and the like, whose creations I had a chance to read in my web analytics company. These writers define superstition as fear of the gods that leads to the need to resort to magical rites and taboos, the consultation of professional sorcerers and witches, charms and spells, and unintelligible language in prayers addressed to the gods. Not just simple people, but even highly educated people of that time took for granted other magical practices, such as hurting someone by the evil eye. They also believed in daemons that serve as agents or links between gods and human beings and are responsible for many supernatural events in human life that are commonly attributed to divine intervention. Some daemons are good, some are evil, but even the good ones, in moments of anger, can do harmful acts.
It seems that great mind of that time were also convinced of the powers of certain herbs or roots as revealed to humanity by the gods. They argued that the divine powers in their concern for the welfare of humanity wish for humanity to discover the secrets of nature. For example, in their wisdom the gods sought to bring humans gradually closer to their status; which certainly many magical traditions seek.
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Apollonius of Tyana January 22, 2009
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: antiquity, bestseller, columns, combination, creation, doctrine, fake, figures, heaven, interest, magical, magician, magus, manuscript, memoirs, novel, philosopher, powers, talismans, teacher, traveling
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The third magician of interest in that period of the Roman Empire was Apollonius of Tyana. Between 217 and 238 Flavius Philostratus wrote his Life of Apollonius of Tyana. It was a lengthy novel about magical powers of Apollonius. According to Philostratus, this novel was born out of the memoirs of somebody named Damis, who was a disciple of great magic user Apollonious. He claimed that the memoirs were owned by empress Julia Domna, mother of emperor Caracalla.
In any case Philostratus creation was a literary fake. From the pages of the novel Apollonius emerges as an ascetic traveling teacher. He is usually labeled a new Pythagoras, and he does represent the same combination of philosopher and magus that Pythagoras was. According to Philostratus, Apollonius traveled far and wide, as far as India, teaching ideas reasonably consistent with traditional Pythagorean doctrine. Anyway, this manuscript became a bestseller in Roman empire of Late Antiquity. Apollonius was so popular that talismans allegedly made by Apollonius appeared in several Greek cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, as if they were sent from heaven. Some magical figures and columns dedicated to him were also erected in public places to protect the cities from plagues and evil.
Simon the Magus January 11, 2009
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: apocryphal, apostle, attitude, book, canonical, cures, exorcisms, gift, magic, magician, movement, power, practice, professional, rejection, spirit, texts
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Simon is the name of a magician mentioned in the Christian canonical book of Acts and in apocryphal texts. Simon the Magus is presented as a person deeply impressed by the apostle Peter’s cures and exorcisms. Especially, Simon was stunned by the gift of the Spirit that came from the apostles’ laying on of hands. Therefore, he believed and was baptized. But then Simon asks the apostles to sell him their special gift so that he can practice it too. This seems to represent the attitude of a professional magician.
So, for Simon, the power of this new Christian movement is a kind of magic that can be purchased – perhaps a common practice for magicians in parts of the Roman empire. The Apostles response to Simon was emphatic in its rejection. The early Christian church drew a strong line between what it practiced and the practices of magicians and magic users.
Greatest magicians of all times December 23, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: antiquity, birth, citizens, clues, development, empire, features, life, magic, magician, magicians, miracle, opinion, origin, people, point, prophecies, religion, spells, story, texts
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I was researching the development of magic in the late antiquity period of Roman empire for my web analytics company. And that is when I stumpled upon a very interesting fact. You probably would be surprised to hear it, as I was. But in the first and second centuries CE, in the opinion of the Roman empire citizens, three men were considered greatest magicians of all times: Simon Magus, Apollonius of Tyana, … and Jesus Christ.
So, why Jesus? From pagan Roman point of view Jesus was a typical miracle-worker. He exorcised daemons, healed the sick, made prophecies and raised the dead. Time went by and Christianity grew. Eventually, it became seen as a threat to established traditions of ancient religion in the Greco-Roman. That is why Jesus was accused of being a magic user. And, naturally, this accusation later was switched on all early Christians as well.
Pagan people of Rome including scholars read into Christian texts too much looking for clues to prove that Jesus was a magician. As we know, Gospels told a life story full of features common to divinely touched figures. For example, Jesus’ divine origin, his miraculous birth, and his facing of a powerful daemon. The gospel of Matthew even mentions briefly that Jesus was taken to Egypt as an infant. Well, hostile forces among pagan Roman scholars used Gospel to explain Jesus’s knowledge of magic. According to one negative story, Jesus came back from Egypt tattooed with spells. It was also argued that Jesus was mad, which was often associated with people of great power.
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Famous mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras December 22, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: ancient, animals, appearance, contradictory, control, documents, examples, fact, famous, figure, interpretation, magical, mathematician, messenger, philosopher, powers, traditions
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Magical powers were also attributed to the famous mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, as recorded in the days of Aristotle. The traditions concerning Pythagoras are somewhat complicated due to the fact that the number of survived documents are often contradictory in their interpretation of the figure of Pythagoras.
Some of the magical acts attributed to him included being seen at the same hour in two cities. Or a white eagle permitting him to stroke it. A river greeting him with the words “Hail, Pythagoras!” Ancient Greeks also claimed that he could predict, that a dead man would be found on a ship entering a harbor.
Another examples of magical powers of Pythagoras are even wilder. He predicted the appearance of a white bear and declaring it was dead before the messenger reached him bearing the news. And once he bit a poisonous snake to death. These stories hint that Pythagoras was a divine man, and had ability to control animals and to transcend space and time.
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The most famous figures December 22, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: acceptance, ancient, belief, concept, condemnation, deeds, descent, divine, famous, figures, generation, influence, magic, magicians, musician, mysteries, mythical, period, personages, singer, underworld, voice, wife
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I was always anxious to find when was the rise of positive concept of magic in ancient Greece. While doing my web analytics research, I discovered that this even, possibly took place somewhere in the sixth century b.c. Among the most famous of these figures between Homer and the Hellenistic period, are the Orpheus, Pythagoras, and Empedocles.
Orpheus is a mythical musician and singer, said to have lived in Thrace a generation before Homer. Orphic Mysteries, seems also to have been central to the personages of Pythagoras and Empedocles who lived in the sixth century b.c. Pythagoras for example is said to have described Orpheus, as, the father of melodious songs. Later Aeschylus describes him as the guy who haled all things by the rapture of his voice. This suggests belief in the influence of song and voice in magic. Orpheus is certainly associated with a great many deeds.
The most famous is his descent to the underworld to bring back his wife, Eurydice. Orpheus’ deeds are not usually condemned or spoken of negatively. This suggests that some forms of magic were more acceptable. Indeed the term applied to Orpheus to separate him from magicians of ill repute is a divine man. This fact shows, that there was a fine line between acceptance and condemnation.
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Second-class power December 22, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: ability, beasts, changes, chapter, charms, companion, epic, future, gods, hero, instructions, knowledge, magic, motif, power, secret, shades, tradition, transform, wisdom
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Magic then is a second-class power, it does not compare to the powers of tradition or of the gods. It has to work in secret to achieve its ends. So, although Circe changes Odysseus’ companions into swine, she has no power over Odysseus himself. Magic is defeatable by other magic. And Odysseus’ magic is more acceptable because a legitimate god confers the wisdom of its use to Odysseus. However, Hermes, can’t protect Odysseus from Circe’s physical charms, and the hero does eventually succumbs to the power of the magic user.
This represents the idea that users of magic are not to be trusted because of the powers they are prepared to pursue and use. This is indicated by the fact that Circe can not only transform men into beasts but is also able to predict the future. This ability is linked in with another magical motif of the Odyssey epic, described in later chapter of the book. Following Circe’s instructions, Odysseus digs a trench, pours out an offering to the dead a drink that consists of honey, milk, wine and water, and slaughters two black sheep in such a way that their blood runs into the ditch. This attracts the shades of the dead in flocks and by drinking the blood they regain, for a short time, the ability to communicate with the living and pass on their knowledge of the future.
The encounter of Odysseus with the Titan Circe November 4, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Magic.Tags: act, ancient, beautiful, books, companions, components, control, culture, dangerous, definition, description, distance, divine, fact, figure, form, greek, herb, history, island, literature, magical, operation, practice, secret, secretive, story, wand, woman
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As a web analyst, who completed many types of research on ancient history, I think that the earliest description of a magical operation in Greek literature was on The Odyssey. This is one of my favorite books. In the Odyssey we meet a definition of magic as a practice aimed at trying to locate and control the secret forces of the world. The Odyssey describes the encounter of Odysseus with the Titan Circe. In the story Circe’s magic consists in the use of a wand against Odysseus and his men while Odysseus’ magic consists of the use of a secret herb called moly to defend himself from her attack. All three necessary components are present: the magic wand, the use of a magical herb and Hermes, the divine figure that reveals the secret of the magical act.
In the story Circe is presented as being in the form of a beautiful woman when Odysseus meets her on an island. In this encounter Circe uses her wand to change Odysseus’ companions into swine. This suggests that magic is often associated with practices that go against the natural order, or against wise and good forces. Circe too is representative of a power that had been conquered by Zeus, Poseidon and Hades.
Furthermore she had been banished to the island after having murdered her husband. She is thus quite dangerous: secretive, opposed to the gods, a semi-divine power left over from the older god culture of the Titans. However the internal fact that Odysseus has first to visit her before she becomes a threat suggests that she has a relatively harmless power if one keeps to a distance.
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