Overview

This well-researched and inspiring collection of ten essays by leading American and European scholars challenges the tendency among scholars of Greek religion to ignore what have traditionally been called "magical" practices in ancient Greece.

Disputing the preconceived notion that a clear dichotomy exists between magical and religious ritual, the essays survey specific bodies of archaeological, epigraphical, and papyrological evidence for magical practices in the Greek world, determining in each case whether the traditional dichotomy between magic and religion helps in any way to conceptualize the objective features of the evidence examined.

Contributors include Christopher A. Faraone, J.H.M. Strubbe, H.S. Versnel, Roy Kotansky, John Scarborough, Samuel Eitrem, Fritz Graf, John J. Winkler, Hans Dieter Betz, and C.R. Phillips.