Greek Magical Papyri

The Greek Magical Papyri (Latin Papyri Graecae Magicae, abbreviated PGM) is the name given by scholars to a body of papyri from Graeco-Roman Egypt, which each contain a number of magical spells, formulae, hymns and rituals. The materials in the papyri date from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD.^[1] The manuscripts came to light through the antiquities trade, from the 18th century onwards. One of the best known of these texts is the so-called Mithras Liturgy.^[2]

The texts were published in a series, and individual texts are referenced using the abbreviation PGM plus the volume and item number. Each volume contains a number of spells and rituals. Further discoveries of similar texts from elsewhere have been allocated PGM numbers for convenience.^[1]

History

Discovery

The first papyri in the series appeared on the art market in Egypt in the early 19th century. The major portion of the collection is the so-called Anastasi collection. About half a dozen of the papyri were purchased in about 1827 by a man calling himself Jean d'Anastasi, who may have been Armenian, and was a diplomatic representative at the Khedivial court in Alexandria.^[3] He asserted that he obtained them at Thebes (modern Luxor), and he sold them to various major European collections including the British Museum, the Louvre, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the Staatliche Museen in Berlin and the Rijksmuseum in Leiden. H. D. Betz who edited a translation of the collection states that these pieces probably came from the library of an ancient scholar and collector of late antiquity based in Thebes. Anastasi acquired a great number of other papyri and antiquities as well.^[1] The "Thebes Cache" also contained the Stockholm papyrus and Leyden papyrus X containing alchemical texts.^[4] Another papyrus (PGM III) was acquired by Jean Francois Mimaut and ended up in the French Bibliotheque Nationale.^[1]

Publication

PGM XII and XIII were the first to be published, appearing in 1843 in Greek and in a Latin translation in 1885.^[1][5]

In the early twentieth century Karl Preisendanz collected the texts and published them in two volumes in 1928 and 1931. A projected third volume, containing new texts and indices, reached the stage of galley proofs dated "Pentecost 1941", but the type was destroyed during the bombing of Leipzig in the Second World War. Photocopies of the proofs circulated among scholars. A revised and expanded edition of the texts was published in 1973-4 in two volumes. Volume 1 was a corrected version of the first edition volume 1, but volume 2 was entirely revised and the papyri originally planned for vol. III were included. The indexes were omitted, however.^[1] The PGM can now be searched in the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae database and various concordances and dictionaries have been published.^{[citation needed]}

Content

Many of these pieces of papyrus are pages or fragmentary extracts from spell books, repositories of arcane knowledge and mystical secrets. As far as they have been reconstructed, these books appear to fall into two broad categories: some are compilations of spells and magical writings, gathered by scholarly collectors either out of academic interest or for some kind of study of magic; others may have been the working manuals of travelling magicians, containing their repertoire of spells, formulae for all occasions. These often poorly educated magic-users were more like showmen than the traditional Egyptian wizards, who were a highly educated and respected priestly elite. The pages contain spells, recipes, formulae and prayers, interspersed with magic words and often in shorthand, with abbreviations for the more common formulae. These spells range from impressive and mystical summonings of dark gods and daemons, to folk remedies and even parlour tricks; from portentous, fatal curses, to love charms, cures for impotence and minor medical complaints.^{[citation needed]}

In many cases the formulaic words and phrases are strikingly similar to those found in defixiones (curse tablets or binding spells, κατάδεσμοι in Greek), such as those we find inscribed on ostraka, amulets and lead tablets. Since some of these defixiones date from as early as the sixth century BC, and have been found as far afield as Athens, Asia Minor, Rome and Sicily (as well as Egypt), this provides a degree of continuity and suggests that some observations based on the PGM will not be altogether inapplicable to the study of the wider Greco-Roman world.^{[citation needed]}

Religion in Greco-Roman Egypt

The religion of the Papyri Graecae Magicae, is an elaborate syncretism of Greek, Egyptian, Jewish (see Jewish magical papyri), and even Babylonian and Christian religious influences engendered by the unique milieu of Greco-Roman Egypt. This syncretism is evident in the Papyri in a variety of ways. Often the Olympians are given attributes of their Egyptian counterparts; alternatively this could be seen as Egyptian deities being referred to by Greek names.^{[citation needed]} For example Aphrodite (who was associated with the Egyptian Hathor), is given the epithet Neferihri—from the Egyptian Nfr-iry.t, "nice eyes" (PGM IV. 1266).

Within this profusion of cultural influences can still be seen classical Greek material, and perhaps even aspects of a more accessible "folk-religion" than those preserved in the mainstream literary texts.^{[dubious – discuss]} Sometimes the Greek gods depart from their traditional Olympian natures familiar to Classicists, and seem far more chthonic, demonic and bestial. This is partly the influence of Egyptian religion, in which beast cult and the terror of the divine were familiar elements; equally the context of magical texts makes such sinister deities appropriate.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of occultists
• List of magicians
• Magic in the Greco-Roman World
• Papyrology
• Ephesia Grammata
• Mithras Liturgy

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Hans Dieter Betz (ed), The Greek Magical Papyri in translation, University of Chicago Press, 1985, p.xli.
2. ^ Ronald Hutton, Witches, Druids and King Arthur, 2006, p.116: "The most famous of these texts is the so-called Mithras liturgy...".
3. ^ Fowden, Garth (1986). The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind. CUP Archive. ISBN 0521325838. 
4. ^ Long, Pam O (2004). Openness Secrecy Authorship: Technical Arts and the Culture of Knowedge from Antiquity to the Renaissance. JHU Press. ISBN 0801866065, 9780801866067. 
5. ^ C. Leemans, Papyri graeci musei antiquarii publici Lugduni-Batavi, 2 vols. Brill: 1843, 1885.

Bibliography

• Preisendanz, K. et al. (1928-1931 first ed.) Papyri Graecae Magicae. Die Griechischen Zauberpapyri. (2 vols)
• Preisendanz, K., Albert Henrichs (1974-1974 second ed.) Papyri Graecae Magicae. Die Griechischen Zauberpapyri. (2 vols) Stuttgart: Teubner.
• Betz, H. D. et al. (1986) The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Including the Demotic Texts. University of Chicago Press.
• Muñoz Delgado, L. (2001) Léxico de magia y religión en los papiros mágicos griegos. Diccionario Griego-Español. Anejo V. Madrid: CSIC.

Further reading

• William M. Brashear, “The Greek Magical Papyri,” Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II, 18.5 (1995), pp. 3380–3730, limited preview online.