Magical Practice in the Latin West - (Paperback)

About the Book

Most studies of Graeco-Roman magic focus on the Greek texts. Stimulated by important recent finds of Latin curse-tablets, this collection of essays for the first time tries to define the nature and extent of the originality of magical practice in the Latin West

Book Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Richard Gordon, Ph.D. (1973) Cambridge UK, is honorary professor of the History of Ancient Religions at the University of Erfurt, Thuringia. He has published mainly on religious currents in the Roman Empire and Graeco-Roman magic.

Francisco Marco Simón is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). He has published mainly on Roman and Celtic religion and on Magic in the western part of the Roman Empire, including Flamen Dialis. El sacerdote de Júpiter en la religión romana (Madrid, 1996) and Die Religion im keltischen Hispanien (Budapest, 1998)