Ancient Greco-Roman magic and the agency of victimhood
Scholarship on ancient Greco-Roman “magic,” over time and place, has largely focused on the role and identity of ritual practitioners, investigating the nature and source of their perceived expertise and often locating it in their linguistic skills. Less attention has been paid to those identified a...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Brill
2017
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34136/ |
| _version_ | 1848794781697703936 |
|---|---|
| author | Eidinow, Esther |
| author_facet | Eidinow, Esther |
| author_sort | Eidinow, Esther |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Scholarship on ancient Greco-Roman “magic,” over time and place, has largely focused on the role and identity of ritual practitioners, investigating the nature and source of their perceived expertise and often locating it in their linguistic skills. Less attention has been paid to those identified as the targets of magical rituals, who tend to be described as passive recipients of the ritual or the social power of another. In contrast, drawing on the theory of ritual form developed by Robert McCauley and E. Thomas Lawson, alongside the ritualization theories of Catherine Bell, this article argues that victims of magic were also agents of ritual. Focusing on an experience of hostile magic reported by the fourth-century C.E. orator Libanius, it explores how conceptions of magical power were co-created by spell-makers and their so-called victims and should be regarded as relational, that is, as emerging from the interactions of people and groups. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:21:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-34136 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:21:39Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Brill |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-341362020-05-04T18:55:27Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34136/ Ancient Greco-Roman magic and the agency of victimhood Eidinow, Esther Scholarship on ancient Greco-Roman “magic,” over time and place, has largely focused on the role and identity of ritual practitioners, investigating the nature and source of their perceived expertise and often locating it in their linguistic skills. Less attention has been paid to those identified as the targets of magical rituals, who tend to be described as passive recipients of the ritual or the social power of another. In contrast, drawing on the theory of ritual form developed by Robert McCauley and E. Thomas Lawson, alongside the ritualization theories of Catherine Bell, this article argues that victims of magic were also agents of ritual. Focusing on an experience of hostile magic reported by the fourth-century C.E. orator Libanius, it explores how conceptions of magical power were co-created by spell-makers and their so-called victims and should be regarded as relational, that is, as emerging from the interactions of people and groups. Brill 2017-07-14 Article PeerReviewed Eidinow, Esther (2017) Ancient Greco-Roman magic and the agency of victimhood. Numen, 64 (4). pp. 394-417. ISSN 1568-5276 magic ritual ritual form ritualization Libanius Catherine Bell Robert McCauley E. Thomas Lawson http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/15685276-12341472 doi:10.1163/15685276-12341472 doi:10.1163/15685276-12341472 |
| spellingShingle | magic ritual ritual form ritualization Libanius Catherine Bell Robert McCauley E. Thomas Lawson Eidinow, Esther Ancient Greco-Roman magic and the agency of victimhood |
| title | Ancient Greco-Roman magic and the agency of victimhood |
| title_full | Ancient Greco-Roman magic and the agency of victimhood |
| title_fullStr | Ancient Greco-Roman magic and the agency of victimhood |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ancient Greco-Roman magic and the agency of victimhood |
| title_short | Ancient Greco-Roman magic and the agency of victimhood |
| title_sort | ancient greco-roman magic and the agency of victimhood |
| topic | magic ritual ritual form ritualization Libanius Catherine Bell Robert McCauley E. Thomas Lawson |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34136/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34136/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34136/ |