Paper short abstract:

This presentation will explore the materiality of the threshold system in the ancient Mediterranean, focusing in particular on the case of the door as a material agent in Greek culture, to highlight its relations with the complex scope of magic and its mythical and technological representations.

Paper long abstract:

The door constitutes an anthropological space of clash between different conflicting agencies: on the one hand, the defensive need to 'close' in order to keep the internal social space intact from any hostile entities; on the other, the need to admit and welcome otherness in a socially controlled form, defusing its possible harmful influences. The technological (and also magical) enhancement of the entrance system thus reflects the religious and cultural instances inherent in this ambiguous artefact. The door is an attractive device whose function is to 'stop' the stranger and which must produce a strong emotional impact on those who approach it. After the comparative study by Arnold van Gennep and the in-depth analysis by Otto Weinreich, the historical-religious reflection on the ancient threshold still sees its rightful place in the debate between religion, magic and technology as unresolved.

Drawing on various contributions by Alfred Gell on the relationship between technology and magic (in particular the notion of 'technology of enchantment'), I will first provide a theoretical framework for exploring some of the most important ancient testimonies. This will also be made possible by a critical resumption of Bruno Latour's reflections on the door as a crucible for different and distributed agencies.

In this way, I will be able to deconstruct the mythical and ideal models of the gate, starting with the 'automatic' gates of Olympus, whose hinges 'moo' spontaneously when the gods want to cross them, and then focusing on the marvellous thresholds of the palace of Alcinous, which 'enchant' Odysseus when he tries to cross them incognito, shrouded in an impenetrable mist. Finally, I will discuss the further agency of the threshold in the PGM collection, where it becomes the fulcrum of magical attention of various practitioners, and where all its technical elements contribute to specific magical purposes.

Paper short abstract:

The topic is the place and the meaning of rituals identified as magical in the cults of the supreme deity represented in competing conceptions of deity in five forms and holistic idea of Oneness. The result of research shows magical therefore metaphysical characterof Chinese culture.

Paper long abstract:

The topic of the speech will be the place and meaning of rituals identified as magical in the cult of the supreme deity in ancient Chinese religion, from the times of the first historical royal dynasty Shang/Yin (1766-1122 BC), to the imperial dynasties: Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC). -222 AD). The author examines religious issues from the period of antiquity, which was crucial for the development of China, when the foundations of the culture of the everlasting organism of the Middle Kingdom were created. In his work, the author relies on the works of recognized sinologists from China and the West. He puts forward a hypothesis about the dominant, distinguished cult of a specific deity, different in different periods, and proves its truth by presenting various forms of magical practices related to these cults. The research shows that two concepts of the Supreme God have been arguing with each other since the beginning of time in China: deities in five forms and the holistic idea of the Absolute as One, complementing the polytheistic concept. The author briefly presents the development and changes taking place over time in both variants, doing so during the reign of four historical dynasties from antiquity. The dynamic nature of the concept of the supreme deity can be seen in the context of the main theme as the technology of magical thinking, which is an element of metaphysical thinking. As a result, the author confirms the assumed thesis about the metaphysical character of Chinese culture.

Paper short abstract:

The aim of this paper is to analyse a hermeneutic category proposed by Peter Brown in 1970 to bring attention to the relationship between magic, demons and ritual agents in late antique society.

Paper long abstract:

In a book edited by Mary Douglas in 1970, appeared a seminal paper by Peter Brown intitled 'Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages'. The Irish scholar analysed in deep the social contexts behind the rise of Christianity looking at the connections between sorcery and demons in the Late Empire. At page 34 he said: «the contrast between the saint and the sorcerer is not that the saint commands the demons while the sorcerer is their agent: both can command; but the saint has an effective ‘vested’ power, whereas the sorcerer works with a technique that is unreliable and, above all, cumbersome». The aim of this paper is analysing the cultural representations of this dichotomy between ‘vested’ or ‘unvested’ sorcerer, trying to measure its hermeneutic strength and the possibility to obtain new insight to better grasp the late antique social-religious context. In particular, I will focus on the symbology of clothing implicit in the adjective ‘vested’, trying to understand the communitarian dimension that could be built through these practices.

Paper short abstract:

In his book On Life (book III) Marsilio Ficino uses astrological and natural magic aspects to support man’s vitality with the gifts of heaven. In discussing talismans, Ficino explains the principle of how talismans work based upon Neoplatonic teachings on world soul and vertical relationships.

Paper long abstract:

In the third book of his On Life, Marsilio Ficino uses astrological and natural magic aspects to support man’s vitality with the gifts of heaven. In discussing talismans, Picatrix is one of his sources, a handbook of Arabic talismanic magic, which is a descendant of ancient Greek magical ideas through a cross between astrology and theurgy. Talisman magic is based on Aristotle’s ontological principles, Ptolemy’s astronomical knowledge, and on Hellenistic astrological doctrines. Through the teaching of intelligible realities and the world as a living being, Neoplatonic philosophy developed a specific system of vertical relationships. Through these bonds, certain forces from the celestial sphere can be included in the body of talismans, which, when made at the right time, from the right materials and form, become an object radiating that power. In De vita coelitus comparanda, which was written as a commentary on Plotinus’ Enneads IV, 3 (On the Soul) Ficino incorporated the lessons of his translations of further Neoplatonists (Iamblichus, Proclus, Psellus and Synesius ) into his explanations. In fact, however, all explanations ultimately go back to Plato’s Timaeus and to his the interpretation of the world soul as a demiurge. Ficino explains the principle of how talismans work by turning back to this teaching.

Paper short abstract:

Through a comparative analysis of thaumaturgical practices in Palestine in I AD and the miracles narrated in the Gospels, we try to understand if Jesus' thaumaturgical techniques can be integrated in 'common' sphere of magic and be functional to a precise construction and narration of the character.

Paper long abstract:

The talk will be an analysis of the thaumaturgical practices in Palestine in I cent. a.D. The narration of Jesus' miracles in the Gospels will become a parameter for structuring a comparative analysis, aimed to understand if and how the techniques used by Jesus can be integrated in the 'common' sphere of magic.

If different scholars have defined Christ as a myth (e.g. Onfray) or as a simple man who performed no miracles (e.g. Ehrman), certain literature defines him as a magician (e.g. Smith) and it seems possible to delineate a use of both magical and thaumaturgical rituals already through an initial reading of the Gospels: we know that Jesus was able to cast out demons but mainly to heal the sick and raise the dead, sometimes with the laying of hands or, more often, with a ritual order expressed in words.

On the one hand, the comparative analysis will allow us to understand whether Jesus' practices can be inscribed within the horizon of the best-known thaumaturgical practices (e.g. the healing powers attributed to the god Asclepius), reminding that the sources themselves mark the groove between the thaumaturge Jesus and the innumerable goes/magoi of his time (e.g. Apollonius of Tyana), because Jesus declares himself to be the son of God and therefore proposes himself as an agent in function of a specific divine dynamis.

On the other hand, we can try to understand whether the creation of a real 'magic world' around the figure of Jesus can be intended as a deliberate act, functional to a specific construction and narration of the character. Could Jesus therefore have built a "scaffolding" useful for the definition of his divine component - inextricably linked to the human one - precisely through thaumaturgy, thus going beyond the line of the magos sic et simpliciter?

Paper short abstract:

In this presentation we will study the presence of vowel sequences or voces magicae in the Gnostic treatise The Gospel of the Egyptians, their function within Gnostic thought, possible ritual features and their relationship with similar ones in the Greek magical papyri.

Paper long abstract:

The Gnostic texts preserved at Nag Hammadi (4th-5th c.) were quickly identified as translations of Greek originals. However, in some cases they prove to have undergone not only additions but also more subtle influences characteristic of the Egyptian context in which they circulated. Such is the case of the appearance of voces magicae in texts such as the Gospel of the Egyptians (NHC III,2 and IV,2), whose closest exponent can be found in some Greek and Demotic magical papyri.

The additions and reworkings undergone by these texts are only traceable through the preservation of earlier versions, in such exceptional cases as the Apocryphon of John (NHC II,1; III,1; IV,1; BG 8502,2), but texts such as the Gospel of the Egyptians may have undergone a similar process.

The Coptic copies from Nag Hammadi also seem to be the fruit of a successful internal circulation in Late Antique Egypt. But did the voces magicae have the same function in these texts as in the magical papyri, where the presence of Christian teachings is much scarcer? How would Gnostic Christians use these formulas to be integrated into treatises that deal with protology and Platonic views on the divine?

In this presentation we will try to observe the power of voces magicae in the conception of divine transcendence within Gnostic thought, and how this development may have responded to a local and relatively late context compared to other Gnostic texts.

Paper short abstract:

This paper proposes to explore the use and production of inks in the ritual field of Late Antiquity through the testimony of Greek magical papyri, with special focus on the symbolic or procedural aspects that distinguish them from ordinary (i.e. profane) inks.

Paper long abstract:

Ink was one of the most important inventions of antiquity: its technology made possible the development of writing and, with it, the transmission of thought beyond the possibilities of previous media, revolutionising the way we communicate and preserve knowledge. However, the function of inks in antiquity was not limited to the mere act of writing: the natural substances used in their manufacture endowed them with a therapeutic-ritual potential that did not go unnoticed by physicians and ritual practitioners. Within the research lines of the project INK-Quiry, this paper proposes to explore inks in the ritual field of Late Antiquity through the testimony of Greek magical papyri: their function as a means of producing sacred texts or transmitting certain properties to the text (or its support, including the human body). In short, the aim is to analyse inks as a technical element within ritual, trying to find out what symbolic or procedural aspects distinguishes them from ordinary (i.e. profane) inks.

Paper short abstract:

Some of the spells of the Greco-Egyptian magical papyri prescribe specific clothes to be worn during the ritual, which I argue constitute a material support for the ritualist's claimed identity and authority as an Egyptian priest, and help mediating the perceived presence of divine agency.

Paper long abstract:

In her most recent book, Clothes and Monasticism in Ancient Christian Egypt (2021), Ingvild Sælid Gilhus highlights the role of clothes as “mediators between the wearers and the world” and shows how clothing participates in constructing the monastic world and molding monastic minds and memories. In the present paper, I will apply the focus on clothing to the so-called Greek Magical Papyri, to show how specific clothes prescribed in certain spells construct the identity and authority of the ritualist as a high-ranking Egyptian priest. In recent decades there has been an increasing awareness that many of the magical papyri, which provide formulas for anything between erotic spells of attraction to direct visions of divine powers, are connected to the Egyptian temple environment, and the prescribed clothes strengthen this link. The priestly clothes, I argue, are a component of a heightened and contained semiotic system, and in the ritual they serve to focus the ritualist’s attention toward invisible others, and thereby help shape the bodily experience of spirit and presence. As such, they are dynamic mediators, making the distant gods and spirits real in the minds of the ritualists. If the actual wearing of specific clothes constitute a “technique,” in the sense of clothes being a material support, they are very much part of the discursive technology of claiming a specific identity, and hence, authority.