Christopher Faraone
University of Chicago, Classics, Faculty Member
uses the eca6b ipdi to facilitate her famous deception of Zeus. Deianeira, in a last-ditch effort to save her marriage, mistakenly and tragically destroys her philandering husband, Heracles, when she employs an aphrodisiac to win him back... more
uses the eca6b ipdi to facilitate her famous deception of Zeus. Deianeira, in a last-ditch effort to save her marriage, mistakenly and tragically destroys her philandering husband, Heracles, when she employs an aphrodisiac to win him back (Hesiod fr. 25.17-25 MW). In yet another early myth, Pindar tells us how Jason uses a magic iuvS-wheel to woo Medea-an act of seduction, which leads to elopement and marriage (Pyth. 4.213-219). Elsewhere we hear how apples, quinces, pomegranates and other fruit designated by the Greek word firov were apparently used to strengthen marital affections; they were regularly offered to brides-to-be, both in myth (e.g., Atalanta, Persephone) and in actual ceremony (e.g., Plut. Solon 20.4). In all these Greek legends involving aphrodisiacs, a magic spell is employed to bring about a desired, new marriage, or save a faltering one. Drawing attention to close parallels in Akkadian erotic spells of the Neo-Assyrian period and in the much later Greek magical papyri, I shall argue that in some cases such myths reflect the actual use of aphrodisiacs in early Greek culture, and that awareness of these practices can give us a much deeper insight into the narrative structure of the poetic texts in which they appear.
Research Interests: History, Mythology, Art, Literature, Poetry, and 4 moreLiterary studies, Phoenix, Hesiod, and Historical Studies
In this article, we propose to analyze the connection between Zeus Dodonaios and Serapis in the Greek world from the analysis of some magical gems bearing representations of Zeus Dodonaios enthroned as Sarapis and reports collected from... more
In this article, we propose to analyze the connection between Zeus Dodonaios and Serapis in the Greek world from the analysis of some magical gems bearing representations of Zeus Dodonaios enthroned as Sarapis and reports collected from the Greek Magical Papyri.
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The different epigraphic versions of the so-called Erythraean Paean date from the early fourth century BCE to the mid-second century CE and are generally thought to trace the degeneration of an original monostrophic lyric poem attested in... more
The different epigraphic versions of the so-called Erythraean Paean date from the early fourth century BCE to the mid-second century CE and are generally thought to trace the degeneration of an original monostrophic lyric poem attested in the eponymous late-classical version. I argue that such an approach is inadequate and that the later versions of this poem are witnesses to a hitherto unappreciated genre of paean to Apollo and Asclepius composed almost entirely in dactyls and organized into segments of varying length, which generally begin with a dactylic tetrameter and end with a version of the traditional paeonic cry (the so-called epiphthegma): Παιν or Παιν. The space between the opening tetrameter and the closing cry can, however, accommodate between four to eight additional dactylic feet. The late Hellenistic paean composed in Athens by Macedonicus of Amphipolis is yet another witness to this tradition, which probably dates back at least as early as a famous—albeit almost ent...
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Metis appears twice in the Hesiodic corpus as an anthropomorphic goddess, who is courted and then ingested by Zeus. In the Theogony this narrative ends with the permanent stabilization of his monarchic rule over gods and men. We argue... more
Metis appears twice in the Hesiodic corpus as an anthropomorphic goddess, who is courted and then ingested by Zeus. In the Theogony this narrative ends with the permanent stabilization of his monarchic rule over gods and men. We argue that the myth of Metis and Zeus most probably derives - directly or indirectly - from Egyptian royal ideology, as it is expressed most emphatically in a series of New Kingdom and later (i.e. 1500 BCE-200 CE) texts and relief sculptures that depict the offering to various monarchical male gods of the goddess Maat. Like Hesiodic Mêtis/mêtis, Maat appears in Egyptian texts both as an abstract idea (maat) and as an anthropomorphized goddess Maat and several odd details in the Hesiodic narratives can be explained by Egyptian influence, especially the idea that Zeus swallows Metis and that afterwards she gives him moral guidance. Metis and Egyptian Maat are both closely connected to the idea of legitimate monarchic rule, a relationship that is expressed by t...
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The separate entrances of the male and female semi-choruses in Aristophanes'Lysistrataare marked by an unusual bit of stagecraft whose importance to a general theme of the play the salvation of Athens–has never been fully appreciated.... more
The separate entrances of the male and female semi-choruses in Aristophanes'Lysistrataare marked by an unusual bit of stagecraft whose importance to a general theme of the play the salvation of Athens–has never been fully appreciated. The old men enter the stage at v. 254 each carrying a pair of olive-wood logs, a vine torch and a small pot of live embers. Having heard that Lysistrata and her comrades have taken control of the Acropolis, they come intent on burning down the gates of the citadel and removing the women, whom they liken to the Spartan general Cleomenes who occupied the citadel in 510. The men pile their logs before the closed gate, ignite their torches in the hot coals and then try to set fire to the logs (vv. 307-11). But after a few minutes of hilarious bumbling their plans are foiled for good by the sudden appearance of a semi-chorus of old women who rush in with water-jars on their shoulders or in their hands; these women threaten the men and then finally–with ...
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The so-called ‘Cyrenean Foundation Decree’ describes and paraphrases what appears to be the oath of the seventh-century Theran colonists who founded the city of Cyrene in Libya. This oath contains a conditional self-imprecation, a common... more
The so-called ‘Cyrenean Foundation Decree’ describes and paraphrases what appears to be the oath of the seventh-century Theran colonists who founded the city of Cyrene in Libya. This oath contains a conditional self-imprecation, a common enough feature of many Greek oaths, but one which in this case involves wax effigies in what can best be described as a ritual employing ‘sympathetic magic’:
Research Interests: History, Art, Wine, Literary studies, Hellenic Studies, and 4 moreHistorical Studies, Wax, Decree, and oath
At the heart of the Thesmophoria festival lies the story of Persephone and the promise of agricultural fertility, but scholars point out that more seems to be at stake, suggesting that the scene of women ‘camping out’ in the sanctuary... more
At the heart of the Thesmophoria festival lies the story of Persephone and the promise of agricultural fertility, but scholars point out that more seems to be at stake, suggesting that the scene of women ‘camping out’ in the sanctuary under the control of the female archons recalls a primitive time when women, perhaps, ruled the city or that the festival creates a place where women are at least beyond the control of men. There are hints, moreover, that during the Thesmophoria women were also actively involved in some kind of juridical activity, especially on the second day of the festival, when they fasted in imitation of Demeter's grief over the abduction of Persephone and the injustice perpetrated against her. Indeed, the epithet Thesmophoros was understood already in ancient times to have some connection with human law. This paper argues that on the second day of the festival women engaged in some kind of impromptu juridical procedure aimed at solving crimes and punishing ano...
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... GER Lloyd, Magic, Reason and Experience (Cambridge, 1979), pp ... 9 Vergil, however, adds two stanzas that describe a binding spell without parallel in Theocritus' poem (73-81): terna tibi haec primum triplici diversa colore... more
... GER Lloyd, Magic, Reason and Experience (Cambridge, 1979), pp ... 9 Vergil, however, adds two stanzas that describe a binding spell without parallel in Theocritus' poem (73-81): terna tibi haec primum triplici diversa colore licia circumdo terque haec altaria circum effigiem duco. ...
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Page 1. 141 A Greek Curse against a Thief FROM THE KOUTSONGILA CEMETERY AT ROMAN KENCHREAI* A lead curse tablet (KM043) recently discovered in the chamber of a subterranean tomb (no. 22) in a major cemetery north of the harbor at... more
Page 1. 141 A Greek Curse against a Thief FROM THE KOUTSONGILA CEMETERY AT ROMAN KENCHREAI* A lead curse tablet (KM043) recently discovered in the chamber of a subterranean tomb (no. 22) in a major cemetery north of the harbor at Kenchreai, ...
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Research Interests: History, Ancient History, Archaeology, Mythology, Art, and 4 moreGreeks, Historical Studies, Trojan, and Guardian
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The recently published curse tablets from the sanctuary of Magna Mater in Mainz, from the hero shrines of Opheltes and Palaimon, and from the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, as well as a single curse tablet from late Roman Antioch invoking... more
The recently published curse tablets from the sanctuary of Magna Mater in Mainz, from the hero shrines of Opheltes and Palaimon, and from the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, as well as a single curse tablet from late Roman Antioch invoking the "secret names" of the Samothracian deities, all suggest some connection between mystery religions and cursing. Two possible explanations are explored: (i) because initiates had special access to divine powers, their curses were thought to be especially powerful; or (ii) these new discoveries fit two traditional types of defixiones: those placed in or at the graves of those violently killed, like Opheltes, or those placed in sanctuaries of female divinities, like Demeter, whose myths focus on the loss and return of a loved one from Hades.
At the heart of the Thesmophoria festival lies the story of Persephone and the promise of agricultural fertility, but scholars point out that more seems to be at stake, suggesting that the scene of women 'camping out' in the sanctuary... more
At the heart of the Thesmophoria festival lies the story of Persephone and the promise of agricultural fertility, but scholars point out that more seems to be at stake, suggesting that the scene of women 'camping out' in the sanctuary under the control of the female archons recalls a primitive time when women, perhaps, ruled the city or that the festival creates a place where women are at least beyond the control of men. There are hints, moreover, that during the Thesmophoria women were also actively involved in some kind of juridical activity, especially on the second day of the festival, when they fasted in imitation of Demeter's grief over the abduction of Persephone and the injustice perpetrated against her. Indeed, the epithet Thesmophoros was understood already in ancient times to have some connection with human law. This paper argues that on the second day of the festival women engaged in some kind of impromptu juridical procedure aimed at solving crimes and punishing anonymous wrongdoers and it uses as evidence Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae and a series of curse inscriptions deposited in late Hellenistic times at the Sanctuary
A Greek magical handbook in London has a drawing of bird (fig. 1) surrounded by a swirl of text that comprises an invocation and a brief bit of instruction (PGM VII 300). The text helpfully identifies the species of bird: Sachmouozozo,... more
A Greek magical handbook in London has a drawing of bird (fig. 1) surrounded by a swirl of text that comprises an invocation and a brief bit of instruction (PGM VII 300). The text helpfully identifies the species of bird: Sachmouozozo, the one who thunders, who shakes heaven and earth, who swallowed the serpent, who hour by hour raises the disk of the sun and surrounds the moon, Chônsou Ochcha Ensou Obiberoêsos. Write on your left hand with myrrh ink these things surrounding the ibis. Fig. 1. Drawing of ibis at PGM VII 300 by R. Hernandez Martin used with permission. Because this recipe lacks a rubric or introduction, its purpose is unstated, but I will suggest, in fact, that the ibis drawn here serves as an image of the god Her-mes-Thoth and that we are supposed to go to sleep with the drawing pressed to our left ear and receive a dream in which the god speaks to us. I will support this suggestion by adducing a series of dream-divination recipes-all of them dating, like this one, to the 4 th or 5 th century CE-that involve the creation of a divine image that will somehow be a conduit for prophetic speech in the context of a dream. There are three basic types of images: (i) a drawing in special ink on a hand or a cloth, (ii) an engraved ring-stone, or (iii) a miniature statue set up in the house at whose feet we are to lay our head as we fall asleep. With the image of the
This is part of the index that was inadvertently left out of my book The Transformation of Greek Amulets in Roman Imperial Times (Philadelphia 2018).
The era of the Roman Empire was distinguished by an explosion of images and texts in a variety of media—metal, papyrus, mosaic, gemstone—all designed to protect, heal, or grant some abstract benefit to the persons who wore them on their... more
The era of the Roman Empire was distinguished by an explosion of images and texts in a variety of media—metal, papyrus, mosaic, gemstone—all designed to protect, heal, or grant some abstract benefit to the persons who wore them on their bodies or placed them in their homes. In the past scholars have explained this proliferation of readily identifiable amulets by a sudden need for magic or by a precipitous rise in superstition or anxiety in this period, connected, perhaps, with the internal breakdown of Greek rationalism or the migration of superstitious peoples from the East. Christopher A. Faraone argues, instead, that these amulets were not invented in this period as a result of an alteration in the Roman worldview or a tidal wave of " oriental " influence, but rather that they only become visible to us in the archaeological record as a result of a number of technical innovations and transformations: the increased epigraphic habit of the Imperial period, the miniaturization of traditional domestic amulets, like the triple-faced Hecate, on durable gems, or the utilization of newly crafted Egyptianizing iconography. In short, it is only when explicitly protective or curative texts, or strange new images are added to traditional Greek amulets, that modern observers realize that these objects were thought to have the power to protect or heal all along. The real question addressed by the book, then, is not why we can identify so many amulets in the Roman Imperial period but, rather, why we have failed to identify them in artifacts of the preceding centuries. Featuring more than 120 illustrations, The Transformation of Greek Amulets in Roman Imperial Times is not only a tremendous resource for those working in the fields of ancient magic and religion but also an essential reference for those interested in the religion, culture, and history of the ancient Mediterranean.
