Greek Magic

Magic in ancient Greece involved a number of varied practices:-use of curse tablets, protective amulets and so on-giving a fascinating insight into everyday human life in the ancient world. We are speaking about borderline phenomenon which nevertheless remains independent and whose purpose was the domination of events, physical phenomena and of the human being through one's own will and through the use of appropriate verbal formulas, gestures and rituals. The present work aims to possibly elucidate the phenomenon, spread in archaic and classical periods, focusing on the study of aggressive texts from Selinous and attempting a formal and content comparison between Sicilian and Greek texts.

P.Lond. I 121 (PGM VII) is a magical formulary written in Greek and dated to the 4th cent. CE. The complete content of the bookroll can be divided in four different sections according to the marginal textual marks. This article analyzes the type of magical prescriptions contained in the first section of the formulary in order to find out if a common pattern has determined their disposition at the beginning of the book. The content of the prescriptions will be studied in connection with what we know about popular magic and literature of paignia and the transmission of this lore.

En el presente estudio haremos algunas precisiones sobre una inscripción métrica cretense de Falasarna de finales del S. IV a.C. que hasta ahora ha planteado no pocos problemas a los estudiosos del documento. Se trata de un epígrafe mágico compuesto en héxametros y grabado sobre una laminilla de plomo que le servía de amuleto al que la llevaba.