Drawing Down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World

by Radcliffe G. G. Edmonds III

Hardcover, 2019

Status

Available

Call number

133.430938

Genres

Classics

History

General Nonfiction

Religion & Spirituality

Philosophy

Nonfiction

Collection

Gifts

Publication

Princeton University Press (2019), 496 pages

Description

An unparalleled exploration of magic in the Greco-Roman worldWhat did magic mean to the people of ancient Greece and Rome? How did Greeks and Romans not only imagine what magic could do, but also use it to try to influence the world around them? In Drawing Down the Moon, Radcliffe Edmonds, one of the foremost experts on magic, religion, and the occult in the ancient world, provides the most comprehensive account of the varieties of phenomena labeled as magic in classical antiquity. Exploring why certain practices, images, and ideas were labeled as "magic" and set apart from "normal" kinds of practices, Edmonds gives insight into the shifting ideas of religion and the divine in the ancient past and in the later Western tradition.Using fresh approaches to the history of religions and the social contexts in which magic was exercised, Edmonds delves into the archaeological record and classical literary traditions to examine images of witches, ghosts, and demons as well as the fantastic powers of metamorphosis, erotic attraction, and reversals of nature, such as the famous trick of drawing down the moon. From prayer and divination to astrology and alchemy, Edmonds journeys through all manner of ancient magical rituals and paraphernalia-ancient tablets, spell books, bindings and curses, love charms and healing potions, and amulets and talismans. He considers the ways in which the Greco-Roman discourse of magic was formed amid the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, including Egypt and the Near East.An investigation of the mystical and marvelous, Drawing Down the Moon offers an unparalleled record of the origins, nature, and functions of ancient magic.… (more)

Media reviews

Bryn Mawr Classical Review

In recent years the study of ancient magic has continued to go from strength to strength with many fine works emerging and pushing the boundaries of the subject ever further. As a result, for some time now there has been a need for a book that offers a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to

the subject. In Drawing Down the Moon, Edmonds has produced an extensive, engaging and, crucially, accessible overview which is likely to establish itself quickly as essential reading for anyone seeking to learn more about the vast array of topics that fall under the sweeping category of magic. Over the course of eleven chapters the book covers an impressive range of topics and offers detailed discussions of many important case studies and primary sources. Edmonds not only offers stimulating analyses of the examples themselves, but also uses them to illustrate with painstaking care how various approaches to the primary sources have shaped the evolution of the subject in modern scholarship. Edmonds also takes care to explain how the most recent treatments of the subject differ from what has come before, and to demonstrate precisely why the older categories and classifications are no longer considered satisfactory. This is certainly one of the most important contributions that the book makes, considering the various theoretical advances that have emerged in the twenty-first century.

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Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Drawing Down the Moon can be recommended as an updated gateway into ancient “magic” for English-speaking academic and public readers. Edmonds offers a rich overview of the present state of knowledge in the field announced by the subtitle: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World. The reader might

remember a similar survey by F. Graf, Magic in the Ancient World (Cambridge 1997) (first published as La magie dans l’Antiquité grecque et romaine, Paris 1994). The 1990s were the time for asking the question: What is “magic” in Antiquity?, a matter that was taken up and worked on as a subcategory of religion in Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion edited by C. A. Faraone and D. Obbink (Oxford 1991). Thirty years later, it seems that 2019 is the time to publish conclusions of a generation of studies in ancient magic, be it in the “Greco-Roman” or the “Ancient World”. Last year, David Frankfurter issued a collective Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic (Leiden / Boston) (BMCR 2020.03.37) that serves the same purpose with a transcultural perspective. Here is not the place to compare the Guide and Drawing Down the Moon: it is only striking that the starting-point for both publications is the same conceptual question: What is “magic”? Drawing Down the Moon answers that “magic” is one Graeco-Roman strategy to mark some non-normative ritual behaviours. This convincing conclusion of thirty years of research, if not the only one possible, at least raises new questions. For example, we might ask what a norm is? (In fact, the whole point is that it is a process like labelling “magic” that builds a norm in ancient ritualism: “the study of ancient magic therefore provides a crucial perspective on normative practices of religion,” p. 2.) Or: who makes the norm in Antiquity? How many norms are there? When modern scholars classify “magic in Antiquity” or “magic in the Graeco-Roman World,” which norm are they referring to?

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User reviews

LibraryThing member asukamaxwell

In the first couple of chapters, Edmonds lays out their method. After all, how can one tell the difference between religion and magic? They ascribe to the method of: "objectivity, ends, performance, and location" to draw the line between magic and religion. For example, "Drawing Down the Moon" is

the ancient "trick" that the Thessalians had the power to control the moon. In all references, the act is "non-normative socially and politically" and therefore can be described as magic.

The most common form of magic though were curse tablets. Apparently there is a surplus of these thin sheets of metal. The binding curse or "katadesmoi" can cause paralyzation, muteness or fearfulness, stiff limbs, or impotency. They are often found in graves, seeking the power of the underworld, whether it be Osiris, Erinyes, Pluto, Hermes or Hekate. We've been taught that Romans did all the borrowing for their religious beliefs, but that doesn't seem to be the case. These tablets can be pierced with a nail, but Edmonds is careful to avoid a generalizations with voodoo.

Attributed to Aphrodite and the like, love charms and erotic curses are even more threatening. With "horrifying imagery" these are spells for the madness and torments of Eros. Inability to eat, sleep or drink for love of someone else. The moon goddess Aktiophis is invoked in one, and is a combination of Hekate and the Babylonian Ereskigal. The book also covers protective magic, present or for future issues. One amulet for headaches actually survived in a medieval prayer, with Artemis replaced by Jesus. Unlike amulets, though, divination is used specifically to identify what happened in the past to cause the problem, NOT to "see the future." There are also excellent chapters on Astrology, Alchemy and Philosophy.

My only quibble is that Edmonds needed to provide a little description for some writers, playwrights and philosophers mentioned. Overall, a worthy read even for it's size because the subject is really fascinating. It cleared up many of the misconceptions we have about ancient practices.

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