Greek Magic Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

similia similibus

type of binding space using persuasive analogy with a similia similibu utterance: as is X, so be Y

niketikon/niketika

victory charms, performance enhancing spells

Example of less rational procedure for a health problem

•'Find a salamander, a small lizard which is blue-green in color and has no feet. .. Take ram-horn plant, and pound it together with lizard and apply to any wound.' •Use an amulet as a contraceptive, and write on it: •'OBPHOCHONMPOUO AIEROENIONO IBOPHA IKON': palindrome inscriptions have added power, can be read in both directions, considered magical because they are strange and unusual. Nonsense inscriptions also have added power.

faith healing

•A man who was paralyzed in all fingers save one came as a suppliant to the god. When he was looking at the plaques in the sanctuary, he didn't believe in the cures and was somewhat disparaging of the inscriptions. Sleeping here, he saw a vision. It seemed he was playing knucklebones below the temple, and, as he was about to throw them, the god appeared, sprang on his hand and stretched out his fingers one by one. When he had straightened them all, the god asked him if he would still disbelieve the inscription on the plaques around the sanctuary and he answered no. "Therefore, since you doubted them before, though they were not unbelievable, from now on" he said "your name shall be Apistos (Unbeliever)." When day came, he left healthy.

Participants at Eleusis

•Any Greek-speaker not polluted by murder: male or female, slave or free, Greek or foreigner. The price of initiation was 15 drachmas (the equivalent of 10 days' wages). •Mystes (one who closes his eyes and/or keeps his mouth shut) •Mystagogos (instructor of the mystes who has already been initiated) •Epoptes ('one who sees', returning mystes)

Does magic work?

•Autosuggestion; •Removal of tension and emotional stress; •Transfer of emotion (catharsis of love, aggression, hatred); •Regain of control over self.

humorism

•BLOOD - AIR - SANGUINE •PHLEGM - WATER - PHLEGMATIC •YELLOW BILE - FIRE - CHOLERIC •BLACK BILE - EARTH - MELANCHOLIC • WARM-COLD / DRY-MOIST body when it is healthy has humors, they are represented with appropriate quantities and they are balanced. The four basic humors are blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Origin of disease is a surplus of an element. The others are not in the state of balance. blood-air-sanguine, phlegm-water-phlegmatic, etc. e.g., bloodletting: if illness caused by too much blood, red in the face like high blood pressure. Use leeches or perform cuts Easier to get infected w knife, leeches safer. Air, water, fire, earth: elements related to the four humours. Blood related to air, phlegm to water, yellow to fire, black to earth. The conjunction is visible through idea that a surplus of a certain humor determines your character. Sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic: related to your humour balance.

Common surgical procedures

•Common surgical procedures: •- trepanation. •- bleeding. •- lithotomy. •- cautery. •- amputation. •'Disinfection'/analgesic = ground poppy seeds, wine & vinegar

Magical means of competitive magic

•Defixiones (lead tablets) •Counter-spells (phylakteria) • Apotropaia (amulets to ward off evil) •Victory charms (niketika) •Divination devices "Once, when I had decided to enter a competition for reciting theatrical verse, a sorcerer inquired of me how much would I pay him to guarantee a victory. " Magic in Circus: not just an amateur phenomenon: "religious experts" selling 'bundles': production and activation of binding spells, phylacteries, and victory charms.

How did scientific medicine develop?

•Derived from philosophical and religious discourses.doctors at first rely on philosophical knowledge about the environment, climate, the elements, etc. •Develops in 5th c. BC around temples = temple medicine, with some antecedents earlier. •'iatros' = doctor and a religious official. •Key features: humorism (disease caused by balance of humors); environmentalism (types of disease with different types of environment, environments can lead to disease, e.g., marshes bring mosquitos, cause disease); nutritionism (ancient greek doctors prescribe diets e.g., stay away from oil or cheese, eat more fish or more meat, diet as treatment); belief in homeopathy (home remedies); holistic approach (=mind + body as a unit). •Key divinities: Apollo, Asclepius (a son of Apollo), Hygieia (Classical period, personification of health) and Serapis (Hellenistic period god from Egypt), Isis Medica (Hellenistic period). AG treatments of disease often brutal, no painkillers, could not sedate although they operated E.g., spinal treatment/joint problems: ladder released from a height in order for spine to settle

Agonistic culture

•Development of crown games (Isthmia, Pythia, Nemea, Olympia) •Local competitions •Aristocrats à Professionals (late 3rd c. BC) •300 AD: 66 days of racing, 177 days of games (Rome, circus) •Competitive disciplines: from literary and musical competitions to martial arts. Philostratus: Life of Apollonuis 7.39: "Athletes resort to this art (magic), just as do all who have to undergo a contest in their eagerness to win". There were local athletic competitions, as well as Pan-Hellenic games, which were organized as part of the religious celebration in the great sanctuaries: Isthmian, Nemean, Pythian at Delphi, Olympian. The most popular were Olympic Games. The Olympic games were organized at the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia every 4 years since 776 BC. Athletic disciplines: jumping, javelin-throwing, foot-races, wrestling, boxing, pankration (single combat including punching and wrestling). Chariot-racing was also very popular. Competitions held in high regard in archaic and classical period Mostly wealthy families participated in sports: in order to be able to train and hire a trainer to teach you how to box or long distance run or chariot racing etc you had to be wealthy and have free time to dedicate for years A farming person cannot set aside time or money or energy to train in the same way Aristocracy competing against selves in local and crown games But then in classical period into hellenistic period: move towards professional sports. At some point sports became professional: people started competing not just for glory or renown, but also for spectators to earn money, so sports were detached from aristocracy and became professionalized COMPETITIVE MAGIC:Stadium as a magical battleground. Elimination fo competition is a key use for magic. •Victory as the ultimate aim: •a) Performance-enhancing magic; •b) Aggressive-offensive magic; •c) Protective-defensive magic (protects from magic used against you); •d) Revelatory magic ('the right moment': astrology/divination)

What were threats to health in Classical Athens?

•Filth (personal and public). Living in close quarters, access to clean water was limited and it could be easily contaminated by human waste. •Rodents, insects, animals. No insecticides, can only kill by catching them. Often infested with lice and other bugs like bedbugs. •Food, air & water can be polluted •Nature •War & sports: injuries in war and hunting, agriculture etc. • •Skin diseases (herpes, scabies, dermatitis, skin ulcers etc.). any scratch could lead to infection bc no concept of disinfection •Gastro-intestinal tract (stomach pain, diarrhea, dysentery), fevers, inflammations etc. •Poisoning (animal toxins, plant toxins), diseases of respiratory tract, liver, kidneys, spleen. •Animal bites (dogs, scorpions, snakes, spiders). •'Female diseases' - amenorrhea, womb-related diseases. •Eyesight (cataracts, weak sight, pterygium, inflammation of the tear sac, scarring of the cornea, conjunctivitis etc.) •Fractures, traumas, inflammations (e.g., war) Malaria, TB: spread quickly and were deadly to entire communities. Greeks dealing with a lot of illness, it was hard to survive through childhood. No ideas about germs, anatomical knowledge very rudimentary.

What did the Greeks think about the Underworld?

•Heroes go to the Isles of the blessed. They are more closely related to gods so they have a different afterlife. Close to idea of paradise, islands at the edge of the world: Hesiod •Sinners against the gods suffer eternal punishments in the underworld. Some ppl are so bad they have to have a special lot: dying would be too easy. E.g., Sisyphus: rolling boulder up a cliff but it always rolls back down. •Everyone else forgets everything and becomes a a shadow, unfeeling and with no consciousness. •By the late sixth century BC, a new religious concept had emerged in the Greek world, one which focused on the survival of the soul after death. It was based on the idea that the human soul outlives the body, and, provided that particular rituals were performed, it offered the hope of a blessed existence after death. Idea that rituals performed in life can give you a blessed existence after death. •This concept is traditionally labelled 'Orphism' after Orpheus.

Priests at Eleusis

•Hierophant (high priest, access to anaktoron) •High priestess of Demeter •Hierophantides (female assistants to Hierophant) •Panageis Priestesses (?) •Dadouchos (torch-bearer) •Dadouchousa (torch-bearer ass.) •Hieorokeryx (herald) •the Priest at the Altar

First physicians

•Homeric physicians: Machaon and Podaleirios (Iliad 4. 200-220). •6th / 5th c. BC travelling physicians: Demokedes of Kroton (Persiaà Aigina 30 àAthens 60 àSamos 120 minae), Herodotus 3.129-37. •State-sponsored healthcare: public physicians. Natural cures, ointments, surgery: when ppl start doing this they become very famous, healing people this way is more effective than praying, start becoming so famous they earn a lot of money. Herodotus tells us about Demokedes who lived in 6th and 5th cen BCE and who due to his medical knowledge travelled not only in Greece but also to Persia, where he surpassed Egyptian doctors and became doc on call to Persian royal family, earning a ton of money.

Methods of divine response

•Language via priests (written / utterances): response of priestess can be mediated by priests who then give you a response. E.g., you write your query down and give it to them, they go away, they come back with a response. •Divine possession of a priest/ess (Delphic oracle: priestess is possessed by the god and the god speaks through her) •Direct communication from the god (epiphanies, dream epiphanies, signals). This is one of the only ways to communicate w the gods with no priest as an intermediary. E.g., sleeping in the sanctuary of Asclepius. Can even have them at home but more important/divine meaning if you sleep in a temple precinct. •Astragalomancy: rolling dice with prepared answers corresponding to the combinations of numbers rolled

conceptual metaphor

•Manipulation of cognitive/conceptual metaphors. •Cognitive/conceptual metaphor: linking / explaining concept A with concept B. •'poisoned by hatred'. •'Life is a journey'; 'the debate was heated, and she was defeated'. •'I hunger for you'; 'burning with desire'; 'love, sweet, love'; 'bitter disappointment'; 'cold-hearted rejection'. • 'I'm proud of my heart: it's been played, stabbed, cheated, burned and broken, but it still somehow works'. 'Let's tie the knot'. using conceptual metaphors adds power. Also using similia similibus: just as lead is cold, let the kiln stay cold

Lessons from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter

•No girl can avoid the separation from her mother and marriage •Not even Demeter could hold on to her daughter •No human can escape death, even with a divine nurse •Once bereft of her daughter, a mother finds comfort in her son's young brides and their children More tentative: •Human life is cyclical, like crops •No separation is final

Examples of science among magic

•PGM xiv 935-9: 'prescription for an ear which is watery: salt, heat it with wine, and apply it to the ear every day for four days.' Apply heat to the ear, which may help with pain. Use a warm washcloth. . There is overlap between magic and medicine..

Orpheotelestai

•Scholars argue that the purity which the soul claims for herself in the tablets is the result of a specific initiation involving expiatory purification, performed by professional initiators into the mysteries, the so-called 'orpheotelestai'. •The existence of these 'orpheotelestai' is attested in the Classical period. They were itinerant religious experts who had the books of Orpheus. Orphic initiations performed by travelling ritual experts (orpheotelestai)

What is a mystery (gr. musterion)?

•Secret rite, mostly in plural, esp. those of Demeter at Eleusis, from múō, 'close, shut' (sc. the eyes or the mouth) These mysteries are connected to the existence of a soul and life after death.

speech-act

•Speech-acts are alterations of reality with the means of language - e.g. greeting, request, invitation, 'I now pronounce you husband and wife'; 'I hereby baptize you'. Manipulation: the vampire cannot enter the house uninvited.

Why were mystery rituals secret?

•Strabo (10.3.9): the secrecy with which the sacred rites are concealed induces reverence for the divine, since it imitates the nature of the divine, which is to avoid being perceived by our human senses. •Homeric Hymn to Demeter, vv. 478-8: Demeter showed the beautiful mysteries (to the kings) ... the solemn mysteries which one cannot depart from or enquire about or broadcast, for great awe of the gods restrains us from speaking. Once initiated into mysteries, you aren't supposed to talk about the process of initiation or divulge to anyone who wasn't initiated what goes on in the rituals. Just as the true nature of the divine is secret (normal people can't handle the full divine: Semele), so rituals imitate the secret nature of the gods.

Magic as medicine: how do you treat the disease?

•Treat the divinity, not the disease: magical approach. Scientific approach: acknowledging help of the god and that they are at work but also apply methods of healing to treat the person. Principles of contagion and homeopathy.

Pythia: how does you ask and how does she respond?

•Would it be better and more fitting to do x or y? •"Over the mouth [of the opening] a high tripod is set. Mounting this, the Pythia inhales the pneuma and then speaks prophecies in verse or in prose. The latter are versified by poets on duty in the temple" •(Strabo, Geography 9.3.5.). The best way to pose a q is yes or no questions to avoid riddles or ambiguity

Typical concerns of spells: love and sex, binding spells

•a) ca 25 % of all extant tablets deal with erotic magic. •b) inscriptions are formulaic because the templates were purchased from professionals. •c) Typical goals: •attraction of a lover (~ Gr. agoge 'leading') •binding of a lover (~ Gr. desmos 'bondage' katadesmos 'binding spell'). •elimination of competition in love (spells of separation)

Orphic initiations

•performed by travelling ritual experts (orpheotelestai). •rituals emphasized the afterlife and were purificatory. •Initiations had a strong ecstatic element. The ritual experts used tympana (hand drums), wine was drunk, and the rituals aimed to alter the initiate's state of consciousness, which expressed itself in ecstatic song, music and dance. The 'geographical tablets', which describe the journey of the soul in the underworld, also allow us to speculate that the descent into the underworld could have played a role in the staging of the ritual. The initiation ritual permanently changed the religious status of the initiate and was probably a singular occurrence. The initiates were buried with the golden leaves which they received at the end of the ritual. Orphic rituals have purification rituals: you get instructions for how to find your way once in underworld when you complete rituals. Purity is a result of a specific ritual initiation with expatiation/ purification performed by orpheotelestai (religious experts who had the books of Orpheus). Afterlife exists and better lot for some people, rituals purify you from sins of the Titans and from own mistakes and sins. Leaves you with permanent religious changed status of initiate: singular occurence. Plato hates these guys because of their influence on popular morality: cleanse you of any deeds of injustice (Which pollute the soul): if they can do that why even act justly? Contrasts directly the idea that certain sinful actions result in a dif lot in the underworld.

Lead tablets

- inscribed on small lead sheets (size of a playing card) - lead tablets are attested from the Classical period (late 5th) onwards, papyrus spells are much later (1-5th c AD)

dream epiphany

A method of divine response

Who are the oracular divinities?

Apollo, Zeus, Hades/Persephone, Trophonios

Apollo's oracles

Delphi, Didyma, Claros

Apollo

Delphic oracle.

kykeion

Demeter refused wine and drunk kykeon ('stir-up' drink made of barley and mint). The participants at Eleusis drink this drink too. The formula of the Eleusinian mysteries is as follows: "I fasted, I drank the draught (kykeon ); I took from the hamper; having done my task, I placed in the basket, and from the basket into the chest."

astragalomancy

Divination using dice or knucklebones. Different numbers mean different things.

Charakteres

Greek for "signs": symbols of divine powers, like geometric shapes made of letters.

epiphany

Heroic epiphanies: Heroes were thought to be capable of coming back to life not only eschatologically, in their timeless paradise-like abodes, but also sporadically in the present time of their worshippers. Such sporadic "live" appearances were considered to be epiphanies. At the moment of worship, the sacred precinct of the cult hero could become notionally identical to the paradise-like abode of immortalization from which he or she returns to his worshippers. Heroes can come back from the dead in moments of crisis as well, such as in war: e.g., at the Battle of Marathon. Heroes appear to the Greeks, called epiphany.

Aegeus

One possible father of Theseus, giving rise to name Aegean: threw himself into the sea.

Dodona

Oracle of Zeus. Private inquiries to Oracle of Zeus Naios at Dodona, recorded on lead tablets found at the sanctuary: •Gods. May I have good fortune. Evandros and his wife consult Zeus Naios and Dione. To whom of the gods or heroes or divinities should they pray and sacrifice so that they themselves and their household may fare better both now and for all time? •God. Gerioton asks Zeus about a wife. Is it better for him to take one? •Heraclides asks Zeus and Dione for good fortune. He asks the god about a family. Will he have one from his current wife Aigle? •Lysanias asks Zeus Naios and Dione whether or not the baby with whom Annula is pregnant is from him. •Nicocrateia asks to which god she should sacrifice in order to fare better and to stop her disease.

Veterinary magic

Performance Enhancing Methods: Neck (wolf teeth): protective amulet Hooves and legs (symbols) Ears (whispers): charms to make them run faster

Hermes

The god of theft, crafty speech and the leader of the souls to the Underworld

Violent deaths and those who died before their time/young

also associated with magic (aoros/aoroi) So angry because of what happened to them that they are able to preserve consciousness in the underworld and want to take vengeance on those who are lucky enough to still be living. There is an allotted time for a human on earth and if you die significantly before the perceived end of life you are considered to be angry, can be harnessed for magic.

compare and contrast a visit to the Asclepieion to a modern hospital visit

compare and contrast a visit to the Asclepieion to a modern hospital visit Just as in a hospital in the United States, there is a fee for your stay; medical care was most accessible for those with a lot of means, who could leave their cities for extended periods of time and afford sacrifices and housing. The Asclepion provided housing for guests, and was cleaned regularly, much like a hospital. Unlike a hospital, the Asclepion provided means for entertainment, like grand shows in the theater and stadium. Unlike a hospital, it would behoove you to stick around for a while and continue treatment, because of the impeccable, unmatched care and entertainment amenities, while someone in a hospital would want to get out quickly. Entertainment in a hospital is available, but limited to a television, not a grand, in-person show at a built facility. Additionally, like a hospital, the Asclepion had fine doctors practicing remedies for caring for individuals, like bloodletting or herbal remedies. The difference here is that they had no concept of germs and combined this sophisticated (for the time) medical care with entreating the god Asclepius in dreams and with sacrifices. There was a cult aspect that cannot be separated from the medical aspect; in the US religion is separated from medicine (although there are chapels). However, doctors came from all over to learn from each other at the Asclepion, reminiscent of a modern teaching hospital. There are many differences between a visit to the Asclepieion and a modern hospital. While both had the aim of healing you, there aren't too many other similarities. First, modern hospitals no longer require you to be in a state of purity. You can pretty much come as you are (besides the requirements of not eating before surgeries and such). Also, you don't have to sacrifice a piglet before getting treatment (unless you count your wallet as the sacrificial animal lol). Furthermore, hospital care back then had some very interesting views on treatments and what ails people - a focus on the humors (Blood, Phlegm, and Yellow and Black Bile) was what caused medical issues instead of bacteria, viruses and the like. One interesting comparison though is that even modern hospitals provide a religious sanctuary for those who wish to use it - a difference being in the Asclepieion, visiting the sanctuary was mandatory for treatment. Even if the actual healing practices don't include religious rituals, there are still very large religious aspects in the experience of a hospital, if you choose to take part in them. -- Similarities: Both are places to go in times of sickness Both are medical centers focused on healing Both are expensive processes and often reserved for the middle to upper class Both contain doctors and other patients Both document the healing process for medical records Differences: Asclepieion based medicine off of philosophy and religious roots, whereas a modern hospital visit is based strictly off of science and biology Asclepieion focused on magic, targeting the Gods to help heal, whereas a modern hospital visit would not include ritual prayer Before the healing process at Asclepieion, a patient would need to go through a purification and sacrifice process, whereas today that does not happen Today, hospital visits include a lot of technology and tests, whereas the Asclepieion did not The anatomical knowledge of the body today far exceeds that of the doctors at Asclepieion Practices such as fumigation, blood-letting, and instant amputation practiced at Asclepieion are not practiced today

agonistic magic

competitive magic

Tabellae defixionum

curse tablets. Sealed, nailed and folded. Malleable so they are easy to inscribe, often made of lead because it is easy to come upon. Then you roll it up and drive a nail through it. Nail used to fasten to the ground and then you bury it. Making it unmovable: bondage associated with magic.

phthonos

envy

If eros is a disease...

erotic magic is a curse

What are the sources for Ancient Greek magic? Who practiced magic rituals? What did the practitioners hope to obtain by the use of magic? What is the difference between magic and religion?

key questions

· What were the most oppressive crises in life of Ancient Greeks? · What is understood as temple medicine in Greek context? · What were the key elements of Healing rituals in Classical Greece? · Where are the overlaps between medical knowledge and magical knowledge?

key questions

Voces mysticae

mystic words, like palindromes, gibberish nonsense inscriptions, or invocations of foreign deities.

· How did Ancient Greeks deal with uncertainty? · How did Ancient Greeks communicate with the gods? · What sort of information did they obtain from the gods?

reflection questions

revelatory magic

revealing outcome with astrology or divination

apotropaion/apotropaia

ward away evil eye

Homeric Hymn to Demeter

•Demeter's daughter was plucking flowers when she was seized by Hades •Demeter heard her daughter's cry for help and searched for her everywhere, but could not find her. •Finally, Helios took pity on her and told Demeter that Persephone was seized by Hades. •Demeter left Olympus and roamed the Earth for a long time. Finally, she came to Eleusis. •There, sitting by the Maiden's well, Demeter encountered 4 lovely maidens, daughters of the Eleusinian king, who took her in as a nurse for their baby brother. •In the palace, Demeter sat in silent sorrow until an old servant, Iambe, started to jest with her and finally managed to make her smile. Demeter refused wine and drunk kykeon ('stir-up' drink made of barley and mint). •Demeter took excellent care of the young prince Damophon, who grew like a divine being. At night, Demeter would place the child in the fire, in order to make him immortal. •Unfortunately, Damophon's mother spied on the goddess and interrupted her action. Demeter revealed her identity and ordered the kings to build her a temple. Demeter: "'Now let the whole people build me a great temple with an altar below it, under the citadel's sheer wall, above Kallichoron, where the hill juts out. As to the rites, I myself will instruct you on how in future you can propitiate me with holy performance!'" •Demeter shut herself off in her temple at Eleusis and stopped the growth of all vegetation for a full year. All gods came to plead with her, but she refused to let anything grow until her daughter's return "Go, Persephone, to your dark-robed mother's side, keeping a gentle temper in your heart and be not too excessively aggrieved...by being here, you will be mistress of everything that lives and moves, and have the greatest privileges among the immortals, while there will ever be punishment for those who act unrighteously and fail to propitiate your fury with sacrifices, in holy performance, making the due offerings." (360-369) 'If you tasted anything, you will go back down and dwell in the recesses of the earth for a third of he year, until the due date, spending the other two thirds with me and the other gods and when the earth blooms with sweet-smelling spring, flowers of every kind, then you will come back up from the misty dark, a great wonder to the gods and to mortals' (397-403). Demeter ... quickly made the produce of the loam-rich ploughlands come up; and the whole broad earth grew heavy with leafledge and bloom. (470-473) •She went to the lawgiver kings, Triptolemos and horse-goading Diocles, strong Eumolpos and Keleos leader of hosts, and taught them the sacred service, and showed the beautiful mysteries to Triptolemos, Polyxenos, and also Diocles - the solemn mysteries which one cannot depart from or enquire about or broadcast, for great awe of the gods restrains us from speaking. (473-479)

Similarities and differences of magic

•a) Intention: Magic has immediate and individual goals. It is short-term & purpose-oriented. When performed in order to influence the activity of others, the desired effect is negative rather than positive. •b) Performers & performance: Magic is performed by an individual. Rituals are based on analogy and performed in secret. •c) Knowledge: Magic requires secret, professional, and specialized knowledge. Special texts and books play a role. •d) Social aspect: Magic is immoral and antisocial. •e) Legal aspect: laws against magicians are attested, individuals were put on trial for performing magic. •f ) supernatural powers: chthonic gods, heroes. Sometimes the spell coerces the gods/heroes into action

Main themes of public oracular consultations

- Catastrophes (disease, famine, drought, earthquakes) - War, welfare of the city-state, and political problems - Portents, prodigies - Colonisation - Ritual regulations (modification of cult activities) - Religious quandaries (introduction of new gods: e.g., an unknown disease led to Asclepius cult foundations, but you have to ask if this is okay first by asking the oracle: new gods often introduced in moments of crisis)

Main themes of private oracular consultations

- LOVE, FRIENDS AND FAMILY: Relations with friends or/and enemies; Vengeance / Punishment; Begetting children; Marital happiness; Paternity; Family issues (Problems, etc.) - BUSINESS: Management / Business relations; Exchange and Transactions; Possession / Heritage; Manumission; flight; Agriculture / Breeding / Fishing - PERSONAL AMBITION: Public career; Fame; Winning in contests; Being happy (in a general sense); To be successful (in a general sense); Salvation (in a general sense) - Purpose « that the consultant has in his mind »

Revelatory magic: astrology & divination

- professional astrologers' - best and worst time for competitions/debates/ trials - magicians: divine the outcome of a competition. can predict lucky/unlucky days, outcomes of competitions, et.c

Structure of Healing Rituals

1)Before incubation: 3 day purity (abstention from sex, goat meat, cheese). 2)Preliminary sacrifice: the sick garlanded with laurel; sacrifices a ram & cakes with olive branches to Apollo. 3)Main Sacrifice: a piglet to Asclepius, together with a donation (in cash). 4)Offering before incubation: two cakes outside for Mnemosyne and Tyche (god of opportunity), one inside for Themis (goddess of divine law and oracles). 5)Ritual sleep with laurel, drinking Hygieia (wheat, honey, oil) in the morning, During sleep you hope Asclepius appears to you and heals you or tells you what must be done to be healed. 6)Dedication to Asclepius if you are cured.

Types of binding spells

1)Direct binding spells (performative speech-acts) 2)Prayer formulas (prayers to the chthonic divinities) 3)Similia similibus utterance - "persuasive analogy" as is X, so be Y.

Method of oracular consultation at Delphi

1)Pythia(i) = Pythia(s) - up to 3! 2)Dressed like a girl 3)Purification (water, fumigation) 4)Goat-sacrifice •Descent into the adyton, sat on tripod, ecstasy, trance Diodorus Siculus on the history of Delphi-- •Goats discover a chasm in the earth •Everyone who approaches the chasm becomes possessed. Goats discovered the chasm in earth, hopping around, led people to approach chasm and they also became possessed and uttered prophecies, could fall into it tho so to prevent injury constructed the shrine •Prophetess instituted •Shrine built around her •Strabo (c. 64 B.C.-25 A.D.) Geography 9.3.5: "the seat of the oracle is a cavern hollowed down in the depths ... from which arises pneuma [breath, vapor, gas] that inspires a divine state of possession".

Three main aspects of hero cult

1. Sacrifice 2. Libation 3. Theoxenia

Croesus

6th century king of Lydia. inquired of the oracle, he wanted to test the oracles' power. He sent emissaries to all oracles. From the moment they leave Lydia they should count the days and on the 100th day they should pose a question to the oracles: they all ask: what is Croesus doing right now? According to him most of them were wrong but at Delphi: gave a prophecy in verse. It was accurate! He was boiling tortoise and lamb in a bronze pot. Takeaway: I know everything. Croesus goes on to send gifts to Delphi and relies on Apollo's oracle.

Gold Orphic Tablets

A body of gold tablets, inscribed with brief hexametrical poems describing the arrival of the soul in the underworld, was connected with 'Orphism' in the late nineteenth century. The tablets are small, thin pieces of inscribed gold leaves, found in graves in Italy (Petelia, Hipponium, Thurii, Rome), several sites in Crete, and Thessaly. The earliest attested to-date is from around 400 BC, and comes from Hipponium in southern Italy. The tablets are divided into two types: the first type, commonly labelled the 'A' tablets, deals with purity; the second type, commonly labelled the 'B' tablets, contains instructions relating to geographical markers in the underworld, and provides directions to assist wayfarers as they travel through this realm. These tablets are sometimes called 'the passports of the dead' •Scholars argue that the purity which the soul claims for herself in the tablets is the result of a specific initiation involving expiatory purification, performed by professional initiators into the mysteries, the so-called 'orpheotelestai'. Tablets found in shape of necklace, others rolled up and put in the mouths of the dead.

Hero cult summary

A local practice (e.g., Theseus important to Athens, not to Sparta). Thousands of them. Within one city can have many hero cults. Organized around graves and bodies of heroes. Cult performed at the grave of the hero. Once human and are thus closer to humans than the gods are, more personal, easier to ID with. They died but they are different: heroes are superhumans but they understand human condition because they were once human and know what it is like to have been human. Gods are different: born divine, on a separate plane (Olympus), divine families, not as much in common with divine. Inroductions of hero cults coincides with political struggles (E.g., using a hero to solidify a position, remember greatness, etc).

Protective magic

A means to avert not just magic in terms of spells but also magic peformed by normal people without resources to magical materials, belief in evil eye and power of envy as a result of evil eye. People feel malice when others are prospering. If you look at someone with focused jealousy and envy, you can harm them. phylakterion - protective magic: averting the adverse forces. •Phthonos = Envy/Jealousy •Baskania = Evil Eye as a result of envy •Means of employing protective magic: •a) Apotropaia Amulets (people, animals, spaces). Like a phallus charm. •b) Protective names (Abaskantos, Mystikos) •c) Rituals for protection against magic

Pythia

A priestess dressed like a girl but in actuality is an older woman, who sits on the tripod of Apollo at Delphi. Descent into the adyton: sat on tripod, goes into ecstatic trance. Vapor (pneuma) comes from the earth and affects mental state.

aoros pl. aoroi

Aoros refers to one who has died prematurely: children, the unmarried, and those who die without bearing and rearing children. Dying without the honor attendant upon marriage and children, aoroi dwell apart from the regular dead either wandering the earth (Tert. De anim. 56) or situated on the margins of the Underworld (Verg. Aen. 6.426-9).

Anatomical knowledge

Aristotle, History of Animals, 494b: "The internal parts of the body, especially those belonging to humans, are unknown. We must therefore refer to the parts of other creatures resembling humans." Why no dissection?

Theseia

Athenian cult of Theseus as hero: The eighth day of the month was dedicated to Theseus, and the festival Theseia was celebrated every year on 8th Pyanopsion (OctNov), involving sacrifices, a procession, and competitions of a military nature. In 475 BC, Theseus' bones were transferred from Scyros to Athens and deposited in his (preexisting) sanctuary. Theseus was a symbol of the Athenian ephebe. Universally all ephebes are seen to imitate Theseus. His voyage to Crete and subsequent return can also be viewed in the context of rites of passage. By honoring Theseus, Athenians remember their history - hero cult is important for local identities. Theseus' conquering of villains and monsters in the neighborhood and far away (including the battle with the Amazons and the journey to the underworld) are a reflection of Athenian confidence and imperialism in the 5th c BC. After the 5th century, when Athenian power declined, Theseus was a figure who embodied Athenian glorious past achievements.

agonistic culture

Athletic heroes-- Athletic competitions were extremely popular. Competition in general was almost a way of life in Ancient Greece, so much so, that the culture itself is called 'agonistic' (competitive). There were local athletic competitions, as well as Pan-Hellenic games, which were organized as part of the religious celebration in the great sanctuaries. The most popular were Olympic Games. The Olympic games were organized at the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia every 4 years since 776 BC. Athletic disciplines: jumping, javelin-throwing, foot-races, wrestling, boxing, pankration (single combat including punching and wrestling). Chariot-racing was also popular.

Hero-cult

Based on the presence of the hero on a given place (presence: statues, graves, altars, body parts). Compare: venerating the relics of saints. Emergence of Hero-cult: around 8th c. BC. Hero-cult flourished in archaic and classical period, but is also very well attested until the end of antiquity. Prevailingly an insular and local phenomenon. Sacrifices [terminology: Gr. 'thuo' for sacrifices in general; 'enagizo' for heroes and chtonic deities]: a) blood sacrifice: a sacrificial animal's meat (typically a ram for male heroes) is divided among the participants, the hero gets his part called geras, an act with which the participants show to the hero respect for his time 'honour'. b) libation: the ritual pouring of liquids [water, wine, oil, milk, emulsified honey, blood of the sacrificial victim]. Pouring of blood into the earth --> contact with the corpse of a hero below --> 'waking up' of the hero [example: Odysseus poured blood to the souls of the deceased in order to be able to communicate with them].

Katadesmoi

Binding spells. i) numbers and material: at least 1500 survive; majority made of lead - because of a) analogy of qualities- cold, heavy, stiff: "just as this lead is cold and stiff may XY be cold and stiff" b) cheap & readily obtainable (public pipes) c) lead easily formable d) chthonic ii) content, general characteristics: a) formulas (three types) - command ~ binding formula "I bind X, whose mother is Y" - prayer ~ restraining formulae: "God X, restrain Y whose mother is Z" - wish ~ analogical formula: "as X is, so may Y be". b) invocation of a deity (Attika: Hermes & Persephone) c) "voces mysticae" ~ "the mystic words" (think of 'hocus-pocus'!): - palindromes - names of foreign deities - "gibberish" words: series of vowels; names ending with -oth; -el. - charakteres ~ symbols of divine powers - geometric shapes made of letters. iii) content, subjects of spells: a) Elimination of competition (circus, theater) b) Sex, love, marriage, relationships c) tongue-ties (court, legal disputes) d) Elimination of business competition e) Pleas for justice/revenge.

Theseus

CULTS OF MYTHIC ANCESTORS IN ANCIENT GREECE: the case of Theseus at Athens. Son of Athenian king Aegeus or Poseidon - Born in Trozen - 16 years old, T. manages to lift a heavy rock which Aegeus left for him. Finds his father's sword and sandals. - Sets out to find his father and rids the country of various villains underway - Arrived at Athens, sent to kill the Marathonian bull. Succeeds. - Sent to Crete to save the Athenians from tribute... Crete: saves the Athenians by killing the Minotaur. - Takes the princesses Ariadne and Phaedra with him - On Naxos, leaves Ariadne. Heartbreak. - Approaching Athens, forgets to signal victory with white sails, Aegeus throws himself into the sea. Heartbreak. Sea named Aegean. Crowning achievement: synoecism. Theseus united various communities in Attica into one city: ATHENS. Theseus = Athenian founding father. A community without history books> how do you trace collective identity? HERO CULT. by remembering the story of Theseus, they remember what they think is their history, what is their status before Classical period: eg Crete strong, Athens weaker. Interesting doubling of the father of Theseus: Aegeus or Poseidon? Tells us who Athens viewed own identity. Strength of Athens was ships, trade, and naval power. Tell story of who they are, why they would choose Poseidon as a progenitor In 5th cen when naval power at peak: represented by his conquering of various monsters in this area. This is the story of their confidence in imperialism in the 5th century BCE. Athenian naval power which is rooted in association of cities who saw Athens as the leader in the fight against the Persians and later in the liberations in coastal islands from the Persians. Athenians v quick in 5th cen BCE started exploiting allies to extent where forced to pay fo athenian navy's building so they would protect them from the Persians. Individual cities had less resources while Athens gets stronger, caused resentment and fear: leading to Peloponnesian war. Theseus an expression of this confidence in imperialism and naval strength.

Hesiod

Contemporary with Homer in the eyes of the Greeks. Hesiod already represents heroes as a distant race of humans before the present, an iron race. Heroes are a distinct human race. Heroes lived before them, most died in the Trojan War or shortly after. Different in essence from humans now: godlike race of men. Hesiod's heroes are 'god-like race of hero-men who are called demi-gods'. This race lived until the time of Trojan war; most perished in the war or shortly thereafter. They also have a different afterlife. Hesiod was also an epic poet. Ancient Greeks thought of Homer and Hesiod as contemporaries. Hesiod's two main epics are Theogony and Works and Days.

synoecism

Crowning achievement of Theseus: synoecism. Theseus united various communities in Attica into one city: ATHENS. Theseus = Athenian founding father

Cult of Intellectuals

Cults of Intellectuals: poets, philosophers, etc. For example, Homer, Plato, Pindar. Why do they deserve a hero cult? Divine inspiration idea plays a role: Homer invokes the muse at the beginning of his work. Somehow they are in direct contact with the gods more than normal people, the muse literally tells homer what happened in the time before them. Close connection with divinity results in divine inspiration that results in works of great achievement. Venerated for this reason.

aggressive-offensive magic

Curses: 'may X (team/performer/litigant) have Y numbers of bad luck' •Most common: binding spells with or without manipulation of dolls: aoros called upon to assist with impeding. Some notable features: a) precision regarding the target; b) precision regarding the time; c) drawings illustrating the text goal: render opponent motionless or powerless. need to be precise to bind someone (time of competition, anatomical mention, details about person). •Types: 'strategic spells' (at distance - graveyards, wells, walls - outside the actual arena): a type of binding spell, influence general outcome from a distance, outside of place of competition (e.g., at a grave) 'tactical spells' -- inside the arena (turning points/starting gates) / opponent's house: always found in the very place where competition takes place or at house of opponent. binding spells still use prayer formulas, persuasive analogies,e tc.

Sources for Greek magic

Direct sources: a) lead tablets; b) papyri; c) to a lesser extent: ostraca, limestone, gemstones, wax figurines. Indirect sources: literary sources.

How was disease and healing perceived?

Disease: divine punishment Healing: divine reward. Initial explanations of disease related to gods and sacred punishment for miasma. Likely caused by human errors. Different gods responsible for different ailments: 'They make a different god responsible for each of the different forms of the complaint. If the patient imitates a goat, if he grinds his teeth or suffers convulsions on the right side, they say the Mother of the Gods is responsible. If he utters a piercing and loud cry, they liken him to a horse and blame Poseidon. Should he pass some excrement, as often happens under the stress of the disease, the surname Enodia (i.e., of Hecate) is applied. If he utters sounds more frequent and thin like those of birds, it is Apollo Nomios. If he foams at the mouth and kicks, Ares is to blame. When at night there are fearful things and terrors, delirium, leaps-from-the-bed and dashes-out-of-doors, they say these are the assaults of Hecate and the attacks of the heroes' (some heroes heroized bc dangerous and must be appeased).

Zeus's oracles

Dodona

Where were the main oracles in the Greek world?

Dodona, Delphi, Thebes, Ammoneion, Claros, Didyma, Patara These ones are particularly accurate and important, more than just regional, famous throughout Greece.

Hades and Persephone's oracles

Ephyra

Eleusinian eschatology

Eschatology: study of the end times (what happens after death). •Blessed is he of men on earth who has beheld them (the mysteries), whereas he that is uninitiated in the rites, or he that has had no part in them, never enjoys a similar lot down in the musty dark when he is dead. (h. Dem. 480-87) •Aristophanes, Frogs, the chorus of initiates in the underworld sings: Let us go forward to the flowery meadows full of roses, frolicking in our own style of beautiful dance, which the blessed Fates array. For us alone is there sun and sacred daylight, for we are initiated and righteous was our behavior toward strangers and ordinary people. Plato: Our mysteries had a very real meaning: he that has been purified and initiated shall dwell with the gods. Greatly blessed is he of men on earth whom they (Demeter and Persephone) love and favor: they soon send Wealth (Ploutos) to lodge in his mansion, the god who bestows affluence to mortals. (H.Dem. 485-489)

Euthymos of Locri

Euthymos was born in Locri Epizephyrii, a Greek city in southern Italy He was the son of a man called Astykles - or the son of the river god Kaikinos. He won the Olympic crown for boxing three times, in 484, 476 and 472 BC, and was defeated once by Theogenes (Theagenes) of Thasos in 480 ~ c . He performed various feats of strength. Euthymos fought with the 'Hero' of Temesa, to whom the Temesans had of old brought their fairest maiden every year 'to be his wife'; Euthymos defeated the Hero and married the maiden. His statues in Locri and Olympia were struck by lightning on the same day. He lived to a great old age. Pythian Apollo ordered that sacrifices be performed for him in his lifetime and after his death. Instead of dying he vanished into the river Kaikinos. By the second half of the fourth century BC, at the latest, he was receiving cult in Locri as a river god involved in prenuptial rites

incubation (structure)

Ex: RITUAL INCUBATION: The Healing of Archinus, ex-voto tablet, Athens, National Museum, c. 370 BCE: HEALING EPIPHANY structure you enter for ritual sleep/healing care.

pharmakis / pharmakeutria

Female magician: pharmakis or pharmakeutria from pharmakon - medicine, drug. A female person with knowledge of powerful drugs and herbs, women with knowledge about plants and healing powers. In Greek myth, magicians are divinities or divine progeny who either perform miracles spontaneously, or use special herbs and herbal ointments to achieve their goals (metamorphosis, murder, rejuvenation). Magicians use herbs and ointments to achieve goals.

formula

Formulas for binding spells: formulas (three types): - command ~ binding formula "I bind X, whose mother is Y" - prayer ~ restraining formulae: "God X, restrain Y whose mother is Z" - wish ~ analogical formula: "as X is, so may Y be".

magos

Greek word for sorcerer, source of the word "magic"

Trophonios

Had oracle at Lebedaea. The scariest oracle in AG world. Purity is necessary first to approach the god: must take a sacred bath, the closer the contact with a god the more stringent the purity regulations. Someone will read the entrails of an animal to tell you if you will be received kindly. Then during the night you are taken to the river and washed ritually by boys who lead you there. Then taken by priests to fountains of water: you drink water of forgetfulness to forget all of your thoughts, then the water of memory, to help you remember what you see after descent. Then you proceed to the oracle in a special ribboned tunic in linen (seen as particularly pure). The oracle is in the mountain and around it there is a basin of white marble with an enclosure with a chasm down into the earth. You climb down on a narrow chasm into complete darkness in the middle of the night: fear and terror. When you get to the bottom you find a hole between the floor and a structure and have to wedge yourself through it: must lie on your back and wedge feet through first. You also come with special cakes. No ideas what happens down there but it's full of fear. No one dies, though. Then afterwards you are placed on the chair of memory and asked what you saw and learned. Often so terrified they fall unconscious and must be carried back. Necromonteon: procedure where you go into a specific place considered to be an opening to the Underworld and find out the future from the dead. Some people think it's a grotto with gases that might cause visions like the Delphic oracle? Also possible that the complete sensory deprivation and emotional turmoil might heighten the experience. After you tell them what you saw and heard they interpret it and give you a response that applies to your scenario. This oracle is a general oracular divinity, who can field any questions.

Harmodios and Aristogeiton worship (handout)

Harmodios and Aristogeiton: a) SHAPING THE MEMORY: remembering the heroes in a proper way. This is how their memory was kept alive in performative poetry, sculpture, and ritual: Rituals: means of establishing a historical consensus: A statue of the two tyrant-slayers was erected at Athens with the following verse-inscription: Indeed, a great light was born for the Athenians, when Aristogeiton killed Hipparchos, as did Harmodios / two of them bestowed freedom upon their fatherland. Athenians performed this poem at symposia: Dearest Harmodios, no, you are not dead. They say that you are on the Isles of the Blessed, just there where is swift-footed Achilles and the brave Diomedes, son of Tydeus. (PMG 894). Annual memorial rites (enagismata): Aristotle, Athenian Constitution 58.1-2: "The polemarch makes the sacrifices to Artemis the huntress and to Enyalios (god of war) and arranges the funeral games in honor of those who have fallen in war, and makes the offerings (enagismata) to Harmodios and Aristogeiton."

Harvey Whitehouse

Harvey Whitehouse constructed a testable theory of how religions are created, passed on, and changed. At the center of his theory are two divergent 'modes of religiosity:' the imagistic and the doctrinal. Drawing from recent advances in cognitive science, Whitehouse's theory shows how religions tend to coalesce around one of these two poles depending on how religious behaviors are remembered. In the 'imagistic mode,' rituals have a lasting impact on people's minds, haunting not only our memories but influencing the way we ruminate on religious topics. These psychological features are linked to the scale and structure of religious communities, fostering small, exclusive, and ideologically heterogeneous ritual groupings or factions. In the 'doctrinal mode', on the other hand, religious knowledge is primarily spread through intensive and repetitive teaching; religious communities are contrastingly large, inclusive, and centrally regulated. Orphic is imagistic: not catechism and learning but a state of mind and ritual participation/experience. Sensorial, activating different type of memory, don't transmit a body of knowledge that is centrally regulated, lots of factions. Rituals not uniform, orpheotelestai could be altering them.

Divinities associated with Greek magic

Hekate, Hermes, Persephone, Hades

Was hero cult a local practice?

Hero cult: a local practice Thousands of hero-cults throughout Greece. Even within one city: In each of the Athenian "demes" (~local city districts), there was a variety of local cult heroes: male and female, adults and children. Hero cult organized around soma (~body, i.e. physical presence) of the hero (graves, altars, statues etc.) Heroes were once humans and are closer to humans than the gods. They 'understand'.

What is the difference between divine and hero cult?

Heroes are fundamentally connected to the specific location. Often, the focus of their worship are their presumed graves. They live and die unlike gods. Have altars and temples like gods, though. • Like in the case of the divinities, the main aspect of hero worship are sacrifices. Heroes also have festivals with hymns, competitions, and feasts. • Like the gods, heroes have altars and sometimes even temples. • Heroes' status between human and divine is reflected in a mix of sacrifices - some receive thusia, some enagismata and sphagia, some both. Some heroes receive thusia: divine Olympian sacrifice. But others receive enagismata and sphagia, the types indicated for the underworld, and some receive both. Sacrifice is also typically a ram for male heroes.

Homer

Heros in Homer means "human" but Homeric poetry represents a distant past and refers to its protagonists as better than now (e.g., Achilles, who has divine heritage). (Homeric epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, were composed around 700 BC and tell the story about the Trojan war, which the Greeks dated in the 12th c BC, and its aftermath.) In Homeric myth these men are already better, swifter, stronger fighters, etc. Also was worshipped in hero cult.

Hippocrates of Kos

Hippocrates of Kos: 'father of medicine'. -- a medical practitioner -- concerned with duties rather than rights of doctors -- separates realms of doctors and priests Hippocrates of Kos: hippocratic corpus is a series of texts attributed to him but massive amount, so likely multiple authors Too long lasting to be one author: built on for centuries, exponentially grew. Hippocratic texts are the basis for the Hippocratic oath. He didn't write it himself but it is a part of the body of texts associated with him, still very old: you are ethically bound to take care of your patients and act for the "benefit of the sick". Cannot abuse your power.

Hero cult of Homer

Homer was first venerated as hero in places which claimed to be his native cities. Later he was upgraded to a status of divinity. ex: Archelaos of Priene, The Apotheosis of Homer Brit.Mus. 2191 This 3rd c BC relief represents Homer as a god, and as a recepient of animal sacrifice. Why did he become god-status? Because he had no grave to tie him to one place and because his importance was supra-local and PanHellenic. This relief from the 3rd c BC represents him as a god who is iconographically similar and thus parallel to Zeus. Homer himself is a mythic character: we don't think he existed: a product of oral tradition. Several cities vyed to be the birthplace of Homer since no actual one was known. Became a kind of hero who surpassed local levels and lifted to status as a full deity. Status of divinity is visible in this hellenistic relief: Homer, altar on which figures are bringing a cow to sacrifice in front of him. Surrounded by Iliad and Odyssey, crowned by Time and inhabited world representations, and the others sacrifices have tituli: myth, history, poetry, tragedy, comedy, virtues of memory, virtue, human nature/wisdom Upper level has Zeus and other gods (See slides), memory, identifiable by attributes Why does he have heroic or divine status in this image? Seated divine status. Zeus and another goddess birth the muses, which influence Homer who then produced Odyssey and Illiad. Fountainhead of all greek literary genres: he tells myths, but he also gave birth to history (TW is a rep of historical event), also influenced all subsequent poetry, comedy and tragedy. And Homeric poetry was considered starting pt of all greek comprehensive education To shape the human soul and promote specific virtues: bravery, to have a good nature to be trustworthy, to be wise and also they were learned by heart (memory)

Trojan War

Homeric epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, were composed around 700 BC and tell the story about the Trojan war, which the Greeks dated in the 12th c BC, and its aftermath. Heroes of Trojan War received offerings and shrines and became the focus of local memory. Many of these characters became the object of cultic veneration in their native cities, or in the places where they died. Truly panhellenic: Homer's epics are panhellenic bc the war was widespread. Main characters from all over Greece, representing the early history of Greek people. But because these people are also mentioned in the most important epic, they gradually develop myths that make them even more important and local hero cults develop. Became a focal point of the history and religious reverence.

How do you render a spell incomplete?

If you find a tablet and remove the nail/unroll it/read it, the spell is broken. You want to hide it well so it's in the vicinity BUT so they can't find it and read it. E.g., conceal the tablet in the racing lane of who you want to win.

Asclepieion, pl. Asclepieia

Important medical centers especially: Kos and Epidauros. Cities of healing: Asclepieion. Centers of medical learning: become better among other doctors, learn what they've learned. e.g., how to perform surgeries better.

Aristogeiton

In 514 BC, Harmodios and Aristogeiton killed Hipparchos, the brother of the Athenian tyrant. The murder was planned for personal reasons (kanephoros incident), but eventually lead to the fall of tyranny at Athens and the establishment of democracy. Subsequent generations heroised the two as tyrant-killers.

Harmodios

In 514 BC, Harmodios and Aristogeiton killed Hipparchos, the brother of the Athenian tyrant. The murder was planned for personal reasons (kanephoros incident), but eventually lead to the fall of tyranny at Athens and the establishment of democracy. Subsequent generations heroised the two as tyrant-killers.

doctrinal mode of religiosity

In the 'doctrinal mode', on the other hand, religious knowledge is primarily spread through intensive and repetitive teaching; religious communities are contrastingly large, inclusive, and centrally regulated.

Imagistic mode of religiosity

In the 'imagistic mode,' rituals have a lasting impact on people's minds, haunting not only our memories but influencing the way we ruminate on religious topics. These psychological features are linked to the scale and structure of religious communities, fostering small, exclusive, and ideologically heterogeneous ritual groupings or factions.

What is the evidence for Greek magic?

Indirect: reports in literary sources (stories about witches and magicians). Direct written sources: a) Lead tablets (spells actually cast, inscribed on small lead sheets, size of a playing card) b) Magical papyri (instructions on how to cast a spell; recipe books).

What sets magic apart from religion?

Intention: magic has immediate and individual goals, is short term and purpose oriented. When performed to influence an activity of another, the desired effect tends to be negative. This compares to religion because religion is often performed on a broader scale (e.g., Panathenaia). Performers and performance: magic is performed by an individual. Rituals are based on analogy and performed in secret vs public religious ritual. Knowledge: magic requires secret professional specialized knowledge, need special texts and books: while you might need priests to perform aspects of a public religious ritual, it's less specialized. Social aspect: magic is antisocial and immoral, while religious ritual is social and moral for society. Legal aspects: there are laws against magicians, while religious ritual is legal. Supernatural powers: chthonic gods and heroes tied to magic, must access underworld. Different deities involved in religious ritual. People fear malignant intentions of heroes after death and can use them to harness power for nefarious goals. For performers of a typical religious ritual you don't need specific instructions or recipe books, just perform the sacrifice and the libations and prayer out in the open by seeing how others do it. Magic has to be learned for a goal from a specialist, and they are usually one off (vs repeated annually). AG apart from mystery cults didn't have priests with specialist knowledge who really knew more: they really just keep up the sanctuary and police it and make sure the festival happens but no specific knowledge the same way priests today have knowledge.

What did Ancient Greeks think about life after death? What was the essence of the Orphic theogony? What is the connection between the mythic singer Orpheus, the god Dionysus, and the hope for a different lot in the underworld? How did orpheotelestai operate and why were they notorious? Why were mysteries secret? What was the goal of Eleusinian initiation ritual? What is the role of purity and pollution in mystery cults? Why were some mystery rituals notorious, and others respected? What type of religious knowledge was transmitted during initiation rituals? What was the mode of conveying this knowledge?

Key questions

When does agonistic magic develop and what are the main areas of its concern? • What kinds of magical practices and magical means are associated with the agonistic magic? • Where does one perform agonistic magic? • Which four key functions can we distinguish in competitive spells?

Key questions

Example of process for a love spell (binding spell)

Key-features: a) ca 25 % of all extant tablets are dealing with erotic magic; b) formulaic because bought from professionals: templates. c) mentions in literary texts (Hera's seduction of Zeus, Iliad 14.216ff.; Theocritus 2; Lucian). d) Typical motifs: - attraction of the lover (~ Gr. agoge) - binding of the lover (~ Gr. desmos). Description of the ritual: - private / secretive 1) obtaining a curse template (professionals) and instructions~ source books of curses on sale, Hellenistic period (Egypt; Thrace). 2) Transcribing the template on a lead tablet, filling out the form. 3) Obtaining the requested instruments. 4) Performing the katadesmos /agoge on a marginal (chthonic vs Olympian) place~ SIGNIFICANCE OF AOROI (Sg. AOROS). 5) Invocation of chthonic deities. 6) Performance of ritual formulas. 7) Burying / dedicating the tablet to the underworld (tombs, holes, caves, wells, rarely temples of chthonic deities).

What happens at Eleusis?

Lasting nine days in Boedromion (Sept.). Must pay 15 drachmas and stay there for days. Any Greek speaker can participate if not polluted by murder: slave, free, man, woman, etc. Easier if closer (E.g., Athens, travel not so bad), can be repeated unlike Orphism. Sacred objects brought from Eleusis to Athens on a Holy Road, then they assemble in the main square at Athens, priest announces beginning of the festival, and those that are unpure are barred. On the 2nd day they go to the Athenian harbor for purification with the mystic piglet. They they return to Athens and sacrifice pigs. 3-4 days after are unclear, but on the 5th there is a procession from Athens to Eleusis in a joyful procession with sacred objects and a statue of a local divinity. They make each other laugh in honor of Iambe who made Demeter laugh, ritual jesting. Also carry torches: symbol of Demeter? They arrive at Eleusis at the end of the day and drink the barley drink of Demeter. Then Days 6-7 on sacred grounds of Eleusis, we know less but they use the telesterion. Spend two days observing mystery rituals, windowless temple. Horror, astonishment, terror, amazement. The building called telesterion where the rituals took place could accommodate about 3000 people. The telesterion was a unique structure, with benches along the sides and many pillars in the inner chamber. Somewhere in the telesterion there was another chamber called anaktoron. The sacred objects were kept in the anaktoron. The initiates spent two nights in the telesterion, observing the mysterious rituals. Dromena: Sound-effects: "The Hierophant is in the habit of sounding the so-called gong when Kore (Persephone) is being invoked by name."(Apollodorus, frg. 36) Light effects: "There the goddess kindled two pine-trees to serve her as a light; hence to this day a torch is given out at the rites of Ceres (Latin name of Demeter)."(Ovid, Fasti 492ff.) •Entering now into the secret dome, he is filled with horror and astonishment. He is seized with loneliness and total perplexity; he is unable to move a step forward, and at a loss to find the entrance to the way that leads to where he aspires to, till the prophet or conductor lays open the anteroom of the Temple. When a man dies he is like those who are initiated into the mysteries. Our whole life is a journey by torturous ways without outlet. At the moment of quitting it come terrors, shuddering fear, amazement. Then a light that moves to meet you, pure meadows that receive you, songs and dances and holy apparitions. Legomena: •Konx - pax (? ) •In the Eleusinian rites they gazed up to the heaven and cried aloud "rain," they gazed down upon the earth and cried "conceive." (Proclus, on Timaios 293c ) •The Hierophant said: "The Mistress has born a sacred son, Brimo the Brimos, the strong the strong" (referring to Ploutos ('wealth') or Iacchos / Dionysus) (Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium5.8.40) The formula of the Eleusinian mysteries is as follows: "I fasted, I drank the draught (kykeon ); I took from the hamper; having done my task, I placed in the basket, and from the basket into the chest."

Why lead?

Lead is cold and heavy and stiff, dark connotations: ties to chthonic. It is also cheap and readily obtainable (e.g., public pipes).

Trophonios's oracle

Lebadeia

Women and magic

Magic associated with powerful female sorceresses. Circe: Circe ~ 'The one who binds / encircles ' In the Odyssey, Circe transforms Odysseus' men into pigs. Medea: Medea, the eastern princess, helped Greek hero Jason to obtain the golden fleece and married him. Once back in Greece, Jason decided to marry a Greek princess and leaves Medea. Medea kills her rival, the rival's father, and her own children in order to hurt Jason. She then leaves in a flying chariot and moves to Athens... Medea rejuvenates an old ram in a cauldron as a proof of her magical powers

Kos and Epidauros

Most important sanctuaries at Kos and Epidauros Think about hospitals and medical schools: here doctors taught each other the art of medicine, patients come from far to be cured from various diseases. Asclepieion on Kos: the temple of the god. But not the main/most important structure. The actual important structure is the colonnade area w a series of rooms for the patients, kind of a hotel for patients and families. Then there is a fountain w water in every sanctuary and additional structures, sanctuaries of other gods like Apollo and Health Did they have a concept of contagiousness: understood that more people have it, it must spread but they didn't know how. They often think the water is polluted or something in the air Combo of religion and medicine at the site: Asclepieia at Epidaurus. Rivers to bathe in, theater and stadium, poetic competitions for the healthy ppl who come to compete to honor and celebrate Asclepius, entertaining of the sick and healthy Also tells us that ppl stayed for a long time at Asclepieia, dif from a hospital where you wouldn't want to stay a long time. Medicine is expensive: to stay in sanctuary have to be wealthy enough to travel far and to have someone else take care of ur business at home, must be able to pay for treatment and dedications to the gods: for the wealthy.

epoptes

Mystes (one who closes his eyes and/or keeps his mouth shut) •Mystagogos (instructor of the mystes who has already been initiated) •Epoptes ('one who sees', returning mystes)

mystagogos

Mystes (one who closes his eyes and/or keeps his mouth shut) •Mystagogos (instructor of the mystes who has already been initiated) •Epoptes ('one who sees', returning mystes)

mystes

Mystes (one who closes his eyes and/or keeps his mouth shut) •Mystagogos (instructor of the mystes who has already been initiated) •Epoptes ('one who sees', returning mystes)

Orpheus

Orpheus was a mythic singer who could even move trees and rocks by the power of his music. When his young wife, Eurydice, died, he willingly went to the Underworld and played so movingly, that Persephone decided to release Eurydice - under one condition: Orpheus must not turn back to look at her until they emerge from Hades... Orpheus walked in front of Eurydice and could not hear her steps; overpowered by anxiety, he looked back, and she was instantly dragged back to Hades. Orpheus was credited with a large body of poetry, including a Theogony, Descent to Hades, Sacred Writings, and Hymns. This poetry provided the basis for the theological and eschatological ideas of 'Orphism'; some sources also associate the 'Orphic books' with the performance of rituals. Considered to be an older poet than Homer.

Orphic Theogony

Orphic myth about the origin of the human race (as reconstructed by scholars): Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Persephone, rather than Semele. Dionysus was appointed by Zeus as his successor, but the envious Titans (old gods) dismembered and devoured him. As a punishment, Zeus killed the Titans with a thunderbolt, and humanity came into existence from their remains. As a result, each human is born with the stain of the Titan's crime, but also with a remnant of Dionysus. Each human must expiate the Titan's sin by performing rituals in honor of Dionysus and his mother Persephone, who still suffers from the ancient grief of losing her child. Already in Pindar (early 5th c BC) we find references to Persephone who accepts compensation from human souls for her 'ancient sorrow', which probably represents a poetic allusion to the 'Orphic' version of the Dionysus myth. According to 'Orphic' lore, Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Persephone, who was appointed by his father as his successor, but whom the envious Titans dismembered and devoured. As a punishment, Zeus killed the Titans with a thunderbolt, and humanity came into existence from their remains. As a result, each human is born with the stain of the Titan's crime, but also with a remnant of Dionysus. Each human must expiate the Titan's sin by performing rituals in honor of Dionysus and Persephone, who still suffers from the ancient grief of losing her child. Already in Pindar we find references to Persephone who accepts compensation from human souls for her 'ancient sorrow', which probably represents a poetic allusion to the 'Orphic' version of the Dionysus myth.

geras

Part of the sacrifice in hero cult. • a sacrificial animal's meat (typically a ram for male heroes) is divided among the participants, the hero gets his part called geras (gift of honor), an act with which the participants show to the hero respect for his timê 'honor'. Typically sacrifice sheep/ram.

time

Part of the sacrifice in hero cult. • a sacrificial animal's meat (typically a ram for male heroes) is divided among the participants, the hero gets his part called geras (gift of honor), an act with which the participants show to the hero respect for his timê 'honor'. Typically sacrifice sheep/ram.

Plato on Orpheotelestai

Plato offers interesting glimpses into the kind of information his contemporaries had about the rituals of the 'orpheotelestai'. In the Republic (364b-366b), Adeimantus lashes out against the itinerant specialists, whom he calls 'begging priests and seers', who 'go to rich men's doors and convince them that they possess power from the gods acquired through sacrifices and incantations and that, if there had been some wrongdoing of their own or of their ancestors, they can remedy it with amusements and festivities'. He adds that 'they present a throng of books of Musaeus and Orpheus, the offspring of the Moon and the Muses, as they say, which they rely on while sacrificing. They convince not only individuals, but whole cities that there indeed are liberations and purifications from unjust deeds, by means of sacrifice and pleasant entertainment, both for the living and for the deceased, which they call initiations. These liberate us from evils in the other world, but horrible things await those who do not sacrifice.' In Adeimantus' opinion, such rituals are dangerous, especially for the young and impressionable, and he sees the danger in promising absolution for unjust deeds, since some could take this as an excuse to commit crimes and live unjustly, knowing that they can be absolved. As the poets claim that the hearts of the gods can be persuaded and swayed through oaths and sacrifices, one can do what one wants, and pray and sacrifice to be forgiven. Adeimantus imagines the travelling priests as replying to this: '"But we will suffer a punishment in Hades should we commit any wrongdoing in this world, either we ourselves, or our children's children." He [ sc. the travelling priest] would say that, according to his reckoning, the initiations together with the gods of deliverance are extremely effective in this respect, as the greatest cities attest and the children of the gods who became poets and prophets of the gods, and disclose that this is the state of things.'

How reliable is the oracle at Delphi?

Reliability of Delphi: Croesus' trial of oracles. •Croesus: What am I doing right now? • •Delphi: I count the grains of sand on the beach and measure the sea; I understand the speech of the dumb and hear the voiceless. The smell has come to my sense of a hard shelled tortoise boiling and bubbling with a lamb's flesh in a bronze pot: the cauldron underneath it is of bronze, and bronze is the lid.

Rituals recap

Ritual is a set of reoccurring symbolic actions defined by religious and/or traditional parameters. Characteristics: RUP -- reoccurring, universal and procedural phenomena

Magic is unsanctioned religious activity.

Sets it apart.

Athletic heroes

Since Pythian, Olympian, Nemean and Isthmian games were extremely popular, victors of the games achieved Pan-Hellenic fame and increased the reputation of their home-cities. The greatest poets of the time, such as Pindar and Simonides composed victory odes celebrating their achievements, and the statues of the victors were set up at the place of their victory and in their home cities. E.g., Euthymos of Locri. Athletic heroes won prestige and renown at the most important games. Especially human if you win MORE than once, e.g., Euthymos of Locri wins 3 separate times, suprahuman. Got a hero cult.

Examples of types of heroes

Some types of hero-cult: poets and other intellectuals, city-founders, athletes, warriors. Hero worship preserves the memory of their achievements and ties them to a specific locale.

Hero (definition)

Super - human but infra-divine; a category between divine and human. Super-human because of their abilities and deeds, infra-divine since mortal (although their death can take many forms and shapes).: Hero is an object of cultic worship who is more than human, and less then god. Comes from the word heros. Heros in Homer means "human" but Homeric poetry represents a distant past and refers to its protagonists as better than now. (Homeric epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, were composed around 700 BC and tell the story about the Trojan war, which the Greeks dated in the 12th c BC, and its aftermath.) Hesiod already represents heroes as a distant race of humans before the present, an iron race. Hesiod's heroes are 'god-like race of hero-men who are called demi-gods'. This race lived until the time of Trojan war; most perished in the war or shortly thereafter. Hesiod was also an epic poet. Ancient Greeks thought of Homer and Hesiod as contemporaries. Hesiod's two main epics are Theogony and Works and Days.

sympathetic magic

Sympathetic magic: items interact at distance due to supernatural mutual sympathy ('fellow feeling') Employs law of similarity: hair of the dog. 'hair of the dog' As this corpse is unable to move, so may you be.... Employs law of contact: contagious magic. 'symbolic touch' ~ 'magical wand'

pneuma

The "breath": Archaeologists have established there is a meeting of two faults under temple of Apollo, no vapor now but area that is often going thru earthquakes and indeed the Temple of Apollo was damaged by earthquakes at several points, chasms might have been open at one time. Vapors come from the earth and affect pythiai.

How does one remember a historical event in the Greek world?

The means of remembering a historical event in the Greek world: 1) Hearing: Literary works (poems about Theseus) 2) Seeing: Drama (tragedies about Theseus) 3) Building: Monuments (Theseus' sanctuary) 4) Representing: reproducing Theseus' deeds in visual arts 5) Doing: performing rituals for Theseus

Demeter

The name Demeter is supposed by some Greek writers to be the same as gê mêtêr, that is, mother earth, while others consider Deo, which is synonymous with Demeter, as connected with dais and dainumi (feast), and as derived from the Cretan word dêai, barley. •In classical sculpture Demeter was depicted as a motherly woman holding a cornucopia (horn of plenty) brimming with fruit or a bouquet of grain-stalks, or fillets, and poppy flowers. •The fundamental myth about Demeter is told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (7th or 6th c BC).

Why is it interesting that women are associated w magic?

The paradox of Greek magic: In literature, such as epic, elegy, and drama, powerful magicians are female. In the direct sources for Greek magic, the practitioners are predominantly male. Magic is associated with women in literary sources but in our direct sources they seem to be men.

telesterion

The telesterion was a unique structure, with benches along the sides and many pillars in the inner chamber. Somewhere in the telesterion there was another chamber called anaktoron. The sacred objects were kept in the anaktoron. The initiates spent two nights in the telesterion, observing the mysterious rituals. Could accommodate 3000 people.

Olympic games

There were local athletic competitions, as well as Pan-Hellenic games, which were organized as part of the religious celebration in the great sanctuaries. The most popular were Olympic Games. The Olympic games were organized at the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia every 4 years since 776 BC.

Why ask an oracle a question?

They speak for the gods. Gods are thought to know more than humans because they were in existence before humans, they are thought to know the entirety of the past but can also see into the future: the scope of their vision is much broader.

Omnipresence of fumigations (mix of magic vs science)

Think about scents used for wandering wombs. Magic and medicine have overlaps.

Iama, pl. iamata

Those who are cured dedicate dedicatory reliefs or inscriptions. Iamata are read alongside dedicatory reliefs. Those who aren't healed don't leave reliefs.... so thus they are biased reviews. A way to emphasize the success of the trip. Iamata tell stories of healings, texts that sick people who come to sanctuary can read to give them more hope and faith. One iamata even tells of a woman who reads the iamata and doesn't believe them so she is made to dedicate a silver pig to show her faith. If you believe you will be healed. If you don't get healed maybe you just didn't believe enough. Examples: •Ambrosia, a woman of Athens, was blind in one eye. After laughing at some of the cures by which the lame and the blind were healed, while dreaming, she sees Asclepius standing beside her. He tells her that he will cure her if she promises afterwards to dedicate a silver pig as a memorial of her ignorance. Then he cut the diseased eyeball and poured in a drug. When day came, she walked out sound. •Agestratus was cured of headaches so severe he was unable to sleep. •Gorgias, having a suppurating wound made by an arrow that had pierced his chest, slept beside an altar and awakened with a sound skin, holding the arrow point in his hand. •Euhippus had had a spear point fixed in his jaw for six years. As he was sleeping in the temple Asclepius pulled out the spearhead. When day came Euhippus departed cured and holding the spearhead in his hands. **Power of Belief - 'Faith healing'**: •A man who was paralyzed in all fingers save one came as a suppliant to the god. When he was looking at the plaques in the sanctuary, he didn't believe in the cures and was somewhat disparaging of the inscriptions. Sleeping here, he saw a vision. It seemed he was playing knucklebones below the temple, and, as he was about to throw them, the god appeared, sprang on his hand and stretched out his fingers one by one. When he had straightened them all, the god asked him if he would still disbelieve the inscription on the plaques around the sanctuary and he answered no. "Therefore, since you doubted them before, though they were not unbelievable, from now on" he said "your name shall be Apistos (Unbeliever)." When day came, he left healthy.

Three Functions of Rituals for Heroes in the Public Life of a Polis

Three Functions of Rituals for Heroes in the Public Life of a Polis: 1) Shaping collective memory 2) Creating collective identity 3) Record the commonly shared sense of past.

Hekate

Three-headed goddess of magic. Hekate, the goddess who roams the roads and the crossroads at night and has links with the underworld. Her heads symbolize crossroads, active at night. Greek roads meet at 3 points.

How important were the cults of heroes?

Very! Sacrificial calendars from Athens list 170 sacrifices during one year. 40% of these were for the heroes, and the money spent on sacrificial victims for heroic sacrifices was around 38% of the budget.

evil eye

a look that is believed to have the power of inflicting harm

Why did people use magic?

a) Elimination of competition (circus, theater, business). b) Sex, love, marriage, relationships. c) Tongue-ties (court, legal disputes). d) Gambling. e) Pleas for justice/revenge. f) Health problems (stings, bites, eye problems, migraine, coughs, fits, shivers, fevers, swellings of various parts of the body, poisoning, but also: a spell to remove a bone stuck in throat). g ) anger management

Why and when do people use magic?

a) Elimination of competition (theater, circus, business). b) Sex, love, marriage, relationships. c) Tongue-ties (court, legal disputes). d) Gambling. e) Pleas for justice/revenge. f) Health problems (stings, bites, eye problems, migraine, coughs, fits, shivers, fevers, swellings of various parts of the body, poisoning, but also: a spell to remove a bone stuck in throat). g ) anger management

Frazerian approach to magic

a) Magic and Religion in a genealogical succession: Religion is a result of a refinement of the more primitive 'magical' mentality. b) Magic led to Religion led to Science. (Frazer: Succession of cultural models). Magic and Religion: dogmatic knowledge ("bastard sciences"). Science: empirically verifiable knowledge.

magic agoge

attraction of a lover, element of binding spell

katadesmos pl. katadesmoi

binding spells

theoxenia

c) theoxenia: heroes were invited to a public or private sacrificial meal with tables of offerings and couches with blankets. Smaller sacrificial offerings (such as fruit and cakes) were put on the 'tables of offering'. Usually these offerings were vegetarian, but sometimes also the raw or cooked meat of the main sacrificial animal was set out for heroes. Heroes were invited to a public or private sacrificial meal. tables of offering were set with food and couches with blankets were prepared for the entertainment of the super-human guests. Smaller sacrificial offerings (such as fruit and cakes) were put on the 'tables of offering'. Usually these offerings were vegetarian, but sometimes also the raw or cooked meat of the main sacrificial animal was set out for heroes. Reliefs often depict heroes enjoying the theoxenia meals.

compare and contrast delphic oracle and oracle of trophonios

compare and contrast the Delphic oracle and the oracle of Trophonios The oracle of Trophonios was fear-based and based on putting people into a state of shock, and it seems like there was a direct contact with the oracle in a scary underground room. There was also intensive purification rituals like a bath in a specific fountain, as well as mind-altering substances (the water of forgetfulness). We also don't know what happened after the descent into the chasm. The oracle here is meant to traumatize. Trophonios's oracle was a means of reaching Trophonios. By contrast the Delphic oracle was reached by mediation through someone else: the oracle was influenced by gases and spoke to attendants, who translated her prophecy into verse and brought it out to the person in a neater form (e.g. hexameter), instead of direct contact with the oracle. The oracle here is not based on trauma, but rather awe: you walk through the temple and see temple treasures and beautiful votives on your way inside. The purification at Delphi was likely simpler, such as the purification needed to enter a temple precinct generally, like washing oneself and obstaining from miasmos. The god supplicated here was not Trophonios but Apollo, hence the translation into meter, as he was a god of poetry. In both of these cases the people attempting to visit the temples would need to prepare themselves. This preparation required making sacrifices and preforming sacred rites of purity. In both cases animal sacrifice and ritual washing of some kind was common. The spaces that the oracles occupy are very different. Delphi has many tokens of affection from those the oracle has served and the chamber is adorned with gold and massive statues. Trophonios is a terrifying place that is basically a hole in the ground in a small building on the side of a mountain. The cave where the oracle is met is very small and likely filled with vapors that the seeker inhales. The experience and the space cause a personal hallucination. At Delphi there is also vapors but the oracle says a prediction instead of the seeker experiencing a vision themselves. The Delphic oracles were largely young women who served Apollo, these were both predictive oracles but the experiences were very different. -- the Delphic oracle was located at Delphi while the oracle of Trophonios was located at Lebadeia. The Delphic oracle's divinity was Apollo while the oracle of Trophonios' divinity was Trophonios. The two oracles produced communication from the gods in different ways--at the Delphic oracle, the Pythia, or the priest of Apollo, was the mouth of the god. She sat on a tripod and entered a trance-like state through the vapors that rose from the ground, inspiring prophecy and divine answers to the questions of supplicants. In contrast, at Lebedaia, supplicants descended into a cavern via a ladder, wedged themselves into the 'sacred mouth,' which was a narrow gap into the grove of Trophonios, where they were supposed to hear or see divine messages from Trophonios. They then ascended and spoke with priests, who interpreted their visions. Trophonios was notable for the severe shock and terror experienced by supplicants. at the oracle of Trophonios, supplicants received messages directly from the god in his grove, whereas at Delphi, communication was filtered through the mouth of the Pythia (although her voice was considered to be the voice of Apollo himself). -- The Delphic oracle was associated with Apollo, whereas the oracle of Trophonios was associated with the minor god Trophonios. At the Delphic oracle, people would enter the sanctuary and Apollo would speak to them through one of the Pythia, who were the priestesses at Delphi. At Trophonios, there were no priestesses who would deliver the divine messages, instead it was the individual who would descend into the chasm and then receive the message from the gods. With both oracles, it was necessary to perform specific purification rituals before you entered the sacred space, as it was critical to be pure before you came into contact with the divine. Additionally, both oracles had you sacrifice an animal before you entered the temple, and in both cases once you received the message from the god/oracle you would have priests/people like priests who would help you interpret what the oracle message means.

compare and contrast the Orphic and the Eleusinian mysteries

compare and contrast the Orphic and the Eleusinian mysteries The Orphic rituals were a variety of different groups with slightly varying beliefs, not centered in one particular city. Different priests might have different teachings. The Eleusinian mysteries were not dispersed throughout Greece, but were based at a temple in Eleusis; the rites took place only at this locale and in the surrounding area, which required travel and a payment to attend. The Orphic rites were based around Orpheus, a mythical singer and poet whose writings were used to create a new theogony, in which Dionysus was the child of Zeus and Persephone. Dionysus was killed and dismembered and eaten by the Titans, and Zeus destroyed the TItans with thunder, leading to the creation of humans. As humans tainted with the sin of the Titans, rites had to be done to propitiate Persephone's loss and Dionysus who was unjustly killed. The Orphic rites had a lot to do with what happened to the soul after death and involved the use of special golden amulets which called on Persephone for aid or guided the worshipper with directions. By contrast, the Eleusinian rituals were based around a goddess, Demeter, and not a mortal. After Hades took Persephone, she wandered the Greek world and settled in Eleusis, where she was disguised as a nurse. There she tried to make the child she was nursing immortal by dipping him in fire, but when caught, she revealed her identity and called the people to build her a temple. While she is also propitiated for the loss of her daughter Persephone in part during her rites in the Eleusinian mysteries, it is not necessarily the fault of the humans that she experienced this loss. Her mysteries are also less strictly tied to death and what happens to the body after death, although both the Orphic rites and the Eleusinian writes were purifying. Both had special religious participants: the Eleusinian writes had high priestesses called hierophants as well as names for the participants, like the Mystes (new participants) and the Epoptes (returning ones). Orphic rites had special priests as well who disseminated teachings: orphetelestai (sp?). The rituals themselves differ too: at Eleusis there was a sense of fear and terror instilled in participants, while the Orphic rites were tied to riotous behavior and wildness like Dionysus (e.g., drums, wine, etc).

Methodology for spells: manipulate reality with words

conceptual metaphors and speech acts

baskania

evil eye as a result of envy

Hygieia

goddess of health

"know yourself"

inscribed on Temple of Apollo at Delphi. You must pose questions carefully and wisely, and be prepared to be surprised by answer: best way to ask Apollo a question is to be sure it is something good for you that you need the answer to, if frivolous or testing the god you will be punished. Invitation for self reflection.

Frazer and magic

myth and ritual arise simultaneously, and are equally important. Myth is not a consequence of a ritual, but a script for it which is equally potent as a ritual action. Let's get rational about religion: it has developed from magic (which is a bastardized religion), just as religion is a bastardized science. All these are just parts of an evolutionary progression. Magic not associated with highly civilized societies but rather a hallmark of primitive thinking and primitive societies, according to Frazer. Magic is an attempt to come to terms with something powerful beyond control: leads to religion with leads to science. Magic is primitive. This would make rational Greeks primitive.

niketika

niketika - victory charms: examples of performance enhancing spells e.g., victory charms on hoofs of horses, leg of a gecko fastened to garment (bad luck of animal replaces your possibility for bad luck)

ex-votos

offerings of gratitude left at Asclepieion that are dedicated focusing on particular body parts healed. E.g., you had your leg healed, dedicate a marble leg to the temple.

tongue-tie

one of reasons people use magic: to tie tongues of court opponents in legal disputes

Eros vs Philia

philia - mutual affection, similar to our concept of friendship. For Ancient Greeks, an ideal marriage is based on philia. eros - erotic attraction, uncontrollable, obsessive, and deadly. Medea's marriage was based on eros, and it did not end well.

phylakterion

protective magic

Whom did Greeks hold for heroes, and what was their role in a society? What is the difference between heroes and gods? What kind of deeds were considered 'heroic' in Ancient Greece? Which rituals were performed for heroes? What was the focal point of a hero-cult? In what ways are hero-cults tied to the local geography and history? How do hero-cults shape the communal identity? How do hero-cults reflect the way community shapes and understands its own image?

questions for reflection

Eleusis

site of the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter.

Asclepius

the god of healing. sacred animal is snake, seen to have healing powers: shed skin, complete regeneration, resurrection of snake from the dead

defixio pl. defixiones

the latin equivalent for binding spells

Delphic oracle

the oracle of Apollo at Delphi that gave answers held by the ancient Greeks to be of great authority but also noted for their ambiguity. Natural beauty, hard to reach, grew into a miniature city because of growing popularity. Delphi considered in AG to be the center of the world, the navel (omphalos). Dedicates and treasuries made by whole cities along the road, magnificent dedications testifying to the power of the god, see all of this on the way in to validate your journey. Structures for people to stay in, also have games at Delphi. Apollo is an oracular divinity but also a god of philosophic wisdom: KNOW YOURSELF

libation

the ritual pouring of liquids [water, wine, oil, milk, emulsified honey, blood of the sacrificial victim]. Pouring of blood into the earth --> contact with the corpse of a hero below --> 'waking up' of the hero [example: Odysseus poured blood to the souls of the deceased in order to be able to communicate with them]. The most typical type of libation is the Theoxenia: a sit down meal with superhumans, having god as a guest.