Publication details
Inducing and Warding Off Fever in Graeco-Roman Magic
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| Citation | |
| Description | The interplay between magic and medicine in Classical Antiquity has been the focus of numerous studies, but they are usually limited to either a particular class of epigraphical documents (e.g. Lancellotti 2001) or a particular ailment (e.g. Faraone 2011a). For instance, the “uterine magic” and “wandering wombs” generated significant scholarly attention that was not materialized only in the individual case studies (e.g. Ritner 1984; Tomlin 1997; Mastrocinque 2005) but also in more general overviews (e.g. Aubert 1989; Faraone 2003; Faraone 2011b; Björklund 2016). Despite its well-attested presence in all different types of performative magic, fever (???????, febris) stood largely out of focus of researchers and – to my best knowledge – specialized studies exist only for Mesopotamian or Hebrew magic (Bácskay 2017; Lincicum 2008). In my talk, I will therefore analyse the uses and abuses of “fever” and its cognate terms in all relevant Greek and Latin epigraphical documents related to magical practice: defixiones (e.g. TheDeMa 490: … tradas illanc febri quartanae, tertianae, cottidianae …), inscribed gems (e.g. CBd 2325: ????????? ????? ??? ??????? …), amulets (e.g. I.Akrai 52: … ??? ??ß???, ???? ??????? ? ???? ?µ??????? ??ß??? …) and magical papyri (e.g. PGM XIV, 25–26: … ????ß??? ??? ????? [? ??? ?????] ????? ??? ?????? …). Whether the practitioners aim to induce fever or ward it off, its double nature as a burning amorous desire on the one hand and a crippling, potentially life-threatening affliction on the other offers interesting avenues of research into this hitherto rather unexplored topic. |