Magic and Witchcraft in the Ancient World

In this course we will investigate ancient ideas about magic, alternative divine powers, and the relationship between practitioners and clients in this system. Interest in magic and its promise to influence the world is shared across socio-economic classes, and appears in literary texts from Greek epic to Roman novels as well as in material finds including magical papyri, gold Orphic tablets, curses scratched on lead and other charmed objects. We will consider this material in light of modern theoretical approaches to magic, witches and the uncanny in order to see where these ancient practices fit into the current scholarship.