Rituals of Apparition in the Theban Magical Library

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Rituals of Apparition in the Theban Magical Library

Korshi Dosoo

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Ancient History, Faculty of Arts

Macquarie University, Sydney

December 2014

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DECLARATION

I, Raymond Korshi Dosoo, certify that this thesis has not been submitted for

a higher degree to any other university or institution.

Date: 10/12/14

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Abstract

This thesis examines the evidence for divinatory practices in Roman Egypt, focusing on rituals for questioning deities, and using the so-called Theban Magical Library as the core corpus within which this practice is examined. The first chapter examines the evidence for this archive, its publication and reception history, as well as its form and contents, in terms of physical, scribal, linguistic, and ritual features. This analysis is then used to situate the Library within the cultural context of Roman Egypt, and the historical development of Egyptian magical practice. The second and third chapters focus on the ritual of apparition, setting out a structural approach that focuses on the way in which recurrent features are combined and elaborated into a wide array of individual rituals. Alongside a lexicographical discussion of Greek and Egyptian terms for such rituals, the second chapter discusses the social context within which these practices may have taken place, and sets out a hypothetical cognitive schema within which the rituals may have been understood and experienced as efficacious. The third chapter focuses on the particular components of these rituals, looking at the way in which objects and actions were fitted into larger rituals, and how variations in their employment affected the way in which they functioned as parts of the practitioners ritual technology.

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Il y a des vocations d'intelligence, des vocations d'amour et des vocations de haine; mais rien ne prouve, encore une fois, que les esprits quittent rellement les sphres suprieures pour s'entretenir avec nous, et le contraire mme est plus probable. Nous voquons les souvenirs qu'ils ont laisss dans la lumire astrale, qui est le rservoir commun du magntisme universel.

DOGME ET RITUEL DE LA HAUTE MAGIE, ELIPHAS LEVI

Ma non potrebbero essere le anime dei bibliotecari trapassati che fanno queste magie?

IL NOME DELLA ROSA, UMBERTO ECO

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Acknowledgements

After working on this thesis for four years it seems very strange to be finishing it, and I know I cannot

possibly thank all of the people who helped me along the way. Firstly, thanks must go to my principal

supervisor, Malcolm Choat without his help, guidance, and friendship I could never have reached

this far. Next, of course, is Larry Welborn, my associate supervisor, for his invaluable encouragement.

Not far behind are Rachel Yuen-Collingridge, the source of many a pleasant distraction and most of

what I know about papyrology, and Jennifer Cromwell, who never fails to inspire me with her energy

and perspicacity. At some point almost every staff member at Macquarie has helped me in some way,

and I am very grateful to them all. Among those who come to mind are Victor Ghica, Boyo Ockinga,

Susanne Binder, Alanna Nobbs, Linda Evans, Ian Plant, Stephen Llewellyn, Edwin Judge, John Sutton,

Amanda Barnier, and Doris McIlwain, and I would like to especially thank Raina Kim and Angela

Abberton for all their patient help with administration issues. Thanks are also due to the other

postgraduate students, past and present, who were happy to share their thoughts and companionship

Julien Cooper, Rob Ross, Richard Burchfield, Lawrence Xu, Caleb Hamilton, and others whom space

prevents me from naming.

Beyond Macquarie University, I am indebted to countless other members of the scholarly community,

for their kindness in answering my queries and helping me find the information I needed. Again, I

know there are too many I will fail to mention, but among those whose names I managed to make

note of are Patricia Usick and Marcel Maree from the British Library, Joachim Quack and Kirsten

Dzwiza from Heidelberg, Sebastien Richter from Leipzig, Lynn LiDonnici at Vassar, Anna Hk, Anna

Wolodarski, and Mrten Asp at the Kungliga bibliotek, Hendrik Mkeler at Uppsala universitets, Janet

Johnson from Chicago, Luigi Prada from Oxford, Frederico Aurora at Oslo University, Georgette Ballez

at the Bibliothque nationale de France, Peter Jan Bomhof, Maarten Raven,and Robert Ritter at the

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Catherine Briddoneau at the Louvre, Sabinne Schuman at the

gyptischen Museums Berlin, Mikoaj Machowski at Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, Dorota

Dzierzbicka and Jakub Urbanik at Warsaw University, Magali de Haro Sanchez and Nathan Carlig at

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Lige, as well as Georg Schmelz, and Magdy Elbadry. Very special thanks are due to Jay Johnston and

Iain Gardner of Sydney University for all their kindness.

Finally, I need to thank all my friends and family for all the support, help, and welcome distractions

they have given me in the past years. My mother, Liz Johnstone, for reading to me when I was little, my

grandmother, Jill McGarry, for the times weve shared on my visits. My brothers, Francis and Besah

Dosoo, for all the conversations. Among my friends I should especially thank Anita and Xavier, who

were there for some of the roughest patches, and Davide, Tuireann, and Lili, who were there at the end.

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Contents Acknowledgements ___________________________________________________________________________________ 9

1. Introduction _______________________________________________________________________________________ 20

2. The Theban Magical Library ________________________________________________________________________ 25

2.1 Discovery, Composition and Historiography ____________________________________________ 25

2.1.1 Jean dAnastasy ____________________________________________________________________ 25

2.1.2 The Composition of the Theban Magical Library ____________________________________ 28

2.1.3 Alternative models of the Theban Magical Library ___________________________________ 35

2.1.4 The Publication and Reception of the Theban Magical Library _______________________ 42

2.1.4.1 1828-1913: First Publications _____________________________________________________________ 43

2.1.4.2 Excursus 1: Headless God and Bornless Rite ______________________________________________48

2.1.4.3 1885-1925: Necromancy and Neoromanticism ____________________________________________ 55

2.1.4.4 Excursus 2: Mauss, Mana and the Mithras Liturgy ________________________________________ 58

2.1.4.5 1927-1964: Papyri Graecae Magicae ______________________________________________________ 63

2.1.4.6 Excursus 3: Jesus and the Magicians _____________________________________________________ 65

2.1.4.7 1973-1996: Magika Hiera and Ritual Power _______________________________________________ 70

2.1.4.8 Excursus 4: The Book of Abraham and the Theban Library ________________________________ 74

2.1.4.9 1995-2013: Digital Magik _______________________________________________________________ 80

2.2 Form and Contents ____________________________________________________________________ 83

2.2.1 General Description _______________________________________________________________ 83

2.2.2 Language & Scripts ________________________________________________________________ 90

2.2.2.1 Bilingualism and Digraphism ___________________________________________________________90

2.2.2.2 Demotic _______________________________________________________________________________ 92

2.2.2.2.1 Demotic Script _____________________________________________________________________ 92

2.2.2.2.2 Demotic Language _________________________________________________________________94

2.2.2.3 Coptic _________________________________________________________________________________ 95

2.2.2.4 Greek _________________________________________________________________________________ 101

2.2.2.4.1 Paralinguistic features _____________________________________________________________ 101

2.2.2.4.1 Grammar and Lexis _______________________________________________________________ 102

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2.2.2.5 Other Scripts & Languages _____________________________________________________________ 105

2.2.2.5.1 The Cipher Script __________________________________________________________________ 105

2.2.2.5.2 Foreign, divine and animal languages ______________________________________________ 107

2.2.2.6 Summary of scripts and languages _____________________________________________________ 110

2.2.2.6.1 Language change in the Theban Magical Library ____________________________________ 110

2.2.2.6.2 Excursus: Demotic and Old Coptic Literacy in the Roman Period ____________________ 117

2.2.2.4.3 The Linguistic Background of the Scribes of the Theban Magical Library _____________ 119

2.2.3 Illustrations, Non-linguistic Signs and Text Formations ______________________________121

2.2.4 Contents _________________________________________________________________________ 126

2.2.4.1 Types of Rituals _______________________________________________________________________ 126

2.2.4.2 The Composition of the Texts __________________________________________________________ 133

2.2.4.3 Non-Magical Contents ________________________________________________________________ 138

2.2.4.3.1 The Myth of the Suns Eye _________________________________________________________ 138

2.2.4.3.2 Astrological Material ______________________________________________________________ 141

2.2.4.3.3 Alchemical Material ______________________________________________________________ 143

2.3 Context ______________________________________________________________________________ 149

2.3.1 The nature of the Theban Library __________________________________________________ 149

2.3.2 Egyptian Magical Archives, XVII BCE - XI CE _______________________________________ 157

2.3.2.1 The Ramesseum Papyri ________________________________________________________________ 157

2.3.2.2 The Archive of Hor ____________________________________________________________________ 158

2.3.2.3 The Fayum Temple Libraries ___________________________________________________________ 159

2.3.2.4 The Fayum Magical Archive ___________________________________________________________ 160

2.3.2.5 The Hermonthis Magical Archive ______________________________________________________ 162

2.3.2.6 Kellis Magical Archive _________________________________________________________________ 164

2.3.2.7 The Multilingual Magical Workshop ___________________________________________________ 166

2.3.2.8 The Coptic Wizards Horde ____________________________________________________________ 166

2.3.2.9 The British Museum Portfolio __________________________________________________________ 167

2.3.2.10 The London Hay Collection ___________________________________________________________ 167

2.3.2.11 The Berlin Library ____________________________________________________________________ 168

2.3.2.12 The Heidelberg Library _______________________________________________________________ 169

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2.3.2.13 Summary of Magical Archives _________________________________________________________ 170

2.3.3 Temple Libraries _________________________________________________________________ 173

2.3.4 Relationship to other Roman Period texts & artefacts ______________________________ 176

2.3.4.1 Artefacts of Mediterranean Magic ______________________________________________________ 176

2.3.4.1.1 Other Formularies _________________________________________________________________ 177

2.3.4.1.2 Evidence for Applied Rituals _______________________________________________________ 179

2.3.4.2 Other textual affinities ________________________________________________________________ 182

2.3.5 Cultural Setting __________________________________________________________________ 192

2.3.5.1 The cultural origins of particular ritual types ____________________________________________ 194

2.3.5.2 Roman Thebes ________________________________________________________________________ 199

2.3.6. The World of the Theban Library _________________________________________________ 207

2.3.6.1 Summary of Previous Discussions _____________________________________________________ 207

2.3.6.2 The Social Context of the Owners from the Texts ______________________________________ 209

3. Rituals of apparition_______________________________________________________________________________ 214

3.1 Defining Rituals of Apparition _________________________________________________________ 214

3.1.1 Defining Ritual ____________________________________________________________________ 214

3.1.2 The Ritual of Apparition __________________________________________________________ 220

3.1.3 Previous studies __________________________________________________________________ 222

3.1.4 Methodology _____________________________________________________________________ 225

3.2 Understanding Rituals of Apparition __________________________________________________ 230

3.2.1 Forms ____________________________________________________________________________ 230

3.2.2 Terms for Rituals of Apparition in the Papyri ______________________________________ 239

3.2.2.1 P-nr ________________________________________________________________________________ 240

3.2.2.2 n ____________________________________________________________________________________ 251

3.2.2.3 _______________________________________________________________________________ 256

3.2.2.4 ____________________________________________________________________________ 262

3.2.2.4 ______________________________________________________________________________ 264

3.2.2.3 _____________________________________________________________________________ 265

3.2.2.4 ______________________________________________________________________________ 269

3.2.2.5 __________________________________________________________________________ 272

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3.2.2.6 ______________________________________________________________________________ 275

3.2.2.8 Summary of terms for rituals of apparition _____________________________________________ 281

3.2.3 Social context ____________________________________________________________________ 285

3.2.3.1 The Purpose and Position of Rituals of Apparition ______________________________________ 286

3.2.3.2 Spectacle and the Ritual of Apparition in literary texts __________________________________305

3.3 Experience, efficacy, belief and fraud __________________________________________________ 315

3.3.1 The problem of efficacy ___________________________________________________________ 317

3.3.2 Truth and testing _________________________________________________________________ 340

3.3.3 Experience and memory __________________________________________________________ 348

4. Ritual Components and Complexes _______________________________________________________________ 366

4.1 The structure of apparition rituals _____________________________________________________ 369

4.1.1 Establishment of time and place ___________________________________________________ 370

4.1.1.1 Time __________________________________________________________________________________370

4.1.1.2. Place _________________________________________________________________________________374

4.1.2. Preliminary procedures __________________________________________________________ 378

4.1.3 Preparatory procedures ___________________________________________________________ 381

4.1.3.1 Creation of phylacteries ________________________________________________________________ 381

4.1.3.2 The ritualists body ____________________________________________________________________383

4.1.4 The use of boy seers ______________________________________________________________ 388

4.1.5 Divine icons and media of apparition ______________________________________________ 390

4.1.6. Invocations, apparitions, and compulsive procedues _______________________________ 397

4.1.7 Release procedures _______________________________________________________________ 398

4.2 Speech acts __________________________________________________________________________ 399

4.2.1 Speech acts within ritual complexes _______________________________________________ 402

4.2.1.1 Terminology used for formulae ________________________________________________________ 402

4.2.1.2 Speech acts within ritual complexes ___________________________________________________ 406

4.2.2 Types of speech acts ______________________________________________________________ 414

4.2.2.1 Identifying deities and historiolae ______________________________________________________ 414

4.2.2.2 Imperatives ___________________________________________________________________________ 417

4.2.2.3 Onomata ____________________________________________________________________________ 420

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4.2.2.4 Performatives _________________________________________________________________________423

4.2.2.5 Autocletics __________________________________________________________________________ 427

4.2.2.6 Interjections _________________________________________________________________________ 429

4.2.2.7 Tendencies in the use of speech acts ___________________________________________________ 431

4.3 Offerings _____________________________________________________________________________ 438

4.3.1. Offerings in Hellenic and Egyptian religion ________________________________________ 439

4.3.2 Materia and the procedure of offerings ____________________________________________ 442

4.3.3 Marking of materia in offerings ___________________________________________________ 458

4.3.4 The Rationale of offerings in rituals of apparition __________________________________ 462

5. Conclusions _____________________________________________________________________________________ 465

Appendix 1: Abbreviations used _____________________________________________________________________ 472

Appendix 2: Archival Sources ________________________________________________________________________473

Theban Library Papyri ___________________________________________________________________ 473

PGM 1 ________________________________________________________________________________ 473

PGM 2 ________________________________________________________________________________ 474

PGM 4 ________________________________________________________________________________ 475

PGM 5 ________________________________________________________________________________ 476

PDM/PGM 12 _________________________________________________________________________ 477

PGM 13 _______________________________________________________________________________ 479

PDM/PGM 14 _________________________________________________________________________ 479

PDM Suppl. ___________________________________________________________________________ 482

P.Leid. I 397 ___________________________________________________________________________ 483

Non-Theban Library Papyri ______________________________________________________________ 484

PGM 3 ________________________________________________________________________________ 484

PGM 6 ________________________________________________________________________________ 484

PGM 7 ________________________________________________________________________________ 485

PDM 61 _______________________________________________________________________________ 486

Appendix 3: List of rituals of apparition _____________________________________________________________ 488

Appendix 4: Formulae used in rituals of apparition __________________________________________________ 494

Appendix 5: Magical discourses, Ritual Collections ___________________________________________________ 497

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Bibliography: Ancient Sources _______________________________________________________________________ 513

Bibliography: Modern sources ______________________________________________________________________ 520

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List of tables and figures

1: Models of the Theban Magical Library from 1828-2012 36

2: Physical Details of the manuscripts of the Theban Magical Library 85

3: Hands and marginal annotations in the Theban Magical Library 88

4: Greek Gloss in PDM Suppl.52 91

5: Groups within the Theban Magical Library 110

6: Theban Magical Library, Papyri and Component Groups by Language and Century 112

7: Theban Magical Library and Component Groups by Language and Century (Percentage composition) 113

8: Oracle tickets from Egypt 115

9: Magical handbooks from Egypt 116

10 : Non-linguistic scribal features in the Theban Library papyri and other selected Greek Handbooks 125

10: Rituals in Roman Period Manuscripts by type 128

11: Divinatory Practices in the Theban Magical Library and I-VI CE Magical Texts 129

12: Alchemical Practices in the Theban Magical Library 143

13: Egyptian Magical Archives XVII BCE-XI CE 172

14: Relationship between different texts describing 'magical' practices 187

15: Apparition ritual types and alternatives 234

16: Types of apparition rituals 236

17: Structure of minimal ritual of apparition 236

18: Structure of typical ritual of apparition 236

19: Structure of extended ritual of apparition 238

20: Instances of pH-nTr in magical texts 241

21: Instances of n in magical texts 254

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22: Instances of in magical texts 261

23: Istances of in magical texts 262





28: Instances of in magical papyri 277

29: Usage of terms for rituals of apparition 283

30: Overlap in terms for rituals of apparition 284

31: Terms used for rituals of apparition in handbooks 285

32: Egyptian dream oracles 299

33: Development of Hor's dream accounts 363

34: "Ideal" ritual of apparition 370

35: Timing of rituals of apparition: Hour of the day or night 372

36 Timing of rituals of apparition: Position in the lunar month 372

37: Timing of rituals of apparition: Location of the moon in the zodiac 374

38: Presenting objects to the sun 379

39: Comparison of preliminary procedures in PGM 1.42-195,

PGM 4.154-285, and the Uniting with the Sun 380

40: Apparition ritual formulae analysed 402

41: Imperatives as speech acts 419

42: Performatives as speech acts 424

43: Autocletics as speech acts 428

44: Interjections as speech acts 430

45: Speech acts in invocations by language 434

46: Speech acts in Greek invocation formulae 435

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47: Speech acts in Demotic invocation formulae 435

48: Speech acts in Old Coptic invocation formulae 435

49: Speech acts in invocation formulae in Hippolytus 435

50: Speech acts from invocations in the Archive of Hor 436

51: Speech acts in Greek preliminary invocation formulae 436

52: Speech acts in Demotic preliminary invocation formulae 436

53: Speech acts in Demotic compulsive formulae 437

54: Speech acts in Greek compulsive formulae 437

55: Speech acts in Greek release formulae 437

56: Speech acts in Demotic release formulae 438

57: Burnt offerings in rituals of apparition 454

58: Structure of offerings in rituals of apparition 463

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1. Introduction

Within the field that studies the nebulous topic of ancient Mediterranean magic, it is common

knowledge that a single type of ritual seems to dominate the abundant material from the Roman

period. It is also common knowledge that the bulk of our evidence for this period comes from a single

collection of texts purchased from Jean dAnastasy. These two topics, the divination rituals in which

the ancient practitioners summoned deities to appear and answer questions, and the archive

commonly called the Theban Magical Library, are intimitely intertwined. The bulk of these apparition

rituals are found in the Theban Library, and the bulk of the rituals in the Theban Library are intended

to bring about apparitions. On the one hand, the ritual texts assigned to the Library by modern

commentators comprise some of the best surviving evidence for the beliefs and cultic practices of

their time, from obscure aspects of Greek and Egyptian mythography, to the lurid practices of

exorcisms and erotic binding spells. On the other, the rituals of apparition speak to a still stranger

aspect of ancient culture, confronting in their matter-of-fact claims about what would in any other

context be transcendental mysticism.

Yet there seems to be a gap in the literature; despite numerous smaller works (surveyed in 3.1.3), there

has been no systematic study of these rituals since Hopfners Griechische gyptische

Offenbarungszauber (1921), and while the Theban Library has been the subject of much speculation,

the fullest discussion to date has been in William Brashears survey of the Greek Magical Papyri (1995),

a discussion that depended largely on secondary literature. Both the papyri and the practices they

contain are individually worthwhile objects of study, but there is also value in a simultaneous

approach. By digging deeper into the history and materiality of the Library, the cultural background of

the rituals emerges more clearly, while the issues unearthed through an engagement with the rituals

may help provide answers to questions of composition and textual dependence.

The purpose of this thesis, then, is two-fold. The first part provides the fullest discussion of the Theban

Library to date, attempting both to present all the evidence from primary archival material in order to

systematically evaluate the speculations that have accumulated in the two hundred years since Caspar

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Reuvens first recognised its existence. The second part surveys the evidence for apparition rituals,

providing an account of their procedure, social context, and role within a larger body of practice.

The first methodological problem facing anyone discussing ancient magic in the early twenty-first

century is whether their subject of study even exists. Since the early 1990s the validity of magic as a

concept in the ancient Mediterranean has been hotly contested, with numerous solutions to the

problem being suggested redefining magic according to various emic or etic criteria, or jettisoning it

entirely in favour of a new term. Although I discuss this issue in the course of surveying the history of

the study and reception of the Theban Library (2.1.4), I do not attempt to provide any global theory or

definition of either magic or ritual. For the purposes of this thesis I will use magic and related

terms to refer primarily to the genre of texts which is represented by the Theban Library, the practices

they describe, and others which are clearly related to them. The question of ritual is still more more

complex, but I will offer a working definition at a later point (3.1.1).

This is not to imply that the term, magic describes either the self-understanding or the social

position of the ritualists relative to their society, only that there is a recognisable genre to which most

of the texts gathered under the title of the Papyri Graecae Magicae belong, that this genre includes

practices for which our English term magic is a good first-order approximation, and that it is a label

which has historically been attached to these texts. While other terms have been suggested as

replacements most prominently ritual power these do not seem to solve the problem. At face

value, ritual power might include not only the practices traditionally designated as magical, but

also rituals of social, political, economic, and religious power the act of prostration before superiors,

the theatrical ritual of military triumphs, the symbolic value of the poll-tax, the manifestation of divine

power in the Eucharist and yet ritual power is generally treated as more-or-less contiguous with the

older category of magic (2.1.4.7). This leads me to wonder if it is merely a new label for an old

category, rather than a radical reconceptualization of our classificatory strategies.

More important, I would suggest, than a search for new terminology, is a sensitivity to the questions

that the excavation of the term magic has raised: are rituals considered licit or illicit, pious or

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impious, and by whom? Are they they practices which took place in reality, or in the imaginations of

outsiders? Throughout this work I try to avoid importing assumptions from our category magic

where they are not justified in the material. The nature of the evidence here ameliorates some of these

problems, since we are dealing with a body of practice produced by insiders, whose coherence is based

on their co-occurrence within individual manuscripts and archives, and attested by shared markers of

genre, such as the use of onomata, kharaktres, specialist vocabulary, and formulaic phrases. In

practice, magic is recognised by papyrologists and ancient historians according to these, and similar

genre markers, rather than by more abstract criteria.

My approach to this eclectic body of material has been, by necessity, eclectic. Some of the work

presented here is of a very traditional sort studies of word usage, archival research, and close reading

of texts. The fact that the corpora of texts available to me papyrological, epigraphic, and literary

and the means for utilising them, are so much larger than those available even in the relatively recent

past, has nonetheless allowed me to draw some new conclusions. Wherever possible, I have

endeavoured to place the Demotic, Greek, and Coptic texts on equal footing, looking for equivalences

and disjunctures between the bodies of evidence. This approach will, I hope, complement the earlier

methodology of Hopfner, who often priveleged literary sources, and sought to present the apparition

rituals as a coherent, unified system. While there are certainly correspondences between the literary

and papyrological evidence, it is often worth listening closely to what the papyri themselves have to

say, however diverse, idiosyncratic, or incomplete this may be.

Alongside the standard techniques of philology and papyrology I have, like many other scholars of

ancient magic, adopted the methodologies of other fields where these seemed appropriate. Thus I

make extensive use of statistical description in my attempt to contextualise the Theban Library within

the larger setting of Roman-era magical practice(2.2.4.1), but attempt something like anthropological

description in my exposition of divine apparitions (3.3.3).1 Elsewhere, in trying to provide an account

of the plausibility and effectiveness of apparition rituals, I have drawn upon studies of hypnosis and 1 My approach here was particularly inspired by the work of Thomas G. Kirsch, "Intangible Motion: Notes on the Morphology and Mobility of the Holy Spirit," in The Social Life of Spirits, ed. Ruy Blanes and Diana Esprito Santo (University of Chicago Press, 2013).

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memory in the disciplines of cognitive science and psychology (3.3). If these different approaches do

not quite fit together, I hope that the overall effect is that they overlap to the extent that the light cast

by their sum will illuminate more than any one could individually.

The first part of this thesis looks at the Theban Magical Library as a collection, discussing what is

known about its first modern owner, Jean dAnastasy, and moving on to the evidence for its

composition and coherence. While many authors have touched on this matter in the past (2.1.3), I have

relied on archival sources unavailable or unconsulted by previous studies; given the importance of

these documents I have chosen to reproduce the relevant sections as appendix 2. This is followed by a

survey of the publication history of the texts of the Theban Library, with excurses drawing out

particularly significant moments when the Library has had effects beyond the field of ancient magic

studies. The next section contains a description of the manuscripts in the Library, from a physical,

textual, and linguistic perspective, as well as an overview of its contents. Finally, I attempt to

contextualise the Library, exploring at length suggestions about its origins, comparing it to other

magical archives, and to literary and documentary texts more broadly, before discussing what can be

known about its owners, their physical environment, and their cultural orientation, based wherever

possible on evidence from the texts themselves.

The second part of this thesis, looking at the ritual of apparition, is divided into two chapters. The first

gives an overview of the practice, defining both what I mean by ritual (3.1.1), and ritual of apparition

(3.1.2), before setting out the structuralist methodology that will guide the rest of the discussion. (3.1.4)

This is followed by a series of studies on the terms used for the rituals in Greek and Egyptian (3.2.2),

setting out their range of meaning, their overlaps, and what can be known about their origins in either

cultic practice, popular belief, or philosophical jargon. The next section focuses on the social position

of these rituals, why they were carried out (3.2.3.1), and what literary evidence can tell us about actual

performances (3.2.3.2). Finally, I attempt to provide an outsiders perspective on insider belief: setting

out how ritualists could have understood their practices as efficacious, how they might have coped

with ritual failure, and how subjective experience and its encoding in memory might confirm or

disprove their beliefs (3.3).

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The last chapter provides a synoptic overview of ritual practice as described in the magical papyri,

supplementing it where appropriate with evidence from earlier and later handbooks, as well as literary

and documentary texts. The focus here is on description rather than explanation, and where

explanations are provided these are based as closely as possible on statements found in the handbooks

themselves. While any of the processes and objects used in rituals of apparition could be, and in many

cases have been, the subject of full studies, I have chosen to follow this overview with more detailed

analyses of two practices which are by no means unique to magical practice, but which are the best

represented in the ritual texts: speech acts and offerings. Since these are abundantly described, and

offer clear similarities and contrasts with ritual practice from outside the magical ritual, they are often

more revealing than the more idiosyncratic procedures.

The magical papyri represent perhaps the fullest ritual texts to survive from late antiquity, although

those who composed, copied, and made use of them remain almost without exception anonymous.

Despite their position in a continuous process of ritual practice stretching back beyond them and

forward to the present day, there is no group that can clearly claim to be their intellectual heirs. To

some extent they represent a dead-end, one of the last documented manifestations of the ancient

polytheisms and henotheisms of the ancient Mediterranean. But I think this makes the attempt to

enter into their worldview all the more interesting, and important. Despite their strangeness, they are

as much a part of the history of human culture and thought as the traditions which have outlasted

them, and in reconstructing their experiences, however imperfectly, we bring into the light of memory

a forgotten possibility, a way of being in the world lost with the death of the Librarys last owner.

Documents

Rituals of Apparition in the Theban Magical Library