This course will examine magic, divination, and other unconventional religious phenomena in the Greco-
Roman world by focusing on several extraordinary practices and practitioners. The most prominent forms of religious observance in antiquity involved civic cult: the construction and patronage of temples and other cult sites, attendance at festivals and artistic performances honoring the gods, public sacrifices, official consultation of oracles, and so on. In addition to these religious practices on behalf of the state, individuals performed various acts of private worship. Some customs, such as belonging to the cult of a particular god or making offerings to one’s household gods, were perfectly ordinary; other forms of private religious expression, though, were more unusual.
Over the course of the semester, we will examine a number of these forms of “unofficial” practices: seeking the healing power of a god by visiting that divinity’s temple in the hope that the god would appear in one’s dream and lend aid; using forms of beneficial magic to restore or maintain one’s health; using more aggressive forms of magic to ensnare the object of one’s sexual desires, or to affect the outcome of competitions in such disparate settings as the arena and the courtroom; and, attempting to foresee the future through astrology or various forms of divination.
Such practices often affected more than the individual practitioner, as will be seen by studying the attitude of society towards magic, the persistence of fraudulent diviners, and the awe in which miracle-workers were held by the populace. This course, then, is not about traditional civic religion, but rather religious phenomena which were for the most part outside of the mainstream of “official” religion – phenomena which often get less attention in traditional courses about Greek and Roman religion.
:

Apuleius, The Golden Ass (trans. P.G. Walsh, Oxford University Press, 1994)

John Gager, Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World (New York, 1992) (= Gager, Curse
Tablets )

Hans D. Betz (ed.), The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (Chicago, 1986 (2nd edn. 1992)) (= Betz, P.G.M.
)
:

M. Meyer & R. Smith, Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power (Princeton, 1999)
Note: All other readings are available on D2L (http://d2l.arizona.edu) in the “Content” area.
The scale for your final grade will be 90-100=A, 80-89=B, 70-79=C, 60-69=D, and 0-59=F. Grades will be based on a term paper (40%), class participation/attendance (30%), oral report (20%), and bibliographical project (10%):

Term paper: The 10-15-page term paper will be on a subject of your choosing, but must be approved in advance. You should consult the department’s guidelines for writing term papers
(http://classics.arizona.edu/style_grad_paper_theses), but be aware that the rules in Sect. II (“Content and
Organization”) do not necessarily apply to this assignment.

Class participation/attendance: Regular attendance, full preparation and active participation are required.

Oral report: You will be expected to give a 10-minute oral report on the scholarly treatment of or debate over a particular phenomenon or issue. A list of topics to choose from will be provided early in the semester.

Bibliographical project: As a second research project, you will be required to prepare an annotated bibliography on some aspect of ancient religion that is pertinent to this course.
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Week 1

Thurs. (Jan. 18): Unplanned Pre-class Class
Week 2

Tues. (Jan. 18): Introduction to Greek, Roman and Greco-Roman Religion
Read: Jo-Ann Shelton, As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History (Oxford,
1998), Chapt. 15, “Religion and Philosophy” (pp. 359-400, 404-420 only) [D2L]
In-class Handout: “Basic Bibliography for Research in Greek and Roman Religion”
Week 3

Tues. (Jan. 25): Religion and Magic in Apuleius’s Golden Ass
Read: Apuleius, The Golden Ass
“Passages Illustrating Roman Religion in Apuleius’s The Golden Ass Books 1-10” [D2L]
Week 4

Tues. (Feb. 1): Cicero on Divination
Read: Cicero, De divinatione
Sarah I. Johnston et al.
, “Divination and Prophecy,” in S.I. Johnston (ed.), Religions of the Ancient World:
A Guide (Cambridge, Mass., 2004), 370-391 [D2L]
Week 5

Tues. (Feb. 8):
Read/Translate: “Sample Inscriptions Recording Divine Dreams and Commands” [D2L]
Read: “Egyptian Dream Book” and “Babylonian-Assyrian Dream Book” (excerpts in Naphtali Lewis, The
Interpretation of Dreams & Portents in Antiquity (1976), pp. 7-19) [D2L]
Macrobius, Commentary on Scipio’s Dream I.3 (in Lewis, Interpretation , pp. 19-22) [D2L]
Aristotle, On Prophecy in Sleep (excerpts in Lewis, Interpretation , pp. 24-6) [D2L]
Hippocrates, On Regimen (excerpts in Lewis, Interpretation , pp. 26-31) [D2L]
Chronicle of the Temple of Athena of Lindos (in Lewis, Interpretation , pp. 43-45) [D2L]
Pliny the Younger, Letter I.18 (in Lewis, Interpretation , p. 53) [D2L]
Artemidorus, Oneirocritica (excerpts in Lewis, Interpretation , pp. 53-75) [D2L]
Tertullian, On the Soul 42-8 (excerpts in Lewis, Interpretation , pp. 76-81) [D2L]
Synesius, On Dreams (excerpts in Lewis, Interpretation , pp. 81-7) [D2L]
“Evidence for Dream-Interpreters in Greco-Roman Religion” [D2L]
John Ray, Reflections of Osiris: Lives from Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 2002), Chapt. 8, “People of the
Serapeum” (pp. 130-52) [D2L]
PCairZen I 59034: Papyrus Recording Dreams from Sarapis Requesting a Sarapieion [D2L]
IG X.2, 255: Narrative of the spread of the cult of Sarapis from Thessalonika to Opous [D2L]
Week 6

Tues. (Feb. 15): The Spread of the Cult of Asklepios and the Sanctuaries at Epidauros and Athens
Read/Translate: IG IV 2 1, 126: Dedication of Marcus Iulius Apellas at Epidauros
Read: Ralph Jackson, Doctors and Diseases in the Roman Empire (Norman, Okla. & London, 1988),
Chapt. 6, “Gods and their Magic” (pp. 138-69) [D2L]
Paus. 2.27.1-28.2: Description of the Epidauros Asklepieion [D2L]
IG IV 2 1, 121-124: Epidauros “Miracle Inscriptions” (trans. L.R. LiDonnici) [D2L]
Aristophanes, Plutus 633-747 [D2L]
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Week 7

Tues. (Feb. 22): Asklepios Outside of Mainland Greece
Aelius Aristides, The Sacred Tales I-IV (trans. C.A. Behr, P. Aelius Aristides: The Complete Works II
(Leiden, 1981) [D2L]
IPergamon VIII.3, 161: Lex sacra concerning incubation at the Pergamon Asklepieion [D2L]
Week 8

Tues. (March 1): Incubation Beyond the Cult of Asklepios
Read: Hedvig von Ehrenheim, “Identifying Incubation Areas in Pagan and Early Christian Times,” in E.
Hallager & S. Riisager, Proceedings of the Danish Institute at Athens 6 (Athens, 2009), 237-276 [D2L]
Gil H. Renberg, “Was Incubation Practiced in the Latin West?”, ARG 8 (2006), 105-147 [D2L]
Week 9

Tues. (March 8): Supernatural Healing and Apotropaic Magic
Read: Pseudo-Hippocrates, The Sacred Disease (trans. G.E.R. Lloyd, Hippocratic Writings (New York,
1983), pp. 237-251) [D2L]
Betz, Greek Magical Papyri , “Introduction to the Greek Magical Papyri” (pp. xli-xlviii), “Introduction to
the Demotic Magical Papyri” (pp. lv-lvii)
Selections from Betz, Greek Magical Papyri
M. Meyer & R. Smith, Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power (Princeton, 1999), Nos. 4,
5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 24, 25, 49 [D2L]
In-class Handout: “Magical Gems for Protection, Health and Healing”
Week 10

Tues. (March 15): NO CLASS (Spring Break)
Week 11

Tues. (March 22): Binding Spells and Curses
Read: Gager, Curse Tablets , “Introduction” (pp. 3-30) and Chapt. 2, “Sex, Love, and Marriage”
The Pella Curse Tablet against Thetima and Dionysophon ( SEG 43, 434) [D2L]
Selections from Betz, Greek Magical Papyri
Week 12

Tues. (March 29): Binding Spells and Curses (cont.)
Read: Gager, Curse Tablets , Chapts. 1, “Competition in Theater and Circus,” 3, “Tongue-Tied in Court:
Legal and Political Disputes,” 4, “Businesses, Shops, and Taverns”
Meyer/Smith, Ancient Christian Magic , Nos. 28, 72, 82, 84, 85, 86, 89, 90, 93 [D2L]
Selections from Betz, Greek Magical Papyri
Week 13

Tues. (April 5): Cursing for Justice, Confessing One’s Guilt
Read: Gager, Curse Tablets , Chapt. 5, “Pleas for Justice and Revenge”
J.H.M. Strubbe, “‘Cursed be he that moves my bones’,” in C.A. Faraone & D. Obbink, Magika Hiera:
Ancient Greek Magic & Religion (New York, 1991), pp. 33-59 [D2L]
Henk S. Versnel, “Beyond Cursing: The Appeal to Justice in Judicial Prayers,” in C.A. Faraone & D.
Obbink (eds.), Magika Hiera (New York, 1991), 60-106 [D2L]
Marijana Ricl, “The Appeal to Divine Justice in the Lydian Confession-Inscriptions,” in E. Schwertheim
(ed.), Forschungen in Lydien (Asia Minor Studien 17; Bonn, 1995), 67-76 [D2L]
Week 14

Tues. (April 12): Oracles and Divination in Asia Minor
Read: Lucian, Alexander, or The False Prophet (trans. D. Costa, Lucian: Selected Dialogues (Oxford,
2005), pp. 129-151, 261-263) [D2L]
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies , Book 4.4 (trans. F. Legge, Philosophumena, or the Refutation of All
Heresies (London, 1921), pp. 92-103) [D2L]
“Eunus’s slave revolt” (Diodorus Siculus, Library 34/35.2.1-26) [D2L]
3

Christopher P. Jones, “A Follower of the God Glykon?”, EpigAnat 30 (1998), 107-109 [D2L]
Angelos Chaniotis, “Old wine in a new skin: Tradition and innovation in the cult foundation of Alexander
of Abonouteichos,” in E. Dabrowa (ed.), Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient World (Electrum 6;
Krakow, 2002), 67-85 [D2L]
Fritz Graf, “An Oracle against Pestilence from a Western Anatolian Town,” ZPE 92 (1992), 267-279 [D2L]
Christopher P. Jones, “Ten dedications ‘To the gods and goddesses’ and the Antonine Plague,” JRA 18
(2005), 293-301 [D2L]
Week 15

Tues. (April 19): Astrology, Magic and the Law
Aelian, Historical Miscellany 5.18: Execution of a witch in Athens) [D2L]
PMich VI.423: The Brephos Papyrus [D2L]
Gager, Curse Tablets , Chapt. 8, “Testimonies” (Nos. 136, 137, 141, 148, 157)
Barton, Ancient Astrology (London, 1994), Chapts. 1, “Historical Background: Mesopotamia, Egypt and
Greece” (pp. 9-31) and 2, “Greece and Rome” (pp. 32-63, especially pp. 32-57, 62-3) [D2L]
Horoscopes (samples in Lewis, Interpretation , pp. 150-3) [D2L]
Handout: “Cassius Dio, Tacitus, Suetonius on Astrologers and Diviners” [D2L]:
Chaldaeans/Magi (Diodorus Siculus, Library 2.29.1-3, 2.30.2, 2.30.4, 2.31.2-3, 2.31.8-9, 17.112.2,
19.55.8)
Thrasyllus’s Career (Tac., Ann.
6.20-1; Dio 55.11.1-3, 57.15.7, 58.27.1-28.4; Suet. Augustus 98.4;
Suet., Tiberius 14.4, 62.3; Suet., Gaius 19.3; Diogenes Laertius 9.45; Pliny, Natural History 32.19.55)
Emperors and divination (Suetonius, Julius 7.2 (Julius Caesar); Dio 49.5.5; Suet., Augustus 94.12
(Augustus); Dio 57.15.7-8, 57.19.3; Tac., Ann.
6.20; Suet., Tiberius 63 (Tiberius); Dio 62.18.2-3
(Nero); Tac., Hist.
1.12, 1.27; Suet., Otho 4.1 (Otho); Suet., Vitellius 3.2 (Vitelius); Dio 65.9.2; Suet.,
Vespasian 14 (Vespasian); Dio 67.15.5-6, 67.16.3; Suet., Domitian 10.3, 15.3 (Domitian); Hist. Aug.
,
Hadr.
16.7, 16.10 (Hadrian))
Predictions about future emperors (Dio XLV.1.3-5 (Augustus); Suet., Aug . 94.5 (Augustus); Suet., Tib.
14.2 (Tiberius); Dio 57.19.4; Tac., Ann.
6.20 (Galba); Dio 63.4.3 (Vitellius); Suet., Titus 2.1 (Titus);
Dio 61.2.1-4 (Nero))
Laws against diviners (Paulus, Sententiae 5.21.1-3; Ulpian, On the Office of the Proconsul , in Lex. mos.
et Rom. coll.
15.2.1-6)
Prophets/prophecies during times of trauma (Tacitus, Annals 14.22; Tac., Histories 2.1, 2.61)
Expulsions of astrologers/diviners (Dio 49.43.5 (33 B.C.); Dio 57.15.8-9 (16 A.D.); Suet., Tib.
36.1 (19
A.D.); Dio 61.33.3; Tac., Ann.
12.52 (52 A.D.); CCAG 8(4):100 (68 A.D.?); Suet., Vit.
14.4 (69 A.D.);
Dio 64.1.4; Zonaras 11.16; Tac., Hist.
2.62 (69 A.D.); Dio 65.9.2 (70 A.D.); Jerome, Chron.
A.D. 89-
90, 93-94; Suet., Dom . 10.3 (89-90 & 93-94 A.D.))
Trials and accusations of treason through divination and magic (Dio 57.19.1-2, 58.4.8 (Tiberius and
treason trials); Tac., Ann . 2.27-32 (Libo Drusus); Tac., Ann.
12.22 (Lollia); Tac., Ann . 12.64-5 (Domitia
Lepida); Tac., Ann.
16.14-5; Tac., Hist.
4.44 (Anteius/Ostorius); Tac., Ann.
16.30-3 (Soranus/Servilia);
Dio 77.8.1-9.2 (Apronianus))
Ammianus Marcellinus 21.1.1-7, 22.1 ( future emperor Julian divines the current emperor’s death ) [D2L]
Amm. Marc. 29.1 ( Theodorus accused of treason; Maximus executed ) [D2L]
Amm. Marc. 19.12 ( Persecutions of magicians in Late Antiquity ) [D2L]
Theodosian Code 9.16.1-12 (“Magicians, Astrologers, and other like Criminals”) (trans. C. Pharr) [D2L]
Week 16

Tues. (April 26): Divination in the Magical Papyri
Selections from Betz, Greek Magical Papyri
Week 17

Tues. (May 3): The Figure of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity
Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana (abridged and translated in M. Hadas and M. Smith, Heroes and
Gods (New York, 1965), pp. 196-258) [D2L]
Betz, P.G.M.
I.1-195, 232-62; V.96-172; XIa.1-40; XII.160-78; XXXVI.312-20
Handout: “The ‘Rain Miracle’ of A.D. 172” (Dio 72.8-10; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.5.1-7;
Tertullian, Ad Scap.
4; Suda 1.434) [D2L]
Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers (selections)
4