Inducing and Warding Off Fever in Graeco-Roman Magic

FRANEK, Juraj. Inducing and Warding Off Fever in Graeco-Roman Magic. In Magic and Medicine in the Ancient World: Interactions, Convergences and Divergencies in a Complicated Romance. Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea - Universidad de Zaragoza. Vitoria-Gasteiz, Španělsko, 18.-19. 9. 2019. 2019.

Basic information

• Original name: Inducing and Warding Off Fever in Graeco-Roman Magic
• Name (in English): Inducing and Warding Off Fever in Graeco-Roman Magic
• Authors: FRANEK, Juraj.
• Edition: Magic and Medicine in the Ancient World: Interactions, Convergences and Divergencies in a Complicated Romance. Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea - Universidad de Zaragoza. Vitoria-Gasteiz, Španělsko, 18.-19. 9. 2019, 2019.

Other information

• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Keywords in English: Fever, Curse Tablets, Amulets, Magic
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

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 (πυρετός, 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: Απάλλαξον Γαῒαν τοῦ πυρετοῦ …), amulets (e.g. I.Akrai 52: … Ἰαῶ Σαβαώθ, πρὸς πυρετὸν ἢ πρὸς ἡμερηνοὺς φόβους …) and magical papyri (e.g. PGM XIV, 25–26: … κατάβαλε τὸν δεῖνα [ἢ τὴν δεῖνα] ῥίγει καὶ πυρετῷ …). 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.