ipl-logo

How Magic And Witchcraft In Ancient Greece And How Has It Changed Today

2711 Words11 Pages

Magic and witchcraft in Ancient Greece:
What is it and how has it changed today?

Alyssa Hoffman
Clas203: Civilization in Ancient Greece
Dr. Micheelsen
March 30, 2023

We today see magic as a fantastical concept and as something that could never really be real or work. The words witch and witchcraft have gained negative connotations in our modern world. The Ancient Greeks believed magic was a part of their everyday lives, and they were a lot more connected to it than we are today. Magic for them was very interconnected with their religion, and medicine. Whereas we have strong distinctions between magic, religion, and medicine. “Magic is the interaction between us and the supernatural, demons, gods, spirits.” Not only do we nowadays …show more content…

Amulets could have two different purposes, first was for protection and the second was for good luck. There is a gold amulet that I found a picture of on the world history encyclopedia webpage that invokes the god Apollo for assistance and luck in battle, it was from either Euboia or Knidos, 6th century BCE. This was one instance of a good luck amulet. Protection amulets were often purchased for children when they were born. Some protection amulets are for general protection while others were specialized for either specific diseases or even curses that might be put upon the wearer. One of the most prominent types of protection magic that was invoked was apotropaic magic. Apotropaic literally translates to turned from, or can also be prevention, it is in reference to evil. So it turns evil away or essentially protects from evil. The most common apotropaic symbol in ancient Greece was male genitalia. They believed that it was the source of life, so it must be good luck. Young boys would wear amulets of this until they were fully matured because they then had their own they did not need the amulet anymore. Apotropaic magic could have been found everywhere back in ancient Greece, and that is one thing that if people do not understand, would cause them to be uncomfortable with everything. We actually still have and use one of their pieces of apotropaic magic. It comes in the form of a hand gesture. Giving someone the …show more content…

“Magic in Ancient Greece.” World History Encyclopedia, 2016. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/926/magic-in-ancient-greece/
Edmonds, Radcliffe G. “Drawing Down the Moon: Defining Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World.” In Drawing Down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World, 1–34. Princeton University Press, 2019. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv80ccvj.6.
Homer. n.d. Odyssey. Perseus Digital Library, 10.208-260, Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D208
Hornblower, Simon, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Micheelsen, Lisa. Clas203: Civilization in Ancient Greece. Lecture, at Concordia University of Edmonton, Edmonton, AB, Winter, 2023.
Micheelsen, Lisa. Clas205: Ancient Roman Civilization. Lecture, at Concordia University of Edmonton, Edmonton, AB, Winter, 2023.
Gct, and Athens Bureau. 2020. “Ancient 'Curse Tablets' Discovered down a 2,500-Year-Old Well in Athens.” Greek City Times. February 6, 2020.

Show More
Related

Baseball Magic Gmelch Summary

595 Words | 3 Pages

Jewelry can be seen as good luck charms in the domain of rituals since they are believed to bring good luck to

Read More

A Rhetorical Analysis Of Christopher Xenopoulos Janus

368 Words | 2 Pages

Speaker: The author and the speaker of the article are both Christopher Xenopoulos Janus. Christopher Xenopoulos Janus talks from a third-person limited point of view. Janus studied at Harvard and Oxford and later served in war aid programs in Cairo and Athens, which may have further educated him about Greek matters. Occasion: The article describes the lifestyles of people that lived in ancient Greece, dating back to as far as around the 4th century B.C. The author may have been prompted to write the article due to the recent discovery of ancient Greek findings.

Read More

Symbolism In Motorcycles And Sweetgrass

2094 Words | 9 Pages

A few prudent people have an ideology that magic exists in our lives. They believe that magic clenches our lives, and it is the wild horse that carries the chariot of our lives.. Everyone, however ordinary they may be, experiences the bliss of magic at least once in their life. When you find a stronghold in pure chaos. That’s magic!

Read More

Wicca A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner Sparknotes

898 Words | 4 Pages

but also to enrich and improve the lives of practitioners while giving back to the planet. In the case of self enrichment versus ritual, “not every spell is a prayer, nor are invocations differently worded spells”(21). The most important attribute of practicing magic is that it remains positive. The book does not delve into the consequences of opposing practices, but states that the repercussions are “unimagined”. Magic which connotes negative energy is thought as the greatest of insults to the human race and the universe itself.

Read More

Annotated Bibliography: State Formation And Courtly Culture In The Scandinavian Kingdoms

950 Words | 4 Pages

This article is about how witchcraft was used in their everyday life in Scandinavia and throughout Europe. The article talks about how magic was used in their mythologies and stories. He says that many people who wrote mythologies would include magic and witchcraft. They would include this because many people during that time were familiar with magic.

Read More

Summary Of The Hellenistic Age By Thomas Martin

641 Words | 3 Pages

In the book "The Hellenistic Age," Thomas Martin argues that the Hellenistic period was a crucial time for the development of Greek culture. This period spans between the deaths of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. and Cleopatra V11 in 30 B.C. and focuses on how the generals from Alexander’s forces controlled and expanded the late king’s empire. The Hellenistic Age was a time when Greek culture spread to the Mediterranean following Alexander the Great’s death (Martin, p. 253). The generals of the late Alexander created Hellenistic kingdoms.

Read More

The Role Of The Family In John Steinbeck's The Winter Of Our Discontent

1309 Words | 6 Pages

John Steinbeck grew up in a booming farming community in Salinas, California; Steinbeck’s father was a manager of a flour mill, and his mother was a former school teacher. He had a comfortable childhood until his teenage years when his father lost his job at the flour mill and opened a feed and grain store that would fail. The Steinbeck family’s finances did not begin to stabilize until John Steinbeck was in college at Stanford University when Steinbeck’s father became the county’s treasurer. John Steinbeck’s own family dynamics have had an impact on the role of family that he establishes for the protagonist in his novel The Winter of Our Discontent.

Read More

Witch Hunters Motivations

724 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout all those period the aspect of witchcraft are derived, with the

Read More

Witchcraft Was The Ultimate Trigger Of Violence During The Elizabethan Era

952 Words | 4 Pages

Witches were also known to understand magic through the potions that they mixed (Elizabethan Era Superstitions, Beliefs). Naturally, superstition came into play when people tried identifying which of the witches

Read More

Pursuit Of Perfection In The Odyssey

1178 Words | 5 Pages

In Homer’s “The Odyssey” the traces and nuances of this pursuit can be found in the very structure and hierarchy of Ancient Greece. Through his storytelling, Homer paints a vivid picture of adventure and wonder, but even while Homer tries to deliver an

Read More

Research Paper On The Salem Witch Trials

801 Words | 4 Pages

As I said, what they possibly though were witchcraft back then could be something treatable by now. Unlike in 1690’s, they didn’t have proof to back their hypothesis that it was bewitching. But now that the reason behind the said incidents were already established and proved wrong by people who studied what might have happened back then. People might still believe witchcraft does exist in present time solely because they have no idea that it might just be an illness that they had no idea about. That the reaction of people around toward something can affect greatly on how things can be

Read More

Comparison Between Ancient Greek Culture And Modern Western Culture

1154 Words | 5 Pages

Ancient Greek culture is majorly influential in Western culture. Major works of literature, art, and political structure from ancient Greece remain relevant to modern Western society. However one can contrast these two societies by observing and valuing the art of ancient Greece. One can differentiate ancient Greek culture and modern Western culture by analyzing the treatment of religious figures, attitude towards emotion, and reaction towards nudity in each society. Ancient Greece was a polytheistic society.

Read More

Binding Magic In Ancient Greco-Modern Society

2387 Words | 10 Pages

Magic and witchcraft has always fascinated human society; it dates to the beginning of human existence. It seems like the height of witchcraft and the believe in it seems to be in the ancient Greco-Roman era. They have many different stories of witchcraft and spells. Binding spells seemed to incredibly popular. Binding spells, or katadesmoi in Greek (Faraone 3), according to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, the earliest known binding spell is from Selinus in Siciliy, Circa 500 BC.

Read More

A Comparison Of Russia And The Magical Culture

326 Words | 2 Pages

The beliefs of Christianity and the traditions of pagan. The magical culture was very different in the 1400s in Russia. Children were not aloud to practice magic outside of school or home. When magic was practiced at home it was under the supervision of both parents.

Read More

How Does Greek Mythology Influence Modern Society

1659 Words | 7 Pages

Greek Mythology and its Influences on Modern Society By Jenna Marie A. Macalawa, Lyceum of the Philippines University – Cavite Campus 2014 Myths are not dissimilar to fairy tales, legends, and sagas, but its period is distinctly different from usual existential time. It is considered as an expression of childhood experiences, and it also explains the origin and meaning of the world. According to Long (1994), “The term mythology may describe a certain body of myths, for example, Greek, African, or Scandinavian, or it may refer to the study of myths” (p.694). These collections of narratives are superior when it comes to influencing different areas of knowledge. There are numerous types of mythology, but Ancient Greece is the one that has given an immense influence on modern society.

Read More

More about How Magic And Witchcraft In Ancient Greece And How Has It Changed Today

Related Topics

Open Document