Gender Roles in Greco-Roman Witchcraft - Magic in Classical Greece

Magic in Classical Greece

The 6th century BCE gives rise to scattered references of magoi at work in Greece. Many of these references representing a more positive conceptualisation of magic. Among the most famous of these Greek magoi, between Homer and the Hellenistic period, are the figures of Orpheus, Pythagoras, and Empedocles. Orpheus is a mythical figure, said to have lived in Thrace "a generation before Homer" (though he is in fact depicted on 5th-century ceramics in Greek costume). Orphism, or the Orphic Mysteries, seems also to have been central to the personages of Pythagoras and Empedocles who lived in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. Pythagoras for example is said to have described Orpheus, as, "the…father of melodious songs." Since Aeschylus (the Greek Playwright) later describes him as he who "haled all things by the rapture of his voice," this suggests belief in the efficacy of song and voice in magic. Orpheus is certainly associated with a great many deeds: the most famous perhaps being his descent to the underworld to bring back his wife, Eurydice. Orpheus’ deeds are not usually condemned or spoken of negatively. This suggests that some forms of magic were more acceptable. Indeed the term applied to Orpheus to separate him, presumably, from magicians of ill repute is theios aner or ‘divine man’. Since magic in the negative sense is often defined by culture, or by authorities against a sub-culture, this suggests that there was a fine line between acceptance and condemnation. This fine line is demonstrated by negative connotations given to Orpheus’ life that do exist (in contrast to the generally positive mythology). Plato claims that Orpheus’ attempt to rescue his wife from the underworld lacked,

…The courage to die as Alcestis did for love, choosing rather to scheme his way, living, into Hades. And it was for this that the gods doomed him, and doomed him justly, to meet his death at the hands of women.

There was then a price to pay for meddling with magic, powers that should only be the business of the gods—even for one such as Orpheus—without the proper motivations.

Magical powers were also attributed to the famous mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, as recorded in the days of Aristotle. The traditions concerning Pythagoras are somewhat complicated because the number of Vitae that do survive are often contradictory in their interpretation of the figure of Pythagoras. Some of the magical acts attributed to him include: 1. Being seen at the same hour in two cities. 2. A white eagle permitting him to stroke it. 3. A river greeting him with the words "Hail, Pythagoras!" 4. Predicting that a dead man would be found on a ship entering a harbor. 5. Predicting the appearance of a white bear and declaring it was dead before the messenger reached him bearing the news. 6. Biting a poisonous snake to death (or in some versions driving a snake out from a village). These stories also hint at Pythagoras being one of these "divine man" figures, (theios aner), his ability to control animals and to transcend space and time showing he has been touched by the gods.

Empedocles too has ascribed to him marvelous powers associated with later magicians: that is, he is able to heal the sick, rejuvenate the old, influence the weather and summon the dead. E.R. Dodds in his 1951 book, The Greeks and the Irrational, argued that Empedocles was a combination of poet, magus, teacher, and scientist. Dodds argued that since much of the acquired knowledge of individuals like Pythagoras or Empedocles was somewhat mysterious even to those with a rudimentary education, it might be associated with magic or at least with the learning of a Magus. It is important to note that after Empedocles, the scale of magical gifts in exceptional individuals shrinks in the literature, becoming specialized. Individuals might have the gift of healing, or the gift of prophecy, but are not usually credited with a wide range of supernatural powers as are magoi like Orpheus, Pythagoras and Empedocles. Plato reflects such an attitude in his Laws (933a-e) where he takes healers, prophets and sorcerers for granted. He acknowledges that these practitioners existed in Athens (and thus presumably in other Greek cities), and they had to be reckoned with and controlled by laws; but one should not be afraid of them, their powers are real, but they themselves represent a rather low order of humanity. An early Christian analogy is found in the 1st century CE writings of the Apostle Paul. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians conceptualizes the idea of a limitation of spiritual gifts.