magic
magic1. The concept
Antiquity does not provide clear-cut definitions of what was understood by magic and there is a variety of terms referring to its different aspects. The Greek terms that lie at the roots of the modern term ‘magic’, magos, mageia, were ambivalent. Originally they referred to the strange but powerful rites of the Persian magi and their overtones were not necessarily negative (Plato Alcibiades 1. 122: ‘the magian lore of Zoroaster’). Soon, however, magos was associated with the doubtful practices of the Greek goēs (‘sorcerer’) and hence attracted the negative connotations of quack, fraud, and mercenary (e.g. Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 386 f.). Through Aristotle, his pupil Theophrastus, and Hellenistic authors this negative sense also affected the Latin terms magus, magia, magicus. However, in late antiquity, especially in the Greek...[The entire page is 1717 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
