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Morality, Emotions and Reason: New Perspectives in the Study of Roman Magic

Published/Copyright: October 7, 2017
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Archiv für Religionsgeschichte
From the journal Archiv für Religionsgeschichte Volume 18-19 Issue 1

Abstract

Academic interest in magic has grown considerably during the last twenty years. Leaving aside the old stereotyped dichotomy between magic and religion, I consider magic a pragmatic subsystem of religion whose function is to alleviate or deal with daily life’s misfortunes. I suggest in this paper some possible approaches that might be interesting to deepen in the social study of Roman magic. This paper is divided in three sections. The first one deals with morality and magic: even if legal sanctions on magic can be influential in the individual’s decision to resort to magical practices, H. Versnel’s category of Prayers for Justice proved that some curses can be perceived as legitimate from the subjective point of view of the user; I suggest that subjective legitimation can in fact be applied to all Roman curses. The second section tackles the topic of emotions and magic: based on western conceptualisations of emotions, scholarly approaches on ancient magic have generally failed to see the evidence that make the choice of resorting to magic a rational option more than an emotional act. Finally, the third part of this paper analyses magic as rational choice in the individual’s strategies for decision taking.

Published Online: 2017-10-7
Published in Print: 2017-9-26

© 2017 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelei
  2. Contents
  3. I. Sacra Privata: Domestic Religion in Greco-Roman Antiquity and Early Christianity
  4. Domestic Religion in Greco-Roman Antiquity and Early Christianity
  5. The Spaces of Domestic Religion in Late Antique Egypt
  6. Location of Domestic Rituals in the Roman Empire: An Interprovincial Comparison
  7. The roles of Isis in Roman domestic cults: A study of the “Isis-Fortuna” bronze statuettes from the Vesuvian area 37
  8. Household and Family in Diaspora Judaism
  9. Re-envisioning Ekklēsia Space: Evidence of the Flexible Use of Household Space for Religious Instruction and Practice in the Pastoral Epistles
  10. A Missing Sacrament? Foot-washing, Gender, and Space in Early Christianity
  11. Domestic religion, family life and the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
  12. “When the Saints Go Marching in”. Gregory of Tours and his domestic Oratory
  13. Sacra Privata, Family Duties, and the Dead: Insights from the Fathers and Cultural Anthropology
  14. The Cult in the Cell
  15. Shedding Light on Early Christian Domestic Cult: Characteristics and New Perspectives in the Context of Archaeological Findings
  16. II. Savior Gods in the Mediterranean World
  17. Theoi Soteres
  18. ‘Salvation’ (Soteria) and Ancient Mystery Cults
  19. III. Varia
  20. King Osiris and Lord Sarapis
  21. Morality, Emotions and Reason: New Perspectives in the Study of Roman Magic
https://doi.org/10.1515/arege-2016-0016

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelei
  2. Contents
  3. I. Sacra Privata: Domestic Religion in Greco-Roman Antiquity and Early Christianity
  4. Domestic Religion in Greco-Roman Antiquity and Early Christianity
  5. The Spaces of Domestic Religion in Late Antique Egypt
  6. Location of Domestic Rituals in the Roman Empire: An Interprovincial Comparison
  7. The roles of Isis in Roman domestic cults: A study of the “Isis-Fortuna” bronze statuettes from the Vesuvian area 37
  8. Household and Family in Diaspora Judaism
  9. Re-envisioning Ekklēsia Space: Evidence of the Flexible Use of Household Space for Religious Instruction and Practice in the Pastoral Epistles
  10. A Missing Sacrament? Foot-washing, Gender, and Space in Early Christianity
  11. Domestic religion, family life and the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
  12. “When the Saints Go Marching in”. Gregory of Tours and his domestic Oratory
  13. Sacra Privata, Family Duties, and the Dead: Insights from the Fathers and Cultural Anthropology
  14. The Cult in the Cell
  15. Shedding Light on Early Christian Domestic Cult: Characteristics and New Perspectives in the Context of Archaeological Findings
  16. II. Savior Gods in the Mediterranean World
  17. Theoi Soteres
  18. ‘Salvation’ (Soteria) and Ancient Mystery Cults
  19. III. Varia
  20. King Osiris and Lord Sarapis
  21. Morality, Emotions and Reason: New Perspectives in the Study of Roman Magic
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