Nature, Cause, and Agency in Greek Magic

Abstract

: This paper explores the concepts of nature, cause, and agency as they define Greek magical practice in the Classical period. I seek first to demonstrate that the authors of the Hippocratic and Platonic attacks on magic share basic assumptions about nature and divinity with the magical practitioners themselves. Next, I situate magic within the mechanical, teleological, and volitional modes of Greek causal explanation, demonstrating how these modes can overlap in the explanation of a magical event. Finally, I consider figurines as a test case for concepts of causality in magical action. I argue that figurines, like Greek statues generally, are viewed as social agents capable of causing events to happen in their vicinity. Once we situate the figurines within a network of social relations, new explanations can be derived for the practice of binding and abusing them. . :             by contrasts than in its essence. 1 Without a context for magical practices-whether curses, rituals, prayers, the fashioning of figurines or dolls, or the use of pharmaceuticals-we cannot give a full account of what Greeks of the Classical period understood as magic. And even when a context exists for these activities and we appear to be in a better position to analyze magical behavior, serious category confusion persists. Public, state-sponsored curses, for example, seem to defy   University of Michigan1 The bibliography here is large, but I have found the following works especially helpful in outlining current approaches:

Novel forms of “magical” human-computer interaction within the cyber-physical smart workplace: Implications for usability and user experience

“…Harnessing of invisible agents or forces -Magical practitioners frequently attempt to manipulate their environment by (a) channeling or controlling invisible forces that are capable of generating some desired effects within the world or (b) summoning and commanding invisible supernatural agents that are believed to be capable of performing within the world certain types of actions that the human practitioners cannot directly or easily perform themselves (Sørensen, 2007;D. Collins, 2003;Sperber, 2004;Philsooph, 1971;Adams, Olsen, & M.A.…”

“…practitioners' ability to understand and manipulate causal mechanisms that are "hidden" or "occult" (from the Latin "occulere," meaning "to conceal"). Such forms of causality differ from the laws of nature as generally understood and are unknown to most people (Frazer, 2009;Tambiah, 1973;D. Collins, 2003;Eleta, 1997;Hagen, 2017;Stein & Stein, 2017).…”

Plato's Puppets of the Gods: Representing the Magical, the Mystical and the Metaphysical

“…80 The term pharmaka has decidedly magical connotations and here Plato is using it, both metaphorically and literally, to counter the "bad magic" implicit in negative representations. 81 As part of their education, it will be necessary for Magnesia's citizens to learn about comedy so that they know to avoid imitating such ludicrous behavior themselves. 82 In the Republic, Plato apparently did not think that watching comedies could help in learning the nature of base and ridiculous characters.…”

“…109 Illustrating this, the Athenian Stranger says that "whenever each one becomes intense, we designate it erôs." 110 Of its three types, the most harmonious version is said to occur in a non-physical manner plato's puppets of the gods 132 between individuals who are most like one another in Goodness; "philia between those who are similar" is therefore deemed superior. Such a relationship, the Athenian Stranger says, is both "gentle and entails continuous, mutual affection throughout life."…”

“…Magnets were of special interest to the Pre-Socratics, including Empedokles, for whom they figured prominently in his formulation of magical phenomena.) 132 The immortality of the soul is manifest in the fact that soul is prior to body and that soul is part of (and emanates from)…”