
Contents
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Other-Labeling: Accusations of Magic Other-Labeling: Accusations of Magic
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The Legal Context for Magic in Greece The Legal Context for Magic in Greece
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The Legal Context for Magic in Rome The Legal Context for Magic in Rome
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Social Dynamics of Legal Trials: The Cases of Cresimus and Apuleius Social Dynamics of Legal Trials: The Cases of Cresimus and Apuleius
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Self-Labeling of Magic Self-Labeling of Magic
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Greek Magical Papyri Greek Magical Papyri
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Alien Wisdom: The Cross-Cultural Experience of Magic Alien Wisdom: The Cross-Cultural Experience of Magic
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Conclusions Conclusions
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11 The Label of ‘Magic’ in the Ancient GrecoRoman World
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Published:June 2019
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Abstract
This concluding chapter assesses why the label of “magic” is applied, by whom, to whom, and in what circumstances. Many of the things labeled as “magic”—curses or prayers or divinatory rituals—may, depending on the circumstances, be regarded as perfectly normative. However, these ritual acts may also be considered non-normative if the same things are done by different people in different contexts (social location) or with different claims to power and authority (efficacy). The chapter then considers the ways these cues of social location and efficacy are used in the discourse of magic, both for the labeling of the self and of others. For other-labeling, the dynamics are especially clear in the legal arena, where the community or its representative are deciding where that person fits within the community. In such evidence, claims of extraordinary efficacy remain secondary to the cue of the social location of the performer. By contrast, self-labeling is much rarer and appears only in limited kinds of evidence, such as the Greek Magical Papyri, but the cue of extraordinary efficacy is the most important, and claims to extraordinary social location tend to be secondary to it. The appearance of such self-labeling, however, is unusual in the discourse of magic found in other cultures, so these examples are particularly revealing for the nature of the discourse of magic in the ancient Greco-Roman world.
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