The Iconography of Magic: Images of Power and the Power of Images in Ancient and Late Antique Magic

The Study Of Magical Texts Of The Classical, Greco-roman And Late Antique World Has Experienced A Remarkable Impulse Since The Last Decades Of The Twentieth Century Until Today. The So-called Material Turn In Philological Studies Has Promoted An Ever-growing Interest In The Study Of The Materiality And Other Non-textual Components Of Ancient Documents, Which Has Favored Interdisciplinary Studies Aimed At A Holistic Approach To Ancient Texts. From This Perspective, The Articles Collected In This Volume Offer A Series Of In-depth Case Studies Of Images And Other Paratextual Elements Of Magical Artifacts. Comparative Studies, Statistical Analyses, Image-text Interconnections, And Other Analytical Possibilities Are Applied To Achieve A Greater Understanding Of The Magical Objects In Question, As Well As Of The Belief System In Which They Were Produced. The Book Illustrates The Importance Of Iconographic Analysis As A Fundamental Part Of Understanding Antiquity, Its Ritual Texts, And Its Magical Objects. -- Back Cover.