Roots of Magic episode

September 2, 2026

Sara Chiarini on Divination and Belief in the Greek Magical Papyri

Roots of Magic Interview 12

We are delighted to speak with Sara Chiarini about her work on ‘knowledge-practices’ in the PGM and beyond.

The conversation begins with a discussion of a typology of practices she has been developing: oracular practices of the kinds attested in civic religion (haruspicy, ornithomancy, etc.); dream-divination practices; more typically-Egyptian sorts of ritual, including bowl- and lamp-divination (featuring optional pre-pubescent boy assistant); various forms of kleromancy, or ‘divination by lots’, which can use dice, knucklebones, coins, and more (and Chiarini includes in this category the ‘Homeromanteion’, the practice of divination by randomly selecting a passage from Homer and interpreting it, and the related Sortes Astrampsychi); and, most intriguingly, the practices of ‘direct vision’, in which the practitioner summons a god vel sim. to visible appearance (again, sometimes appearing to the medium rather than to the operant) for questioning, a category in which we can place the well-known, so-called Mithrasliturgie.

The conversation then turns to ‘authenticating comments’ in the PGM texts – places where a scribe/practitioner inserts comments to the effect that ‘This practice really works’, and what these can tell us about the thorny question of ‘belief’ in ritual efficacy among ancient practitioners.

Interview Bio:

Sara Chiarini is a classicist specialising in issues of literacy and the use of writing in the everyday life of ancient societies, particularly in the context of religious practices. She has conducted extensive research into the language of ancient curse tablets (see especially her monograph Devotio malefica of 2021) and is currently investigating the recipes found in the Græco-Egyptian so-called magical papyri. More precisely, she is examining the interplay between recitation and writing in such rituals, as well as the claims of efficacy and authority contained in the recipes. She is currently a lecturer at the University of Potsdam.

Works Cited in this Episode:

Jacco Dieleman. Priests, Tongues, and Rites: The London-Leiden Magical Manuscripts and Translation in Egyptian Ritual (100–300 CE). Brill, Leiden, 2005.

Korshi Dosoo. Rituals of Apparition in the Theban Magical Library. PhD thesis, Macquarie University, 2014.

Radcliffe G. Edmonds. And You Will Be Amazed: The Rhetoric of Authority in the Greek Magical Papyri. Archiv für Religionsgeschichte, 21–22.1:29–49, 2020.

Joachim Friedrich Quack. Postulated and Real Efficacy in Late Antique Divination Rituals. Journal of Ritual Studies, 24(1):45–60, 2010.

Recommended Reading:

Betz, Hans Dieter (ed.). The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation Including the Demotic Spells. Chicago 1986.

Brashear, William M. “The Greek Magical Papyri: An Introduction and Survey; Annotated Bibliography (1928–1994).” Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II.18.5 (1995): 3380–3684.

Dieleman, Jacco. “The Greco-Egyptian Magical Papyri”. David Frankfurter (ed.). Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic. Leiden / Boston 2019. 283-321.

Faraone, Christopher and Sofia Torallas Tovar (eds.). Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies: Text and Translation, Vol. 1. Berkeley 2022.

García Molinos, Alejandro. La adivinación en los papiros mágicos griegos. Zaragoza 2017.

Johnston, Sarah Iles. “The Authority of Greek Mythic Narratives in the Magical Papyri.” Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 16.1 (2015): 51-65.

Love, Edward O. D. Code-Switching with the Gods: The Bilingual (Old Coptic-Greek) Spells of PGM IV (P. Bibliothèque nationale supplement Grec. 574) and their Linguistic, Religious, and Socio-cultural Context in Late Roman Egypt. Berlin 2016.

Naether, Franziska, “Griechisch-ägyptische Magie nach den Papyri Graecae et Demoticae Magicae.” Andrea Jördens (ed.). Ägyptische Magie und ihre Umwelt. Wiesbaden 2015. 191–217.

Quack, Johannes and William S. Sax. “Introduction: The Efficacy of Rituals.” Journal of Ritual Studies 24.1 (2010): 5-12.

Ritner, Robert K. The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. Chicago 1993.

 

Themes

Ars notoria, Cosmic Ascent, Divination, Dreams, Egypt, Greek Magical Papyri, Hekhalot, Incubation, Interview, Magic, Mithrasliturgie, Oracles