The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt

7KH3HULOVRI/RYH0DJLFDQG&RXQWHUPDJLFLQ&RSWLF(J\SW 'DYLG)UDQNIXUWHU Journal of the History of Sexuality, Volume 10, Number 3 and 4, July/October 2001, pp. 480-500 (Article) 3XEOLVKHGE\8QLYHUVLW\RI7H[DV3UHVV DOI: 10.1353/sex.2001.0060 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/sex/summary/v010/10.3frankfurter.html Access provided by UFRRJ-Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (16 Mar 2016 19:30 GMT) The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt D AV I D F R A N K F U RT E R University of New Hampshire TH E S T O R Y I S told of the great thaumaturge Macarius of Egypt that a young woman was brought to him in the shape of a horse, the victim of a suitor’s magical spell.1 Macarius took the girl in, sequestered her while he prayed and doused her with holy liquids, and succeeded in breaking the spell. But what kind of spell was he up against, and how typical was his service as spell undoer? This essay will discuss the spell’s affiliation with late antique erotic ritual and its various uses of metaphor, as well as monks’ roles in removing and setting such spells. Originally presented at the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies (Leiden, August 31, 2000) and at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University (May 2001). I am grateful to Chris Faraone, Georgia Frank, Sarah Iles Johnston, Dominic Montserrat, and David Brakke for comments and suggestions on this essay and the Center for Humanities and dean of the College of Liberal Arts of the University of New Hampshire for travel support. 1 The following abbreviations will be used in this essay: ACM—Marvin Meyer and Richard Smith, eds., Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power (San Francisco, 1994) AMRP—Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki, eds., Ancient Magic and Ritual Power (Leiden, 1995) ANRW—W. Haase and H. Temporini, eds., Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt (Berlin, 1974) Bilabel/Grohmann—Friedrich Bilabel and Adolf Grohmann, Griechische, koptische, und arabische Texte zur Religion und religiösen Literatur in Ägyptens Spätzeit (Heidelberg, 1934) Kropp 1–3—Angelicus M. Kropp, Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte 1–3 (Brussels, 1930– 31) PGM I–CXXX—K. Preisendanz, ed., Papyri Graecae Magicae, I–LXXI (Stuttgart, 1973– 74) and H. D. Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, I–CXXX (Chicago, 1986) Suppl. Mag.—R. Daniel and F. Maltomini, eds., Supplementum Magicum (Opladen, 1990– 92) Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 10, Nos. 3/4, July/October 2001 © 2001 by the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819 480 after Macarius pours sacred water over her. He brought them in and showed them. but now it is worth considering the horse spell as a kind of social dilemma in late antique Egypt. No solution was found.” according to Palladius—launches a magic spell. and a Coptic version of Palladius translated by Tim Vivian in Coptic Church Review 21. The Lives of the Desert Fathers (London. Palladius Historia Lausiaca (Cuthbert Butler. 151. at the end. additions to Historia Monachorum. presumably. see Historia Lausiaca 25–27. The result is the girl’s transformation into a mare. 44–46).17) and Palladius’s Historia Lausiaca (17.4 Thus. Meyer. I will return to Macarius’s role as undoer of spells. the suitor—an “Egyptian. 3 (2000): 93–95. Palladius’s version is more moralistic: Macarius informs the husband that she is a horse in appearance only and was thus transformed because she had neglected the “mysteries” of the Eucharist for five weeks. 1965).5 The whole magical transformation was.The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt 481 The story of the horse girl appears in intriguingly different versions in both the Historia Monachorum (21. In neither version is the sorcerer or “evildoer” addressed after the spell is cast—that is. she once more appears to her husband as a woman. a delusion of the sinful. He called on the priests of the village. Rufinus. the parents in one version (Historia Monachorum) or the husband in the other (Palladius) desperately appeal to Apa Macarius to return her to the girl she was. ed. 128. the resolver of the kinds of terrible dilemmas that might afflict sexually restricted girls and their families. no. Out of frustration. Subsidia Hagiographica 53 (Brussels. Macarius in the Historia Monachorum then locks her in a cell for seven days while he prays.. 5 Cf. 1904]. MD. 4 Palladius several times addresses the supernatural dangers involved with neglecting the mysteries out of a sense that they are unnecessary. Palladius: The Lausiac History. so that we may assume it was a constituent part of Macarius’s corpus legendum by the early fifth century. 2 André-Jean Festugière. ed.6–9).. He talked to the beast. . Historia monachorum in Aegypto: Edition critique du texte grec et traduction annotée. Macarius appears as the undoer of spells. He cried and wept. For three days she neither ate fodder as a mare nor ate bread as a human but was deprived of both types of food” (Palladius Historia Lausiaca 17.3 Finally. therefore. trans. Ancient Christian Writers 34 (Westminster. she is married (Palladius).2 Both versions present the young woman as fundamentally unavailable to the suitor: in one. 1981). after he rubs her with sacred oil. and in the other. she is restored to her parents a human girl. No sort of reply was forthcoming. Instead.. 56. either of his own device (Historia Monachorum) or commissioned from a “sorcerer [goês]” (Palladius). she has “consecrated her virginity” (Historia Monachorum). The Lausiac History of Palladius [Cambridge. Macarius never challenges him directly. 1971). 3 Robert T. a horror described with full pathos: “The husband came in and was astonished to see a mare lying on the bed.6–7). in Norman Russell. for her garments burn her body. and harnessing their tongues (ACM no.8 In his book Ancient Greek Love Magic. and the earth beneath her feet is ablaze” until she comes panting to the male client (ACM no. and business. Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World (New York. both heterosexual and homosexual. 109). the sky’s lightning sets her afire. 27–29. her spirit.7 a sword-shaped parchment seeks to cleave a married couple. 1992). Christopher Faraone has discussed the violent language of these spells within the larger context of competition. p.482 DAV I D FR A N K F U R T E R THE WORLD OF E ROTIC SPELLS The horse spell in this story clearly falls under the category of binding spell. 138. not just love. For our purposes it is therefore unimportant how such spells were presumed to work. we should take for granted that they accomplished something in the inevitable competition with which civic life was rife.6 A perusal of the corpora of Coptic spells turns up ritual librettos for constraining opponents through dissolving their muscles (ACM no. presumably in order to gain access to the fiancé. 9 Faraone’s mentor. the unpersonalized template in a professional’s collection. 75). adjures the archangel Gabriel to fill an unnamed woman’s “heart. and a master spell. politics. 8 Heidelberg Kopt. 7 Thus the spell seeks to disrupt a betrothal as the problematic social bond. inscribed tablets. her soul. ed. slumber or sleep. . 1678 = Bilabel/Grohmann no. presumably so that the client could gain the wife (ACM no. Bilabel/Grohmann no. 122. and her ears are ringing. gossip. Heidelberg no. Howard M. chants. a broad rubric for gestures. 93). and family enmeshment that characterized erotic pursuits in ancient Mediterranean cultures. but for the purposes of this essay. Scholars have begun to propose subclassifications of binding spells according to their formulations and goals. Ancient Greek Love Magic (Cambridge. as her mind is distracted. Faraone. the division or restoration of family bonds. A mother invokes harm “against Tnoute [who has] separated my son from me” (ACM no. 100). and her mind with burning desire and hot longing. 111). 5. Since they were used at all levels of society throughout Greco-Roman history. filling her from the toenails of her feet to the hair of her head with desire and longing and lust. burning their faces (ACM no. described erotic magic as “a kind of sneak attack waged in the 6 John Gager. ms. . She must not eat or drink. or. frustration. lines 90–103. and other activities that sought to constrain the activity of an erotic interest or a rival in a range of competitive situations. 105). 9 Christopher A. MA. 94). no. trans. her senses go numb. Cf. but also sports. 155. Mary wants Martha disfigured with worms and disease before Martha’s marriage takes place (ACM no. Jack Winkler. Jackson in ACM. . 1999). In every case we can infer some kind of frustration as precipitating the spell’s commission—rivalry. as the erotic spells in particular reflect. . I will understand a certain fluidity across spells that have the overt function of constraining and inciting others’ activities. lawsuits. 1684. Christopher A. Roman. 12 One should now expand this list of social “enmeshments” to include. This does not mean that the explicit language of the spells is irrelevant to its interpretation but rather that it also had a latent function. and Faraone. The case is analogous to one that the Syrian Church historian Theodoret describes in his stories of Syrian monks: a dutiful wife appeals to one Apa Aphrahat to remove a spell on her husband: “She told how her husband had as a mistress 10 John J. cf. with Dickie.12 Only in such desperate states of being will the girl forget her prior allegiances enough to join the client—hence the extensive descriptions of love sickness. 4 (1974): 259–65.The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt 483 normal warfare of Mediterranean social life.” Journal of Sex Research 10. ed. chap. see Suppl. 3. see also Lynn LiDonnici.” 568–71. nos. Ancient Greek Love Magic.” in Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion. 233. Whether the violent language reflects ancient sexual practice itself. Mary Elizabeth Perry and Anne J. Matthew Dickie has criticized the Winkler/Faraone approach to erotic spells as too narrow in its social reconstruction of erotic spells’ clients and objects (“Who Practised Love-Magic in Classical Antiquity and in the Late Roman World?” Classical Quarterly 50 [2000]: 563–83). 58–91. “The Constraints of Eros. esp. an idea heir to Malinowski’s psychological theory of magical spells. 3).02.11 But Faraone has focused on the social implications of these spells. “Sorcery and Eroticism in Love Magic.13 This social approach offers an important way of examining the Coptic erotic spells. Compare early modern and modern examples of women’s erotic spells in M. from which male clients might wish to wrest her for exclusive sexual enjoyment.” in Cultural Encounters: The Impact of the Inquisition in Spain and the New World. Faraone has further distinguished separation and sickness spells from a genus of erotic spells peculiar to women that he argues focused on the pacification and restraint of men who might pursue or be captivated by other women (Ancient Greek Love Magic. This interpretation of magical performance as reflective of the client’s state derives ultimately from Bronislaw Malinowski. the professional courtesan and her broad-based trade. “Love-Magic in Classical Antiquity. vol. 46–50. 1991).edu/bmrc/> 2000. 1996]. Winkler. the family’s desperation at his success.41. .” Greek. chap. 1. Brooten suggests. betrothed—or even (in the case of the mother’s spell above [ACM no. 1948). especially given the vast diversity of representations of ancient sexual behavior (Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism [Chicago.upenn. 78–85. 96–105).”10 Winkler saw the violent desperation that these spells sought to instill in the erotic object as a projection of the client’s own state. whose “projective” interpretation is extended in Gager. 51–55.. is difficult to verify historically. 11 Ibid. Mag. Kenyon Bullard.sas. 160–72. wife. Hamilton in Bryn Mawr Classical Review <http://ccat. and it certainly illuminates the story of Apa Macarius. for here the problem in its starkest outline is a suitor’s removal of a girl from her status as chaste daughter or dutiful wife. and María Helena Sánchez Ortega. ed. occasionally. Faraone and Dirk Obbink (New York. Cruz (Berkeley. and Byzantine Studies 39 (1998): 63–98. who see a greater range of erotic demands made by both sexes. that procuring the object of one’s erotic desire involves separating her or him from a tight web of family bonds and roles—daughter. no. Magic. 13 On love sickness. 1991). and Macarius’s restoration of the girl to her prior role. 93]) from a lover’s snares and wiles. “Hide and Secrete: Women’s Sexual Magic in Belize. “Burning for It: Erotic Spells for Fever and Compulsion in the Ancient Mediterranean World. This gender-based distinction has been questioned by other scholars. as Bernadette J. 226–27. Science and Religion and Other Essays (Boston. the client’s desire for a lover is assimilated to Horus’s desire for the “seven maidens” (scorpion wives in earlier Egyptian traditions). When the man saw that the lady did not agree to his improper desire. 146–60. 21). to the monastic author (and parents. 400. . 15 Faraone discusses such aggressive erotic spells imputed to. ‘[Go?] to N. we are dealing with ritual attempts to disentangle women. 17 See also PGM XIII. .’ He said to me.13. ‘As a father is concerned for his children. Pierre Canivet and Alice Leroy-Molinghen. from tightly enmeshed family environments or. I will do it for you. much like marriage itself. . that is. In two well-known spells (Schmidt nos. if not used by. to restore the victims of such attempts to their prior roles. the properly consecrated girl is ever vulnerable to predatory suitors with their pharmakia. 72 = Kropp 1. presumably). Sources Chrétiennes 234 (Paris. Colluthus (Paris 12915 fol. Of course. conversely. 78). ed. ‘If you consider me a brother. often by ritually binding those who have stolen them. ed.” Analecta Bollandiana 96 (1980): 376–79. he considered in his heart. and it is precisely that disruptive effect that makes her powers so heinous. text A. 2 = ACM nos. 16 Miracles of St. a woman of guarded virtue rebuffs a man’s sexual proposition as “scandalous to God and man. ‘I’ll find a magic potion and give it to her so that I can fulfill my heart’s desire with her. and often men as well. courtesans and prostitutes in Greek antiquity in Ancient Greek Love Magic.”14 The lustful sorceress. and in appealing to Isis’s maternal care for Horus. uses her magic to disrupt the marital bond. In the great number of Greco-Roman and Coptic erotic and even curse spells. 1977). even given the sexual proclivities we often impute to antiquity. the client essentially creates a familial context in which to reinstate the lover. “Un Etrange Miracle copte de Saint Kolouthos: Le Paralytique et la prostituée. A master spell from the London Hay collection arranges a symbolic counterfamily made up of angelic powers: “[The Power] said to me.322–25..’”16 The recourse to ritual spells arises in a society of guarded.15 In another legend told for the glorification of a Coptic saint. so that you might give her to me and I might satisfy my desire [with] her. daughter of N. B). and otherwise restricted women. .484 DAV I D FR A N K F U R T E R a certain sorceress [goÁtika] who bewitched him with some magical spell [manganeia katagegoÁteusthai] and made him hostile toward the wife yoked to him in lawful wedlock. a spell to keep one’s wife from adultery. Neither version of the 14 Theodoret Historia Religiosa 8. Paul Devos. 49. It is worth noting that some Coptic spells seem to invoke a kind of “counterfamily” on the client’s behalf. enmeshed. such that the disentanglement of a girl from her original family bonds simultaneously represents her integration into a new family. [so] am I concerned [for you]’” (ACM no.17 ON “BEING ” A HORSE Let us now address the “equine” aspect of the spell that Macarius overturned: why ever would a suitor want the object of his affections or lust to turn into a mare? This would seem to be a strange goal.’ I said to him. 1. Tambiah. that is. Wheelock. W. Faraone and Obbink. simply could not distinguish metaphor from fact—that these primitive wizards and their clients honestly thought they were gods or bears or parrots. . Smith. that she may love me like [nthe n-] the moon.” Man 3 (1968): 175–208.”: “that I may be honey inside her. Faraone. a mare going under [sex]-crazed [stallions]” (ACM no. daughter of N. . that she may hang on me as [nthe] a drop of water sticks on a jar. 199–229.” in Map Is Not Territory: Studies in the History of Religions (Leiden. 1973).” in Magika Hiera. thanks to the anthropologist Stanley Tambiah and others. a bitch prowling. that she may be like a honey[bee] seeking honey [here the composer drops the comparative nthe]. ed. to separate her from the husband. “I Am a Parrot (Red). and David Frankfurter. But until recently. But how would her being a horse advantage the Egyptian suitor? I would propose that the answer lies in the nature of the metaphors or efficacious analogies commonly employed in such ritual spells. a cat going from house to house.The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt 485 story directly implies that the horse transformation is revenge for the girl’s refusals. 1978). Now. 1684. we take a more subtle approach to metaphorical language in ritual.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 50 (1982): 46–69. 265–88. “The Problem of Ritual Language: From Information to Situation. Wade T. such declarations would be interpreted according to Frazerian notions that the “magical mind. cf. Crum. that she may desire me like the sun.” in Modes of Thought. Robin Horton and Ruth Finnegan (London.” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 20 (1934): 195–97. Cf. . the following states are invoked upon “N. 79). “The Magical Power of Words. a leather master spell from the sixth or seventh century. Frankfurter in ACM. a goat and successful copulation. The speaker of the spell thus seeks to transfer this structural relationship with its positive outcome onto an open-ended or anxious situation in the real world. 451–70.18 A ritual metaphor or allusion recalls a structural relationship between two observed or imagined phenomena whose tension is resolved successfully: a god and successful healing. opponents are declared to be slaves and kin to be parrots. “The Agonistic Context of Greek Binding Spells. 20 Trans. Palladius views it as a way of getting the husband to throw her out of the house.” as it were. a bear and victory over a small animal. “Form and Meaning of Magical Acts: A Point of View. an eagle and preternatural vision. But note cautions on the interpretation of ritual analogies by Jonathan Z. In London Hay 10414.20 Heidelberg kopt. 18 Stanley J. . shamans declare themselves eagles and warriors bears. “Narrating Power: The Theory and Practice of the Magical Historiola in Ritual Spells.” AMRP. 167. Anthropologists and historians of religions are abundantly familiar with ritual utterances in which priests declare themselves gods. 4–32.19 It is in this sense that we should consider a type of metaphor cluster used in a number of Coptic erotic spells that seems to bear on the story of Macarius. “Magical Texts in Coptic—II. ed. 19 See new applications of these principles by Christopher A. E. “Marsupials and Magic: A Study of Spell Symbolism among the Mbowamb. her emotional transformation into the kind of state that one finds among animals in heat and thus to render her incapable of anything but running lustfully to the client. for she hangs upon desire and longing for N. Let her feel a yearning. 6). the lover is to declare that he yearns for the woman “with a longing which a she-cat feels for a tom-cat. 1974).24 Of course. and obviously despondent. Janet H. Cambridge Papers in Social Anthropology 5 (Cambridge.486 DAV I D FR A N K F U R T E R another master spell. The Leyden Papyrus (London. .” and these spells invoke animals to think about unbridled. 184–85. trans. a love. 72. the woman is supposed to “spend forty days and forty nights hanging on me like a bitch for a dog. a longing which a bitch feels for a dog. . Claude Lévi-Strauss once observed.21 In Schmidt 2.4–6.or eighth-century erotic spell (of great significance otherwise for its references to Isis and Horus still in the eighth century C. desperate passion. repr. a bitch upon her mate.). Griffiths and Herbert Thompson. 155. and hisses like a crocodile. ms. 179–202. 23 P. as she whinnies like a mare.. lines 115–23. 8–9 = PGM XIV. text B. a longing which a she-wolf feels for a wolf. It is as if two genres of erotic spell collided in the monastic legend: one that sought to inflame the victim with such equine lust that she would leave her family for the suitor and another that sought to incapacitate the victim with sickness and fever until she would come to the suitor. 24 Claude Lévi-Strauss. Rodney Needham (Boston. . Dialectic in Practical Religion. trans.” in E. through the power of words. In the monastic legend she is weak. describes the beloved’s state of utter erotic dependency in similar animal terms: she should “hang” on the suitor “as a female upon a male donkey. Leach. purrs like a lioness. brays like a camel. like a sow for a boar. 1033–34. XII. R. . col.1029–31. and Sarah Iles Johnston.. chaps.. 1684. . .E. Johnson in Betz. 1963). unable to eat either horse fodder or bread. 370–75. Jackson in ACM. lines 35–36. London/Leiden. “let [her] feel it for [me] . New York. Animals. the compounding of images of erotic passion drawn from the local world is not meant to turn the beloved into some kind of polymorphic monster but rather to force. 89. See also Andrew Strathern and Marilyn Strathern. Lévi-Strauss’s principle is brilliantly applied to ancient Greek culture in Ruth Padel’s In and Out of the Mind: Greek Images of the Tragic Self (Princeton.”23 In these four cases. are “‘good to think’ with. Kropp 1. trans. . 1904.. verso. a great madness . Totemism. Some scholars have proposed that these two genres had 21 Heidelberg kopt. “Defining the Dreadful: Remarks on the Greek Child-Killing Demon. ed. trans.E. she seeking after [me] everywhere. 1992). son of N.” and so also (he should pronounce). F. Cf. Kelsey in ACM. 6–7. Ll.. 22 .”22 And in a demotic Egyptian spell of the third or fourth century C. as a drop of water hangs from the lip of a jar” (ACM no. the image conjured in these erotic spells of sex-crazed stallions and lustful mares contrasts vividly with the state of the girl in the Macarius story. eds.” AMRP. a seventh. 1968). 73. 245. or friends have had such spells put on them. we are not all anthropologists. and when we fear our daughters. as harmless as this latter model may seem for understanding ritual metaphors. 335–59. people do not always experience the inconsistencies that scholars notice in ritual language.8–9). Indeed.27 Common to all these “interpretations” of metamorphosis was a general conviction that transformation might really occur. And thus. between folklore and practice there were different ways of uttering and interpreting such animal metaphors.. 73. “You are the horses. Lucian Philopseudes 34–36. 25 Apuleius Metamorphoses 3. We are dealing here not simply with colorful speech but with images that carry great supernatural potency. the insult “you pig!” 27 Meyer. “‘May She Neither Eat Nor Drink’: Love Magic and Vows of Abstinence. The proposal of differing spell “lineages” belongs to Faraone. They could be efficacious analogies as intended by the spells and their clients. passion. we tend to run into trouble when we approach these spells as theories rather than as metaphorical compositions—as bricolages—for articulating sex. In Palladius’s moralistic perception. Now. 43–63. 56. and social boundaries. trans.25 And yet it is unclear whether people in late antique Egypt really saw the genres as mutually contradictory: an extensive erotic spell attributed to one Cyprian of Antioch (ACM no. Now she is a woman. for you have the eyes of horses. 26 Compare. Lynn LiDonnici regards the language of burning and fever as integrally linked to ancient views of love (63–98). such analogies might represent delusions brought upon unobservant Christians. Clearly.21–26.26 But they could also appear as zoomorphosis spells (transformation spells)—as villagers probably feared them—or even as spiritual allegories. we may not instinctively interpret the words with such subtlety. allegorically tailored to their sins: as Macarius admonishes the family of the girl. wives. making their collision even more ludicrous—an incapacitated mare—not unlike those hilarious depictions of magic spells gone awry in the ancient novels of Apuleius and Lucian. following David Martinez’s argument that the enervating illness spells derive from oath declarations rather than curses: see Martinez. in a nonritual context. What was debated among villagers and monks was the nature of the transformation. Indeed. to which I have already alluded twice) combines the two “theories” of erotic binding quite seamlessly. charging the archangel Gabriel both to incapacitate the beloved with lovesickness and render her passionate as an animal. not all changed.” AMRP. . with the capacity to affect the world—even to render a person an animal. except in the eyes of selfdeceived men” (Palladius Historia Lausiaca 17. The fear would be that the animal metaphors might not just describe lust analogically but might actually turn a girl—the object of such a spell—into one of those animals.The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt 487 separate lineages with ancient Greek curses and oaths. 12–14. the same mistake that scholars of “magic” used to make about ritual metaphors and their meaning must have preoccupied Coptic villagers even more. Ancient Greek Love Magic. Palladius. are docile and eat constantly. 2. the ewe Thrills to be covered. Cross rivers in hot pursuit Of their stallions. Less rabid: man’s sex has bounds Imposed by convention.. ASSES. it is worth considering that legends of sexual craving and inadvertent transformation 28 See. Hugh Lloyd-Jones. but our male libido’s milder. .. for example. a mare Whinnies at stallions. Dog mounts random dog. Women that Zeus created from the ass. Females of the Species: Semonides on Women [Park Ridge.” while those deriving from the ferret are “mad for the bed of love. Ancient Greek legends of women whom the gods consigned to perpetual lust (such as the daughters of Proteus or of Pandareus) compared their states to that of dogs or wild cows. but she makes any man she has with her sick” (lines 43–49.. . So get moving with this potent medicine When your lady’s angry. in which women are satirically classified according to their descent from various animals.g. “animals. serpent tangles with serpent. 89–93). 1982). “that have strong associations in the Greek mind with shamelessness and lubricity” (Ancient Greek Love Magic.. Ovid: The Erotic Poems (Harmondsworth. e. and “when she comes to the act of love she accepts any partner. 90. so in antiquity cultures used a range of animals to express sexuality by analogy and even to articulate the differences between animal and human sexuality. Mares are driven to frenzy.488 DAV I D FR A N K F U R T E R THINKING WITH EQUINES: HORSES. NJ. nothing else will relieve Her fierce distress. or a stallion to describe someone’s sexual character. Peter Green. trans. . For just as contemporary folk might invoke a pig.279–81. and in general. a fox. 1975].C.481–91.. Yet it would be erroneous to assume that every culture that thus “thinks with animals” maintains strict boundaries between the worlds of animals and humans. The bird has his mate. 46). AND LUST It is worth addressing this issue of “thinking with horses” more generally. the snub-nosed She goat’s back sustains Her rank male partner..).. 174. 205–6.E. for he offers their full-heated and uncomplicated coupling as a model for human heterosexual activity: A heifer amid lush pastures Lows to the bull. as countless metamorphosis legends attest.28 The Roman author Ovid gives a list of animals mating in their natural worlds that in many ways resembles the efficacious analogies in the Coptic spells.. bulls rouse their heifers. 29 Ovid Ars amatoria 1.” Faraone points out... . a cow. 44. .. Semonides “On Women” (seventh and sixth centuries B. 53–54. trans. In fact. Hind follows stag. the fish will Find a partner out in the deep.29 Ovid here draws on a long classical tradition of observing and invoking animal behavior as a comparison to human behavior. 2000). entered by monkey (head of monkey missing).5 cm. Greco-Roman period. Harco Willems and Willy Clarysse. René Preys (Leuven. Religion in Roman Egypt (Princeton. 104. Collection Michaïlidis (publ. 6447: “female with baboon.” both listed in Geoffrey T. Cairo Museum Special Register no. Diameter: 19. This seems to have been true of Greco-Roman Egypt. trans. portray women in suggestive positions with baboons. head of female missing” and no. See discussions of these erotic gestures in Dominic Montserrat. ed. 167–70. 1998).3.g. pl.30 Several figurines of the GrecoRoman period.” Göttinger Miszellen 96 (1987): 80. 246.8 cm. describes women exposing their genitals before the new Apis bull. Sex and Society in Graeco-Roman Egypt (London. portraying woman copulating with goat. suggesting that a god’s generative powers might be absorbed by means of. 31 See.85. Diodorus Siculus. for example.31 And Herodotus. apparently meant for temple pilgrims. supported by other ancient authors. his animal form. depth: 3. Les Empereurs du Nil. like that in the Macarius story might have had greater verisimilitude against a cultural background in which animal sexuality served not just metaphorically but ritually as a model and source for human sexuality. one of Min’s regional avatars. associated with cult of Mendes. rather than in spite of. reports that at the festival of Min at Mendes a woman would copulate with a goat. VI). e. no. 168: woman on her back. “‘Erotic’ Figurines: The Cairo Museum Material. Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 63 [1965]. “in full view of everybody. 1996).” A mold of GrecoRoman date (figure 1) for a festival food shows a woman inviting a goat to 30 Diodorus Siculus 1. Martin. Terracotta mold for food or plaques. 75.. 6314: “baboon grasping a phallus. . which were avatars of the god Thoth.The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt 489 Figure 1. and David Frankfurter. respectively. in Demotische Traumdeutung. Clement of Alexandria Protrepticus II. crocodile. Mold: Collection Michaïlidis. 126.19. 6–7. Cf. D. baboon. Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth [Princeton. with an extensive key to women’s dreams of copulating with various animals: mouse.” presented at “Encounters with Ancient Egypt. billy goat.” Enchoria 25 (1999): 20–23. listlike coverage of a veritable host of animal dreams. see Philippe Derchain. ass. ibis. These lamps did not reflect any knowledge of real Egyptian fertility rites or dreams but rather typical exoticist caricature. 1981). “Regina meretrix oder Kleopatra als königliche Hure?” Antike Welt 31.4. for we find a temple dream-interpretation manual of about 100 C.” Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 63 (1965): 139–60. 34 What makes sense symbolically and ritually in one context. 33 On Egyptian prayers and hymns extolling Min as impregnator of women. Brugg. “‘Who knows not what monsters demented Egypt worships?’ Opinions on Egyptian Animal Worship in Antiquity as Part of the Ancient Conception of Egypt. no. 2001].33 These kinds of materials show the seriousness with which animals in Greco-Roman Egypt were taken to express sexuality. On the religious place of Egyptian erotic imagery in general. suggesting that the dreams too would express some sort of relationship with divinities. and others. ram.. Analecta Aegyptiaca 3 (Copenhagen. pls. Herodotus Book II: Commentary 1–98 (Leiden. 84–87. 3747d. more generally.35 Most of these animals are avatars or attributes of particular regional gods. It is for this outsiders’ context that first-century C. Pindar frag. Strabo Geographica 17. reflecting the number of divinities that 32 Herodotus 2.” 143–44.36 What strikes us about this dream guide is its exhaustive. Juvenal Satire 15 and. 1976). eds. snake.32. Susan Walker has argued that the negroid woman is Cleopatra. 2. and trans. depending on the scribe’s opinion of other temples’ gods. and Derchain. December 18.” 21–22. and Philippe Derchain. Romans..34 Indeed.” University College. 166–70.htm>. in its procreative domain. 201. Smelik and E.46. 1942). See also “Cleopatra’s Images: Reflections of Reality. Vindonissa-Museum. Trier. Gallic and Roman lamp makers began to portray negroid women copulating with crocodiles: British Museum lamp Q900.” in Susan Walker and Peter Miggs. 2 (2000): 130–31 and figs. Inv. but this seems strained from the minimal detail on the lamps (“Carry-On at Canopus: The Nilotic Mosaic from Palestrina and Roman Attitudes to Egypt. Aksel Volten. on which see Alan B. Lloyd.490 DAV I D FR A N K F U R T E R mount her. “Moule illustrant un texte d’Hérodote.” ANRW II. lion. may well look exotic or perverse to the outsider. 2000.17. The Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqâra (London. circulated on-line at <http:/ /www.ac. “Moule illustrant un texte d’Hérodote relatif au bouc de Mendès. such attitudes seem also to have been systematized in Egyptian temple religion.” in Geoffrey Thorndike Martin. 2240. bad.uk/archaeology/events/conferences/enco/Ancient/walker. more often.E. especially women’s sexuality. wolf. falcon.32 Here too it is likely that such “ritual” bestiality functioned to acquire the god’s procreative blessing (an essential element of Egyptian religion). see Michaïlidis. however. in G. London.ucl. A. Rheinisches Landesmuseum. judged good or. 36 Such a series of divine animals is also invoked in a second-century erotic binding spell from Egypt but as “locking devices” that restrain the woman from sex with anyone else: “I . who were fascinated with “the monsters demented Egypt worships” as well as with any customs that might separate “them” from “us. horse. Inv. “Mendès et les femmes. “Observations sur les erotica. K. ed. Hemelrijk. 146–47). on which see Günter Grimm. 214–16.4 (1984): 1920–81. 35 P.14–32. Carlsberg XIIIb. “Mendès et les femmes. Michaïlidis. 3. A. written in demotic Egyptian. 5.” seem to have imagined Egypt as a land of bizarre sexuality: cf.E. Montserrat. he attempts illicit and unheard-of lusts. was believed to come from the forehead of a newborn foal: “wizards. 1982). Palladius Historia Lausiaca 65.38 We find a woman “enjoying” a horse on a lamp of the third century C. 142. “report that such things produce and arouse certain extreme passions for unrestrained copulation and erotic frenzy.The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt 491 might be involved in conveying procreative fertility. fig.”40 But asses are the animals that appear in the most graphic terms. Women. Mag. . 375–76.17. the monk “becomes like a frantic and mare-crazed stallion. archaic Roman. . usually accompanied by the sacrifice of the horse. then. See Catherine Johns. breathing hard. called mare’s frenzy (hippomanes). (figure 2). to the tail of the snake and to the mouth of the crocodile and the horns of the ram and the poison of the asp and the whiskers of the cat and the forepart [prosthemati] of the god” (Suppl.39 (Athens). see Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty.39 while a potent aphrodisiac of the time. 1. Irish. Cf.34). Sex or Symbol? Erotic Images of Greece and Rome (New York.” ANRW II. 38). 37 aphrôn êdê kai thêlumanês hippos genomenos (Historia Monachorum 1. 38 Indo-European traditions (Vedic.155. 109–11. 90.”37 Roman imperial culture certainly found equines—horses and asses both—the very image of phallic lust. 40 Aelian On the Natures of Animals 3. of trying to rape women: Every time he gets a glimpse of some traveler ahead—whether it is a cute woman or a marriageable young girl or a pretty little boy—he immediately . however. a word that associates horses with the chthonic goddess Hekate and her furious associates.v. Apuleius’s Metamorphoses presents the male donkey as both sexually voracious and the phallic object of female passion. equine copulation represented the furthest reaches of lust in late antique Egyptian popular culture.18. Theodotis.” asserts the Roman author Aelian. 1980). s. and India had myths and rituals involving copulation between kings and mares and between queens and stallions. . “Greek Magical Papyri.5 (1995): 3588. and Johnston. principally viewed horses as images of terrifying physical violence. Greek literary tradition.2: a lustful heathen judge is compared to an alert horse. Androgynes. see Padel. At one point in the novel a young boy accuses Lucius. vol. Then the great lover assaults these humans and knocks them to the ground. and Other Mythical Beasts (Chicago. See also William Brashear. . the tragic protagonist changed into ass form. etc. rushes madly at them. So also Ovid piled up his animal analogies for cumulative effect. No god or animal is set apart as especially libidinous. no. as another story in the Historia Monachorum suggests: when the devil tries to divert a celibate monk with the image of a beautiful woman who tries to seduce him. an idea that may be reflected in Greco-Roman Egypt through the vox magica hippochthôn in the PGM.) display a consistent interest in equine sexuality for articulating ideas about royal fertility.E. 149–262. see PGM XXXVI. and urges upon the victims of bind you.4-26. 39 British Museum 1971. . . Why then of all the animal metaphors in the Coptic cluster might the horse have stood out in popular tradition (at least as the Macarius legend reflects it) as the epitome of the erotic spell’s horrors? Apparently. Thus the ass is represented both as phallicly disposed and as 41 Apuleius Metamorphoses 7.21. Lamp Q3271.39. © The British Museum. .23. and later he is assigned to copulate publicly with a condemned woman (10. Terracotta lamp portraying woman copulating with horse. He even counterfeits kissing by nudging and biting them with his nasty mouth. his bestial desire a union to which even Venus is averse. 1971. Arthur Hanson. 34).E.492 DAV I D FR A N K F U R T E R Figure 2. B. J. Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities. 1989). a noblewoman impressed with Lucius’s manners actually seduces him as an ass in an explicit and drawn-out erotic scene (10. Athens (workshop of Preimos). Apuleius: Metamorphoses (Cambridge.20–22). trans.4-26.M. third century C. 2:43. Photo courtesy the British Museum.41 At another point. 44 In the Roman period. 112–15). 38e–g. even to the point of translating into public punishment. On the image of Seth still in Greco-Roman Egypt. 43 Donkey-rape curse: Alan H.” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 26 (1941): 24 (Ramesside papyrus). as well as magical papyri: Papyri Demoticae Magicae XII. 1987). 2.The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt 493 phallicly magnetic to women—the animal match to women’s own excessive carnality. 1990]. images of horses had come to evoke the Roman military: its organization.” Aegyptus 32. no. “A propos d’une stèle magique du Musée Kestner. 1977). ranks.157–58. Song of Songs.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 22 (1959): 367–71 and pl. “The Wandering Personnel of the Temple of Narmuthis in the Faiyum. Ancient Egyptian art and literature shows that royal culture. Te Velde. Johnson. The paradox of the war stallion’s legendary divertibility by mares informs one of the poems in the Song of Songs. Pope. Winkler. using the donkey head as a determinative (“the town of Seth”). a demotic Egyptian place-name from the second century C. and G. The hostile views of Seth that Plutarch reports were not general throughout Egypt (see Frankfurter. Popular Religion in Egypt during the New Kingdom. On some magical gems of the Greco-Roman period a woman is shown squatting over the phallus of a donkey. “Papyrus contenant un dessin du dieu Seth à tête d’âne. Erotic spell for whorish sex (hetairôtikê philia): PGM XXXVI. 128–29. comparing the female beloved to “a mare among Pharaoh’s cavalry” (1:9). and the occasional references to women’s copulation with donkeys carried the sense of threat or curse: “May a donkey violate him! May a donkey violate his wife!” threatens a text of the late New Kingdom. Anchor Bible 7C (Garden City. Compare the apotropaic stela from the Late Period that execrates Seth with the head of an ass: Philippe Derchain. “Adoption Extraordinary. and devotional representations of Seth as a protective god do not seem to have included his avatar as ass. trans. legend had it. à Hanovre. Deir el-Bahri grafitto 11.. 1992). The horse— usually bridled and decorated—often served as an iconographic attribute of 42 See John J. Life in a Multi-Cultural Society: Egypt from Cambyses to Constantine and Beyond (Chicago. . at least. Auctor and Actor: A Narratological Reading of Apuleius’s “Golden Ass” (Berkeley. 1985). Seth. A. may imply a negative appraisal of this town’s cult. which Marcia Falk properly interprets as “like a mare among stallions” (The Song of Songs [San Francisco. 1977). God of Confusion (Leiden. For this reason.62–75. 170–71). Hildesheimer ägyptologische Beiträge 27 (Hildesheim. ed.E. and prowess (whence the horse also reflected a host of cavalier gods from northern Mediterranean cultures). 338–40. perhaps with some apotropaic meaning: A. Gardiner. Michaïlidis. see Paolo Gallo. 50. and in general H. could be diverted in the presence of a mare. held stallions in high regard as symbols of military prowess and extensions of the pharaoh’s might—although their zeal for warfare. 174–76. Barb takes the symbolism as indicating restraint of a wandering womb: “Seth or Anubis? II.43 But what of the horse? Iconography of the horse in Egypt does not show the kind of sexualizing evident in Coptic legends and spells. see Plutarch De Iside et Osiride 30. where the animal symbolized the god Seth. 44 See materials in Marvin H. the image of fury and disorder. let no “braying ass” interrupt the “whorish sex” envisioned by the client of a fourth-century spell.11–12. 1 (1952): 45–53. for a locale in the Fayyum.” Revue d’Egyptologie 16 (1964): 19–23 and pl.42 One would not expect to find the ass so represented in Egyptian thought. Ashraf Iskander Sadek. 244.” in J. depth: 7. Religion populaire en Egypte romaine (Leiden. Louvre E4850. predominantly military use of horses (compared to the more typically used donkey) in late antique Egypt. As 45 Françoise Dunand. Compare the literary images in Plutarch De Iside et Osiride 19 and Papyri Demoticae Magicae XIV. late antiquity. X5130.45 This consistent iconographic link between the horse and militancy—a link that extended into Coptic art of the sixth and seventh centuries C. “The Iconography of the Coptic Horseman in Byzantine Egypt. Photo courtesy the Louvre. Height: 49. 1993). width: 32 cm. with Hellenistic and Roman armies. and foreign character contrasts with the lusty image of equine copulation recorded in the erotic spells and hagiographical legends. On the rare. 1979). armored and mounted. Egypt. showing his mastery of Roman-style military power (figure 3).8 cm. associated not with domestic economy but with royal power and. inv. In general on the iconography. spearing crocodile. and the ranks and hierarchies that they contributed to the Egyptian social order. 38–40. Bagnall. see Suzanne Lewis.1 cm.— suggests that for Egyptians the animal always bore a somewhat foreign character. hierarchical.494 DAV I D FR A N K F U R T E R Figure 3.E. the god Horus. 241–68. 81–82. Window lattice with image of Egyptian god Horus.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 10 (1973): 27–63. more generally. see Roger S.1219–20. . 36–38. nos. Egypt in Late Antiquity (Princeton. Paris. 46 See Lewis. this militant. with cat. And yet the foreignness of the horse in Egypt may itself be responsible for the animal’s use as an image of heated sex. their ethnically diverse cavalries.46 In one sense. JdE 92020.47 An erotic sculpture from the pilgrims’ arcade at Saqqara. Then he measures himself and rears. Egyptian Museum. like the squeal of tires that you know will end in shattering glass. n. 185. The symbolism of the horse in ancient Greek and Indo-European tradition bears out the animal’s “otherness” to domestic society: see above. its red-painted glans pointing 47 Cf. The fragment shows a man astride a horse. Photo courtesy the Egypt Exploration Society. Terracotta figurine of ithyphallic man on horse. Ptolemaic period.” New Yorker. fits the curl of his neck to hers and allows himself a moment of unstallionlike tenderness before he backs off and puts his feet on the ground again” (Kevin Conley. Crossculturally. Cairo. holding his own enormous phallus. All the majesty of the act is in the roaring. . the horse’s sexual prowess might have entered the vocabulary of Coptic animal metaphors by virtue of its relative alienness rather than its domestic familiarity. 37. length: 8 cm. figure 4). Saqqara. near Memphis. . A recent description of action on a contemporary stud farm might serve to illustrate the scene invoked in these spells: the stud stallion “Storm Cat neighs or hollers or roars— whatever it is. Strathern and Strathern. Height: 9 cm. “A Stud’s Life. still draped across [the mare’s] back. August 7.The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt 495 something that anyone might witness and as an ironic (perhaps subversive?) appropriation of that proud military beast. and Storm Cat. . . 2000: 41). it’s frightening and long and full of the inevitable. the animals invoked in ritual spells often belong outside of the domestic realm. despite its early date (Ptolemaic era. . apparently—count to fifteen and it’s over . might bear out this aspect of the horse’s erotic significance. . Figure 4. has its particular animal to represent lust. Sparks (Oxford. the horse (whose own penis is diminished) here becomes an attribute of strength and authority rather than expressing phallic power itself. .51 And yet. we have seen.” 71–84. trans. to the influx of Hellenistic and Roman literature. How the horse came to evoke these characteristics. cf. But at the point that they approach the “daughters of men. 26. Coptic popular tradition viewed the horse especially as the quintessence of frenzied copulation. A. Knibb in The Apocryphal Old Testament. from Egyptian popular traditions in which animals were ritually employed as fertilizing avatars of gods. 49 1 Enoch 86:4. a drover after his herd”—pastoral images of instinctual forward movement but not lust. The piece is unusual among the erotic figurines in the Cairo Museum: cf.” and they are bound under the earth. the Animal Apocalypse of Enoch. 339. 303. rather than vice versa. M. we may conclude. is a combination of various cultural factors. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 27 (1941): 131–32. to the point that it could serve as a dominant analogy in erotic spells. no. Cairo. 51 See also the “Ramesside Love Charm” published by Paul Smither. speed. The Sacred Animal Necropolis. in this case. phallic danger. These angels. L: 8 cm). are usually represented as bulls in the Animal Apocalypse’s allegorical retelling of the biblical story. A Jewish text from Hellenistic Palestine. 88:3. even dangerous. If the horse entered popular mentality in this way.49 Bulls. just as it does to represent stupidity. in which natural tableaux of copulating 48 Egyptian Museum. no.496 DAV I D FR A N K F U R T E R vertically off the horse’s mane. a servant after her children. the fact that the author felt pressed to augment and clarify that power by reference to horses may reflect the same Hellenistic trend of appropriating a military animal to symbolize phallic lust and. unimagined. The horse’s own sexuality remains. slothfulness. 304. trans. 277. conveys the phallic lust of the antediluvian Watcher Angels specifically through analogy to horses. The Coptic spells. 29. Later. of course. Ezekiel 23:20.50 Every culture. these angels reappear as “large stars whose private parts were like the private parts of horses. Cf. were archaic Near Eastern images of masculine power. or craftiness. it seems. in this medium. Egypt may not have been alone among Greco-Roman cultures in turning an alien military feature into a symbol for awesome.” the text says that “they all let out their private parts like horses and began to mount the cows”—that is. Martin. the human women. who descend to mate with the “daughters of men” in Genesis 6:2. tend to gather a series of animal analogies in formulaic clusters in which the horse is one of several symbols of lust and dependency. 1982). 50 Some rabbinic stories suggest a similar fascination with equine sexuality: see sources in Pope. pl.48 As with the sculptures of the militant Horus. in Martin. which analogizes the loved one’s anticipated desirous approach to “an ox after grass. 278. sexuality. JdE 92020 (H: 9 cm. to the impact of cavalry (ancient and then Greco-Roman) on this popular culture. The phallic rider appropriates the horse. “‘Erotic’ Figurines. fol. Rel. 119r–v. justice. as if such recourses to magic were typical of this race.” see Apophthegmata Patrum: Olympius 1.56 The desperate lover in another miracle story “went to a wizard [pharmakos] of great fame. Unfortunately. 2 (2000): 169–71. E.” Byzantinische Forschungen 8 (1982): 3–17. rather than an enemy. 1995). 55 See Dorothy de F. 56 On the late antique perception of Egypt as a land of magic. of the other. B.10. 67. sorcerer and “high priest of Shmoun. Sometimes one even senses that the one is a doublet. On the more ambivalent image of the “pagan priest.” Journal of Juristic Papyrology 28 (1998): 99–184. In general on the image of Egyptian priests.” Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 2. much more than the pagan priest. and Theodoret Hist. “Long and intimate duels with the local sorcerer were almost de rigueur in the life of a successful saint. W. and trans. Dickie. “The Consequences of Hellenism in Late Antique Egypt: Religious Worlds and Actors. Authority and the Sacred: Aspects of the Christianisation of the Roman World (Cambridge. T.53 Along with displays of thaumaturgy.”54 Indeed. 54 Peter Brown. “Narrative-Patterns in Christian Hagiography. Other examples include Life of Theodore of Sykeon 37–38. Four Martyrdoms from the Pierpont Morgan Coptic Codices (Oxford. and Matthew W.” Greek.41. about whom it was said that whatever one wished he could do with his magic. who might represent Hellenic wisdom or traditional ritual devotion. . and superhuman asceticism. the aretalogies of monks depended on their vanquishing every representative of Satan. 1973).The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt 497 beasts like Ovid’s would have provided a poetic means of “thinking with animals. “Guérisons miraculeuses et exorcismes dans l’‘Histoire Philothée’ de Théodoret de Cyr. “Boorish or Bookish? Literature in Egyptian Villages in the Fayum in the Graeco-Roman Period.”52 MONKS IN ACTION Let us finally turn to the role of Apa Macarius. and Astratol. the sorcerer expressed the very perniciousness of “paganism” as hagiographers saw it. I know of no fragments of Ovid yet discovered in Egypt. Reymond and J. A. no. As Peter Brown has observed. Barns. Abrahamse. who succeeds in removing the horse spell. specifies that it was “an Egyptian” who hired the sorcerer in the first place. Religion in Roman Egypt.” He would provide the spells for the 52 On the extent and social world of this literary culture. E. see Peter van Minnen.55 Thus Palladius. often those in the guise of the old religious order. 13. writing to a wide Mediterranean audience. “Magic and Sorcery in the Hagiography of the Middle Byzantine Period. 203. see Frankfurter. 217–21. 102–3. Roman. ed. see David Frankfurter.” whose powerful spells allowed him to descend to the underworld (although to escape alive from the murderous demons he needed to invoke the name of Christ): Pierpont Morgan Codex M 583. 143. We should not be surprised to find “countermagic” a component of a monk’s services to the Coptic populace. 53 On saints’ healing of pharmakia in hagiographical literature. see André Adnès and Pierre Canivet.” Revue d’Histoire des Religions 171 (1967): 174–78. and Byzantine Studies 40 (1999): 86–91. London Hay 10391 (ACM no. Colluthus (Paris 12915 fol. “Collections of Recipes: Introduction. the corpora of Coptic ritual spells show a significant overlap between the purveyance of curses and love spells. empowered substances (oil or water). 58 . Beiheft 3 (1997): 835–46. 1914). Compare the wizard summoned to prepare a poison for Apa Victor during his martyrdom who converts to Christianity after discovering Victor’s resilience to the potion: British Museum Ms. and the world of monks. appeals to Christian gods and angels for pragmatic concerns. 73) appeals exclusively to the archangel Gabriel—even threatens him!—to accomplish its purpose. including the separation of friends and couples and the cursing of rivals (lines 79–99). de l’ancien empire jusqu’à l’époque copte (Paris. for example.58 But beyond the hagiographer’s insistent dichotomy. Richter. La Magie dans l’Egypte antique. E. The extensive erotic spell attributed to the legendary sorcerer Cyprian of Antioch (ACM no. Or. and places reflected in Egyptian and Coptic spell manuals. 104). 21). a family’s protective spell. Devos. 127). words. and Frankfurter. “applied” versions of Church liturgy and formulae. daughter of Aese.59 There are also explicit indications that these Coptic binding spells were the work of monks. David Frankfurter. The same has been pointed out by François Lexa. said the pharmakos. Coptic Martyrdoms in the Dialect of Upper Egypt (London. and the use of blessed oil or water. and scriptural conventions of the Church. a considerable portion of what we call Coptic “magic” consists of scripture quotations written as amulets. These spells and manuals reflect their authors’ deep familiarity with the scribal.” in ACM. and Phibamon for what reason we can only guess (ACM no. on the one hand.” Akten des 21. the three holy youths. 290–91. 59 Siegfried G. We might. Colluthus in his shrine. and incubation-like sequestering of the victim to the repertoire of gestures. Successfully commissioned. invoking the seven archangels. “Bemerkungen zu magischen Elementen koptischer Zaubertexte. the pharmakos wrote out some amulets (phylakterion) on parchment “according to his magia” and instructed the client to commence the accompanying rites at dawn. recommends inscribing the “names of the 24 elders” and “pronouncing prayers” to achieve a range of goals. 63). ed. 7022. no. on the other. 1:139–53. concludes with the guarantee that “Apa Anoup has sealed this oil” (ACM no. a miscellany of spells from some ecclesiastical or monastic setting. W. materials. Indeed. 377–78. 22. the actual difference between the monk and the putative “sorcerer” was uncertain. but he would not work for free. liturgical. and the twelve apostles. Kropp 3:314– 71. Indeed. 1925). internationalen Papyrologenkongresses = Archiv für Papyrusforschung. We find spell manuals occasionally 57 Miracles of St. fol. 259– 62.498 DAV I D FR A N K F U R T E R man to fulfill his desires. 390–412. 257–64. compare Macarius’s use of efficacious utterances (prayers and commands). A. ed. Whatever afflictions the girl suffered out of these procedures—the manuscript ends abruptly— would have been dramatically cured without cost when the girl appealed to St. Religion in Roman Egypt. Budge. Apa Victor invokes a curse on Alo.57 These sorcerers were imposing and dangerous figures in the landscape of the Coptic miracle stories—the inevitable opponents of the saints. trans. referring to “clergy consulting books of magia” [Copt. “Many people know the dabtara [sic] as the man who sings 60 For example. “Miracles et guérisons en Egypte tardive. A grimoire. Richard Pevear (New York. 3:1747). 247–50.. 62 Allan Young.62 According to one ethnographer. draws up elaborate protective and healing amulets for clients and is commonly viewed as a master of the demonic world. 2001). Crum. Sasson. 1926). Däbtäras collect and exchange spells and efficacious images among each other.” in Nicole Fick and Jean-Claude Carrière. trans. E. bishops. E. and Giuseppe C. 135). 159).The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt 499 attested in monasteries. 74–75. nefjôôme têrou] (§72).’” in Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World. Wilhelm Riedel and W. ed. was found in the monastery of Epiphanius: Cairo 45060 (Kropp 1:50– 54. Important discussions of monks as primarily thaumaturges include Françoise Dunand. 1979).” Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 9 (1998): 79–80. 1904]. etc.” in Arieh Kofsky and Guy G. 38) describes the punishments meted out in hell to “wizards [magoi] who dispensed magical charms to men and women” following similar punishments for immoral Church functionaries (elders. 2:21. By placing magoi in this order the author seems to consider them to be actors in the Christian. 61 The late-fourth-century Apocalypse of Paul (chap. 1998). and “Dynamics of Ritual Expertise in Antiquity and Beyond: Towards a New Taxonomy of ‘Magicians. “The Musician and Transmission of Religious Tradition: The Multiple Roles of the Ethiopian Däbtära. Diana Conchado. Ethiopian Magical Scrolls. 128). and for Palestine. the scribal hands. lectors.” Ethnology 14 (1975): 245–65. eds. Mélanges Etienne Bernand (Paris. On reconstructing the category “magician/wizard. “Saints. 2:31–40. the iconography.” Journal of Religion in Africa 22 (1992): 242–60. “Magic as a ‘Quasi-Profession’: The Organization of Magic and Magical Healing among Amhara. Edina Bozóky.”61 This model of the monastic ritual expert proposed here as the social context of the Coptic magical spells has a compelling parallel in contemporary Ethiopia: the däbtära. 108. eds. see W. Priests.” in J.60 And most importantly. 1998). Lorenzo Perrone. on the character of the find. Stroumsa. for medieval Europe. Jacques Mercier.. and Charms. Legends. Paul Mirecki and Marvin Meyer (Leiden. ed. Kay Kaufman Shelemay. 207. The text assumes that these books are the personal property of the klêrikos: he must burn “his books” [Copt. The Life of Theodore of Sykeon includes in its general picture of sixth-century rural Asia Minor a klêrikos who was also a pharmakeias (chap. “Naqlun: Excavations 1997. 82–83. world. Crum. and the use of scripture and liturgical formulae in the Coptic spells are all far more convincingly attributed to monks than to a putative category of itinerant “magician. 298)..” in Francesca Canadé Sautman.. 1991). 286–87. The Monastery of Epiphanius at Thebes (New York. eds. “Monasticism as a Factor of Religious Interaction in the Holy Land during the Byzantine Period. 1997). 81–82. or miscellany of spells. Sharing the Sacred: Religious Contacts and Conflicts in the Holy Land (Jerusalem. Canon of Pseudo-Athanasius. 173–88.) and then for usurers and atheists. a literate but itinerant ecclesiastical functionary. 1995]. ed. 1969]. Another cache of magical texts was found in a sixth-century monk’s cell at Naqlun: Wlodzimierz Godlewski. and Worship in Ancient Egypt. Herman Te Velde suggests that similar social dynamics influenced the role of the Egyptian lector priest (“Theology. in ACM no. and Art That Heals: The Image as Medicine in Ethiopia (New York. . M. The Canons of Athanasius of Alexandria [London. Civilizations of the Ancient Near East [New York. Telling Tales: Medieval Narratives and the Folk Tradition (New York. 41–61. nneklêrikos efkôte hi henjôôme mmagia] (§§71–72. 159–78. Di Scipio. Ernest Gellner records a similar role for the foquaha in Morocco (Saints of the Atlas [Chicago.” Numen 46 (1999): 313–17. customizing their master spells for afflicted clients.” see David Frankfurter in “Panel Discussion: Magic in the Ancient World by Fritz Graf. as opposed to heathen. 2000). “those fallen into poverty or in sickness or some other trial . ed.. ed. magical figures. and incantations. 474. are but the tip of the iceberg of Coptic popular religion. David Frankfurter. like the monastic legends of Macarius and others.” in Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice. thus masks a much more fluid range of ritual experts both within and without the monastic fold. 64 . Art that Heals. in which spells. monks. and all the social disruptions incumbent in desire—made up an essential part of this world. 1985). parchment. 214–17. 63 Mercier.” but these enchanters and diviners.” and each could supply the counterspell as well. and. and relics. he makes clear. in the eyes of the more rigid priests. Shenoute. “Popular Religious Practices in Fifth-Century Egypt. ruse. and sacred oil offered a panoply of resolutions for misfortune and competition in village life. §§255–57. Richard Valantasis (Princeton. as did people’s horror and amusement at the prospect of “magic” gone awry. run after enchanters or diviners.” admits Shenoute. Shenute: Contra Origenistas (Rome.”63 It is in light of such contemporary rural ritual experts with ecclesiastical affiliation that we should consider the activities of religious experts in the Coptic landscape—experts like the “great monk” who. . trans. or an “intellectual pagan. . In general on this text. 44.64 The dichotomy between sorcerer and monk in the monastic literature. and they dispense all kinds of remedies. talismans. Religion in Roman Egypt. Yet he is also the master of spells. These collections of written spells. in Tito Orlandi. was dispensing fox claws as a healing talisman. and deceitfulness. fulfillment. Against the Origenists (Paris 12912 66 + DS p. a rabbi. And the negotiation of sexuality—desire. where the one removes through Christ what the other sets through magic. fantasy. “At the time of suffering. a fallen and impure being.. are shrine attendants and Christian holy men. priests.500 DAV I D FR A N K F U R T E R sophisticated poems for the aristocracy on feast days at the church. the great Coptic abbot Shenoute complains in the fifth century. 59). 18ff. the paragon of ingenuousness. A monk was certainly as likely to provide one with an erotic binding spell as was an Egyptian priest. see Frankfurter. saints.