Magic, Charisma and Violence in Late Antiquity
Essays in Religion
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
Publishing:28th Feb '26
£135.00
This title is due to be published on 28th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This collection of 21 essays, published together for the first time, offers three new models for thinking about religion and magic in late antiquity. Using a range of sources, David Frankfurter models a shift from thinking about “magic” to looking at the material powers of peculiar things activated in specific life contexts. Frankfurter then brings together various forms of charisma in the late antique world to demonstrate how charisma was both a source of authority and a power that someone could transmit through objects. The collection also considers the relationship of violence to religion, from religious instigations to collective violence to violence in collective fantasy: of martyrs’ torments and of the rites of the monstrous Other.
A game-changing collection redefining ancient magic, sacred violence, and religious change through the crucible of materiality. Laced with uncanny cross-cultural parallels, Frankfurter’s book reveals how ritual experts devised small objects by which to unleash supernatural forces that heal, protect, and punish, as well as persistent imaginaries driving horrific violence. -- Georgia Frank, Colgate University
Magic, Charisma, and Violence in Late Antiquity is an essential collection, modelling the study of comparative religions rigorously and the use of literary evidence and material culture in the history of the late antique Mediterranean world. Must-read chapters cover topics like gender, demons, martyrdom, divination, and of course the author’s well-known expertise in magic, Egyptian religions (including Christianity), evil, and the challenge of defining religion. -- Laura Nasrallah, Yale University
ISBN: 9781399526784
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
488 pages