An illustration from PGM V inscribed with magical names.

Transmission of Magical Knowledge

Project Type Research Project
Status Active
Field Domain Philology
Time Period Antiquity
Regions Egypt

Overview

Thanks to the climatic conditions and scribal practices of Greco-Roman Egypt, a number of handbooks of magic from that region have reached us. These handbooks are precious witnesses to practices and processes of cultural transmission: i.e. the creation, communication, transformation, and preservation of knowledge across history. These ancient magical handbooks provide a unique point of entry into a corpus of knowledge at a particular period in a very long history that is otherwise lightly documented, and to the practices by which that field of knowledge was taught and transmitted. Our project, which started in 2015 at the University of Chicago, aims at editing ca 100 of these formularies and perform a general study of their production.

Meeting of the Transmission of Magical Knowledge project 2026.

Meeting of the Transmission of Magical Knowledge project 2026.

An illustration from PGM V inscribed with magical names.

An illustration from PGM V inscribed with magical names.

Explore Transmission of Magical Knowledge

Discover how magical knowledge was created, recorded, and transmitted in the ancient Mediterranean. Explore the project’s research on Greek, Demotic, and Coptic magical handbooks from Egypt, along with publications, project milestones, and related resources.

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The Transmission of Magical Knowledge Team

History of the Project

In 2026 we are about to submit volume 2 of Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies, and edition with translation and commentary of 3 of the longest and most important of these manuscripts (volume 1 was published in 2022). We have produced two further volumes of essays: New Approaches to the Great Paris Magical Codex. From PGM IV to GEMF 57, Berlin: De Gruyter 2026, and The Greco-Egyptian Magical Formularies. Libraries, Books and Individual Recipes, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 2022, which received the 2023 C.J. Goodwin Award of Merit.In 2026 we are about to submit volume 2 of Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies, and edition with translation and commentary of 3 of the longest and most important of these manuscripts (volume 1 was published in 2022). We have produced two further volumes of essays: New Approaches to the Great Paris Magical Codex. From PGM IV to GEMF 57, Berlin: De Gruyter 2026, and The Greco-Egyptian Magical Formularies. Libraries, Books and Individual Recipes, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 2022, which received the 2023 C.J. Goodwin Award of Merit.

ISAC Publications