Magic and the Roman Emperors

Roman emperors, the details of their lives and reigns, their triumphs and failures and their representation in our sources are all subjects which have never failed to attract scholarly attention. Therefore, in view of the resurgence of scholarly interest in ancient magic in the last few decades, it is curious that there is to date no comprehensive treatment of the subject of the frequent connection of many Roman emperors with magicians and magical practices in ancient literature. The aim of the present study is to explore the association of Roman emperors with magic and magicians, as presented in our sources. This study explores the twofold nature of this association, namely whether certain emperors are represented as magicians themselves and employers of magicians or whether they are represented as victims and persecutors of magic; furthermore, it attempts to explore the implications of such associations in respect of the nature and the motivations of our sources. The case studies of emperors are limited to the period from the establishment of the Principate up to the end of the Severan dynasty, culminating in the short reign of Elagabalus. The late Republican background of magic will also be explored as an introduction, since it is important to the understanding of the connection of emperors and magic in our imperial sources

The Fairy Goblet of Eden Hall to Hunting Mammoths in the Rain - experiencing the paraxial through performance magic and mystery entertainment.

The performance piece Fairy Goblet of Eden Hall appeared in the Annemann's Jinx in 1941, it describes a ritual where each 'guest'' is invited to step forward to experience and share a vision of a past memory revealed to them by Titania's Fairy Goblet in a 'weird and uncanny manner''. Hunting Mammoths in the Rain was published in 2007 and demonstrates how an unearthly symbol discovered on an ancient rock can lead to a primal and olfactory experience for an audience. Both pieces represent key experiments in underground experiential performance magic. In such pieces the magician (or, more accurately, the mystery entertainer) acts as a facilitator guiding the guests/audience through a form of ostensive magical behaviour. This paper will explore a number of these performance magic experiments drawing on the notion of the ‘paraxial’ (Mangan, 2007), and will examine how the mystery entertainer places themselves in a performative grey area situated between illusion and disillusion. And how the notion of the paraxial has continued to manifest in experiential performance magic in areas such as séance, mystery entertainment, mesmerism and story-telling magic

Chaldean and Neo-Platonic Theology

In the present paper, the meanings the term “Chaldeans” acquired during the Antiquity and the early Middle Ages are presented, but mainly the role the Chaldean Oracles played inside the movement of Neo-Platonism is emphasized. The stratification of Being according to the theology of the Chaldean Oracles, suggests a reformation of the ancient Chaldean dogmas by the Neo-Platonists. The kernel of this paper is the demonstration of the similarity between the name “En” that the ancient Babylonians used as the first part of many compound words for their gods, with the One (Ἕν=En), the first theological principle in the Neo-Platonic system. Yet, a comparison between the Chaldean theology and the Neo-platonic views on Mysticism and religiosity follows. As it is well known, the later Neo-Platonism will be led to the creation of a way of thought and practice as impacts from the ancient tradition

Circe and the Poets: Theocritus IX. 35-36

published or submitted for publicatio

Our History Clips: Collaborating for the Common Good

This case study reveals how middle school social studies teachers within a professional development program are encouraging their students to use multiple disciplinary literacies to create Our History Clips as they also work toward developing a classroom community of engaged student citizens

Listening to Earth Stories: An Interview with Swarnalatha Rangarajan

In this interview with Dr. Swarnalatha Rangarajan, a well known Indian ecocritic and a pioneer of Indian ecocriticism, discusses ecocriticism, her novel The Final Instructions, and a wide range of Indian environmental writing