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Drawing Down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World
An unparalleled exploration of magic in the Greco-Roman world
What did magic mean to the people of ancient Greece and Rome? How did Greeks and Romans not only imagine what magic could do, but also use it to try to influence the world around them? In Drawing Down the Moon, Radcliffe Edmonds, one of the foremost experts on magic, religion, and the occult in the ancient world, provides the most comprehensive account of the varieties of phenomena labeled as magic in classical antiquity. Exploring why certain practices, images, and ideas were labeled as “magic” and set apart from “normal” kinds of practices, Edmonds gives insight into the shifting ideas of religion and the divine in the ancient past and in the later Western tradition.
Using fresh approaches to the history of religions and the social contexts in which magic was exercised, Edmonds delves into the archaeological record and classical literary traditions to examine images of witches, ghosts, and demons as well as the fantastic powers of metamorphosis, erotic attraction, and reversals of nature, such as the famous trick of drawing down the moon. From prayer and divination to astrology and alchemy, Edmonds journeys through all manner of ancient magical rituals and paraphernalia—ancient tablets, spell books, bindings and curses, love charms and healing potions, and amulets and talismans. He considers the ways in which the Greco-Roman discourse of magic was formed amid the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, including Egypt and the Near East.
An investigation of the mystical and marvelous, Drawing Down the Moon offers an unparalleled record of the origins, nature, and functions of ancient magic.
496 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 2, 2019
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414 people want to read
About the author
Radcliffe G. Edmonds III
10 books13 followersRadcliffe G. Edmonds III is Professor and Chair of the Department of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania. He is author of Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the 'Orphic' Gold Tablets (2004) and editor of The 'Orphic' Gold Tablets and Greek Religion: Further along the Path (2011).
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 27, 2020
Disclaimer: While this is an academic book, I am reviewing as an academic resource. Instead, this review is approaching the subject of Greek and Roman magical practices from a pagan reconstructionist. The book was not intended for this purpose.
DRAWING DOWN THE MOON catalogs the various types of magical practices of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, as defined by how the ancients themselves believed to be magical. Each chapter focuses on a specific type of magic: curses, love spells, protective charms, divination, alchemy, and theurgy are all fully explored, with a plethora of examples, translations, and descriptions of primary sources to accompany Edmonds' analysis.
Edmonds spends a considerable amount of time explaining not only the magical rituals, but the cultural beliefs and anxieties of the people who practiced them. The book mostly examines magical practices outlined in the Greek Magical Papyri, a collection of Egyptian recipes which syncretize Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Jewish supernatural beliefs into various spells and magical charms. Other sources include the curse tablet collection from the Fountain of Anna Perenna in Rome, the satires of Lucian, and other ancient commentaries. Of course, consideration is given to other scholarly research in the field of ancient magic, and Edmonds dutifully informs the reader whenever the only preexisting research is either skimpy or decades out of date.
However, little distinction is made between the geographic differences between magical practices and cultures. While Edmonds will, on occasion, note where Romans developed unique practices or beliefs, he frequently treats ancient magic as thesame in both cultures until the final chapter, especially in the later chapters of the book where physical evidence of magic gives way to literary accounts. Given that even city states or colonies within Ancient Greek often didn't share the same religious beliefs, I highly doubt magical superstitions would somehow be universal among them, let alone the beliefs of other peoples divided by both time, geography, and culture.
For an academic tome, I suspect this book is based on a class taught by Edmond, who is a classics professor. The first chapter reads like a transcript of the first day of a Socratic lecture, wherein the professor asks the class to define magic, and then patiently explains the scholarly complications of whatever answers his students come up with. By far, this is the most tedious section for the pagan reader, who likely has their own definition of magic and how difficult it can be to define. However, it cannot be skipped over by the ambitious reader, because this is where Edmonds explains his etic and emic approach to his magical topic.
The educational organization of the rest of the book, such as each chapter focusing on a specific type of magic, highly resembles the format of most standard Witchcraft 101 books. A pagan without a Classics background could easily pick up the book and understand the material with few issues. Overall, it is a well-researched tome which clearly defines magic, the types of magic practiced by the ancients, and how to differentiate religious and magical beliefs in the ancient world. A valuable resource for followers of religio romana who want to explore these topics in their own faith.
DRAWING DOWN THE MOON catalogs the various types of magical practices of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, as defined by how the ancients themselves believed to be magical. Each chapter focuses on a specific type of magic: curses, love spells, protective charms, divination, alchemy, and theurgy are all fully explored, with a plethora of examples, translations, and descriptions of primary sources to accompany Edmonds' analysis.
Edmonds spends a considerable amount of time explaining not only the magical rituals, but the cultural beliefs and anxieties of the people who practiced them. The book mostly examines magical practices outlined in the Greek Magical Papyri, a collection of Egyptian recipes which syncretize Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Jewish supernatural beliefs into various spells and magical charms. Other sources include the curse tablet collection from the Fountain of Anna Perenna in Rome, the satires of Lucian, and other ancient commentaries. Of course, consideration is given to other scholarly research in the field of ancient magic, and Edmonds dutifully informs the reader whenever the only preexisting research is either skimpy or decades out of date.
However, little distinction is made between the geographic differences between magical practices and cultures. While Edmonds will, on occasion, note where Romans developed unique practices or beliefs, he frequently treats ancient magic as thesame in both cultures until the final chapter, especially in the later chapters of the book where physical evidence of magic gives way to literary accounts. Given that even city states or colonies within Ancient Greek often didn't share the same religious beliefs, I highly doubt magical superstitions would somehow be universal among them, let alone the beliefs of other peoples divided by both time, geography, and culture.
For an academic tome, I suspect this book is based on a class taught by Edmond, who is a classics professor. The first chapter reads like a transcript of the first day of a Socratic lecture, wherein the professor asks the class to define magic, and then patiently explains the scholarly complications of whatever answers his students come up with. By far, this is the most tedious section for the pagan reader, who likely has their own definition of magic and how difficult it can be to define. However, it cannot be skipped over by the ambitious reader, because this is where Edmonds explains his etic and emic approach to his magical topic.
The educational organization of the rest of the book, such as each chapter focusing on a specific type of magic, highly resembles the format of most standard Witchcraft 101 books. A pagan without a Classics background could easily pick up the book and understand the material with few issues. Overall, it is a well-researched tome which clearly defines magic, the types of magic practiced by the ancients, and how to differentiate religious and magical beliefs in the ancient world. A valuable resource for followers of religio romana who want to explore these topics in their own faith.
August 25, 2020
Very well done, with a nice balance of academic info and pure-pleasure reading. Reminded me in the best of ways of Métraux's Voodoo in Haiti, another great scholarly Practical-Magic book.
January 28, 2025
While dense, this book is a very informative and thorough look at Greco-Roman magic.
August 29, 2023
A very academic, very thorough look at magic in ancient Greece and Rome--as promised! The author spends a lot of time defining (or at least discussing) the parameters of "magic" before spending a chapter each on topics like curses, alchemy, divination, and astrology. I found the historical context fascinating, and I'm sure I'll return to this book as a reference in the future.
September 17, 2023
This was great and filled in a lot of missing pieces for me. I had read a sourcebook of Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman world, as well as a short overview. I liked how Edmonds defined magic, how he brought in other scholars' theories of magic and religion, and how he explained the different categories of magic. He did a great job contextualizing the quotes.
July 12, 2025
Great academic, yet easily accessible account of Greco roman magic and witchcraft.
June 4, 2025
academic text wise, incredibly rich and filled with a lot of proof and references, you can tell the research was done very well! not everything in this book was in my area of interest but it's really educative regarding ancient magic
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews