Besides the Olympos. Magical Traditions in the Ancient Mediterraneum

Text: György Szegő

Az esznai templom hypostyl-csarnoka

Till the end of the second millennium science had rigidly separated the spheres of religion and magic, which Nagy-Árpád Miklós referred to as the Great Dichotomy, not exempt from irony. Magic was regarded as a dark power originating from outside even by science. However, the past twenty years – especially thanks to the works and activities of Fritz Graf – this dogma gradually became anachronistic. The view that these texts are not primitive/magical concoctions, but a version of a lost liturgy still restorable, and as such, also a source which is worth researching, is more and more accepted. Underlined with excerpts and illustrations, the text is grouped according to six civilisations in the two volumes. However, there is a seventh circle which covers the post-antiquity reception of ancient magic too.