Greek and Roman Magic

Catalog description

The Greeks are often extolled for making great advancements in rational thinking. Their contributions to philosophy, architecture, medicine, and other fields argue that they surely did advance rational thought. However, this view gives us an incomplete picture. Many Greeks, including well-educated, prominent Greeks, also found use for casting spells, fashioning voodoo dolls, toting magical amulets, ingesting magic potions, and protecting their cities from evil with apotropaic statues. In this course you will learn how to make people fall in love with you, bring harm to your enemies, lock up success in business, win fame and respect of your peers, and also some more general things about Greek and Roman society and religion -- you will also learn what "apotropaic" means.