Sorcery

The subject of sorcery has already been treated in most of its aspects under Magic. There remain, however, certain features in this extensive department which are reserved for treat- ment in the present article. The wide prevalence of sorcery in pre-exilian Israelite life is only partially revealed in the OT. That the underlying motive of the Brazen Serpent in Nu 21*"" was the same as that of the Tn-inged colossal and human-headed bulls or genii (lamassu or lamaiiu, cf.

the cherubim in Gn 3^, and Schrader, COT, ad loc.) which were set up at tlie doors of the Assyrian palaces to prevent the access of demons, of disease, or other calamity, seems to be fairly probable. In this connexion we must bear in mind the undoubted fact that the serpent was associated not only with demons to whom a destructive power belonged (cf. Gn 3 and Is 14^ 27' and Am 9'), but also with those endowed with beneficent powers.

Mohammed held that serpents might be inhabited by good as well as by evil jinn, and among the ancient Greeks the serpent was held to be sacred to the healing god jEsculapius. Also, as Robertson Smith reminds us, the South Arabs regard medicinal waters as inhabited by jinn, usually of serpent form {RS'^ p. 1G8, cf. 172). On this subject interesting facts have been col- lected by Baudissin, in his Essay on the Symbolism of the Serjient, in Studien zur sem. Religions- gesch. i. p. 257 il'.

The brazen image of the serpent (l^jy'nj), worshipi>ed in the rei'Ti of Hezekiah, and the occurrence of the name Nahash among Canaan- ite peoples, point to the prevalence of the serpent- cult. See Nehushtan. Again, the law, to which the modem Jew pays so much deference, contained in Dt 6*- •, involves an ancient belief in the magic potency of written • Here Gunkel {Seh&pfung li.

Chaos) has shown that we have remnanU ol the old BabylonioQ chaos-myth {Tidrntu, ' draj-on ol thede«p'X words and names, of whi(-h Lane [Modern Efji/p- tinns, 1871, i. pp. 7 ft". , 319 11. ) gives valuable illus- trations. The ^hemn', as well as the following precept, ' And thou shalt love Jehovah thy Goa with all thy soul . .,' were to be bound as a si"n upon the hand, and for frontlets between the eyes. They >\'ere also to be ^vritten upon the doorposts of the house and on the gates.

The Jews in the present day use the name nuzi'izah, which in the original Deuteronomic sense meant ' doorpost,' for the small metal case which con- tained a piece of folded parchment, upon which the words aforesaid were ^^Titten, viz. Dt 6''"' as well as Dt 11""-', in twenty-two lines. This would be placed at the right of the entrance, on the upper part of the doorpost.

Like an amulet in- scribed with words or names of mysterious potency, this piece of parchment was held to possess a magic and protective eHieacy. See Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesiis the Messiah, i. p. 76. The tephillin or phylacteries, on the left arm and fore- head, are of like cl)aracter (see art. Phylacteries).

Again we have an instructive example of the all-prevailing faith in magic in the case of the afflicted woman who came to Jesus in the midst of the crowd, believing that His garments were possessed of mysterious healing virtue (Lk 8", see Plummer, ad loe.) The same idea underlies the narrative of Ac 19'^, where we read that hand- kerchiefs and aprons were conveyed from St. Paul's person to tlie diseased, who were thereby cured, and the demons expelled.

A man's clothing was supposed to convey with it some charm or efticacy from the owner. Mohammed was besought to give his shirt that a dead man might be buried in it. The character of the wearer and his clothing were identified in some nivsterious way. Prob- ably in this way we are to interpret the reference to the mantle of Elijali (2 K 2"'"'^ cf. *), and such expressions as 'robe of righteousness,' 'garments of s.alvation' (Is 61'°), 'of vengeance' (59"), etc. See Wellhausen, Reste ', p. 196.

In A rabia sorcery was even employed in digging for treasure. Doughty relates a story that a Moor, who was regarded as specially proficient in magical arts, ' sacrificed to the jdn in the ni^ht a black cock, and read his spells, and a great black fowl alighted beside him. . The earth rumbled, and rose as it were in billows, gaping and shutting, and in that earthy womb appeared an infinite treasure ' (Arabia Deserta, ii. p. 103).

But we hear even more frequently of counter-spells, whereby the demons were coerced or terrified into im- potence. And this specially applies to the various diseases which the j&n were supposed to inflict. The remedies are in almost every case magical in character, and were carried out by the physician called tabib or wise man, who was, in fact, a magician. The methods of the raagic-healing art were the same as those of the sorcerer who worked the evil.

There was stroking and rubbing of the part aflected ; most frequently we have the tying of knots, spitting, and breathing. 'A young mother, yet a slender girl, brought her wretched babe, and bade me spit upon the child's sore eyes. This ancient Semitic opinion and custom I have afterwards found wherever I rame to Arabia [cf. Jn 9*^]. Meteyr nomads in El Kasim have brought me bread and salt that I should spit in it for their sick friends.

— Also the Arabians will spit upon a lock which cannot easily be opened" (Doughty, Arab. Dei. i. p. 527). 'Another time I saw Salih busy to cure a mangy theliU (riding-camel). He sat with a bowl of water before him, and, mumbling there- over, he spat in it and mumbled solemnly, and spat many times, and, after a half hour of this work, the water was taken to the sick beast to drink ' {ih, il p. 16-1). This strange custom may be combined wif'< the prevalent notion that the more repulsive an.

disgusting the remedies, the more eilicaciouB they SORCERY SORCERY 603 They will take o( the unclean nnd even abominable, and say, liairii, ' it is medicine." These Hwhniin pive the sick to eat of the i*oX'Aom or smuU white carriun eaj^'le. L'pun a day I found a poor woman of our menzil seething uas&i' dunj; in the pot^ She would ^ive the water to drink with milk to her sick brother '{Doughty, L p. 255). Mafjic devises strange remedies.

The person of tlie kin" has a supornatural character (Frazer, Gvl'len Bough^, \. p. StV.), and it is owing to tliis belief that we constantly find the royal personality or his family invested with a priestly function. Thus in Arabia it was believed that hydrophobia was to be cured by royal blood, i.e. not merely the blood of the reigning monarch, but also that of the royal family. Even sorrow for the dead had its magic remedy.

Dust from the grave of the deceased beloved one was to be drunk, mingled with « ater ; and the same remedy was employed as an antidote to love-sickness, for a man who was in love was held to be possessed or bewitched. By the spells of a sorcerer, too, lovers may be parted. It may here be remarked that the introduction of Islam ditl even less to destroj' belief in m.agic than the growth of Jewish monotheism. We can only say in both ca.

ses (that of the Arab and of the Jew) that the belief in spirits entered, as Wellhausen savs of the Arab [ib. p. 157), 'upon another stage.' ' The old gods are deposed and degraded into the position ofdemons. The latter thereby change their character and become hellish creatures, bitterly hostile to Allah and his heavenly surrounding.' Thev became Satans {Shaitdn.

s-), with Iblis at tlieir heaJ, opjiosed to prayer and the cry of the muezzin, loving uncleanliness and dirt, and therefore de- barred by washings and the burning of incense. Consequently sorcery was just as prevalent after Islam as before it. Mohammed placed the interior bark of the Samara tree on the arm of Dhul Bigadain to render him invulnerable. Gum resin from this tree was constantlj- carried as an amulet.

The ankle-bones of a hare are effective to ward off the jinn of the camp, the ghoul of the desert, and Satan himself. They are also effective in quelling fever. Similar efficacy belonged to the teeth of a cat or a fo.\. The magic of the knot-tying was encountered by tlie protectiv e spell of the amulet. One species of amulet was called tatiijis (defiling), and contained dirt, bones of the dead, and other repulsive objects.

Many amulets, however, con- sisted of ornaments, often precious stones, deemed on this account sacred. Their object seems to be to divert the attention of the demons from the wearer. Thus a mark on the face of a woman, or even tattooing, served this purpose ; also the fragrant berries carried by children, tlie silver and old plates worn by horses, and the bells carried y camels (cf. Zee 14""), which diverted or scared away the demons by their sound. Cf. Wellhausen, Rested, p. 164 ff.

Ancient Jewish magic, to which Blau has devoted a special treatise, presents many features which are analogous to those of early Arabia just described. Indeed it is by no means an easy problem to determine how much of the latter came from Jewish, Babylonian, and Aramaic •O'lrces, and how far the .Jewish in ttirn became affected in very early times by Arabia.

* There cac be little doubt that the main source of Jewish tradition in magic and demonology, in and after the Exile, was Babylonia, and that Babylonia also influenced Arabia. The magical effect of spitting, to which Doughty • According to the Talmud (SanJiedrin 61b, Ola) the Arabs were regarded &a endowed with magical powers. In the lir^t poattogc it is related that an Arab sorcerer cut his camel in pieces and then restore<l it to life.

In the latter jiasnape it la 9tat«d that Abraham coinniunicatcd t^) the sons of his concubines the unclean name, i.e. the names of deities potent in magic ; cf. Blau, p. 48, and footnote 2. I has referred (in the passages cited), was also an element in Jewish superstition. But what is most significant in Jewish sorcery is the belief in the magic power of words and names which was held almost universally, in the time of Christ, by the Jews in common with other contemporary nations.

Pas- sages from Scripture were considered to be espe- cially effectual. These were constantly employed in bringing about cures. Thus the words in Lv 13' nv]>' ;■;: and also Lv 1' were considered etiicacious, thou"h forbidden by Rab and Kabbi Chanina {SnnJtcdrin lOlor).

fix 15-° was employed in heal- ing wounds ; but when, in addition to this, sjiitting was resorted to, this was regarded as a forl>idden form of magic, and whosoever attempts it has no part or lot in the future life (Mishna Srinhed. xi. 1 ; fosrfta xii. 10). Of course special force belonged to the words, 'For I, Jehovah, am thj- healer.' Unclean water has a magical influence, which can be increa.sed or arrested by some incantation.

Magic influence of a deterrent character was also attributed to iron. Iron has the power to wanl off evil spirits and to break spells. Spirits stand in fear of iron (cf. Blau, p. 159; and Bernkhoth 6r/, cf. Tosefta vi. 13). Tlie iron is cast between the graves, and the word hnda is pronounced ; for the graveyard has always been the place where sorcery is practised, since the spirits of the departed dwell there.

Thither Canidia and Sagana, the sorceresses of Horace's muse, repair in the moonlight \,Sat. I. viii.); and Wellhausen {Ilcste^, p. 157) considers that close relations subsisted between jitin and spirits of dead men, the spirits of the departed becoming /inn. The Talmud gives special recipes for turning a bad dream into one of good omen. One of these consists in repeating 9 verses (3 x 3) of the Bible. If .'

i man sees a river in a dream, let him recite Is GO'- (in which peace is compared to a flowing stream) before he thinks of Is 59" ' When the enemy comes like a river.' It is dangerous to drink water on Wednesday or Friday night. If, however, one is comiielled to drink it, it is recom- mended that Ps 29'"'" should be recited, where the voice of Jehovah is mentioned seven times and also the waters, and it is said that Jehovah is enthroned above the flood.

Incantations were constantly employed in the art of healing. Most of these spells are derived from the teachers of the Talmud, who also prac- tised the medical art. As the remedy was applied, the incantation was whispered in tlie ear of the patient. The head of the operating physician was anointed with oil, and, if any unbidden or tin- initiated person heard tlie spell, its magical power was lost. Two examples of these magical remedies may be found in art. Magic, vol. iii. p.

211, and further illustrations will be found in lilau's mono- graph, pp. 72-77, l.Wfl'., and Breclier's Das Tran- sccn(lcnt(de,Magie u.mngischcHeilarlenimTalmud, p. 198 ir.

Sorcery, in the narrower sense of ma"ic em- ployed with malignant or evil intent, would seek to accomplish such ends as causing one's neigh- bour's house to catch fire, bringing a hailstorm on his field, depriving his cows of milk, making his child die of illness, causing domestic brawls, or visiting himself with sudden death. In fact the .ancients were accustomed to attribute all such disasters to a malignant demon, sorcerer, or witch ; and the possession of any unusual phy.

xical or mental quality, especially an uncanny look about the eyes, would expose the male or female possessor of these characteristics to the unenviable reputation of being a sorcerer or sorceress. Espe- cially old women of unusual ugliness were credited with dealings with the dark supernatural world. Even men distinguished by brilliant acquirement« t04 SORCERY SORCERY or clever play would be liable to the suspicion of Borcerj'.

The chief motives to sorcery were love and hatred, and the result was frequently death or unfaithfulness to tiie marriage vow. \fagic was employed to win forbidden love. Tlie chiel means to compass this end was mantlratjura, wliicli was universally regarded as an erotic plant (hence the Heb. name CNin Gn 30''"-). It was customary to re- cite verses from the Bible over this — a practice which the Talmud forbids {^/labbnf.k 86, 19).

Tying of knots was sometimes resorted to in order to prevent childbirth. Cf. l,voran 113 (blowing on knots). Simon ben .Jochai had the reputation of being a magician, and tradition relates that when he with- drew from his cave, after residing there for thirteen years, he transformed every one upon whom he gazed into a heap of bones ; and it is reported that he destroyed a heretic in this way (Pcsilta 90i, 137a). Amulets were employed as prophylactics, i.e.

as a means of counterworking the evil iniluences of witchcraft and demons. The cx'n^, to which Is 3-" alludes as one among the articles of feminine attire, may be considered to be this simply and solely. These were not forbidden, though they partook of a ma'dcal character. It is only in cases where the amulets were heathen in origin tliat they were strictly forbidden.

Thus in 2 Mac 12^" the amulets discovered on the slain came from the idol temple at Jamnia, and were on this account objectionable. The name by which the amulet was called in later Jewish literature is Ip'mi'd (Ji'Cij). The kam'ri is mentioned with the tcphillin or phylacteries. Both were covered with leather. Similarly, the amulets of the Greeks and Romans were contained in capsules (bulbce).

The Jewish amulet consisted either of some inscribed object or of certain roots of plants, or, in some cases, of f rains of corn bound uj) in leather.* It may here e remarked, in passing, that every vegetable was supposed to have a subtle connexion with a planet in heaven (see Blau, p. 160 f.) Anything otl'ered with incense to the gods, or shavmgs from the Asherah tree, were considered to have a special healing virtue.

Metal plates consisting of an upper and lower plate were constantly employed as amulets. A pearl wrapped up in leather was regarded as a healing remedy for cattle. In all spells, charms, incantations, amulets, and other prophylactics, stress is always laid on the mysterious potency and significance of the name. NuiHcn involves omen. Name to the ancient Semite involves reality and personal power.

And the superstitious dread of the ancient Greek who cried ev4nifiuTc at solemn crises or functions, and of the Roman who under like circumstances said favcte Unguis, was founded on this same belief in the underlying dread potency of words or names to summon forth catastrophes. To this tendency the etymologizin" efl'orts and plays on words in the Ol" are probably due, viz. to the endeavour to discover in the name a clue to the underlying power that shapes individual destiny.

' As his name, so is he,' says Abigail of her wrong-headed husband Nab.al. ' Fool is his name, and folly is with him ' (1 S 25^). The combination of the name of deity with a newborn child was therefore quite explicable. Even the names of angels in later Judaism, like those of individuals, contained the name of deity {'yx), e.g. Michael, Raphael, etc. Heaven and earth are perishable, but ' Thy great name liveth and abideth for ever' {Berak/tuth Sin).

Hence tliose names (especially of angels) which contain the name of deity possess a special potency. • On this subject of amulets consult Winer, RWB^ i. p. 66 ; Com. on On S6< and U Sis"- ; Hamburger, HE, Supplem.-Baud, U. pp. 8-11. Particular power was assigned to the mysterious tBtragrammalun, which could be pronounced only on the Great Day of Atonement in the temple by tlie high priest. Hence it is called in the Talmud c-jirpn D^ (in Aramaic Nv"n;.'3 n?v')i the name pro- lumnced (cf.

I'ael ^■'-?) then, and then onl3'. Ibis name later Judaism believed to have been inscribed on the wonder-working statl'of Moses. The tcliiim no longer overflows when a potsherd engraved with the tetragramniatrm is thrown into it. Ashmodai (cf. Apollyon), the prince of demons, was bound by a chain and a seal ring, on which was inscribed the Divine name {Gittin 68, bottom). By mark- ing this name on the mouth of the idol calf of Jeroboam it was made to speak.

This mj'sterious and potent name was designated in Hebrew as c^'n, by the Greeks ri jcojua, also called fippT/TOK— on magic papyri (.see Wessely) fi-o/ia KpvTTTbv Kal &ppy)Tov, or, as in the inscription of Iladrumetum (see art. Magic, and Deissmann, Bible Studies, 14611'., lO(iK.),TbdyiOi> SvopiaSovXiyerai (line 20), also t6 Kpinrrbv ofo/ia Kal dpptjTof iv dfdpdnrois (Dietrich, Abraxas, 195, line 7), or it is called t6 TeTpdypafi/jLov livop-a t6 iiv(Ttik6v. The Hebrew rm'., in;, .

^; is reproduced in a variety of forms in Greek (see Deissmann, ib. p. 4). The manifold employment of the letters of the tetrn- grammaton, as well as of the seven vowels a e r; I 0 u o), played a considerable part in magic jiapjai ; and it is impossible within the space at our disposal to enter into the maze of details on this subji^ct, which may be found in Blau's treatise, pp. 141-146.

The belief in the power of words, especially those of Scrijiture, is exhibited by the custom of repeat- ing a plirase, as, for example, the Ultemd, or some- times in inverting the order of letters, as in the Gnostic gem referred to by Schwab (Vocabulaire de I'Angclologie, p. 303), in which is inserted OvKXiaXi j, which is the expression Njp Sx'? "3 inverted.

The belief underlying these inversions is that the reversal of the order ell'ects the retreat or over- throw of tlie demons and of the sorcery they em- ploy. According to Rabbi 'Akiba, special potency belongs to the letters of the ali)habet to which special meanings by acrostics were assigned. Thus i^n = Belief in the power of the eyil eye was just as prevalent in Semitic lands as in those of classical antiquity.

Especially were women with an ugly squint or strange look or contracted heavy eye- brows considered to possess powers of the evil eye (see art. Magic, vol. iii. p. 208'). Tradition ascribed the belief in the power of the evil eye to Babylonia. Rab lived in Babylonia, where the evil eye is often found (Jerus. Shabbath 14c**; cf. Bnba mezin 1076, above).

It is said of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, that after they were delivered from the fier3- furnace they fell victims to the many eyes which were fixed on them. According to Baba bathra i. 18, Joshua commanded the sons of Joseph to conceal them- selves in the wood in order that they might not be overpowered by the evil eye (Jos n'"). Men of distinction were specially exposed to this evil. But the tradition prevailed that descendants of Joseph were exempt.

Thus when the distinguished and handsome Raljbi Jochanan was asked whether he did not fear the evil eye, he replied, ' I am of the seed of Joseph, who are not injured by the evil eye ' (BerakhOth 20a, below). It was recom- mended as a precaution, if one is about to enter a town and is afraid of the evil eye, to place the right thumb in the left hand and the left thumb in tlie right hand and say, ' I am N. son of N., and am descended from the seed of Joseph.'

Another preservative was to look <in the left side of the nose. SORCERY SORCERY 605 Horses were preserved from the power of tlie evil eye by hanging a fox's tail or a scarlet thre:iil between the ej-es. Children were more frequently {)rovided with amulets than adults, and those tlu-y leld in their hand (Shabbath 106, 616). Children have naturally a weaker power of resistance to evil influence or fascination than adults. Hence an in.

scribed card or leaf (TiTTdKioi-) or other kind of amulet was hunn; around the neck. A Jewish amulet would contain the letters of the nrime of Deity and various extracts from the Torah. It would also contain the name of the person to be protected. Kven articles of furniture or vessels were pro- tected in this manner. Handles and pedestals were inscribed with the Divine name. Especially the betlstead was guarded in this way against en- chantment.

The blessing in Nu6""^was intended to protect Israel against the evil eye. Indeed the Torah itself was designed by God as a defence against evil (Wmjiiikra rabbn, c. 25, ndinit.) The magic of the evil ej'e is a topic avoided in the Mishna, and the attitude of orthodox Judaism towards the entire subjrct of sorcery was hostile, and in this respect coincided with the spirit and teaching of St. Paul, who regarded sorcery as belonging to the sphere of the Mpycia tou -aTanS.

and ^pfiahla as one of the products ((pya) of the Itesli (Gal S-""). This attitude of Judaism rested on the ancient precepts of the Torah, even the most primitive code (Ex 22", cf. Dt 18'") containing prohibitions and death penalties directed against sorcerer and sorceress. The causes of this ancient antagonism between religion and magic, which certainly existed, though far from universal, e\'idtntly lie in some funda- mental distinction betwcm tlie two, which we h.

ave all jady endiMvoured to elucidate in the opening pages of the art. Magic. The subject has been ably discussed in Frazer's Golden Bou(jh(\. ]>. 61 ft". ), but not with complete success, since the writer refuses to admit what the researches of Tj'lor and others liave m.-ide clear, viz. that ancient culture in all its manifold forms rests upon a primitive basis of animism, an interpretation of life wh(?reby man surrounded him.self with a cosmic society of personal agencies.

Krazer considers that the few cases cited, ' in which the operation of spirits is assumed, and an attempt made to win their favour by prayer and sacrifice,' are exceptional. ' Wher- ever sympathetic magic occurs in its pure un- adulterated form, it assumes that in nature one event follows another necessarilj' and invariably without the intervention of any spirit^ml or personal agency.' The (inal negative clause of this sen- tence, which we have italicized, lacks historic proof.

The most ancient inscribed documents of human life, discovered in Babylonia and Egypt, point to the opposite conclusion, that in man's primitive condition magic was closely interwoven with a belief in gods and demons.

That in some more recent examples of sympathetic magic the primitive elements of spiritual belief have dis- appeared, and nothing apparently* remains but the assumption that 'in nature one event follows another necessarily and invariably,' we may with certain limitations admit to be true. In some exponents of ' modern .science ' we observe a similar process of the attrition of a belief in or recogni- tion of an ultimate Personal Cause which sustains ' nature's unchanging harnionj'.'

But without the assumption of a primitive belief in personal agen- cies, how can we explain the constant employ- • We nay *ap|iarently,' because miHsionaries from Central Africa, where iim^'ic abounds (we refer particularly to the Rev. Hurry Johnson), have informed the present writer that natives •re vcr)' reticent with rejrard to their beliefs on to what under- lies their frvctlce. Moreover, belief in spirits thev certainly paneM. ment of incantations and of formula?, spoken or written, a.

s well as the close relations which in ancient culture undoubtedly subsisted between magic and reli;;ion, the priest combining in his own person tlie normal functions of worship with those of soothsaying and magic? But our critici.sm does not in reality obscure the illumin- ating value of Frazer's statements, which we now cite. ' Its (und.imental conception is identical with that of modern science.

Underlying the whole system is a faith, implicit but real and firm, in the order and" uniformity of nature. The maj^cian does not doubt that the same causes will always produce the same elTects, that the performance of the propel ceremony accomj>anied by tlie aj^propriate spell will inevitably be attendwl by the desired results, unles.s, indeed, his incanta- tions should chance to be thwaru^ and sjioiled by the more potent chonns of another sorcerer. . Tlie fat.

il flaw of ma^nc lies not in its general a.->suiiiption of a succes-sion of events . . but in its total misconc:e])tions of the nature of . . that succession ... In ancient Kjjypt.the ma^cians claimed the power of compellintr even the liit,'hest gods to do their bidding.' Hence arose a radical conflict between ma^c and religion. The hauj;hty self-sufficiency of the majrician . . and his unabashed claim to exercise sway could not but revolt the priest.

Sometimes, we may suspect, lower motives concurred to whet the ed^e of the priest's hostility. He professed to be the proper medium, the true intercessor between God and man, and no doubt his interests as well as bis feelings were often injured by a rival practitioner.' f We may here briefly advert to the prevalence of magic and sorcery in ancient Greece and in ancient Greek settlements. Aristotle (Probl. xx.

34) refers to the superstition of the evil eye {/3a<rKaii'u and /Siiritoi'os, ySaffxai'io through the <i0fla\^6s (ta<6!) This particularly aH'ccted children and cattle (Verg. Eel. iii. 103). Theocritus (Idyll, ii. throughout, and vi. 39) clearly proves how prevalent sorcery was in the beginning of the 3rd cent. B.C. A century earlier Plato (Re.p. ii. 364 B) describes the wandering beggars and sooths.

ayers who go about to rich men's doors persuading them that they have power from the gods to avenge any man on his enemies, and can induce the gods to do their bidding by certain enchantments and magic knots (iTraywrfah Kal KaTaoifffioii). Herodotus (in the 5th cent.), ii. 181, tells the story of Amasis, king of Egypt, who believed he had been spell-bound by his wife Ladica. The Greeks believed in and practised the magic KardSea/ioi {KaraSiad!) or knots as much as the Hebrews their -Qn (cf.

Euripid. Medea, 1136-1230). These KardSfafioi (Lat. dirw) were inscribed on their leaden tablets or on strips of p.apyrus or talc (Tacitus, Annals, ii. 69). The first actually known were discovered at Athens in ISU liy I\l. Kauvel, and two years later, in the public ceme- tery of the Pir.-cus, by Mr. Dodwell. Recently they were found among the tombs in Cyprus (of tlie Ist cent. A.D.)

The character of the inscription or incantation which is scratched, is mainly as follows : ' I bind with this spell (KaToScJ) So-and-.so, his shop and all his property.' In the formula employed on one of the two Athenian leaden tablets the writer binds over his enemies by name to Hermes Cthonius, r^ kotoxos, and Persephone. In the other we read : ' I bind over such-and-such fiersons to thee, Onesime.' Onesime may perhaps lave been the occunant of the tomb where the tablet was discovered.

In addition to this method of writing the name of the enemy on a tablet and marking it vith magical signs or characters, we have another, • We prefer to omit here all reference to ' law.' The belief of ancient magic in the uniformity of nature can only have been of a very partial and rudimentary kind, viiL in the limited sphere of magical practice. t Another contributing cause to the hostility of religion and of the priesthood towards magic was morally Justifiable.

Alagia and the popular faith in it anned the oorcerer with awful powers over his fellow-men, which he often used for unscrupu. lous ends. Thu.s in early Konie wo find a law in the Twelve Tables which forbids charming away a neighbour's crops by Incantations (excatUarf). 606 SORCERY SORE Mhich at once reminds us of Babylonia (cf. Magic). A waxen image of tlie obnoxious person was made and caused to melt away in order that that person might melt away likewise (sympathetic magic). Cf. Verg. Ed.

viii. 80; Horace, Hat. I. viii. 32; Tlieoc. Jdj/ll. ii. Theie is good reason to suppose that these magic practices were introduced from Babylonia into Greece through Persia, ^schylus and Sophocles show no trace of them, but Euripides alludes to the yinp and iiriiiSds. In Antiplion (end of 5th cent.) we read of a love-potion or <pi\Tpov, while Plato speaks of magicians [Si/itip. 20,'i D) and of the Thessalian women who are said to draw down the moon (Gorg. 513 A).

Necromancy, or the special mode of obtaining aid or knowledge by the conjuration of the dead, was a form of divination and magic which may be appropriately treated under the head of sorcery, since the sorcerer or sorceress would likewise become the medium of communication with the departed spirit. Necromancy is a practice which is linked to the belief in the continued existence of spirits in the dark underworld or She61.

Hence among the ancient Greeks vcKvla, or the summon- ing of the dead for interrogation about the future, became locally associated with caves and volcanic regions, where communication, it was supposed, would be easily established with the lower regions. Such a spot, called veKvo/iavTeiov or \pvxoTroij.irtiov, was the lake Aomos in Thesprotian Epims (Herod. v. 92), Lake Avemus in Campania, and Tsnarus in Laconia.

There is, however, no clear proof that conjuration of the dead in Canaan was associated with any special spot. It seems ratlier to have been associated with the personality of the con- jurer than with special places. Nevertheless we might expect that caves or dark spots, and more especially sepulchres, would be selected by tlie Canaanite necromancers for the practice of their rites. The Heb.

name for the spirit to whom the summons was given was din, a word which is prob- ably no other than that which is used in Job 32'" for a skin-bag for holding water. The term would lie a}>pliod to the spirit on account of the mysterious hollow sound which he was supposed to make, as though speaking from some hollow cavity.* This a^x or spirit was considered to reside in the necromancer, who was for the time identified with it.

The term properly used to describe the necromancer was 3in Syj, or for the female sorceress 3iN n^j;?. We might compare the 0';v3 n'ji^s of Nah 3^ sin n'pj;; is tlie term applied to the witch of Endor (1 S 28'), who summons Samuel from his grave at the request of Saul (,.y 12-u) and plays the part of clairvoyante as well. Anotiier obscure term frequently combined with 3\v is 'Ky.

, and it is exceedingly difficult to say w licther anj- actual distinction of meaning properly belonged to the use of either. Tlie etymology of the latter word, corresponding to our English word wizard, suggests the divining function of the spirit inhabiting the necromancer, whereas a'lK was rather a term which indicated the ventriloqiiizing and hollow tones of his utterance.

The LXX usually render iSn or 'k Syj by iyyiurTpiiivSos, once (Is IJr) by iK yrit tpuvCiv ; whereas 'jjrj:, which they hardly • This derivation Is, however, disputed by Nowack and others. Hitzig, in his Comnientarv (on Is 8'"), connect* it with the Arabic <__) I (.i.e. t_jl!, rex>ermi fuiV), and thus regards it as mcanini; 'returnin(r one.' CI. Baudissin, Stud, tut semil. Retigiomciriich. i. p. 143 footnote. On the whole, we agree with Dillm.

on Lv 1931 that the connexion with aiK, ' bag,' is the most probable. The interpretation of the word as connected with :i:k, and as signifying ' enemy (ol Ood),' ia the least prob- understood, is variously rendered by TepaTotrKS-roi, ^waotSds, and yvioar-qs (yviopiffTi^s)^ and apparently in one instance (Is 19^) by iyyaaTplixvdos. In Dt 18" there is a curiously amiililied pliraseology which ought not to be presseil, viz. 'interrogator (Sxr) of the lis,' 'i>y.

, and the 'inquirer of the dead' (D"n?rr'?N irni). In this as in the preceding verso (v.'") we have a fairly exhaustive phraseology, but each term employed does not cover an altogether distinct conception, but is more or less a synonym. During the closing decades of the 8th cent., amid the dangers, apprehensions, and calamities occasioned by the Assyrian invasions, the people resorted in large numbers to these occult modes of inquiry. To this Isaiah refers in scathing terms of rebuke (S'*''-).

Instead of turning their faces heavenwards to Jehovah and to the words of the Torah committed to faithful prophets, many were saying in these degenerate days, 'Consult the conjurers of the dead and the necromancers, who chirp and whisper, Shall not a people inquire of their manes* on behalf of the living, of the dead ? ' t To this pitiful and degrading appeal to popular superstition the prophet replies in tones of tliunder: 'To the instruction and testimony!'

The wide prevalence of necromantic practice is illustrated by a vivid simile employed by the same prophet. In a beautiful and graphic oracle (eh. 29) Jerusalem is threatened with all the horrors soon to impend over the city in the siege of Sen- nacherib : ' And thou shalt lie prostrate, speaking from the earth, and from the dust shall thy speech sound low, and thj- voice shall be like a ghost (:m) from the earth, and from the dust shall tny speech twitter' (v.")

Thus the higher prophetic teaching was as hostile in its attitude towards necromancy as it was towards magic and soothsaying ; and this tone of reprobation is echoed in the stem penalties of death denounced against it in the legislation, Dt 18" (cf. 1 S 2S'), Lv igs' 20»- '. The attitude of the teachers in the Talmud is not so uncompromising, i'liough they regarded it as the work of the devU, they believed in the validity of the art of necro- mancy [BerakkCt/i 59a", Shnbb. 1526).

The dead can only be conjured in the first year 'after burial. It is said of Rab that he even himself inquired of the dead (Baba mezia 1076). LiTERATtTRK. — ^This has been indicated throughout this article. On Jewish magic Blau's work is the main authority. On Greek magic consult Warre -Cornish's Concise Diet, o/ Greek and Sioman Antiq., * Superstitio ' : and Miss Macdonald in PSBA, vol. xiii. (Feb. 3, 1891), art. ' Inscriptions relating to Sorcerj- in Cyprus.' In this instructive art.

there are useful citations from W'essely's Griechische Zaitherpapyri. A good illustration is given of a recipe for a xaraht^/Mit taken from his edition of Papyrus Anastasi in the British Museum. On the subject of maffic in general Frazer's GtMeii Bought should be consulted, and A. Lang in Fortnvjhtlj/ lino. Feb. and April 1901. The litera- ture has been indicated already in art. Maoic, bv reference to the exhaustive list in Schiirer, GVFS iii. pp. 300-304. Owen C. Whitehouse.