Organized by chapter, the books, academic articles, and digital resources listed below will point you towards the main sources that I have used to research and write this book. Some of the books and articles are so specialized that you may not be able to access them outside of a major university library; however, I have also tried to include sources that are more readily available. Most research in Egyptology is published in English, German, French, and other European languages. Language is powerful, as any Egyptian magician knew. While I hope readers of this book will have a chance to explore other languages, ancient and modern, I have given preference here to English-language sources, because this book was written for an English-speaking audience.
For ideas presented throughout this book, I owe a particular debt to all of the following, cited in short form in the chapter notes. I recommend these as a starting point for anyone who wants to delve further into the subject.
Jacco Dieleman, Priests, Tongues, and Rites: The London-Leiden Magical Manuscripts and Translation in Egyptian Ritual (100–300 CE), Leiden and Boston: E. J. Brill, 2005.
Marc Etienne, Heka: Magie et envoûtement dans l’Egypte ancienne, Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2000.
David Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Ludwig D. Morenz, Hoffen und Handeln: Vom altägyptischen Heka, Berlin: EB-Verlag Dr. Brandt, 2016.
Geraldine Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt, London: British Museum Press, 1996, 2nd edn 2006.
Maarten J. Raven, Egyptian Magic: The Quest for Thoth’s Book of Secrets, Cairo and New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2012.
Robert K. Ritner, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1993, 2nd edn 2004.
INTRODUCTION
Ramesseum Magician’s Tomb: R. B. Parkinson, The Ramesseum Papyri, British Museum Online Research Catalogue, 2011, https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/online_research_catalogues/rp/the_ramesseum_papyri.aspx, accessed 5 September 2019; R. B. Parkinson, Reading Ancient Egyptian Poetry: Among Other Histories, Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, pp. 138–72; James E. Quibell, The Ramesseum, London: Bernard Quaritch, 1898. Thinking About Ancient Magic: Jacco Dieleman, ‘Coping with a difficult life: Magic, healing, and sacred knowledge’, in Christina Riggs (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 337–61; David Frankfurter (ed.), Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic, Leiden: Brill, 2019. Conspiracy Against Ramses III: Ritner, Mechanics, pp. 192–214.
CHAPTER 1
Role of Writing in Magic: David Frankfurter, ‘The magic of writing and the writing of magic: The power of the word in Egyptian and Greek traditions’, Helios 21.2 (1994): 189–221. Pyramid Texts: James P. Allen with Peter Der Manuelian, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005. Literacy Rates: John Baines and C. J. Eyre, ‘Four notes on literacy’, Göttinger Miszellen 61 (1983): 65–96. The Myth of Isis and Re: Erik Horning, Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982, pp. 86–88. Translations include Alexandre Piankoff, The Litany of Re, New York: Bollingen Foundation, 1964, pp. 56–59. Execration Texts and Rituals: Emmanuel Jambon, ‘Les mots et les gestes: Réflexions autour de la place de l’écriture dans un rituel d’envoûtement de l’Égypte pharaonique’, Cahiers “Mondes anciens” [En ligne] 1 (2010), DOI: 10.4000/mondesanciens.158; Kerry Muhlestein, ‘Execration ritual’, in Jacco Dieleman and Willeke Wendrich (eds), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 2008, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3f6268zf, accessed 5 September 2019; Ritner, Mechanics, pp. 136–80. Knotting Magic: Willeke Wendrich, ‘Entangled, connected or protected? The power of knots and knotting in Ancient Egypt’, in Kasia Szpakowska (ed.), Through a Glass Darkly: Magic, Dreams and Prophecy in Ancient Egypt, Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, 2006, pp. 243–69. Textual Amulets: Jacco Dieleman, ‘The materiality of textual amulets in ancient Egypt’, in Dietrich Boschung and Jan N. Bremmer (eds), The Materiality of Magic, Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink, 2015, pp. 23–58; Jacco Dieleman and Hans-W. Fischer-Elfert, ‘A textual amulet from Theban Tomb 313 (Papyrus MMA 26.3.225)’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 53 (2017): 243–57.
CHAPTER 2
Tales of King Khufu and His Sons (Papyrus Westcar): Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2nd edn 2006, pp. 215–22. Tales of Setne Khaemwas: Francis Llewllyn Griffith, Stories of the High Priests of Memphis, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1900; Steve Vinson, The Craft of a Good Scribe: History, Narrative and Meaning in the First Tale of Setne Khaemwas, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2018. Healing Statues: László Kákosy, Egyptian Healing Statues in Three Museums in Italy (Turin, Florence, Naples), Turin: Ministero per i beni e le attivita culturali/Museo delle Antichità Egizie, 1999. The Book Of The Dead: John H. Taylor, Journey through the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, London: British Museum Press, 2010. Initiation: Christina Riggs, Unwrapping Ancient Egypt, London: Bloomsbury, 2014, pp. 163–85. Invisibility Spells: Richard L. Phillips, In Pursuit of Invisibility: Ritual Texts from Late Roman Egypt, Durham, NC: American Society of Papyrologists, 2009, p. 117, text 5 (Papyrus Leiden J 395, mid-4th century CE).
CHAPTER 3
The Underworld Books: Erik Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Underworld, London: Karnak House, 2009. Demons, Ghosts: Kasia Szpakowska, ‘Demons in the dark: Nightmares and other nocturnal enemies in ancient Egypt’, in Panagiotis Kousoulis (ed.), Ancient Egyptian Demonology: Studies on the Boundaries between the Demonic and the Divine in Ancient Egyptian Magic, Leuven: Peeters, 2011, pp. 63–76; Kasia Szpakowska, ‘Demons in ancient Egypt’, Religion Compass 3 (2009): 799–805, DOI:10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00169.x. Visits to Tomb Chapels: Melinda Hartwig (ed.), The Tomb Chapel of Menna (Theban Tomb 69): The Art, Culture, and Science of Painting in an Egyptian Tomb, Cairo and New York: American University of Cairo Press, 2013, pp. 165–74. Ancestor Worship: Nicola Harrington, Living with the Dead: Ancestor Worship and Mortuary Ritual in Ancient Egypt, Oxford: Oxbow, 2013. Spell Against Nightmares; Clay Cobras: Robert K. Ritner, ‘O. Gardiner 363: A spell against night terrors’, Journal of the American Research Centre in Egypt 27 (1990): 25–41; Kasia Szpakowska, ‘Playing with fire: Initial observations on the religious uses of clay cobras from Amarna’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 40 (2003): 113–22. Letters to the Dead: Richard Parkinson, Voices from Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings, London: British Museum Press, 1991, p. 142, no. 55 (letter from Merertifi to Nebitef); Edward Wente, Letters from Ancient Egypt, Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990, p. 215, no. 349 (letter from Merertifi to Nebitef); p. 213, no. 344 (from son to his parents); pp. 216–17, no. 352 (long diatribe to deceased wife). Mummy Fiction: Bradley Deane, ‘Mummy fiction and the occupation of Egypt: Imperial striptease’, English Literature in Translation, 1880–1920 51. 4 (2008): 381–410; Roger Luckhurst, The Mummy’s Curse: The True History of a Dark Fantasy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Methods and Meaning of Mummification: Salima Ikram, ‘Mummification’, in Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 2010, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0gn7x3ff, accessed 5 September 2019; Maarten J. Raven, ‘Egyptian concepts on the orientation of the human body’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 91 (2005): 37–53; Christina Riggs, Unwrapping Ancient Egypt, London: Bloomsbury, pp. 77–108. Khoiak Festival and ‘Corn Mummies’: Maria Centrone, ‘Corn-Mummies, amulets of life’, in Kasia Szpakowska (ed.), Through a Glass Darkly: Magic, Dreams and Prophecy in Ancient Egypt, Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, 2006, pp. 33–45; Maarten J. Raven, ‘A new type of Osiris burials’, in Willy Clarysse, Antoon Schoors and Harco Willems (eds), Egyptian Religion: The Last Thousand Years. Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Jan Quaegebeur, Leuven: Peeters, 1998, pp. 227–39.
CHAPTER 4
Representation of Egyptian Deities: Erik Horning, Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982; Richard H. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, London and New York: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Animals in Egyptian Art: Dorothea Arnold, An Egyptian Bestiary, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995; Philippe Germond and Jacques Livet, An Egyptian Bestiary: Animals in Life and Religion in the Land of the Pharaohs, London: Thames & Hudson, 2001. Demons with Foreign-Sounding Names: Susanne Beck, Exorcism, Illness and Demons in an Ancient Egyptian Context: The Egyptian Magical Papyrus Leiden I 343 + 345, Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2018. Demon (Epagomenal) Days: Maarten J. Raven, ‘Charms for protection during the epagomenal days’, in Jacobus van Dijk (ed.), Essays on Ancient Egypt in Honour of Herman Te Velde, Groningen: Styx, 1997, pp. 275–91. Seth Animal: Angela McDonald, ‘Tall tails: The Seth animal reconsidered’, in Angela McDonald and Christins Riggs (eds), Current Research in Egyptology, Oxford: Archaeopress, 2000, pp. 75–81. The God Tutu: Olaf E. Kaper, The Egyptian God Tutu: A Study of the Sphinx-God and Master of Demons, Leuven: Peeters, 2003. Water Spells: Ritner, Mechanics, pp. 226–31. Animal Mummies: Edward Bleiberg and Yekaterina Barbash, Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt, London: Giles, 2013; Salima Ikram (ed.), Divine Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt, Cairo and New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2005. Ipet (Great Bear): Horst Beinlich, Der Mythos in seiner Landscaft: Das ägyptisches ‘Buch vom Fayum’, Dettelbach: J. H. Röll, 2013. Dwarfs: Veronique Dasen, Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt and Greece, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993, 2nd edn 2013; S. van Erp, ‘Pataikos: A Forgotten Amulet’, MA thesis, Universiteit Leiden, 2014, with further literature.
CHAPTER 5
Medicine in Ancient Egypt: James P. Allen, The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005; Paul Ghalioungui, The Physicians of Pharaonic Egypt, Cairo: Al-Ahram Center for Scientific Translations, 1983; John F. Nunn, Ancient Egyptian Medicina, London: British Museum Press, 1996. Metternich Stela: Photographs, translation and further references on the museum website, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/546037, accessed 5 September 2019. Scale and Magical Objects: Jane Draycott, ‘Size matters: Reconsidering Horus on the crocodiles in miniature’, Pallas [En ligne] 86 (2011), DOI: 10.4000/pallas.2124; Ian S. Moyer and Jacco Dieleman, ‘Miniaturization and the Opening of the Mouth in a Greek magical text (PGM XII.270–350)’, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 3.1 (2003): 47–72. Knotting Spell for Headache: Willeke Wendrich, ‘Entangled, connected or protected?’, in Kasia Szpakowska (ed.), Through a Glass Darkly: Magic, Dreams and Prophecy in Ancient Egypt, Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, 2006, pp. 250–51 (Leiden Magical Papyrus I 348). Spell for Taking Medicine: J. F. Borghouts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, Leiden: Brill, 1978 p. 45, text 72 (adapted). Contendings of Horus and Seth: Ellen F. Morris, ‘Sacred and obscene laughter in the “Contendings of Horus and Seth”, in Egyptian inversions of everyday life, and in the context of cultic competition’, in Thomas Schneider and Kasia Szpakowska (eds), Egyptian Stories: A British Egyptological Tribute to Alan B. Lloyd, Münster: Ugarit, pp. 197–224. Bilingual Papyri, List of Ingredients: Dieleman, Priests, Tongues, and Rites, pp. 189–94. Coffins of Padiamenipet and Kleopatra: Christina Riggs, ‘Archaism and artistic sources in Roman Egypt: The coffins of the Soter family and the temple of Deir el-Medina’, Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 106 (2006): 315–32. Imhotep and Amenhotep, Son of Hapu: Dietrich Wildung, Egyptian Saints: Deification in Pharaonic Egypt, New York: New York University Press, 1977.
CHAPTER 6
Sex, Sexuality, Love Poetry: Renata Landgráfová and Hana Navrátilová, Sex and the Golden Goddess, Vol. I: Ancient Egyptian love songs in context, Prague: Czech Institute of Egyptology, 2009 (songs quoted are at pp. 155, 163, and 168–69); Renata Landgráfová and Hana Navrátilová (eds), Sex and the Golden Goddess, Vol. II: World of the Love Songs, Prague: Czech Institute of Egyptology, 2015; Lise Manniche, Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt, London: Kegan Paul, 2nd edn 2002. Spell to Attract a Woman: J. F. Borghouts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, Leiden: Brill, 1978, p. 1, text 1. Wax Crocodile (Papyrus Westcar, Khufu Tales): Lise Manniche, An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, London: British Museum Press, 1989, pp. 60–62; Pinch, Magic, pp. 96–97. Impotence Cure: Lise Manniche, Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt, London: Kegan Paul, 2nd edn 2002, p. 103. Aphrodisiac with Shrewmouse: Dieleman, Priests, Tongues, and Rites, p. 95 (adapted). Childless Couple: Gay Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt, London: British Museum Press, 1993, p. 77. Contraceptives: Lise Manniche, An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, London: British Museum Press, 1989. Spell Against Vaginal Bleeding: J. F. Borghouts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, Leiden: Brill, 1978, p. 24, text 31 (adapted). Spells for Childbirth: J. F. Borghouts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, Leiden: Brill, 1978, p. 39, nos 60, 61 (adapted). Birth Bricks: Ann Macy Roth and Catharine H. Roehrig, ‘Magical bricks and the bricks of birth’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 88 (2002): 121–39; Josef Wegner, ‘A decorated birth-brick from South Abydos: New evidence on childbirth and birth magic in the Middle Kingdom’, in David P. Silverman et al. (eds), Archaism and Innovation: Studies in the Culture of Middle Kingdom Egypt, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009, pp. 447–96. Birth Arbors, Vines: Lise Manniche, An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, London: British Museum Press, 1989, pp. 84–85, 99, 168–70; Lynn Meskell, Private Life in New Kingdom Egypt, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002, pp. 110–21. Amarna Royal Tomb: Geoffrey T. Martin, The Royal Tomb at El-Amarna, Vol. II: The Reliefs, Inscriptions, and Architecture, London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1989, pp. 46–48. Birth Tusks: Stephen Quirke, Birth Tusks: The Armoury of Health in Context, Egypt 1800 BC, London: Golden House Publications, 2016. Knot-Spell for Baby: J. F. Borghouts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, Leiden: Brill, 1978, pp. 42–43, text 68 (adapted). Opening the Mouth and Childbirth: Ann Macy Roth, ‘The pšs-kf and the “Opening of the Mouth” ceremony: a ritual of birth and rebirth’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 78 (1992): 113–47; Ann Macy Roth, ‘Fingers, stars, and the “Opening of the Mouth”: the nature and function of the ntrwj-blades’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 79 (1993): 57–79. Birth Temples: Holgar Kockelmann, ‘Mammisi (Birth House)’, in Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 2011, https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8xj4k0ww, accessed 5 September 2019. Female Figurines: Elizabeth A. Waraksa, ‘Female figurines (Pharaonic Period),’ in Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 2008, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/4dg0d57b, accessed 5 September 2019; Elizabeth A. Waraksa, Female Figurines from the Mut Precinct: Context and Ritual Function, Fribourg: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009.
CHAPTER 7
Dream Interpretation: Kasia Szpakowska, ‘Dream interpretation in the Ramesside age’, in Mark Collier and Steven Snape (eds), Ramesside Studies in Honour of K. A. Kitchen, Bolton: Rutherford Press, 2011, pp. 509–17. Demotic Dream Spell of Osiris: Jacco Dieleman, ‘Scribal practices in the production of magic handbooks in Egypt’, in Shaul Shaked et al. (eds), Continuity and Innovation in the Magical Tradition, Leiden: Brill, 2011, pp. 85–117 (at p. 109). Calendars of Unlucky Days: Gerald E. Kadish, ‘Calendar of lucky and unlucky days’, in Roger S. Bagnall et al. (eds), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013, pp. 1265–66, DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah2107; examples taken from Raven, Egyptian Magic, p. 106. Spell Against Demon (Epagomenal) Days: Adapted from Raven, Egyptian Magic, p. 105. New Year Flasks: Aurélia Masson, ‘New Year’s flasks’, in Alexandra Villing et al., Naukratis: Greeks and Egyptians, The British Museum online, no date, https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/online_research_catalogues/ng/naukratis_greeks_in_egypt/material_culture_of_naukratis/new_years_flasks.aspx, accessed 5 September 2019. Oracles: Andreas Effland, ‘“You will open up the ways in the underworld of the god”: Aspects of Roman and Late Antique Abydos’, in Elizabeth O’Connell (ed.), Egypt in the First Millennium AD: Perspectives from New Fieldwork, Leuven: Peeters, 2014, pp. 193–205; Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt, pp. 145–97; Ritner, Mechanics, pp. 214–18; Gaëlle Tallet, ‘Oracles’, in Christina Riggs (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 398–415. Divination: Jacco Dieleman, ‘Scribal practices in the production of magic handbooks in Egypt’, in Shaul Shaked et al. (eds), Continuity and Innovation in the Magical Tradition, Leiden: Brill, 2011, p. 99; Joachim Friedrich Quack, ‘A black cat from the right, and a scarab on your head: New sources for ancient Egyptian dream divination’, in Kasia Szpakowska (ed.), Through a Glass Darkly: Magic, Dreams and Prophecy in Ancient Egypt, Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, 2006, pp. 175–87. Statue of Harkhebi: Jacco Dieleman, ‘Claiming the stars: Egyptian priests facing the sky’, in Susanne Bickel and Antonio Loprieno (eds), Aegyptiaca Helvetica 17: Basel Egyptology Prize, Basel: Schwabe, 2003, pp. 277–89. Dendera Zodiac: Overview on museum website, https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/zodiac-dendera, accessed 5 September 2019; Sylvie Cauville, Le Zodiaque d’Osiris, Leuven: Peeters, 1997; Diane Greco Josefowicz and Jed Buchwald, The Zodiac of Paris: How an Improbable Controversy Over an Ancient Egyptian Artifact Provoked a Modern Debate Between Religion and Science, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010.
CHAPTER 8
Ancient Egypt in Roman Italy: Caitlín Eilís Barrett, ‘Egypt in Roman visual and material culture’, Oxford Handbooks Online, DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935390.013.18; Molly Swetnam-Burland, Egypt in Italy: Visions of Egypt in Roman Imperial Culture, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Greek and Roman Views of Egypt: Stephen Nimis, ‘Egypt in Greco-Roman history and fiction’, Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics 24 (2004): 34–67; Ian Rutherford, ‘Kalasiris and Setne Khamwas: A Greek novel and some Egyptian models’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie un Epigraphik 117 (1997): 203–9. Philae Temple: Jitse H. F. Dijkstra, ‘Horus on his throne: The holy falcon of Philae in his demonic cage’, Göttinger Miszellen 189 (2002): 7–10; Jitse H. F. Dijkstra, Philae and the End of Ancient Egyptian Religion: A Regional Study of Religious Transformation (298–642 CE), Leuven: Peeters, 2008. Magic Gems: Ian S. Moyer and Jacco Dieleman, ‘Miniaturization and the Opening of the Mouth in a Greek magical text (PGM XII.270–350)’, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 3.1 (2003): 47–72. Alchemy; Hermes Trismegistos: Garth Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2nd edn, 1993; Kevin van Bladel, The Arabic Hermes: From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Rosicrucians, Freemasons: Erik Hornung, The Secret Lore of Egypt: Its Impact on the West, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001; Christina Riggs, Egypt: Lost Civilizations, London: Reaktion, 2017; Frances Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, London and New York: Routledge, 2000 [1972]. Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn: David Gange, Dialogues with the Dead: Egyptology in British Culture and Religion 1822–1922, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 262–69; Steven Vinson and Janet Gunn, ‘Studies in esoteric syntax: the enigmatic friendship of Aleister Crowley and Battiscombe Gunn’, in William Carruthers (ed.), Histories of Egyptology: Interdisciplinary Measures, London and New York: Routledge, 2015, pp. 96–112. Gunn, Instructions of Ptahhotep: ‘Introduction’, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30508/30508-h/30508-h.htm, accessed 5 September 2019. Kemetic Religion: Paul Harrison, Profane Egyptologists: The Modern Revival of Ancient Egyptian Religion, London: UCL Institute of Archaeology/Routledge, 2017. Egyptian MagicTM: https://egyptianmagic.com, accessed 5 September 2019.