Practical Magic: Magic of ancient Greece and Rome

Magic gave people autonomy when they had none, from practical ways to fight back to summoning a demon companion. We have all felt powerless at some point. Someone has wronged you, something important is out of your hands, or you are waiting for an outcome you cannot control. For people in ancient Greece and Rome, magic offered a very practical way of dealing with that feeling. If someone had stolen from you, you could curse the thief. If you had a court date, you could try to bind your opponent so they could not make their case properly. If you wanted someone to love you, there were spells for that too. Magic was useful because it gave people something they could actually do when the ordinary ways of solving a problem were no longer enough. Many of those spells have survived, which means we can still see what ordinary people wanted magic to do for them. This lecture looks at actual spells from men and women across the ancient Mediterranean, along with the magic books and tools they used, from attempts to recover stolen property to summoning a demon companion. And because this was practical knowledge, not just something people believed in, the lecture will end with a short lesson in how to curse and bind something yourself, from ants to war and quite a lot in between. Success, alas, is not guaranteed. Dr. Siobhán McElduff is an Associate Professor of Latin Literature and Roman Culture at the University of British Columbia. Her work looks at Roman literature and culture, translation, and the lives and ideas that often sit outside the most traditional accounts of the ancient world, from class and gender to popular literature and people considered socially unacceptable in Rome. She is the author of Roman Theories of Translation: Surpassing the Source, the translator of Cicero’s In Defence of the Republic , and the creator of UnRoman Romans, which looks at actors, athletes, dancers, sex workers and other stigmatized groups in ancient Roman society. Agenda 6:00 PM doors open. Guests are welcome to arrive early, order drinks, and have dinner before the lecture begins. 7:00 PM lecture begins, followed by Q&A. 8:15 PM wrap up. Guests are welcome to stay for conversation and another drink.