Classical Studies 1000 Lecture 21: TA Notes - WEEK 21

• School: Western University
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: Classical Studies 1000
• Professor: Christopher Brown

Document Summary

If it heals badly, the person didn"t say the incantation in the right way or enough times. There are different categories of practitioners: religious experts, priests, etc. It is difficult to distinguish practitioners of magic from other types of professionals. Often difficult to distinguish wizards" etc. from itinerant (i. e. travelling) priests (e. g. , the agurtes) who go door to door selling things for magic spells and they perform magic for a fee. Slide: plato republic 2. 364b: begging priests and prophets go to the doors of the rich saying they have the power to atone for the sins of the rich peoples" ancestors. This promise is close to what we call salvation": people in the ancient world were aware that actions could leave a lingering stain (miasma. Pollution") and the only way to be cleansed is through ritual. If unfortunate things were happening to you or people you know, the pollution could be the cause.